Quote Originally Posted by PoolDoc View Post
But, even if you had, that wouldn't prove anything . . . unless you RAISED the chlorine in those pools, and THEN had your daughter swim in them . . . and found that she began to experience symptoms as soon as the chlorine levels in THOSE pools went up.

Let me go back to my earlier statement: YOU have ALREADY proved, by your OWN statements about your daughter's shower habits that she's not allergic to chlorine. (I'm assuming you got the test results from the water company? THOSE would be accurate.)

Let me take it one step farther. There is NO evidence -- zip, nada, none, nothing -- that chlorine in water (so long as it STAYS in the water) EVER causes respiratory reactions. Skin reactions? Yes. Eye reactions? Yes. But respiratory reactions? No. These reactions occur ONLY when chlorine (or chlorinated compounds) get into the air.
Yes, I def assumed it was the chlorinated compounds were in the air that was the issue. Her head just bobbing right at water level would expose her to a layer of whatever gas was at water level.

Let me go back to YOUR test results. You have at least two values that are untrustworthy. Your FC is 3.0, and your CYA is 100. What that most LIKELY means is that your pool water's FC is 3.0 OR ABOVE and that your CYA level is 100 or ABOVE. Above is more likely than 'at': your actual values may well be FC=17 ppm and your CYA = 340 ppm!

More than that your TDS reading is improbable. It is possible to have FC @ 3+, TA @ 110+, Cal @ 200+, & CYA @ 100+ . . . and still have a TDS of 1000. But it's not very likely. Now, the TDS reading is not really very important. But it just throws up the question of, "How reliable are your PaP store's tests?"
Im not sure! I do know they use some sort of Taylor kit and it appeared substantial. I can check next time and see models, etc. I did see that they can read higher than 3 ppm FC though on their vials. (My kit at home tops out at 3).

As for low TDS, I suppose that could be because I have topped the pool off a number of times with water thats gone through my water softener/charcoal filter?
PaP store generally seem to do better than other pool stores. But over the years, I've seen hundreds of reports of extremely unreliable pool water testing by pool stores. One of my favorite experiments is to have neighbors go into a pool store together, BOTH carrying water samples that they PRETEND are from their own pools, but that are ACTUALLY from the SAME pool.

To date, nobody has gotten matching testing results, when the pool store tested the same water 2x!
HA! Thats a well timed statement as I tried to trick them yesterday with a sample from my hot tub that was city water. I didnt tell them anything about it, just handed them the bottle. They immediately asked if the hot tub was just refilled.

I can help you, if you want to work on this in a systematic, fact-based, way.

You know you have water -- in your shower -- that is chlorinated and does NOT irritate your daughter.

You know that you have water that is chlorinated, AND that has nobody knows what-else in it, that DOES irritate your daughter.

You need to start with what you know works: shower water (ie, tap water) in your pool, and then CAREFULLY add additional chemicals, to see if ANY of them trigger the problem. If you test accurately, work systematically, and discover that chlorine -- free chlorine -- IS triggering your daughter's problem, we'll be extremely interested, but we aren't going to try to bury the results. We do NOT sell chlorine, here.
I planned to do just this tonight. I refilled the hot tub with tap water and added nothing to it. She can soak in that awhile as a baseline.
And, if you've dealt with allergies before, you already know that this step-by-step challenge process is EXACTLY the process followed medically to identify the allergen or irritant that is causing a patient problems.


BUT, if you just "want low chlorine" and the heck with the facts, we don't need to keep spending time talking about it. Just convert your pool to Baquacil (PHMB) which is the ONLY EPA recognized pool sanitizer that is chlorine free.

PHMB (Baquacil) has a host of problems as a pool treatment (we have a whole forum section about them), but it has not been (as far as I known) ever been associated with respiratory problems, at least the first 2 years it's used.

So, if you just want low chlorine, go to a store that will sell you Baquacil, Softswim or some other PHMB system, and convert.

If you drain and refill before you add PHMB, you will almost certainly eliminate whatever is triggering your daughter. BUT, if you convert in place, you run the risk that your daughter's trigger will REMAIN in the pool and cause problems. So, DRAIN FIRST!

(My guess is that your daughter is triggering off of something that forms when chlorine is mixed with whatever else is in your pool. If that is correct, you can convert without draining, and eliminate the problem. But if it's something that causes your daughter problems even when there is no chlorine . . . the problems may continue after you convert.)

Do NOT convert to an highly ozonated or a toxic heavy metal system!

Remember that ozone is a SEVERE respiratory irritant and trigger and that Nature2 is a toxic heavy metal system (both copper and silver are toxic heavy metals). They are not very toxic to humans, but they are quite toxic to other life. There is active research by an Everglades research center into the toxic effects of copper on wildlife and the eco system.)
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I dont dare touch that Bacquacil stuff! Heard too many stories about it online.............1-2 years down the line the pool is a mess and its tough to recover from it, etc.