Filling pool tomorrow

[xJustin]

Calhypo. In previous years we've had to use 50 lbs a day just to maintain a steady level of chlorination. We have two chlorinators that use the round tabs, but I'm not sure if they work full strength. One seems to empty out the tabs daily while the other takes about a week(both turned on the max setting)

[BigDave]

Can you dose the cal-hypo into the skimmers to have it dissolve on the sand in the filters? If you do, be darn sure the chlorinators are on the outlet of the filter and there are no other chemicals before the filter. Cal-hypo can mix with dichlor and triclor and CYA to go boom.
Try swapping the inlet lines between the chlorinators and see if that moves the problem. If so, maybe it's the tap or a crushed line on the inlet side. If the problem doesn't move then maybe it's a similar problem on the outlet side.

[xJustin]

I'll switch up on the chlorinators, and they are in fact on the return side.

On the skimmer, everywhere I read says pouring shock into skimmers is a nono, is this not true?

We took some water to the local pool supply shop for testing and they sent us home with $600 worth of Chems.

100# calcium
2 bottles of "phosfree" or something along that line
200# sodium bicarbonate
50# of stabilizer

Does this seem plausible? Or did we get oversold

[Watermom]

Big Dave -- this thread is one that we need to let Ben handle, please.

Justin --- please wait on Ben to advise you on this.

Thanks.

[PoolDoc]

Sorry Justin;

We've been slammed with traffic, and I'm not keeping up.

1. Think twice about using the Phos-free stuff. It will cloud your pool for days, and my guess is you are trying to open this weekend.

2. If you have access to a Sams Club and can buy their PoolBrand dichlor 50lb buckets, I'd recommend buying (3) of those, and using dichlor to chlorinate AND add stabilizer. If you can do that, take the stabilizer back.

3. If you also have access to cal hypo in 50 or 100lb buckets, I'd recommend using THOSE as a the primary source of chlorine (once you have used the dichlor). Cal hypo adds both chlorine AND calcium, so if you have access to cal hypo, take the calcium hardness back.

4. If they are selling you the sodium bicarbonate at less than $0.50/lb keep it, otherwise you can get it cheaper at Sams.

5. You need a K-2006C test kit PLUS an OTO kit for daily tests. If Walmarts in your area handle the HTH 6-way, I'd recommend buying (2) of those and (1) K-2006 for your testing.

6. What is your daily swimmer load?

7. Do you have health inspection on the pool?

8. If you do NOT have health inspection, I'd recommend running very high CYA levels, which will allow you to dose chlorine 2x - 3x per week and STILL maintain good sanitation in between. One of the huge problems on commercial pools is maintaining adequate chlorination with varying loads AND varying staff. With high CYA *and* high chlorine, you can store large quantities of chlorine IN the pool water, which allows you to have the 1 or 2 competent people you may have do all the chemistry.

Good luck!

[xJustin]

Thank you for the reply!


1. Think twice about using the Phos-free stuff. It will cloud your pool for days, and my guess is you are trying to open this weekend.

Yes we are being inspected tomorrow, and supposed to open Saturday morning. I however may be able to delay that 24-36 hours. Should I just take the phosfree back? I think they charged 42.00 a bottle for two small bottles.


2. If you have access to a Sams Club and can buy their PoolBrand dichlor 50lb buckets, I'd recommend buying (3) of those, and using dichlor to chlorinate AND add stabilizer. If you can do that, take the stabilizer back.

We do have a corporate account with Sam's, so I'm sure we can pick up the dichlor. I will just need some info to help persuade corporate that we need the dichlor since they already bought us 2 tons of calhypo. What are the benefits of initial shocking with dichlor opposed to calhypo? Would it be counterproductive to shock today with calhypo so we pass inspection tomorrow, then do a dichlor shocking?


3. If you also have access to cal hypo in 50 or 100lb buckets, I'd recommend using THOSE as a the primary source of chlorine (once you have used the dichlor). Cal hypo adds both chlorine AND calcium, so if you have access to cal hypo, take the calcium hardness back.

We get our calhypo in 100lb buckets, but it apparently is very cheap and doesn't dissolve well leaving a sludgy-sand type coating on the bottom of the floor. However, I already added one 50 pound bag of calcium hardness to the water, should i take the other bag back?


4. If they are selling you the sodium bicarbonate at less than $0.50/lb keep it, otherwise you can get it cheaper at Sams.

actually was 1.19/lb lol... but I took it back as we found 6 bags of it we had in chemical storage.


5. You need a K-2006C test kit PLUS an OTO kit for daily tests. If Walmarts in your area handle the HTH 6-way, I'd recommend buying (2) of those and (1) K-2006 for your testing.

I'll see what we can do in obtaining those, but it may not be possible. Corporate shipped us two test kits that use tablets and drops, but I don't recall the branding. They were used, but seem to work ok. I'll find out what they are and post later.


6. What is your daily swimmer load?

Varies fairly dramatically, anywhere from 30-60 on a weekday, to upward of 100-150 on the weekends.


7. Do you have health inspection on the pool?

Yes, monthly with the first being tomorrow. She wants the pool clear, presentable, and uses test strips to check ph and chlorine.



I got a test ran on our fill water from our pool supplier, I'll post the numbers here.


Free Chlorine - 0.7ppm
Total Chlorine - 1.8ppm
Combined Chlorine - 1.1ppm
pH - 6.9
Hardness - 184ppm
Alkalinity - 31ppm
Cyanuric Acid - 0ppm
Copper - 0ppm
Iron - 0ppm
Phosphate - 300ppb

[PoolDoc]

+ Take the Phos Free back, unless you are planning to put your pool out of service for a week.

+ Dichlor allows you to raise your stabilizer immediately: unlike granular stabilizer, it's fully soluble.

+ If you have a ton of cal hypo, you do NOT need calcium hardness. You are going to end up with high CH as it is.

I'll see what we can do in obtaining those, but it may not be possible. Corporate shipped us two test kits that use tablets and drops, but I don't recall the branding. They were used, but seem to work ok.

Justin, I'm sorry, but I'm done with this thread now. I simply don't have time. My moderators and support team find these sort of thread interesting, and try to help, but they don't know what they don't know about commercial pools, and so they tend to give inappropriate advice.

And to get right to the hard of it, trying to help commercial pools is a losing cause, for several reasons. One is what I quoted above: you're operating the pool, but your hands are tied. When I contracted locally, I wrote my service contract for flat fee service that gave me full responsibility and full authority. That way -- so long as the water was OK -- I could do what ever I wanted, with whatever chemicals and tools I preferred and without getting permission from anyone. I did that, in part, to bypass the endless 2nd guessing by managers and boards who didn't know the difference between pH up and pH down!

We routinely tell individuals that we don't work with 3rd parties: if their neighbor's pool needs help, have their neighbor register. But commercial pools are ALL about 3rd parties, and half the time, you don't even know who they are, till too late.

It might be possible to overcome that, if it weren't for the second problem: as I'm sure you know, pool managers tend to be where they are 1 or 2 years at most. They move up; they move down; they move away, but they don't stay.

If I teach a home pool owner how to operate his pool, odds are he'll STILL be operating that pool 5 years from now. But, if I teach you, odds are 50:50 (in terms of pool managers generally -- I don't know your specific situation) that all that work will be wasted effort next year, because you'll have moved on. And after 2 years, there's an 80% chance someone else will be running any particular large commercial pool.

Nothing against you; nothing against me . . . but helping commercial pool owners and operators is not what PoolForum is about. You're welcome to read. And maybe someday, I'll have enough folks in this section, so that y'all can discuss things with each other.

But, right now, I've got to get back to my primary users, who are residential pool owners.