rookie bleach questions - disaffected puck duck

[kingbud]

OK, you all have gotten me to thinking about bleach: sounds simple, sounds cool. If I figure right, my 18500 gal IG pool will need about 12 oz. chlorine to attain 5 ppm, and 1 gal of household bleach @ 6% should contain 7.68 oz. So I will need a bit less than 2 gal of bleach to chlorinate my pool. (Begging for a math check here folks.)

The question would be, what is the preferred practice of using the stuff? Is there a schedule, for example, a gallon every third day or so after initial dose? Cup in the morning, cup at night?

If I can find the higher concentration, how tough is that to work with? I would think you could find a little plastic siphon pump at the hardware store to dose it out as needed...

Thanks, as always. This is a great forum.

[JohnT]

Download Bleachcal if you have a PC. http://www.hal-pc.org/~mwsmith2/BleachCalc262.exe

I think most people dose in the evening. Just pour it in a trickle around the deep end with the pump running. Higher strength is the same deal, just takes less.

[Watermom]

Kingbud-
In an 18,500 gallon pool, every quart (which is 32 oz.) of 6% bleach will raise your cl by about 0.8. It will take about 1.5 gallons to raise your cl by 5pm. Most chlorine is sold in 3 quart jugs. Since 4 quarts is a gallon, that would be two 3 quart jugs to equal 1.5 gallons.

How high you need to keep your chlorine level depends on your cya level. Also, the best time to dose with bleach is in the evening. Test and then add however much you need to get back to the proper amount of chlorine (again, based on your cya reading). The easiest way to add it is to dump it in the skimmer while the pump is running and then be sure to run your pump for several hours afterward. Hope this helps.

[cygnusecks]

Are there any chemicals that are *not* OK to dump into skimmer w/pump running? Acid, maybe?

[duraleigh]

Are there any chemicals that are *not* OK to dump into skimmer w/pump running? Acid, maybe?

I don't think anyone on the forum puts acid in the skimmer. It may be fine since it is diluted so quickly (esp. if you pour slowly), but is just seems a lot more prudent to put it into the return stream coming into the pool.