Free Chlorine problem

[waterbear]

yup, you're prolly right. The reference to tabs slipped right by me! (I will gladly accept any public humiliation that anyone would like to lay upon me for that one as I humble myself!)

[Seadog]

Ok on the tabs , didn't realize that they can cause problems, I am testing with the same brand as always and still no pink at all. is it possible that the chlorine level is so high it will register on the chlorine tab and just bleaching out the free chlorine tab ? can't believe it can be this clear and not have free chlorine. this inline system is called frog and you insert this plastic cylinder that cost like 18.00 and is probably a rip off.

http://www.kingtechnology.com/products/products1.htm

I will get a liquid test kit and check back.

Thanks !!

[waterbear]

Ok on the tabs , didn't realize that they can cause problems, I am testing with the same brand as always and still no pink at all. is it possible that the chlorine level is so high it will register on the chlorine tab and just bleaching out the free chlorine tab ? can;t believe it be this clear and not have free chlorine. this inline system is called frog and you instead this plastic cylinder
that cost like 18.00 and is probably a rip off.

http://www.kingtechnology.com/products/products1.htm

I will get a liquid test kit and check back.

Thanks !!

Yes that is the ionizer system that I was referring to. You might want to read this thread by PoolDoc (the forum's moderator) about such systems!
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=98
The chlorine tabs are trichlor which contains CYA (stabilzer) and constant use will elevate your stabilzier levels and require that you run higher free chlorine levels and shock levels as the CYA levels increase. This is why most of the people on this forum use bleach which is unstablized chlorine after adjusting their CYA to the level they want. For more info check out this thread!
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=365

As I stated previously, certain Free Clorine tests can bleach out with high levels of chlorine in the water. An FAS-DPD test is the only way to accuately measure free chlorine levels above about 10 ppm that is generally available to pool owners.
Hope this info is helpful to you!

[Seadog]

Me again, I had my water testing at a pool place with a liquid test kit and they said my problem is my TDS is 3500 ppm and should be 1500 and that I
should replace some of the water til it is down to 1500 or lower, but my water is still crystal clear and the ph, alk, total chlorine is ok, just still no
free chlorine ?

Then I talked to the place that installed my pool and they say the TDS
is not high ?

[aylad]

I guess I'm having trouble understanding what the problem is....you said you have clear water, and your other parameters except for free chlorine are "ok". Could you please post some numbers from a drop-based kit test for TC, CC, pH, Alk, and CYA?
I think your water is probably fine, and that you were probably just bleaching out the test strips. HOwever, without numbers to look at, we're all just guessing.

Janet

[Seadog]

tds: 3500
cya: 25
tot chlorine: 10
free Chlorine: 0 <===== the problem
ph: 7.6
tot alkalinity: 327
adj. total Alkalinity: 319
tot hardness: 356

[mwsmith2]

Those results look REALLY suspect to me, like they were generated by a computer reading a test strip. They really don't make much sense. I don't know of any drops-based test that measures down to individual units for alk and Ca. I'd go have your water tested elsewhere. Basically it's telling you have CC of 10 which is really, really high. Seeing alkalinity and Ca matching up so close is kinda weird too. It's easy to solve the CC problem though, just dump in bleach to bring your Cl up to 15 or so and hold it there until the CC reads down to 0.

Michael

[waterbear]

I would suggest you get a good drop based test kit and test your own water. It is possible that the pool store is making an error in the testing. (ya' think?) According to Talor Technolgies who manufacture one of the better drop based test kits chlorine levels > approx. 10 ppm can "bleach out" a DPD test for chlorine! You might want to try a different pool store and compare the results. Or ask your pool store to do a dilution on the sample before they test for this reason if they are using DPD. Does your water have a strong "chlorine smell"? This would be an indication that there is combined chlorine in your pool. With no FC and 10 ppm CC (CC=TC-FC) it would mean that all the chlorine in your pool is combined.

Also, do you use a non-chlorine shock? Monopersulfate can also cause interference with DPD testing and show an elevated level of Total Chlorine!
If this is the case it is possible that your chlorine levels are very low and only the shock is showing up on the testing. Taylor Technologies also sells a reagent to help remove this interference.

IMHO, the 2 most probabable scenarios are: either you have very high chorine levels and the type of testing being done is giving inaccurate results because the pool store is using DPD and not FAS-DPD testing (or diluting the sample and DPD testing) and it is bleaching out
or you have an incredible chlorine demand problem and all your chlorine is converting to combined chlorine and you need to shock.

Until you determine which it is you really can't know what you need to do.
Since you just opend the pool it is possible that the chlorine demand is high right now.

Test strips that use syringaldazine reagent supposedly don't "bleach out" (don't know if this is acutally true but that is what is said about them) so if test strips are showing no FC it is possible that the chlorine demand is high

Sorry I can't give you a more definative answer but without GOOD test results from a PROPERLY DONE drop based test it is next to impossible.