(Updated Title) Sudden complete FC loss due calcium chloride

my hypothesis, and i am no chemist
the added calcium has created a tiny cloudiness, (calcium precipitation) which has skewed the cya test
if you lose fc during the day, but not at night cannot be caused by the calcium, but by UV

I should have been clear. Not only the CYA was 60 this morning, but it was early last week as well after bringing it up from 40, long before I messed with the calcium. Every value has been tested and steady for the past 2 weeks leading up to this. Anyway, it seems like there's no logical explanation other than a) the calcium chloride did something or b) users error where the user is certain he didn't make an error. But I'm too careful every year in the weeks that following ascorbic acid tratment and I've been doing it since I had the pool put in for something like this to happen now. So I'll keep adding chlorine and see how long it takes for it to stabilize.

Thank you and I wish you all a Happy New Year, full of health and happiness. I am deeply grateful for you all and for your help.
 
“Calcium chloride compound” is just a shorthand for a mixture of calcium chloride (~95%) with balance being potassium and sodium chloride. The material is derived from ocean salt so there's always contamination with other chlorides. Reagent grade (high purity laboratory stuff) is made by other methods. There are two possible explanations (conjecture, really) for why adding CH increaser might affect FC and it somewhat depends on how you add it.

First, CH increaser will increase chloride ion content which is what the SWG uses to produce chlorine gas by electrolysis. A large "slug" of chloride, either in the form of solid granules or pre-dissolved concentrated brine, could makes its way to the plumbing and cause the SWG to temporarily sense a high salt load. Many SWG's will stop producing chlorine if the "salt" sensor goes very high in order to protect the plates and the SWG from passing too much current. It's somewhat unusual, but it can occur. Depending on how the SWG operates, it may shut down production for an entire cycle or until the unit is reset. That would cause a perceived chlorine demand because the unit would stop making chlorine. Dense brine solutions don't mix well in cooler water and so it's very easy for the brine to pool at the bottom and get picked up by the main drain. We see this all the time when people add salt to their pool and then the SWG's go crazy with high and low salt warnings.

Secondly, and bit less likely, there is a chemistry effect too when adding a lot of salt all at once and it has to do with some complicated chemistry principals. Essentially, a large load of salt will cause the ionic strength of the solution to increase and, in the case of calcium chloride which is very soluble in water, it can increase a lot. When the ionic strength increases it changes the equilibrium constant for the reaction that balances hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite anion. I have not looked at the detailed math yet, but it may be that a large slug of CH increaser changes the equilibrium enough so that the amounts of active chlorine species differ significantly. Hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite have different rates at which they breakdown with hypochlorite anion being much more susceptible to UV photolysis. Again, this is all conjecture at this point but it's not outside the realm of possibility. A large amount of solid CH increaser would create a mass of water around it that has a salinity close to the solubility limit of the salt and a dense brine solution could cause a similar effect. Heating is also an issue but only when one adds solid CH increaser without diluting it first. Not my go-to explanation for things, but chemistry gets weird when solutions are concentrated and pool water is far, far, far from an "ideal solution" upon which lots of chemical reactions we care about happen.

I do believe you when you say that you are measuring an extreme FC loss with addition of CH increaser. Thankfully it's a transient phenomenon. Just keep adding FC from an external source like liquid chlorine until the loss rate normalizes. In the future, you might simply add less calcium at any given time or use calcium hypochlorite (and shutoff your SWG) to slowly raise CH. There's no harm in doing that.
 
I would like to provide an update for anyone who may be dealing with the same situation in the future. After nearly a week, I am now losing only 1ppm of FC per day, maybe a bit less. Sunshine or lack there of does not impact it in any way. I've been adding 16oz of liquid chlorine each night and I think I'm nearly done. I have not touched any other chemicals, all else continues to be balanced and steady. Also, I did not shock the pool to say that I had algae and now it's gone. My pool was at 5ppm before all of this and I've been bringing it up to 5ppm during this week.

This being said, there is 0 doubt in my mind that this whole incident was caused by adding 12lbs of calcium chloride compound over the course of 2 days, 6lbs per days, 3lbs dissolved in water at a time. There could have been something funky with the box of Suncoast calcium chloride (and I have another 13lbs of it, I don't know. But if anyone has this problem in the future, just know that it is very much possible to be directly related to bringing your calcium up. Thank you to all those who suggested things throughout the last few days. I'll see if I can update the title of the thread.
 
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Every last chemical is one manufacturing change from a new issue. Somebody will have to be the first to see it the hard way. Or it could just be that certain individual pools buck the common trends. Thanks for documenting it in case it becomes more of a thing. (y)
 
One thing that is not clear with a lot of these granular compounds, especially hydroscopic salts like CaCl2, is the use of anticaking agents to keep them free-flowing and clump-free. Water adsorption is especially dangerous with calcium chloride because the heat of hydration is very strong and temperature increases can cause problems. So it’s imperative that these chemicals remain moisture free.

Some anticaking agents include the use of ferri-/ferrocyanide salts (no, they do not generate cyanide gas). These anticaking agents contain an iron atom that can act like a reducing agent to chlorine effectively reducing chlorine to chloride. There are also anti-caking agents used like wood fiber powders (saw dust) and cornstarch as well as other types of starches. Talc is another anticaking compound. These substances don’t need to be listed on MSDS’s because they are non-toxic and often at concentrations well below tenths of a percent.

All that is to say that the consumer isn’t always given all the information on these products.

If calcium hardness is a concern in your pool, then I would suggest you routinely/occasionally use calcium hypochlorite for chlorinating your pool. Just turn off the SWG and switch over to cal hypo for a while. Every 10ppm of FC added using cal hypo adds about 6ppm the the CH.
 
I can say I added a giant ~40lb bag of calcium pool flakes to increase my CH, and found no noticeable change in the FC levels. I don’t remember if it was calcium chloride specifically. Using calhypo instead makes sense though.
 
I would like to provide an update for anyone who may be dealing with the same situation in the future. After nearly a week, I am now losing only 1ppm of FC per day, maybe a bit less. Sunshine or lack there of does not impact it in any way. I've been adding 16oz of liquid chlorine each night and I think I'm nearly done. I have not touched any other chemicals, all else continues to be balanced and steady. Also, I did not shock the pool to say that I had algae and now it's gone. My pool was at 5ppm before all of this and I've been bringing it up to 5ppm during this week.
Nothing funky about the calcium chloride you used. This calcium chloride add/FC crash is a phenomenon that I have documented and reported multiple times before. Not sure why it’s still not mentioned in TFP Pool School or the ABCs.
 
Nothing funky about the calcium chloride you used. This calcium chloride add/FC crash is a phenomenon that I have documented and reported multiple times before. Not sure why it’s still not mentioned in TFP Pool School or the ABCs.

Because TFP has a policy of only changing fundamental documentation when there is both ample evidence AND technical/scientific explanation to back it up. Right now, the effect of adding calcium chloride on FC levels is anecdotal at best and there is no underlying chemistry that would support a reduction reaction between calcium chloride and free chlorine. So, until TFP can better resolve this issue, it will have to stay in the threads where we can moderate the discussion. Feel free to investigate the idea further and search the relevant literature. If you find something that can definitely explain it, we will be happy to look at it.
 
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