Mixed Chemicals = Cloudy Swim Spa / Pool

Ben is correct that I missed the posts about the Chlor-Brite. I now see the subsequent posts where you say you used Chlor-Brite. That is Dichlor where for every 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) it also increases Cyanuric Acid (CYA) by 9 ppm. So even with a low 0.5 ppm FC per day chlorine addition (and yours might be higher at 1 ppm), this is over 13 ppm CYA increase PER MONTH. So your CYA level may be very high and that makes the chlorine much less effective. I suspect you may have high Combined Chlorine (CC) as a result and that can be very irritating. After you get your Taylor K-2006 kit, you'll have proper readings for FC, CC, pH, TA, CH and CYA. We can then figure where to go from here, though I strongly suspect you'll need to replace more water to lower the CYA level.

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Originally Posted by PoolDoc

The highest residential rates I know of are less than $0.20/KWH, so summer water heating costs should be $29 and winter should be $87.

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Just FYI, my marginal electricity rate in northern California is 40 cents per kilowatt-hour where I am in the 30-40 kWh/day range in usage. This doesn't change the conclusion of your analysis however. It should not cost anywhere near $1000 to heat the spa. It also probably does not need water replacement any more frequently than every 2 years, maybe a little longer if properly managed (unless the bather-load is higher than one person for one hour or so each day).

Also, it's BTU, not BTUH. BTU is an amount of energy so in the same units as kWh. Kilowatts is power (rate of energy per time) while kilowatt-hours is energy.

Sounds like Chlorine is the way to go.

So how does adding bleach before I drain the pool help? Wouldn't it just add more Chlorine to the overly-chlorinated pool?

In any event, I am going to drain and refill tomorrow. As a general rule, how much Chlorine would I need to add initially and add each week? Or should I just try to use household bleach?

My wife is probably going to be pregnant soon but needs the pool for therapy, so anyway to lower the amount of chemicals would be welcome. I am not someone who freaks out of things like this, but I also think its always better to minimize chemicals if I can.

Thanks for all your help.

If your stabilizer is as high as we think, it's not over chlorinated -- it's actually under chlorinated! (See Best Guess chart)

Sometimes biofims form in spa piping, and is very hard to remove. Sustained very high chlorine levels will do it. But your stabilizer level may be so high that's not practical. In that case, it would be best to do a high chlorine just after filling, before adding any stabilizer. 10 - 15 ppm with no stabilizer for 24 hours should do it. If you add stabilizer afterwards, those levels won't be too high to swim in.

OK, Thanks. I do have the Taylor kit (Taylor Complete (high) DPD Test Kit K-2005). The problem is that the FC is off the chart (Leslie Pools also found the same thing). I've been trying to lower it, but without direct sunlight its not easy. The PH is a bit low (around 7.0). TA is in the 80s.

As for the heating, there are a few things that cause the expense. The run from the heater to the pool is about 45 feet and uses PVC, and the $1,000 quoted is for the month, which includes 30 days of running around 10 hours a day to keep it at 95 degrees. We only have a solar cover since the heavier covers which trap more heat are to heavy for my wife.

I did just check and the clarity has improved, but it sounds like it still make sense to dump the water and start over. I just pulled out my Endless pool documentation and they recommend 1/2 cup clorox per day for indoor pools. I will start there unless anyone has a better suggestion.

Thanks again.

You have the Taylor K-2005. The one we recommend is the Taylor K-2006. They are not the same thing. You don't need to buy a whole new kit. If you just order the K-1515, that will give you the FAS-DPD component that your kit is lacking that will allow you to test high cl levels. You can find it in the Amazon link in my signature below.