Question about shock and chlorine

[BigDave]

...Yes the alkalinity in my fill water was pretty close to that in the pool. And it is the same water she bathes in...

That rules out the Alk as the cause of the rash. Good to know.

[donovan.lambright]

We tried swimming again today (Sunday). Chlorine was at 2 and pH at 7.8; other tests in the hth 6-way kit were the same as previously posted. Once again, she got the rash. This time, the itching started within a few hours. She can't sleep tonight because of the itching, which is why I'm writing this in the middle of the night.

I'm sure my frustration is worse right now because of the lack of sleep but I'm just about ready to take the pool down. I'm willing to drain and refill but not without some firm idea of what will change. As it is, all the test numbers appear to be within the acceptable range. Alkalinity and hardness are high but they're equally high in the fill water, which we use to bathe in without incident. They only thing I can see as a possible answer is that I put in 3 times the recommended dosage of AquaChem Shock Plus at the pool opening, almost a month ago. With 42% unlisted ingredients, it's hard to say what effect that might have had.

But that's all unproven hypothesis right now. As I said, I'm willing to drain it and try again but, with the source of the problem still unknown, I fear adding another 4,000 gallons to my water bill only to have the same problem yet again. I've ordered the Taylor kit but it hasn't arrived yet. Is there any test in that kit that measures something which could account for this? I feel like I'm shooting in the dark.

Sorry to vent like this. I'm just about at my wit's end and am seriously thinking of throwing in the towel. Thanks for listening.

Donovan

[Watermom]

Donovan, I totally understand your frustration. As a mother myself, I know how it feels to have your little ones hurting and not know what is causing it. Let me ask Ben to look at your thread and see if he has any ideas. He is on a family reunion and may not be back around the forum until tomorrow, so sit tight for now.

(Maybe try an Aveeno oatmeal bath in tepid water to help calm the itching?)

[waterbear]

I am going to throw out something else. Is the rash on areas that were covered by her bathing suit or on areas that were not? What is the suit made of and how has it been washed?

[Watermom]

Donovan,
A few threads for you to read (obviously the whole threads won't apply to your situation but you may get some helpful info from them):

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...lorine-Allergy

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...pm-bad-for-you

I also talked with Ben and he suggested that you try and isolate which specific ingredient might be causing the problems by using them one at a time in the bathtub. (It was mentioned in threads I referenced.)

To cut and paste what he told me this morning:
"There's a thread in China Shop abt chlorine allergy u can point him to. But he'll need to do single item testing in the tub with just legs. I'd go polyquat, bleach, borax, dichlor. Once he has enough chems to maintain a pool, he can drain & refill. Chlorine alone is not the problem, but chlorine is rarely alone -- so no telling what's actually in his pool!"



Do them in the order he suggest above starting with the Polyquat. If that product causes no sensitivity issues, then you can proceed to the next one. Always drain and rinse out the tub well before using the next item.

When you get to the point of testing the dichlor, please don't use the product you used before. Actually, we usually only recommend using dichlor purchased at Sam's (100% dichlor) or Amazon's Kem-Tek dichlor.

The Polyquat is 60% which is the only algaecide we recommend.


Let us know what you find out and then I'm sure Ben will be around to advise you further. Hope this helps.

[donovan.lambright]

Thanks, everyone. I've taken a few deep breaths and calmed down. Fortunately, the list of things I've put in the pool is pretty short:
--AquaChem Shock Plus (58.2% dichlor and 41.8% "other ingredients")
--hth pH Down (a couple of small doses--3/4 cup each time)
--1 inch chlorine tabs in the floater (99% Trichloro-s-triazinetrione and 1% other ingredients)

That's it. Nothing else has gone into the water. As discussed earlier, I did overdose (by a factor of 3) on the shock when opening the pool. In light of the short list of ingredients, is it still worth it to do the bathtub test? Not trying to argue with those who know better; just trying to understand.

While I've had my pH down to 7.5, I never got it down to 7.2 as advised in a previous post. I also have not done much on reducing the alkalinity as advised above.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Need to add one thing to my list of chemicals added to the pool, which I forgot in my previous post:

3/4 cup of hth Algecide, added when I opened the pool about 3 weeks ago. That is really it.

Thanks for bearing with me.

Donovan

EDIT by Watermom: 2 posts in the queue were merged together

[donovan.lambright]

For those who asked about the rash...

It is appearing all over but is worse where the swimming suit touches the body. It's lots of small reddish bumps, packed densely together where the swimsuit sits, less dense on other areas like the stomach and back. The swimsuit is a two-piece.

I'm not sure what it's made of but will check and post. It's been washed with pretty standard washing detergent. I'll check and get more details.

[BigDave]

The MSDS for Aqua Chem Shock Plus lists it as a skin irritant and sensitizer in section 11 Toxicological Information.

[Watermom]

The reason for the bath tub test is to try and narrow down what might be causing your child's rash. If you test each of those items one at a time and she does not have any reactions, then you can drain your pool and refill and use those products only and she should be fine.

[donovan.lambright]

The reason for the bath tub test is to try and narrow down what might be causing your child's rash. If you test each of those items one at a time and she does not have any reactions, then you can drain your pool and refill and use those products only and she should be fine.

Got it. My thought was that those were all pretty well known chemicals that were "safe". Having read more, including PoolDoc's threads, I understand that nothing is really "safe" in this kind of mystery. Sometimes, I wish I could take back messages where I say something dumb and then realize my error. :-)

One practical question I have is quantity of each chemical. How do you scale it down to a bathtub? I saw in one of the threads PoolDoc posted a reference to 2 teaspoons of bleach. Does that scale the same for things like Algicide and pH Down? Or is there formula to use?

Thanks for the clarification, Watermom!


Donovan