before i kill myself with stabilizer

[tenax]

i bought some today..recently stopped using bucks and went with regular bleach but with a lot of heat lately, burning through it pretty good so i broke open my wallet and bought some granular stabilizer....am i correct in reading somewhere that to avoid noxious gas to "add the chemical to water", NOT "add water to the chemical".

or was it the other way around.

T

[JohnT]

If you've been using pucks, you need to know what your CYA level before adding more. Most puck users have outrageously high levels already. Put the CYA in an old sock, tie the top and drop it in the skimmer basket when you are ready to add it.

[itstoohot]

Was that an intended pun (bucks) or just a brilliant mind at work behind the scenes?:D I think switching to bleach will save us some bucks.

To answer your question - it is always "add the chemical to the water, not the water to the chemical". And to add further - never add one chemical to another chemical.

[tenax]

i like the sock idea..especially cause my son leaves them lying around all the time..maybe he'll get the hint when i leave a wet CYA soaked sock on his pillow:)

[tenax]

by the way..riddle me this..if you're not supposed to mix chemicals, what's the process then for stabilizing> bleach..

in other words..i'll test my cya when i get home..if it's good, it's good..if it's low..i will do the sock thing or mix in water and put in pool..how long before i can add chlorine after that?

tanks again.

[JohnT]

by the way..riddle me this..if you're not supposed to mix chemicals, what's the process then for stabilizing> bleach..

in other words..i'll test my cya when i get home..if it's good, it's good..if it's low..i will do the sock thing or mix in water and put in pool..how long before i can add chlorine after that?

tanks again.

Bleach isn't stabilized. The problem with mixing chemicals is that you have to know what the result will be. You can add chlorine at the same time as CYA, although probably not in the same place in the pool.

[tenax]

gotcha..thanks

[tenax]

well, now i'm really glad i'm weaning off the expensive "stabilized" pucks. i have 2 of the bioguard ones in my inline chlorinator..the chlorine and ph levels are great..there is zero CYA in the pool..or at least i filled the tube to the top on the CYA test and there was no colour or anything..black dot was not getting hard to see at all:) LOL...

[aylad]

If you've been using pucks for any length of time at all, there's no way that you'll have zero CYA--I'd double check that before I add any stabilizer. The pucks by definition are made up of chlorine and a decent percentage of CYA, so unless you're using cal-hypo pucks, you do have CYA.

Janet

[tenax]

well..that's what i expected would be the case..here is what i was told to do if you want to check me:

-add pool water up to a line on the vial that they gave me (about midway).

-fill the rest of it with the test reagent provided to test for CYA (fyi,it's taylor test re-agent and it's not old chemicals..supply that came to local store via calgary agent which is the western canadian authorized supplier for taylor)

-shake the vial for 13 seconds then pour it into the test tube with the black dot on the bottom.

-fill the tube just until i can't see the dot, then look at the reading on the scale on the side.

the mixture was absolutely clear. water was taken from about an 18 inch deep level in my pool.

sound right? i'll do a double check right now but...

[aylad]

Try shaking it for 30 seconds or so, then set it on the counter while you run your Cl and pH tests, and then pour it into the tube... see if that makes a difference.

Janet

[tenax]

thanks, A. i did it again after putting in 900 gm bottle of stabilizer about 2 hours ago now..it's getting a reading at about 15 ppm so it's getting there. i'll leave it overnight and run the pump for a full cycle and check it when i get home tomorrow. i have read the cautions about too much of it so i'll take it easy:)

[medvampire]

If you are useing solid CYA it can take week to desolve so you might wait a few days to test. If you are useing liquid you might want to check this post out.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?p=25498#post25498

Steve

[waterbear]

i bought some today..recently stopped using bucks and went with regular bleach but with a lot of heat lately, burning through it pretty good so i broke open my wallet and bought some granular stabilizer....am i correct in reading somewhere that to avoid noxious gas to "add the chemical to water", NOT "add water to the chemical".

or was it the other way around.

T I think you are referring to 'strong' acids like muriatic, i.e. hydrochloric, (and sulfuric, nitric, etc). In these cases you ALWAY add the acid (already a liquid) to water and not the other way around or it can boil violenlty and splatter all over the place! Cyanuric acid, while an acid, is what is known chemically as a 'weak' acid', much like citric acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin c), or acetylsalicylic acid (asprin) .

[tenax]

must be..i think i tasted some while i was smoking a cigarette (didn't wash hands first..LOL)

ps- talk about strong? i worked for pepsi for 2 summers many moons ago and the concentrate for pepsi and hires root beer is so strong that it is like soft fudge. came in a 1 gallon "wine box" type thing..and you add 1 gallon of the concentrate to 10,000 gallons of water..(then 20-88 lb bags of sugar!) the concentrate is so strong that i saw a guy burn a hole in his tongue when he put a bit of the concentrate on it.

needless to say, i can't drink pepsi ever since. the smell makes me gag:)

[DogPaddle]

This has nothing to do with stabilizer, but it makes it simple to remember... "Do what you oughtta; add acid to watah." :D ;)