use of liquid chlorine in AG vinyl lined pool

hey folks! i want to go the BBB route of keeping my pool in check, but i was told by the installer to NEVER use liquid chemicals as this could breakdown the liner and make it brittle. i mentioned this one time to the guy at leslies and he said it could make it brittle over time..... so, can i in-fact use store brand liquid bleach w/o causing damage to the vinyl liner?

untill now i have only used powder chemicals/shock and chlorine tabs from leslies but want to go BBB.

thanks in advance if you guys have mentioned this here, but the search function wont work.

You can, and most of us do, use store brand liquid bleach. That, and occasional trichlor tabs, are all I use. I replaced my first liner after the first 8 years my pool was in service, but the rip that started the replacement was well above the waterline, and had nothing to do with my water chemistry. Keep in mind that chlorine is chlorine is chlorine once you get it in the pool, no matter whether it's granulated, tab form, or liquid. The key is in adding the right amounts and keeping your pH where it needs to be.

If you go to a pool store and buy their "pool liquid chlorine", you're getting 12% sodium hypochlorite. Store brand bleach is 5.25 or 6% sodium hypochlorite. I've never been able yet to get a pool store employee to explain to me why the 12% is fine but the 6% will kill my liner? :)


Welcome to the forum!!

Use the google search feature in Janet's signature above. (It is much better than the search feature that is part of the forum software.) Until your registration is complete, you'll need to logout to be able to see the search results.

thanks for the replies! i recently purchased a taylor complete DPD kit from leslies, so i will run a full set of test's and post up the results. im picking up my BBB supplies tonight from walmart. ive had cloudy blue water for weeks now and dont know whats wrong, also i dont know if i need a new filter at this time.

What you purchased was probably the Taylor K-2005. We suggest the Taylor K-2006. They are not the same thing. A DPD kit can only test chlorine levels to 5. A FAS-DPD (which is what the K-2006 is) can test chlorine levels up to about 50ppm. If you will pick up an add on kit called the K-1515, it will give you the FAS-DPD test that your kit does not have. See the test kit page in my signature for more about it.

Pool store guys will make up all KINDS of crazy reasons why you shouldn't use bleach but spend a fortune on THEIR chlorine (even Liquid Chlorine 6% which is....bleach). Obviously, it's all about the money.

i brought home 4 big jugs ( 1.42 gal ) of walmart brand bleach, 4 lbs of borax, and 4 lbs of baking soda. i poured 1.42 gal of bleach in last night and showed around 1.5 FC this morning. i tested today after work and show 0 FC...

ran a set of test's and heres what i got. watermom is correct i have a taylor K2005.

FC 0
TC 1
CC 0
PH under 70 ( appears to be a shade under ) base demand test was 6 drops.
ALK 70
CYA doesnt even go over 100 before the black dot disappears. the level is around half way between the bottom of the tube and 100. i tested CYA a few days back and it was around 70-80 and i have not drained off any water, or added stabilizer ( we have been getting rain ). i did the test twice today just to make sure i didnt mess it up the first time.

my pool is 18ft round AG with a vinyl liner. approx 7,500 gallons. pump is ( i think ) 1.5 HP on low, and 2 HP on high. filter is a waterway proclean 125 sq ft.

my pool is currently blue, but very cloudy since i just killed off a bunch of algae.... my filter is only 1 year old but im wondering if i need a new one?

TC = FC + CC. Always. With a CYA of 70-80, you need to be shocking up to 20ppm. Adding 4 big jugs would have added 45ppm! Way too much! So, what is really happening in your pool is that you have so much chlorine, that you are probably bleaching out the DPD test and it appears that you have none!

Don't add anymore chlorine at this point. Use a dilution test to see if you can get a better reading. More about that here: Testing Without a Good Kit

Your pH test will be inaccurate with high chlorine. But, typically with high chlorine, you get a falsely high pH. So, I'm going to suggest going ahead and adding a half a box of Borax slowly to the skimmer while the pump is running.

You do not need a new filter, but your pump is WAY oversized for your small pool. We see this a lot. When a pump is too big, it forces stuff through the sand bed without filter it out well. Thus, it can take a long time to clear a pool.

Repost with the dilution test results. Also, if you can, order that K-1515 add-on kit I mentioned above.

i had a CYA of 70-80 a few days ago, but today i dont even reach 100 before the black dot goes away. i didnt add all 4 jugs of bleach last night, just 1 jug. i will try the dilution test tomorrow after work. my pool doesnt have a strong chlorine odor at this time, actually very little chlorine odor. i will order the K-1515 tonight. my filter doesnt use sand its just a plain old cartridge filter. i was talking with my wife and the filter is actually two years old... oops. i never had a cloudy water problem before, so im going to order a new filter tonight just to rule that out. ill keep my current filter as a back up.

thanks for the help!

Then, your CYA is over 100. Try the dilution test on this one, too, to try and see if you can't get a little closer reading. Dilution isn't super accurate, but better than nothing.
Why is your CYA climbing? Have you added some recently and if so, when and how much? Or are you using a stabilized form of chlorine such as trichlor tabs or dichlor shock powder?

Glad to hear you didn't add all that chlorine at once!