Think I've turned my pool water into bleach!!! Any serious suggestions?

I am running a salt chlorinator and this year put a safety cover on my pool in early October. I made sure the salt level was around 3100 ppm before putting on the cover (suggested range). I turned the generator down from 40 to 20 % and left the low speed pump running without testing the water chemistry but checking the salt level (which is automatic and doesn't require removal of the cover.) After a lot of rain, I pulled back the cover to put more salt in and tested the water. I have been unable to get an accurate reading with any test kit. I have ordered the Taylor 2006. What I did notice is that the OTO fluid in the yellow bottle did not mix with the pool water but looked turned dark orange and appeared like little drops kind of like oil trying to mix with water. I then tested straight bleach in my tester, and the OTO did something similar. I tested distilled water in the tester, and the OTO did not change color as expected. So, I've concluded that I have basically bleach for pool water.

I have tried Leslie's Chlorine Reducer but all it did was allow the OTO to mix with the water but is still dark orange. Perhaps I need much more, but I don't know how much as I don't know how high the chlorine level is. I've also left the cover off for several days and the sun has been shining. I've tried the dilution method of testing (1 part pool water to 2 parts distilled water) and have been unable to get a good reading even when I change the ratio to 1:10. I tried using all distilled water and only a drop of pool water with only 1 drop of the OTO fuild instead of 5 and the color was in a normal range then. Any ideas how I should proceed?

I don't plan to close the pool for the winter, but I will keep the pump running to avoid freezing. I have a high water table so I can't drain the pool in the winter either.

Thanks for any help!

I would definitely turn the SWCG off--can you do that and still run your pump? In cold water it takes a lot longer for chlorine to be used up than it does in warm water, especially with a cover on it where the sun can't help decrease it. In my pool, I usually add 3-5 of the large jugs of bleach weekly during the swim season, but when the water gets cold I can decrease it to 1of the same size jug a week and still maintain a high chlorine level.

If you can turn off the SWCG, and leave the cover off, the sun will eventually bring the chlorine down, although it may take several more days. Alternatively, you could add a dose of Polyquat 60 algaecide (the only algaecide we recommend using here), because it also will cause a drop in chlorine levels. What type of surface is your pool? If it's plaster or gunite, and bleaching of color isn't an issue, I would just let the sun take care of the high chlorine levels. If you have a vinyl liner, though, I would go ahead and drop the chlorine level a little faster, knowing that if there's bleaching of your liner that will happen, it's probably already done...

Thank you Janet. I should have stated that I did turn the SWCG off several days ago. I have a 14,000 gal vinyl liner in ground pool. I think I do already see some bleaching of the liner as a result if the chlorine level.

How's the chlorine level looking now? I'm assuming that you've had time to get your test kit in...

Janet

Received my test kit and I'm not sure what is going on. I have the Taylor K-2006 kit with FAS-DPD. I used the 10ml water sample in the large tube, 2 scoops of powder (which turned pink as it should) and so far 75 drops of R-0871 but water is still very pink. I hate to waste the whole bottle of reagent. At this point I am at 75 X .5 = 37.5 ppm free chlorine. Any ideas?

Leave the chlorinator off, leave the pool uncovered and exposed to sun if you can, and add a dose of Polyquat--otherwise, just be happy with the fact that you won't open to algae next year! :)

Janet

The good news here is that, even if your liner is somewhat lighter, it's unlikely that the liner material is actually damaged.

You can get a chlorine neutralizer at the pool supply (usually a sulfite or thiosulfate based chemical) and use that but if you just leve the pool uncovered and exposed to sunlight the chloirne will eventually drop. You can also use sodium percarbonate (Proteam System Support) or hydrogen peroxide (Baqua Shock) to neutralize high chlorine levels.

Yes, but as Janet says, just adding polyquat should bring chlorine levels down. I find when I shock my pool up to (say) 15ppm and then add a quart of PolyQuat, 48 hours later my FC is near zero.

Here's what I would do: Add two quarts of polyquat and get some test cheap strips or an OTO kit. Test the water every day until the strip shows FC of 10 or slightly less. Or use the OTO kit and dilute the pool water with distilled water 4:1 (4 distilled to 1 pool). When the OTO reads "5" that means TC is close to 25ppm and you can measure with your 2006 kit.