Filling pool tomorrow

[xJustin]

The fire department is bringing us a hose tomorrow so we can fill the pool. I've gathered that using bleach to get the chlorination to an acceptable level is the best option, is this correct? We spent this week refinishing the tiles and acid-washing the walls and floor.

[BigDave]

You certainly don't want water sitting around for long without chlorine. Bleach is great, but, how big is this pool It might take an unwieldy amount of bleach.

[xJustin]

150k gallons.

And it looks like the upstairs guys don't want to spend any money, so meh. Looks like the granulated shock is all we got. I hate using it because it doesn't mix well and settles as a sludge on the floor.

[Watermom]

Bleach is not practical for this pool. Ben is the best one to advise you on a commercial pool. He is the only one who has the experience dealing with these huge volume pools. He'll be around later.

[BigDave]

What's in the granulated shock, cal-hypo or dichlor?

[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!