Super high chlorine

[bobbygameday]

In Florida. Saltwater 10k gallon pool with Pebble Tech, no screen and a few trees and leaves to contend with. I was having slight algae issues back in the summer despite what I thought was balanced water and thus beefed up my chlorine. I had read here that with saltwater pools the chlorine should be a little higher than the recommendations. So I did that and the problem went away, water has been clear and clean. Well, now that it has been cooler in the past few months I turned down my SWG pretty low because I figured I didn't need as much chlorine with colder water, and everything has been fine. Just been adding muriatic acid when needed. But my chlorine has gotten up super high and stayed there. I went to Leslie's for a water test and here's what I'm looking at:

Free Chlorine: 14.07 (Rec. 1-4)
Total Chlorine: 14.42 (Rec within 0.2 of FC)
pH: 7.7 (7.2-7.8)
Total Alkalinity: 56 (80-120)
Calcium Hardness: 246 (200-400)
Cyanuric Acid: 43 (50-100)
Iron: 0 (0-0.2)
Copper: 0.2 (0-0.2)
Phosphates: 389
Salt: 3000

There's a slight chlorine smell when you're actually in the water, but nothing unusual. No burning eyes or anything. I turned SWG all the way down to like 2%. How big of an issue is this if at all?

 

[Newdude]

Hey Bobby and Welcome!!!!

The sun burns off chlorine daily. Are you testing at the poolstore daily to see how it fluctuates ?

Everything else is playing blind darts.

Have a read.
Pool Care Basics

You'll need one of these to take control of your pool.
Test Kits Compared

 

[wireform]

The sun burns off chlorine daily. Are you testing at the poolstore daily to see how it fluctuates ?

You'll come to realize if you keep going to the pool store it'll start fluctuating hourly with big swings.

 

[mgtfp]

You should really test with your own kit. If those results are correct, then your FC is fine. A bit higher than required, but not super high.

Any FC up to SLAM-FC for the respective CYA is fine to swim. For the purpose of FC/CYA Levels, your CYA is 50 (if trusting those store tests), which makes your SLAM-FC 20.

 

[bobbygameday]

Thanks. Yes I understand self-testing is best and have done that also, but those pool store numbers are pretty consistent with what it has been for some time, so the chlorine has been that high for 2-3 months now. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't cause for alarm. Like I said, the look and feel of the water has been perfect all winter, but I know just because it's clear doesn't always mean things are good.

 

[Newdude]

Yes I understand self-testing is best and have done that also, but those pool store numbers are pretty consistent with what it has been for some time

The point was you need daily testing or you don't know whays going on.

The FC may be depleted for 3 days (?) and then it makes it back before you test again, fooling you that the #s were X all along.

 

[skimmerswimmer]

The recommended 1-4 ppm for FC from the pool store is one of the things they get consistently wrong. FC must always be a function of your CYA level as highlighted in the post above.