New to the forum - Not a new pool Owner

[groundtrooper]

I have been a pool owner for about 10 years. Had a pool guy for about 2-3 years. When the economy tanked I let him go and did it myself. I have done pretty good on my own over past few years. Although this year I ended up "Locking Up" my pool chemically. (It was a crystal clear toxic mess.) So we did a drain last month and are starting over.

I am here to get more educated and to not make the same mistake again.

[CarlD]

Hi, and welcome!
The best place to start is with our sister site, PoolSolutions.com, and just start reading. Look for the BBB Method and test kits.

If you don't have a kit with an FAS-DPD chlorine test (NOT the same as a regular DPD chlorine test), we recommend the Taylor K-2006 or K-2006C test kits. They run roughly $50-$75 and will be the best investment you ever made. It tests free and combined chlorine levels (FC and CC), Stabilizer (CYA), pH, Total Alkalinity (TA), and Calcium Hardness (CH--which only matters if you have a masonry pool or it's too high).

You will learn that your "Lock Up" came from using Tri-Chlor Tablets and Di-Chlor powder which continually raise your stabilizer level (the chem called CYA) so high you need very high chlorine levels to sanitize your pool. Since Tri-chlor adds 6 parts of CYA for every 10 of chlorine, and Di-chlor adds 9 parts of CYA for every 10 of chlorine! That's why the basis of our method is regular testing so you can SEE when CYA is rising and switch to using non-stabilized chlorine, preferably bleach or liquid chlorine.

Actually, there is no such thing as "Chlorine Lock Up". It's a pool store/pool service guy phony-boloney term for high CYA levels and inadequately high chlorine levels because the necessary higher ones can't easily be measured with an OTO or DPD chlorine test, but can be with the FAS-DPD test (which can measure FC levels as high as 100ppm!)

[groundtrooper]

Thanks for the info Carl. So I guess I should start learning to use my Taylor K-2006-C kit and stop using my tabs.
I just got my Taylor kit this week. But am very overwhelmed.

I have been a test strip dummy and a simple OTO tester.
Any suggestions on where to start learning on my Taylor? PoolSoulutions.com?

Thanks again.

Hi, and welcome!
The best place to start is with our sister site, PoolSolutions.com, and just start reading. Look for the BBB Method and test kits.

If you don't have a kit with an FAS-DPD chlorine test (NOT the same as a regular DPD chlorine test), we recommend the Taylor K-2006 or K-2006C test kits. They run roughly $50-$75 and will be the best investment you ever made. It tests free and combined chlorine levels (FC and CC), Stabilizer (CYA), pH, Total Alkalinity (TA), and Calcium Hardness (CH--which only matters if you have a masonry pool or it's too high).

You will learn that your "Lock Up" came from using Tri-Chlor Tablets and Di-Chlor powder which continually raise your stabilizer level (the chem called CYA) so high you need very high chlorine levels to sanitize your pool. Since Tri-chlor adds 6 parts of CYA for every 10 of chlorine, and Di-chlor adds 9 parts of CYA for every 10 of chlorine! That's why the basis of our method is regular testing so you can SEE when CYA is rising and switch to using non-stabilized chlorine, preferably bleach or liquid chlorine.

Actually, there is no such thing as "Chlorine Lock Up". It's a pool store/pool service guy phony-boloney term for high CYA levels and inadequately high chlorine levels because the necessary higher ones can't easily be measured with an OTO or DPD chlorine test, but can be with the FAS-DPD test (which can measure FC levels as high as 100ppm!)