New pool owner needs help.

[waterbear]

So, we attempted the CarlD Shotglass method of testing our water, but it didn't seem to work. No matter how much we diluted (1 to 2, 1 to 3, 1 to 4, etc.) it always read at .2. Can't figure out why.
The only tests I know of that will measure as low as .2 ppm are an FAS-DPD titration kit and some of the electronic testers and strip readers. How are you testing?
So now we have no idea if we have enough bleach in the pool to have reached shock level or not... and I'm not exactly sure what we'll do tomorrow when we need to test the water again and add more bleach. Yikes.

If you are testing low chlorine then you do NOT have enough bleach in the pool.

[shoogles]

CarlD: The problem was that it was amber in color but only testing at 2.0. No matter how much we diluted it. Either way, we've been running the filter, brushing and vacuuming for the past few days and the pool is clear as glass.

I just tested the water again and its registering at 1.0. I'm sorry for the mistake in my last post Waterbear it was at 2.0. I screwed up when I was typing since I was kind of in a panic.

Just tested now and the pool is down to 1.0 FC and 1.0 CC with a pH of 7.6. Getting ready to add some more bleach. Anything else I need to know or do?

On the plus side, this debacle has finally convinced Hubby that we need to order the Taylor kit. Yay!


Another unrelated question- as you may have noticed, we live in FL. Our pool is in full sun, and it feels like bathwater. Any ideas on how to keep the temp down a bit more?

[CarlD]

If you dilute it once and it tests at 2, then it's 4. If you diluted it twice (two shots distilled to one of pool) and it's 2, then it's really 6. If you dilute it 3:1, it's 8, 4:1, 10, etc.

[shoogles]

If you dilute it once and it tests at 2, then it's 4. If you diluted it twice (two shots distilled to one of pool) and it's 2, then it's really 6. If you dilute it 3:1, it's 8, 4:1, 10, etc.

I got that, its just that no matter what we diluted it to, it was 2. It was weird.

[aylad]

Hi, Shoogles,

Nothing else you really need to do other than get the chlorine back up to your shock level. Hold it there until the CC is zero and you're not losing any chlorine when testing at sundown and again at sunup.

Glad to hear that you're going to get the Taylor kit--believe me, it will make your life so much easier!! I know it's pricey but I guarantee you it will pay for itself several times over, just in this swim season.

As for keeping the pool cool, I bought a cheap fountain from Leslie's and hook it up and run my pump at night rather than during the day, and it seems to cool it down a little. (I'm in Lousiana, so I hear ya about the warm pool--mine at times feels more like a hot tub!) Otherwise, my girls just turn the slide on and let it run while they're in the pool, and it seems to do the best job at cooling the pool.l

Janet

[shoogles]

ok, so I'm still having trouble with this shotglass method and its really making me feel dumb. Shouldn't diluting it with distilled water cause the color to change- you know what I'm saying? I'm asking this because its not. at 1:1 it is 2. At 1:6 it is still 2! What the heck am I doing wrong????

I know it has to be more than 2 or 4! I put 30 and 3/4 cups of bleach in this evening as the sun was setting after getting a FC and CC of 1. I just can't figure it out.

[shoogles]

Ok, so I decided to keep diluting the water until it came down to a level of 1. So this morning st 6:30 am and diluted to 14:1 the level was 1. So I am assuming that 14 is my free chlorine level. A little higher than I wanted to go (12), but its something. Unfortunately, I did not have this stroke of genius last night while testing, so I don't know if I lost any chlorine or not. Either way, I think I'll assume we didn't lose a negligible amount and go ahead and let the chlorine come down. Hopefully it was enough to kill any remnants of algae from our last shock and we will have a nice clear pool until the Taylor kit comes. Thank you all for your help.

[CarlD]

14 is fine.

I find I can cool the pool by running my solar panels full blast at night (they act like giant car radiators then). Also, leaving the cover off helps.

And if you can conjure up a thunderstorm, that can help.

It's simple: Just fill your pool up to its maximum with a hose or wash your car. I did the former last night and woke up to a t-storm!

[waterbear]

Another unrelated question- as you may have noticed, we live in FL. Our pool is in full sun, and it feels like bathwater. Any ideas on how to keep the temp down a bit more?

Welcome to Florida! (I grew up in Miami, graduated college in Gainesville, lived in Ft. Lauderdale previously, and now live in St. Augustine and have spent a a LOT of vacation time in the Keys, Sanibel, Naples, Tampa, Orlando, the 'glades and Ocala so I know the climate in different parts of the Sunshine State. Heck, I've even spent time in Sopchoppy before they had a traffic light and in high school got stuck in YeeHaw Junction with 2 classmates and our science teacher when his car broke down on the way to a science seminar we were headed to A YEAR BEFORE DISNEYWORD OPENED (yes, Sopchoppy, population 426 in 2000, and Yeehaw Junction are real places--Google them if you don't believe me!), and took my Barber exam in Winter Park when it was a bigger city than Orlando --Winter Park was a resort and vacation destination, Orlando was orange groves! Point being, I know Florida pretty well.) My pool has been staying around 88-90 degrees this summer in St. Augustine IN a screen enclosure! (For me it's perfect since I heat my pool to 88 degrees in the cooler weather but my heat pump is reverse cycle so I COULD cool the pool down if I chose to.)

The only way to cool a pool is either:
1) a reverse cycle heat pump (not cheap but the best solution here in Florida)
2) solar heating set to run at night instead of daytime (only works when the nights are cooler than the days so it's not the best choice for Florida in August!)
3) evaporative cooling (misters and fountains)--once again, not the best choice in Florida when 78% relative humidity is considered low in summer and humidity in the 80's and 90's is common!

Don't know of any other ways unless you happen to own an ice company and can have a few truckfuls of ice dumped into your pool daily!

[shoogles]

Yikes... didn't mean to leave you all hanging here, but we have been spending lots of time enjoying our crystal clear, warm bathwater pool since I was last here.

Still no Taylor kit- Hubby has promised I can get one though... just as soon as we clear up a few more pressing financial concerns. Probably will order it next week.

Waterbear: We are actually both native Floridians as well. My husband is from Homestead (yup, he made it through Hurricane Andrew), and I am from Lake City. I lived in both Tallahassee and Gainesville for a bit for school, but we settled down back here in my hometown. This is our first pool though so there's a lot we have still to learn, but we both agree that finding poolforum.com saved us a lot of stress and $$$!

So really, thank you all for all of your help. We'll still be lurking around here and we'll definitely post when we get some solid results from the Taylor, just in case there needs to be any adjustments. You guys are awesome!