before i kill myself with stabilizer

[tenax]

i bought some today..recently stopped using bucks and went with regular bleach but with a lot of heat lately, burning through it pretty good so i broke open my wallet and bought some granular stabilizer....am i correct in reading somewhere that to avoid noxious gas to "add the chemical to water", NOT "add water to the chemical".

or was it the other way around.

T

[JohnT]

If you've been using pucks, you need to know what your CYA level before adding more. Most puck users have outrageously high levels already. Put the CYA in an old sock, tie the top and drop it in the skimmer basket when you are ready to add it.

[itstoohot]

Was that an intended pun (bucks) or just a brilliant mind at work behind the scenes? I think switching to bleach will save us some bucks.

To answer your question - it is always "add the chemical to the water, not the water to the chemical". And to add further - never add one chemical to another chemical.

[tenax]

i like the sock idea..especially cause my son leaves them lying around all the time..maybe he'll get the hint when i leave a wet CYA soaked sock on his pillow

[tenax]

by the way..riddle me this..if you're not supposed to mix chemicals, what's the process then for stabilizing> bleach..

in other words..i'll test my cya when i get home..if it's good, it's good..if it's low..i will do the sock thing or mix in water and put in pool..how long before i can add chlorine after that?

tanks again.

[JohnT]

by the way..riddle me this..if you're not supposed to mix chemicals, what's the process then for stabilizing> bleach..

in other words..i'll test my cya when i get home..if it's good, it's good..if it's low..i will do the sock thing or mix in water and put in pool..how long before i can add chlorine after that?

tanks again.

Bleach isn't stabilized. The problem with mixing chemicals is that you have to know what the result will be. You can add chlorine at the same time as CYA, although probably not in the same place in the pool.

[tenax]

gotcha..thanks

[waterbear]

i bought some today..recently stopped using bucks and went with regular bleach but with a lot of heat lately, burning through it pretty good so i broke open my wallet and bought some granular stabilizer....am i correct in reading somewhere that to avoid noxious gas to "add the chemical to water", NOT "add water to the chemical".

or was it the other way around.

T

I think you are referring to 'strong' acids like muriatic, i.e. hydrochloric, (and sulfuric, nitric, etc). In these cases you ALWAY add the acid (already a liquid) to water and not the other way around or it can boil violenlty and splatter all over the place! Cyanuric acid, while an acid, is what is known chemically as a 'weak' acid', much like citric acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin c), or acetylsalicylic acid (asprin) .

[tenax]

must be..i think i tasted some while i was smoking a cigarette (didn't wash hands first..LOL)

ps- talk about strong? i worked for pepsi for 2 summers many moons ago and the concentrate for pepsi and hires root beer is so strong that it is like soft fudge. came in a 1 gallon "wine box" type thing..and you add 1 gallon of the concentrate to 10,000 gallons of water..(then 20-88 lb bags of sugar!) the concentrate is so strong that i saw a guy burn a hole in his tongue when he put a bit of the concentrate on it.

needless to say, i can't drink pepsi ever since. the smell makes me gag