Starting up and trying to avoid the pool stores

[Pool8]

I don't want all of you to think I am doubting your advice, I am just trying to learn the reasons why I am doing something. We plan to have a pool for many years and I hope to be able to manage it on my own. That was my biggest problem with the pool stores. They would just hand me a print out and a handful of chemicals and tell me to add all of them. But, they never could really explain why and sometimes they would ignore certain things I would bring up like CYA, but then other times it was important.

What all does the CYA do? My pool seems to be holding chlorine at the 3-5 range consistently without dissipating. I was under the impression that the only purpose for CYA was to help you maintain chlorine, which I am doing. Is that right?

Also, I agree Intex is probably not the experts on pool care. I only posted what the manual said because people said I should consult that. According to them, my chlorine is too high already. The manual says I should have a max of 3 ppm. I typically have closer to 5.

I appreciate all of the help!!

[aylad]

The CYA shields the chlorine from the sun, allowing more of it to stay in the pool to fight bacteria, viruses, algae, etc. However, because it makes the chlorine less aggressive, the higher the CYA level is, the higher you must maintain your baseline chlorine to make sure algae stays away. Read the "best guess chlorine chart" page that Ben directed you to--it will explain it more in-depth.

The higher level for CYA is being recommended because you have a SWCG. SWCG's use a cell to electrically generate the chlorine from the salt in the water(there are those on this forum who can explain this process chemicall--I can't, so I won't try!). That cell is designed to wear out and stop working after a certain number of hours, and will have to be replaced at that point. By having your CYA high, the chlorine stays in the pool longer, so the cell is required to run less time to maintain the needed chlorine...therefore your cell will last a lot longer if you have the recommended amount of CYA for your unit. Most of them require CYA levels around 80-100 ppm.

You are smart not to just blindly throw stuff into your pool at the whim (and profit) of the pool store, and we're here to help you understand exactly what you're asking for--what each thing does and how it affects your chemistry, so you're not adding stuff you don't need to the pool.

[PoolDoc]

What all does the CYA do? My pool seems to be holding chlorine at the 3-5 range consistently without dissipating. I was under the impression that the only purpose for CYA was to help you maintain chlorine, which I am doing. Is that right?

Bottom line: higher CYA will make your SWCG work less hard, and last longer. The Best Guess page has not been rewritten to reflect either the SWCG norms, or the HiC2 (high chlorine + high CYA) option. It's on the to-do list.

[Pool8]

Ok, that makes a lot more sense. It is more about making my equipment last than my levels being wrong. I am away from home for 2 days, but then I will get started. As far as the alkalinity being high, is that a concern too or not really since my ph is good? Thanks for everything!!

[PoolDoc]

High alkalinity will tend to make your pH drift upwards, but on a vinyl pool, it's not necessarily a concern otherwise. However, since you have a SWCG, it would be better to hold your pH at the low end of things. This will also cause your alkalinity to go down over time.