Ozone smell

[AnnaK]

Every once in a while there is an odor of ozone hovering about 5" or so above the water surface of our pool. Why is that? Where does it come from? I use chlorinating liquid and the water is about as perfectly balanced as I can get it:

pH 7.5
FC 5
CC 0
TA 80
CYA 40


I don't notice this smell all the time but when it is there, it's kind of annoying. Is it just part of the pool chemistry?

AnnaK

[CarlD]

What does ozone smell like?:confused:

[AnnaK]

Uh . . .

Like a bad lightening storm. Like liquid metal. Kind of like a stink bug.
Silvery-green—I tend to assign colors to smells.

Anna

[CarlD]

Uh . . .

Like a bad lightening storm. Like liquid metal. Kind of like a stink bug.
Silvery-green—I tend to assign colors to smells.

Anna

Sounds metalic--like hot metal when there's an electrical short or something burning up.

I'm just guessing, wildly: What is your copper content?

[AnnaK]

I've never had the water tested for copper. How would copper get in there? There isn't any in my fill water which was tested at Wilkes-Barre University.

Do pool stores test for copper? I could take a sample down there.

Anna

[Poconos]

As I remember from years ago ozone had a somewhat sweet smell. I also remember that if the concentration gets anywhere near the hazardous level you wouldn't be able to stand the smell. I used to use an electrostatic filter in my Jersey house and there were occasional smokers and I could crank up the voltage and generate lots of ozone and get rid of the smoke odor.
Al

[CarlD]

Ozone, true ozone at a certain level is toxic. It's a weird oxygen molecule. Oxygen usually bonds in pairs, O2, but Ozone is 3 atoms, O3.

[aylad]

If you don't have copper in your fill water, then it would have to have been added, but I'd be surprised if you inadvertently added enough to create the smell. Possible sources could be copper-based algaecides, copper-added trichlor, heater coils reacting to low pH, possibly hardware like screws and stuff degrading?

Janet

[AnnaK]

I had the water tested at the store. No copper. They were very concerned about my low level of calcium though and thought I should add 18 pounds of something right away.

No heater, no dissolved hardware though the white paint on the hand rails of the steps is coming off below the water line, it's been doing that for a couple of years now.

And I realized the other day exactly what this smells like: a busy photocopy machine. It seems I notice the odor more on really humid days.

Odd.

[CarlD]

Of COURSE they said you need calcium in an above ground pool! That's what they do. You buy and another $50 goes in the register. Ask them what the calcium actually DOES in your AG pool and you'll get a lot of waffling.

Calcium is used to protect the calcium carbonate in pool walls in the cement, mortar, shotcrete, plaster, etc. It keeps it from leeching out. Therefore it's useless in vinyl pools.

[AnnaK]

You mean I shouldn't have bought that stuff and dumped it in????

Just kidding.

I said thank-you for the water test and I said I'd give the calcium a miss this time since my vinyl liner didn't require feeding.

AnnaK

[waterbear]

Calcium is used to protect the calcium carbonate in pool walls in the cement, mortar, shotcrete, plaster, etc. It keeps it from leeching out. Therefore it's useless in vinyl pools.

BUT there is some evidence it is useful for fiberglass pools!

[waterbear]

And I realized the other day exactly what this smells like: a busy photocopy machine. It seems I notice the odor more on really humid days.

Odd.

Sounds more like your liner giving off the smell. Photocopy machinies fuse a plastic toner onto the paper. Is the liner new? They often give off an odor when they get warm (and are new).

[CarlD]

BUT there is some evidence it is useful for fiberglass pools!

I don't know the chemistry of FG pools too well, but I cannot imagine how calcium interacts with glass and the resin used to bind it. I'll let Ben and Chem_Geek work that out. People forget: Fiberglass is actual glass--super-thin threads of it.

[AnnaK]

Sounds more like your liner giving off the smell. Photocopy machinies fuse a plastic toner onto the paper. Is the liner new? They often give off an odor when they get warm (and are new).



The liner is in its 5th season this year.

I think I figured out what the smell was: the remains of trichlor pucks in the autochlorinator. Now that they're gone and I'm using strictly LC the smell has disappeared.

[waterbear]

I don't know the chemistry of FG pools too well, but I cannot imagine how calcium interacts with glass and the resin used to bind it. I'll let Ben and Chem_Geek work that out. People forget: Fiberglass is actual glass--super-thin threads of it.

Actually Carl, I've done quite a bit of research on this and have discussed it some with Richard. There is some evidence that the calcium (actually, the harder water) helps prevent cobalt spotting (black spotting), which is a problem with fiberglass pools. (Cobalt leaching from the gelcoat. Cobalt is a component of the resins used in fiberglass.). Cobalt spotting is probably only second to iron staining as a downside to fiberglass pools but both seem to happen much less with higher CH. (For example, my own pool is filled with soft water and I had frequent problems with iron stains, usually requiring an ascorbic acid treatment every 6 months. Once I raised my CH to around 350 ppm about 2 and a half years ago I have not had ANY staining problem and have not needed ascorbic acid.) However, unlike iron staining, cobalt spotting if often difficult or impossible to remove. There has been discussion about this on a different forum, btw.