Buying big bucket of CYA or just as much as you need.

[Gretzky99]

I bought 8 lbs in June for my 30,000 gal pool to bring the level from zero to...i think 50? I forgot.
Now it is at 30..maybe a bit less. Only one more month left in the summer. Does the level stay consistant over the winter? Should I just buy a bigger bucket so I have some for Spring if I decide to add a little now.

[Watermom]

CYA levels sometimes remain the same through the winter but not always. There is no way to tell. If you decide to buy some more CYA now, whatever you don't use will keep til next season. I often keep a container from one year to the next and it is just fine. I keep it in the basement where it is cool.

[JimK]

I usually buy it in quantity because its cheaper per pound that way. I've never had an issue keeping it over the winter for use the next season.

Your cya may or may not stay level over the winter. There are bacteria that will eat it. I've had some winters where cya didn't drop much if at all, and others where cya was completely gone by spring.

If cya does get eaten up over the winter, be aware it will take alot of chlorine to burn up the byproducts when you open in the spring.

[Watermom]

If cya does get eaten up over the winter, be aware it will take alot of chlorine to burn up the byproducts when you open in the spring.

This is not always true. I typically open to clear water and no CYA but do not have the big chlorine demand. This has been true for my pool for many years. Not sure why, but glad!

[JimK]

This is not always true. I typically open to clear water and no CYA but do not have the big chlorine demand. This has been true for my pool for many years. Not sure why, but glad!

Interesting. I wish I could say the same. No cya in the spring means lots of CL for my pool in the spring. At least thanks to the people here I now know what's going on. The first year it happened I couldn't figure out where the cya went and why I my pool was eating CL like candy!

I just had a thought....do I remember correctly you don't cover your pool in the winter? I wonder if that makes the difference, perhaps allowing the byproducts to be broken down by the sun and released into the atmosphere?

[Watermom]

You are remembering correctly. I do not cover my pool in the winter.

[Gretzky99]

Thanks all..I'm sure it's okay to keep chemicals in the shed..?...I thought using the HTH stabilzing chlorine tablets would help keep the level up...but it has rained quite a bit lately and when it didn't the water level dropped and i had to put the garden hose in.

[JimK]

Thanks all..I'm sure it's okay to keep chemicals in the shed..?...I thought using the HTH stabilzing chlorine tablets would help keep the level up...but it has rained quite a bit lately and when it didn't the water level dropped and i had to put the garden hose in.

I keep my chemicals in the shed, making sure containers are closed tightly. The only exception is muriatic acid, which I keep in a covered plastic garbage can outside the shed. The reason for this is fumes from the bottles was escaping and starting to corrode the metal shelving in the shed.

[mas985]

According to chem geek there are two things that will degrade CYA, certain bacteria and shock levels of chlorine. Bacteria can occur during winterizing and the shock levels are often present at opening.

If interested, you can read more about it here: Degradation of CYA (http://www.troublefreepool.com/degradation-of-cyanuric-acid-cya-t8880.html)

[JimK]

According to Chemgeek there are two things that will degrade CYA, certain bacteria and shock levels of chlorine. Bacteria can occur during winterizing and the shock levels are often present at opening.

If interested, you can read more about it here: Degradation of CYA (http://www.troublefreepool.com/degradation-of-cyanuric-acid-cya-t8880.html)

Interesting. I didn't know shock levels of CL also degraded CYA.

Always learning something here. :)

[tfrailey]

Watermom, can you tell me more about why you don't cover your pool? I wonder if that would be better for me also. I use a mesh cover and the pool is always green and covered with debris every spring. My yard is enclosed and I don't have to worry about kids. Any thoughts on the pros and cons? I live in Delaware - it does freeze here.

[Watermom]

Sorry to be slow to reply. My Dad is in the hospital and things have been a little hectic around here.

There are several reasons why I quit using a pool cover.
1. It is a huge hassle to manage that huge piece of vinyl.
2. It is a hassle to clean it off, get it dry and store it.
3. It is a hassle to keep the water pumped off the cover during the winter.
4. It is a pain in the you know what to keep all the nasty water from spilling into the pool when you are removing the cover in the spring.
5. My dogs were messing with the tiedown ropes anyways.
6. It makes spring opening easier if all I have to do is hook up equipment and start chlorinating.

I do work through the fall to keep up with getting the leaves out of the pool. I live in WV and there are trees EVERYWHERE including around my pool so it does take me some time to do this. But, once the leaves have fallen from the trees, the water stays clear. So, for me, the cover really serves no purpose. I have been not used a cover in years and I don't ever plan to again.

Hope this helps.

[JimK]

Sorry to be slow to reply. My Dad is in the hospital and things have been a little hectic around here.

There are several reasons why I quit using a pool cover.
1. It is a huge hassle to manage that huge piece of vinyl.
2. It is a hassle to clean it off, get it dry and store it.
3. It is a hassle to keep the water pumped off the cover during the winter.
4. It is a pain in the you know what to keep all the nasty water from spilling into the pool when you are removing the cover in the spring.
5. My dogs were messing with the tiedown ropes anyways.
6. It makes spring opening easier if all I have to do is hook up equipment and start chlorinating.

I do work through the fall to keep up with getting the leaves out of the pool. I live in WV and there are trees EVERYWHERE including around my pool so it does take me some time to do this. But, once the leaves have fallen from the trees, the water stays clear. So, for me, the cover really serves no purpose. I have been not used a cover in years and I don't ever plan to again.

Hope this helps.

I hope your father is home and doing better soon. :)

[Watermom]

It is probably gonna be quite awhile til he is home, but thank you for your well wishes!

[chem geek]

The chlorine degradation rate of CYA is slow. At normal pool levels, it's roughly 2-3 ppm CYA per month while in hotter spas it's around 5 ppm CYA per month. At shock levels it is no doubt higher, but one is usually not shocking their pool for very long. I don't think it's a very practical way to lower the CYA.

As for the bacterial degradation, you can either end up with ammonia and have a huge chlorine demand or you can end up with nitrogen gas and not have extra demand. Which occurs depends on the conditions that to get nitrogen gas require two different types of bacteria. Maybe there's a way for the ammonia to outgas or otherwise get removed (other than from the second type of bacteria), but I'm not aware of any such mechanisms.

[CarlD]

Interesting. I use a safety mesh cover and, like WaterMom, I rarely have any CYA in the spring, but also, if I open early enough and have no algae, don't have a high chlorine demand either. Since it's a mesh, like an open pool, it doesn't trap gases. Of course, prior to closing, I bring my pool up to shock level, add a full quart of Polyquat 60%, wait for it to drop the FC (48 hrs) then bring it to shock level again and close. At Richard's rate, of -2 to -3ppm/month, that would be a loss of about -21ppm of CYA over the winter, yet I seem to lose more.

Then again, I drain out about 1/3 of my water first, then replace it. So....say I had a CYA of 45ppm when I closed. I drain off 1/3 of my water, CYA drops by -21 to 24. By adding back the water in the spring, by dilution I drop the CYA to 16, which, when you test it by the R-0013 black dot tube is almost impossible to measure.....

Yeah, that DOES add up, doesn't it?

[chem geek]

Well, the flaw in that calculation is that colder water would have CYA degrade far more slowly so then you are left only with the water dilution as an explanation and that only partially accounts for the CYA drop you see.

[CarlD]

Well, the flaw in that calculation is that colder water would have CYA degrade far more slowly so then you are left only with the water dilution as an explanation and that only partially accounts for the CYA drop you see.

You didn't mention water temperature. I wonder if having a foot of ice has any effect. Can Isocyanuric Acid be frozen without breaking down? My winter pool usually has a foot or more of ice in January/February.

[chem geek]

I doubt that freezing water would destroy it. Usually, that just has the CYA get pushed out of the forming ice. So that would tend to force CYA down to lower depths and in the spring when the ice thaws then the CYA would be seen mostly in the bottom of the pool until circulation mixed it up with the thawed water.

[CarlD]

Really? Because if I open at the right time in the spring, after the ice melts but before a bloom starts, I have clear water but lots of dirt on the bottom. Inevitably it tests with 0 FC (naturally) but also CYA isn't measurable. When I start adding LC and CYA, there isn't a problem with fighting anything.

Curious.