tacky feeling water

[susikay]

although my water is clear it has a tacky feeling and a strong odor(not sure if the SWG produces its own smell when chl level is high)It is not a strong chlorine smell. Last week I added 10 lbs of baking soda for a low alkalinity. It has been non stop raining as well . I can't seem to get contol of the chemicals and I'm thinking I may need to shock.
Any suggestions?

Today:
FC-5.0
TC-5.0
CC-O
PH-8.0
HARDNESS-150
ALKALINITY-140
CYA-35

 

[reebok]

it doesn't look like you need to shock, but you raised your TA up quite a bit. what was the reason behind that? your ph is a bit high, and your cya is quite low for an swg. see these links:
pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock

pool-school/water_balance_saltwater_generator

pool-school/recommended_levels

 

[susikay]

last week tA was 36 so I added baking soda

 

[susikay]

Thanks for your help

 

[reebok]

yeah I realize the ta was low, it just got raised quite a bit. probably no big deal. do the walls feel ok? have you checked the salt level recently? what does it smell like? definitely need to get some cya in there too.

 

[susikay]

Salt is 3100.00 walls slightly tacky .
Strong odor but not a chlorine smell, or unpleasant

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

You raised your TA too high. Are you using the Pool Calculator to help determine dosing?

Your PH is too high right now; you need to lower it down to 7.2 with Muratic Acid.

Your CYA is too low for an SWG. It should be 70-80.

I would do the following:

First adjust your PH. Then:

Turn off the SWG, and perform an Overnight FC Loss Test. (I assume you have an FAS-DPD test).
If you lose more than 1ppm, you need to shock. It would be best to shock BEFORE you raise your CYA level, as you will need less liquid chlorine at your current CYA level to reach shock.

If you don't need to shock, raise your CYA.

After you determine the above, keep an eye on your PH. High TA may cause your PH to drift up while using your SWG. You'll need to add Muratic Acid to keep the PH below 7.8. (Never attempt to adjust PH while the FC is above 10, it will read false-high.)

Hope this helps.

 

[susikay]

Last week I took a water sample to my pool guy and he advised (10 lbs) to raise TA

 

[reebok]

Last week I took a water sample to my pool guy

there's your problem. have you put anything else in there?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Last week I took a water sample to my pool guy and he advised (10 lbs) to raise TA

That's okay. A lot of pool store employees don't have sufficient chemistry knowledge nor practical pool operation experience to know what a proper level for TA with an SWG pool is. He probably thought he was doing the right thing. IF you were using trichlor tabs, that TA would be o.k.

It's not the worst thing in the world. Over time the level will come back down, as you keep the PH in check with acid. No worries.

 

[susikay]

I Love this site!
Thanks

 

[JasonLion]

CC is probably above 0. From your test results it looks like the chlorine levels were measured with a DPD test kit and were above the level the kit is capable of measuring. It would be a huge help if you got a FAS-DPD chlorine test, such as the one that comes in the TFTestKits.Net kit or the Taylor K-2006. Then you could know what was really happening.

 

[susikay]

I Have the Taylor test kit

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

And? What are the results? Waiting with baited breath....