Help interpreting FAS-DPD FC/CC test results **Sorry, long, techy post**

[PoolDoc]

JuJu;

I don't mind your doing this . . . but your post is much too long for the regular forum sections.

And, while we like people to be experimental, since it helps us enlarge our knowledge base, we don't actually like it so much between May 15 and June 15, when we're just slammed. So, please don't be offended if we kinda ignore you for the next month, at least when you're doing stuff like this. Testing chlorine bleach samples is not really central to pool operations. And, if you REALLY want to pursue it, Taylor makes an iodide based test that is for just that purpose.

OK?

[JuJuBee]

I do understand, Ben. Way, way more than you're understanding my intentions in posting.

My "chlorine sample test" is not the main idea of this post, and it was NOT done just out of a general curiosity, but in an effort to eliminate the possibility that I have purchased a bad batch of bleach and therefore have actually been under-chlorinating all the while you have instructed me to reach and maintain shock levels that I can't.

I'm still trying to figure out how to and needed help. Your last post to me was

Hi Judy;
I did a bunch of editing on both yours and my posts, . . .

Let me start by saying as plainly as I can: I don't know -- not for sure -- what's going on with your pool. I think I can guess, but I am not completely certain.

... hand your husband that stupid Taylor book and ask him to hide it somewhere, where you can't find it. You're asking a bunch of questions, because you've read that book carefully...[/I]

"-------------------- In progress -- not finished yet --------------------" (you wrote that...)

that was May 11th . . . and I still haven't figured out how to reach shock levels and see them in my test results. I've been politely patient and tried to find other people to help, I started asking for help early, in April, to AVOID the holiday, I've understood how busy it is, and I didn't blame you for not getting back to me.

I mention the sample test in this post solely to compare it with how I've been using the FAS-DPD to test my pool water as an attempt to "eliminate another possibility of error" which is:

is my testing method flawed so that I am not calculating the right amount of bleach to reach the shock level you told me I needed to get to and stay at to get rid of the CC? If it is, then I can start correcting that.

I seriously don't know what I've done differently from any other poster on this site to have this exchange. I've maintained respect and politeness in every way I could. I've observed and read MANY long, wordy posts by others, in April AND May, yet none of them were handled this way. The only few as long as this one were also technical in nature.

As for your comments just now, I really MUST reply:

JuJu;

I don't mind your doing this . . . but your post is much too long for the regular forum sections.

** I don't know any shorter way to describe how I've been testing so that you guys can best troubleshoot why I can't reach shock levels or reduce CC.

In order to avoid posting long in the wrong sections, I asked first, in a different post, where I should put this and I was told in the testing section.

I created three other short posts to handle other questions. I purposefully did not put them in this post. I kept this post focused on the testing problems I'm having in using the kit.

Please know I am trying my best to be mindful and respectful of the timing of my problems and the length in explaining them. But they are just as valid and important as all the other problems being posted.

And, while we like people to be experimental,

I'm not being experimental at all! I'm trying to solve a very real problem and have been consistently since April 17th!

since it helps us enlarge our knowledge base, we don't actually like it so much between May 15 and June 15, when we're just slammed. So, please don't be offended

but I very much am as I am no different from any other person coming to this forum needing help
... yet I still really like this forum, it's moderators, and all the knowledge and advice.

if we kinda ignore you for the next month, at least when you're doing stuff like this.

"stuff like this"? Because of the holiday, I thought being thorough with my testing problem would SAVE time and not cause dozens of needed back and forth replies asking for all of this exact information and causing your moderators more work. I truly thought I was being thoughtful and making it easier for you to give LESS replies, but MORE educated; thereby actually saving all of us time.

This post had to focus on more techy stuff, so I kept it's focus just that. It was necessary to receive help in my use of the FAS-DPD and reading the results correctly. I've seen many other loooooong posts on the specifics and usually Chem Geek or Waterbear chimes in. I just assumed this one post would be read by them being that it's more technically detailed.

Testing chlorine bleach samples is not really central to pool operations. And, if you REALLY want to pursue it, Taylor makes an iodide based test that is for just that purpose.

I don't really want to pursue testing chlorine bleach samples. I kept THAT one in a very short post, received immediate and perfect help from AnnaK, and moved on.

I'm so confused over why I've been misunderstood all this time. Maybe it's just time to set intolerance aside and thoroughly read my posts?

I sound upset, but please know I sincerely feel all this is a big misunderstanding and if you had the time to truly look closely at my posts, you'd realize that. I don't think you mean to upset me at all and I still am not displeased with any of you. I know you don't want this site to be "intolerant" and I do hope we work this out and find a way to understand each other better.

OK?

[BigDave]

JJB,
Did you read my post, just beore PD's? Do you think that answers or helps lead to an answer to your long post from last night? I interpret your long post to be asking( in a very detailed way) "Why does my FAS-DPD testing work differently than it seems it should?"

-- OOPS -- so you did.

Take it easy, see if you can clear up the CC in a bucket, then you'll know you can clear your pool.

[chem geek]

Do you have a pool cover that is dark or opaque? If so, uncover your pool at least part of the day to let sunlight on it as that can help bring down the CC.

I don't know why the FAS-DPD chlorine test isn't giving you clear readings. Though sometimes the water gets a little cloudy during the test, the color transition is usually pretty clean. See this link and click on "Pool/Spa" on the left, select the K-2006 "To Test (Free and Combined Chlorine) using FAS-DPD".

By any chance was your pool converted from a different type of sanitation such as Baquacil/biguanide/PHMB? There may be something in your pool causing interference with the FAS-DPD test.