Pool Store vs Test Kit Results??

[Watermom]

Hi Scott and welcome. Janet has given you some good advice and yes, you need to order the Taylor kit. Glad you found us!

[hawkeye91]

Janet / Watermom -

Thanks for the help. After a couple days' work, here are my numbers from this evening...

FC = 9
pH = 7.4
TA = 125

I'm going with the assumption that the pool store CYA of 97 from above is accurate until the Taylor kit arrives and I can retest that. So...

I kept FC at 25 all day yesterday (Monday). There was no FC loss overnight last night, so I allowed it to fall during the day today. Since the pool was not usable anyway, I decided to go after the TA as well, so I added acid to drop the pH to 7.0 and then aerated all day yesterday. The water is crisp and clear, and I'll keep aerating until the pH is around 7.6, and keep ratcheting down the TA over time too.

I have two questions at this point...

1. What is the best approach to maintenance? Since we know the FC will burn off in the sun, do I add excess bleach in the morning, so that when we're ready to use the pool in the evening, FC is around 8? (like most folks here, I can only test early morning and at sundown on weekdays)

2. I guess this is related to #1. I've read elsewhere on here that FC = 10 is pretty much the upper limit to allow swimming, but I need to keep mine at 8. That's a pretty narrow margin. I'll keep trying to lower the CYA by replacing water little by little over time, but if you have any tips on how best to maintain 10 > FC > 8 that would be great.

Thanks again!

Scott

[Watermom]

The best time to add chlorine is in the evening when the sun is off the pool. By doing so, you have all the chlorine available to sanitize the water instead of having it lost to the sun. If you are not losing chlorine overnight, then you'll still have the same amount of cl during that day to work in your pool. If you do lose more than 1ppm of cl overnight, then you need to add bleach in the a.m. as well.

You don't have to have the cl between 8-10 to swim. When we tell people they want the cl below 10 to swim, those are people who have much lower cya levels than you do. With high cya, it is ok to swim at higher cl levels than with lower cya. So, with a cya of 97, it is fine to swim when the cl is 8-15 although when it is in the upper area of the range, you would probably want to wear old suits.

Hope your kit comes soon so we'll know for sure what your cya level is. Hope this helps.

[CarlD]

It's great to see a newbie doing everything right! Usually, we all make super-duper mistakes at that time.

Jan and Lisa have guided you correctly.

Until you get the K-2006 you can dilute pool water with distilled water (the "CarlD Patented Shot Glass Method") to boost the range of your HTH chlorine tester.

I like the shot glass because it's not too big, not too small and gives VERY precise dilution. So...1 shot of pool water and 1 shot of distilled water mixed together, then poured into the test block (or "cell") will allow you double the reading you get. If it reads "4", your chlorine is 8.

If you use 2 shots of distilled to one of pool, you triple the reading--therefor if it reads "4" it's really 12.

Hope this helps.

[hawkeye91]

Thanks Carl.

Still no Taylor kit -- hoping for early next week. For now the shotglass method is working just fine. My only concern is that I am -- or at least it seems to me like I am -- using a lot of bleach. The FC is degrading at a rate of about 9-10 ppm per day, so I'm adding a full 182-oz bottle everyday.

I suppose it is what it is, but is this typical/normal?

Scott

[Watermom]

Can you post current water testing results? The last ones posted are from a couple of days ago. Losing 9-10 ppm of cl per day is a lot. Are you losing more than 1ppm from sundown to sunup? How does the water look?

[hawkeye91]

Hi everyone --

Got my Taylor test kit today - here are the results from tonight...

pH = 8.0 (has been 7.5-7.6 with HTH kit for days)
Acid demand = 3 drops
FC = 6.4 (was 15 this morning with HTH kit)
CC = 1.0
TA = 125
CH = 700 (!??)
CYA = 60

Based on a CYA of 60, a FC of 6.4 would be right in the middle of the ideal range per the best guess CYA chart. Would that be high enough to throw the pH off, or is the 8.0 likely valid?

Scott