Excessive bleach consumption

[VOLDADDY]

I am having the same problem smallpooldad is having in his thread below, but instead of living in beautiful Hawaii, I live in GA...Alas.

Friday night I added 2 jugs of 6% bleach, 3 qt size. I didn't test my checmials then. I tested Saturday AM and here's what I had:

FC 2
CC 0
TC 2
PH 7.8
ALK 170
CAL 150
CYA 35

The CYA was between 30 and 40, so I guesstimated it at 35. I added 2 more jugs of bleach Saturday morning. I tested this morning and my FC was 1, so I had to add 2 more jugs of bleach.

I have an IG pool, 21k gallons, and according to the bleach calc, each jug of bleach I use should raise my FC 2.1 PPM.

I have read where some of you guys only have to add bleach once a week or so. I have no CC's in my pool. What should I do? I read on smallpooldad's thread where he was advised to shock the pool, but since I have no CC's would I need to? Should I raise my CYA higher? I have about 1/2 a bottle left. I don't want to get it too high, and have to drain to lower it. I leave my filter running 24/7, only turning off to run my Aquabot, and my water is crystal clear. It's not that hot where I live now, only about 84. My bleach was just bought 3 days ago and kept inside my house in the kitchen, so it didn't get hot. Any ideas/comments/suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
TIA.

[CarlD]

Sounds like you are fighting something even though CC shows 0. Try shocking it up to 12ppm, keep it there for a day or two and see if maintains it better, or falls rapidly again. This is usually the time you want to shock your pool and makes sure everything is really, quite sincerely dead.

[VOLDADDY]

OK Carl, I shocked to 12 last night and will check and shock to 12 again tonight. I also added the remainder of my CYA, roughly 2 lbs. I'll post back my results. Hopefully this will slow down the bleach use.

[mwsmith2]

What I'd do in this case is to shock to 12 at night. Add you bleach, circulate and test before you go to bed. See if you really hit the number you were aiming for. Then, test again in the morning before the sun comes up. This will eliminate the sun as a factor. If your Cl drops overnight still, then yes, you are fighting something. If not, it's just the sun burning it off.

Michael

[VOLDADDY]

We didn't get home until late tonight. I tested about 10:45 and my FC was down to 2, and this was after adding 5 jugs of bleach yesterday. I added 2 in the morning when I tested to get it up to a safe swimming level, then added 3 more at night. Unfortunately, I wont be able to test again tonight as work calls tomorrow AM. I will test when I get home tomorrow and add bleac at sundown, recheck in an hour, then check early Wednesday AM.

[VOLDADDY]

OK, I added 5 jugs of bleach last night, and my FC is now 4 PPM. I am going to add 4 jugs to try and get my level to 12 PPM. I will test an hour after adding to see where I actually am and post results back. I think I lost about 8 PPM from last night to now.

[VOLDADDY]

Added 4 jugs of bleach @ 9:45, FC was 4, 21k IG oval vinyl pool. Should take me to 12 PPM. I am going to check in an hour or so-is this long enough for the bleach to circulate and mix?

[mwsmith2]

mmm, should be.

[VOLDADDY]

At 11:10 I tested again and have 14 PPM FC. I was at 4 PPM and added 4 jugs of bleach to get me to 14, so 3 qts raise me 2.5 PPM. I will check in the morning before the sun starts bearing down on my pool and see if it holds steady overnight. Hopefully if I was fighting something, even though my CC has been 0, this will nuke it.

[VOLDADDY]

At 8 AM my FC was 8. There was absolutely no sun whatsoever on the pool that early so I can rule it out. I don't have any algae or dead things in my pool to consume that much chlorine. After I did my FC test I added the 5 drops of R-003 and it was a very pale color, more like cloudy. It didn't turn any shade of red. I added 1 drop of R-0871 and it cleared up, so I guess I do have .5 CC? I'm going to add 2 jugs of bleach now, which should bring me up to 13 on FC, and retest when I get home later tonight.