New user with burning eyes and bad tasting water...although it's crystal clear.

Being new to the forum I thought I'd seek help for my in-ground, vinyl, pool with 26,700 gals water that measures 18' by 36' rectangle; 3' deep shallow end and 8' deep at the other end.

I have a trichlor inline feeder, which I keep filled with 3" trichlor pucks each week I also set the feeder on number 2 of 10, putting nearly ten pucks in at a time. I have just recently began to try and understand water chemistry and pool maintenance, as opposed to having to take my samples in to the local pool supply company. I think I have some serious water issues, particularly high chlorine, high ph, and possibly low TA, although my own testing has differed from the stores measurements. I keep my sand filter (STA RITE T-240BP-1) complete with a pump (STA RITE MaxEPro 1.5HP) running 5 hours a day with my polaris pool vacuum running two and half hours a day.

Here's what I've been doing for pool maintenance the past couple of seasons. I would open the automatic pool cover and if the water looked clear, it was fine by me. I'd keep the trichlor feeder full of 3" pucks and think nothing of it, perhaps I'd shock the pool with one or three bags of hypo chlorite, if it had been a few weeks or so. I'd take a water sample into the local pool supply company and have it tested, although it seemed to me that I'd be more confused with the results, sometimes I just flat out didn't believe what they had to say. It often was contrary to what I'd read on different forums. For example, I'd be told that the total alkalinity or TA wasn't really important because it was just naturally so high in our region of Northern Illinois, that they didn't bother to measure it, even though I'd ask them to. I'll post my results from yesterday's trip to the pool store:

Temp: 70
Saturation index: 0.5
TDS: 3600
CYA: 151
Total Chlorine: 10
Free Chlorine: 10
ph: 8.3
Total Alkalinity 82 (although my test kit, which I used three times measured TA at 170-180)
adj. Total Alk:37
Total Hardness: 400
Copper: 0.2

The teenager who tested my water and then printed results and remedies, as recommended by the the computer, proceeded to cross out half the computer recommendations, as if they didn't really matter, and proceeded to tell me that I needed to raise my TA. Of course I remembered the other pool supply stores advice that TA wasn't really important because it was so naturally high in Northern Illinois. (Yes, I did take water samples from the same pool to two different stores, with different results. Now you can guess as to why I've decided to take matters into my own hands and learn just what the heck is going on with my water. I ordered a Taylor 2006c water test kit last night and hope to get it by the weekend.

As mentioned above, I used my own pool kit test (not the taylor I just ordered, but another five bottle OTO kit) and measured the TA to be around 170 to 180, although I do have to admit I'm not 100 percent sure this is completely accurate as I understand such high TC results can affect the TA results.

My problem is that yesterday I swam for five minutes and my eyes burned for an hour afterwards. I added three bags of shock and today the swim didn't result in burning eyes afterwards, although I still have bad "tasting" water. It tastes somewhat salty. The water is crystal clear at this point, so it's not cloudiness, but rather burning eyes and high ph and high chlorine and bad tasting water.

Steps I have thus far taken to remedy what I think is wrong...

1. Leave the automatic pool cover open during the day to lower the total chlorine and allow gasses to dissipate more easily.

2. Ordered a decent pool water test kit and accessed this site to educate myself on water/pool maintenance.

3. Opened up my low knowledge of water pool chemistry for ridicule so that I may learn from others who know more than I do.

4. Stopped using softened water to fill my pool, rather I'll use a hose connected to a non-softened water outlet.

I'll post the results from my Taylor 2006c test kit once I get it.

I'm open to suggestions.

burning is eyes is typicly caused by PH being to high, or too low. yours is 8.3.
to get your ph in a good place (7.4) you will need to add 58oz of 31.45 Muriatic acid. slowly into the water. stir up the water after introducing and retest.
your CYA levels are VERY high.. 150ppm is REALLY high, and not to be trusted. you should lower that to about 40ppm wich will require about 75% water change to be performed.
dont do this in one shot.
CYA will rise becouse you use chlorinating pucks. which adds, chlorine, and stabilizer, and maybe even calcium? to your water.
stabilizer is needed but, with levels over 40 ppm it requires extreme high chlorine levels. with a CYA level of 150ppm you need to maintain a minimum chlroine level of 11ppm just to keep your pool sanitized, and to make it worse, the more chlorine you add with the pucks the HIGHER the cya will get requiring MORE AND MORE chlorine!
I suggest you. start changing your water. do 3-4 25% water changes. bring your CYA down to 30-40ppm
stop using the pucks.
start using bleach. - unscented - liquid chlorine works too (same thing).
at 40 ppm you need a chlorine level of 3-7 to keep your cl in the normal range.
recheck your you PH level and keep it in th 7.2-7.8 range.

just my two cents.


24'round 52" deep
1hp aquaflow pump
hayward s220t sand filter
talyor k2005-c
taylor k1515-c
clean blue pool and use nothing but bleach! acid and borax!

Thanks for taking the time to answer my post. I added non-chlorine oxidizer to help bring down the TC. As it so happens, I took another sample of water to pool store number two this afternoon (still have not received my taylor 2006c kit). I am inclined to believe that because my chlorine problem is so extreme, my test values for CYA aren't accurate, but lets analyze todays store results.

TC: 20
FC:10
CC:10
TA:0 (because I was told the high chlorine bleached the color and the machine was not able to read the TA properly)
pH:6.9
CYA: 17 (notice that it's noticeably different than the 151 from three days ago without any water change, again I believe that the high TC is making other test samples inaccurate)

I am running the pool slide and using a fountain to help raise the pH with aeration and keeping the automatic cover open as much as possible. Can't wait to get my test kit.

First of all, welcome to the Pool Forum. Great decision to order a K-2006 kit. That is going to be a big help to you in managing your pool!

Next, I would not advise adding any more non-chlorine oxidizer. What are the ingredients of what you added?

I'm actually not totally sure what to tell you with those numbers all over the place!

One thing I am pretty sure of is that your CYA is not 17 if you have been using tabs for a long time. They are stabilized which means they have CYA in them. I'd be more inclined to think your high CYA test result was more likely. (Look and see if copper is an ingredient in those tabs and let us know.)

You can't trust pH readings taken when the chlorine is so high. If your chlorine drops, take another pH reading before you add more chlorine. Also, when you report that pH reading, note what your chlorine level was at the time.

Let's hope that test kit comes soon. Only when we have good, accurate testing results can we really do a very good job of advising you.

While you are waiting, do a lot of reading here on the forum, especially the stickied threads at the top of each subforum. (Until your registration is complete, you will need to log out first to be able to see the rest of the forum, however.) Also, read on our sister website, www.poolsolutions.com. Lots of good info there as well.

I love your #3 in your first post above, btw! No ridicule from us. Only help. You know what they say ---- the only dumb questions are the ones you don't ask. (I bet you can't guess that I am a teacher, can you! ;) )

Again, welcome. Glad you found us!

Ok
I have received my new pool kit. I have discovered that in reality my CYA readings are so high, that I have changed nearly 70% of the pool volume and still my CYA readings finally made it on the scale today at around 80. I plan on changing more water after my foot heals (on a side note, I managed to get 8 stitches in my foot yesterday so I can't be running around the pool so much for the next week or so).

Readings from today:

CYA 80
FC 5 ppm (I have gotten this down from 48 ppm in a week)
pH 7.9
TA 240 ppm
CH 180 ppm

I believe the salty taste of the water was all the CYA...but I think I am still needing to get my water changed a bit more before I really go after balancing it. I think I should be bringing down the pH.

It is ok to do some more partial draining if you want, or you can leave the CYA at 80 and just run a little higher than normal chlorine levels and you would be fine. (Take a look at the Best Guess Chlorine Chart in my signature below for more about that.) An upside to running a pool with CYA a little on the high side is that you can usually get away with adding bleach a little less often.

You may want to work on lowering the TA and pH. Go to www.poolsolutions.com and click on 'guides' on the left-hand side. There is a guide for how to lower alk. But, please read the link in my signature about using muriatic acid safely before doing so.

Hope this helps! (Hope your foot heals quickly.)