water chemistry all awry

Hope to gain some insight here on water chem problems. Have untestably high pH (over 9 at least) and zero chlorine despite adding 5 pounds of dichlor yesterday morning. Cal is at 230, alk at 100, water temp is 82. CYA is 42 and borates are 30 (we are trying to switch from CYA to borate based stabilizer). Chlorine level today is probably around .1. Could our high calcium and pH cause a false chlorine reading? Using a Taylor test kit with new reagents this season.

We are a community pool used by 30 families, so when we close the pool, we really hear some loud complaints.

IG 18500gal, sand filter, chlorine tab feeder

18,500 gal pool for 30 families?? And you are having problems?

Yeah. No surprises there! I'm guessing this pool is in a code-free area? [ My bad: I checked (your community newsletters are online!) -- and you are inspected and approved. Color me surprised; I would have never guessed that NC would approve small vinyl pools for public use. Still, it's not a pool I'd care to have to run. ]

OK. I don't work with commercial pools here at PoolForum much. I've explained why in other posts in this section.

But briefly:

1. CH = 230 is not high;
2. There is no such thing as "borate based stabilizer"; there may be packages of CYA diluted with borax or boric acid.
3. With a pH > 9.0 and ZERO chlorine, nothing else you tell me is meaningful. Lower your pH; raise your chlorine; keep the pool closed till you succeed!

And, one more comment on the general commercial pool topic: the implicit "we can't close our pool" message in your post reflects the PERFECTLY the attitude that caused me to hunt for ways to get motels and small HOA's off the phone when they would call me here locally. As long as the Health Department was there with a court order . . . they wanted to keep their pools opened, and wanted me to help. For cheap.

(What do you mean, you're charging milage? How much will it cost? No, do something else; we can't afford that! What do you mean we should close the pool; do you know how many complaints we'll get? No, we can't afford to have our service guy go by and check the pool 2x per day -- he's got other things to do. No, I have other things to do, too. Wait, what you mean you can't come by 2x per day -- why in the world would we want you do do that? No, we can't afford a feed system! What's wrong with putting it in by hand once every week or so? Wait, why are you leaving . . . .)

I hope you are NOT continuing to allow people to swim with a pH > 9 and 0 chlorine?

Doing so would be . . . well, it would be better if I don't say.

Good luck!