Helping neighbor with pool

[jilted]

She doesn't even recall ever using any type of stabilizer ever from what she is telling me they are "heavy chlorine users" and go through many buckets. I'll look through their old stock to see if I see something that is CYA.

The jugs of bleach we get at the dollar store are 1.5 gallon jugs. I was just guessing at the dosage. I need to learn that formula for my own use also!

For the Borax, I have never had to look for that before. Walmart has it? Does it need to be that 20 mule team brand?

What about the alk situation? When should we worry about that?

I didn't see much on the walls if any, she had it clear and it just turned, also she still has some organics (leaves) on the bottom I told her to get the rest of those out asap.

thanks!
-stephen

[aylad]

The tabs are trichlor tabs, which contain stabilizer, and if they "go through many buckets", then her CYA was almost certainly high at closing. If she has none now, then it's because it was broken down by bacteria over the winter, and the byproduct is ammonia--which takes lots and lots of chlorine to break down. When she starts using the tabs again, her stabilizer (CYA) will again begin to rise, so I wouldn't worry right now about adding CYA. You'll want to add a little bit later, but not now. The tabs also tend to lower pH, too, because they are acidic, so chances are good that it will take more than one box of Borax (yes, the 20-mule team kind, in the laundry aisle at WalMart--get Borax, NOT the washing soda!) to raise the pH above 7.0, but acidic water can destroy a liner, so that's a priority.

Do not worry about the alk situation right now. If she doesn't have a heater or SWCG, then it's not a priority and can easily be dealt with later.

In order to clear this up and get the ammonia taken care of, regular testing is going to be required--she either needs to get a good test kit (drop-based, not strips, we recommend the K-2006 that can be ordered online through the Amazon link in my sig). If she's not willing or able to frequently test and do what's needed to maintain shock level, then it's going to be a waste of time and bleach. So--if you or she is willing to do what it takes, then we'll be happy to walk you through getting it cleared up and going for the season. But it's not a one-time deal--this process takes patience and consistency....and regular testing.

Check the label on the bleach that you're getting from the dollar store. If it's not 6%, then let me know, because the percentage of sodium hypochlorite will affect the doseage. The doseage I gave you earlier is for 35K gallons of water with 6% bleach. In your pool, at 28K gallons, each 1/2 gallon of 6% will raise your chlorine by 1 ppm.

Janet

[jilted]

Thanks for the info.
I think she meant many buckets of granules but I will find out.
The family dollar brand 182oz jugs (1.42 gallons) are 6%.
I'm going to help them get straight using my k-2006 but I'm going to either tell her to get one or sell her mine so I can upgrade to the bigger bottle kit! :-)
She's at the end of her liner life also and will be replacing after this year.
I'll report back later on this and will focus on ph and keeping FC high.

-stephen

[aylad]

We still need to know what the granules are--if they're Cal-hypo we'll need a calcium level on her water to make sure it's not too high and may cause milky water. If they're dichlor, that's also stabilized, and will drive pH low.

Janet

[jilted]

Real quick, the water is already much less green than it was yesterday!

The granules are EZ Chlor: Sodium Dichloro-s-Triazinetrione-Dihydrate

She put in 4 jugs yesterday evening, this afternoon the FC with my cheap OTO kit was still fairly dark yellow (possibly 5'ish ppm) which was about 18 hours later. I had her hit it again with 4 more. Also she happened to have a box of 20 mule borax, so I had her put in 1/4 box.

I went back about 3 hours later and the ph was still lower than 7 so we put in another 1/4 box. Also, the FC reading on the OTO kit was dark orange.

I'll go back in the AM and test ph and FC again. She is supposed to pick up more bleach and borax this evening.

One more thing, she got the rest of the leaves out.

Thanks,
-stephen

[jilted]

Morning report: The water is no longer green, it is now blue and sort of cloudy.

She got and added 2 more jugs bleach (2.8 gallons) and the FC test is still dark orange. The local stores are not restocking this weekend!!! haha

The pH test is still showing yellow (under 7) so I added the rest of the borax she had available, about 1/3 of a box.

I will test again later this afternoon.

-stephen

[aylad]

Sounds like you're making progress

Keep working on the pH until you can get it over 7.0, and have her try to keep the chlorine in the orange zone until the pool clears. She'll need to keep the pump and filter running to filter out the cloudiness, which is dead algae. What type of filter does she have, and does she know how and when to clean it?