Best Method for Pool and Spa Sanitation for Chlorine Allergy

[LarryFlorida]

Quick question------

For a 500-600 gal hot tub, I am calculating that ~0.5 oz of ~10.5% liquid chlorine will raise the FC ~1 ppm. Is that close enough to correct?

[PoolDoc]

Do NOT use pool store bleach for this purpose. Industrial bleach can be quite variable in purity and contamination. For this test, use PLAIN 6% brand-name Clorox. Buy it fresh, and store it inside.

600 gallons => ~5000 lbs water
1 ppm => 5000/1,000,000 => 0.005 lb @ 100%
1 gallon of 6% bleach @ 8.6 lbs => 0.51 lbs Cl2 equivalent
So 1 gallon will add 0.51/0.005 ppm, or 102 ppm
1/8 cup is 1/128 gallon, so 1/8 cup will be 102/128 or 0.8 ppm ADDED

BUT . . . . if your original report of 0.5 FC + ~2.0 CC in your tap water was correct, your RESIDUAL (what's left, after reaction) is going to be complicated. HOCl / -OCl reacts with NH4Cl (monochloramine) like this (usually):

NH2Cl + HOCl → NHCl2 + H2O (dichloramine -- somewhat volatile, quite irritating)
and then
NHCl2 + HOCl → NCl3 + H2O (trichloramine aka nitrogen trichloride -- volatile, tear-gas-like in its effect on people)

Now, this is classic breakpoint chlorination chemistry, an old stand-by in pool treatment lore, but one that is rarely applicable. HOWEVER, in your case with your water company supplying MC treated water, it applies

Note that, at each step, you add free chlorine (HOCl), react it with a chloramine, and then get water and an MORE NOXIOUS chloramine! So, if you fill your spa with MC treated tap water with 2 ppm of MC, add 4 ppm of FC, and put your daughter in . . . she's doing to have problems! Do NOT do this.

This is the complexity that caused me to back off on the tub dosing, above.

The BEST way to get a hot tub is to
1. Get the K2006 (I believe I mentioned this before
2. Fill the spa with tap water.
3. Add 1/2 cup of 20 Mule Team borax.
4. Heat.
5. Turn on the aerator / blower / whatever for 10 minutes.
6. Test FC, CC, & pH with the K2006.
7. Add MORE borax if pH is below 8.0
8. Once pH is OK, add 5 ppm of FC per ppm of CC
9. Aerate (and KEEP YOUR DAUGHTER AWAY!)
10. Retest
11. Repeat (adj. pH, then dose with FC, then aerate)
12. Continue till you have an FC > 2.0 and a CC < 0.4.
13. If you get stuck, and aren't making progress, leave it alone for a day and LEAVE IT UNCOVERED IN THE SUN.

But, do NOT put your daughter into the spa till you have a STABLE pH between 7.6 and 8.0, a STABLE FC in the 1.0 - 4.0 range and a STABLE CC level below 0.4 ppm, and do NOT let her stand around the spa, while you are aerating, till the MC / DC / TriC is gone!

(Get a K2006!)

[LarryFlorida]

Quick question----

If my stabilizer level is testing out at 100, I should be using all non-stabilizer chlorine in the pool correct?

Specifically, the pool store told me that using the stabilized tablets wont add more stabilizer to the water and I neednt worry about it, but this doesnt make alot of sense to me. I am thinking I should be using nothing but a non-stabilized chlorine source as the stabilizer is already about at the limit?

[PoolDoc]

Specifically, the pool store told me that using the stabilized tablets wont add more stabilizer to the water

1. You have learned something important. The pool person you spoke to is full of it. Since he may have learned this little bit of idiocy from store training, you should assume that nothing they tell you is trustworthy.

2. Your stabilizer level is NOT "100 ppm"; it's "100 ppm OR above" . . . there is a VERY big difference! Your actual CYA level might be 140 ppm, or even 350!


Get a K2006! You are flying blind here, and keep asking questions that amount to, 'Which way should I go?'. You can't answer those questions till you know where you are, now, and you don't!

[LarryFlorida]

Pooldoc-

The K2006 isnt here yet :-(

Prior to then though, I am thinking I may just give the pool the same treatment as the spa.......drain it and start fresh. The pool water is likely "aged" anyway and Ill probably feel alot more comfortable just with a clean slate.

[PoolDoc]

I'd wait for the K2006!

If you ordered from Amazon, it should only be another day or 2. You really, really want to get control of this thing, and not have something happen to the pool behind your back, so to speak, and re-trigger the problems your daughter has had.

PLUS, you will need the K2006 to work your way from 0.5 FC + 2.0 CC to, say 2.0 FC and no CC.

Also, once you have the pool, you'll have to add CYA right away, to maintain chlorine. It's very unlikely that CYA is a trigger for your daughter's reactions, but I don't KNOW that it's not. I think your original idea of draining the spa, and use it to test is a good one. With it, if something goes wrong, you can drain and restart and it's no big deal. And, you can test CYA in the spa, without making a big commitment.

That's not the case with the pool.


ALSO . . . you need to make SURE that the water level in the ground is not high enough to 'float' your pool. I don't know your exact location, nor what sort of weather you've been having, but it's been quite wet, here. If your pool is on level ground . . . and the almost always are, in Florida . . . you need to VERIFY ground water levels before you drain. Borrow a post hole digger, and dig down 2' next to your pool. If you do NOT high water, and IF your pool is shallow (no deep end), you should be OK. Otherwise, hold off. You do NOT want to have your pool float out of the ground, and that's a fairly common event in Florida.

Finally, I'm going to merge this thread back into the other one, since this discussion is still part of that whole issue with your daughter's reactions.

[LarryFlorida]

Bringing an oldie back to the top!!!!

Ive been using the Eclipse ozone generator on the pool and a smaller ozone generator on the spa and its worked great so far(I guess its been about 13-14 months).

Ive been keeping track of my chroline usage and in that time period for the pool and the spa I have used ~38 lb of 3" chlorine tablets, about 6 gallons of muriatic acid, and about 5 jugs of the liquid chlorine (I dump some liquid in every so often just for yucks).

Is this a normal amount of usage for an ~18,000 gallon pool and ~600 gallon spa in FL? The pool gets used year round, but in Jan/Feb use is alot lighter as even with the solar the temp hangs in the 70-75F range and we are wimps.