Quote Originally Posted by JBfromNJ
Honestly somewhat confused after reading through all of these good threads.

I have a new in-ground vinyl lined, with dealer installed in-line chlorine feeder. Started the pool late last season with 3" tri-clor pucks. All seemed well except for constant low PH, which now I learned may be due to the stabilizer. Did not have a good way to check CYA levels, which were most likey high.

So, I need help on how to best start up this year and try to keep the vinyl liner in good shape as well. Can I use un-stabilzed chlorine (like Poollife's product) in the feeder? Should I stick with the tri-clor method? I am afraid to use liquid bleach with the dark vinyl liner.

Also, what is the best product to use to shock the vinyl pool and how often? Dealers tell me to buy the non-clorine shock.

Very confused here and could use some of your expert advice on these topics. Thanks in advance.
Your low ph is caused by the trichlor, not the stabilizer (although the triclor pucks DO contain stabilizer!). And NO, YOU CANNOT USE ANY OTHER FORM OF CHLORINE IN THAT TRICHLOR FEEDER. Sorry to shout, but I need to make sure you see this.....pool chemicals are very volatile until mixed into your pool water. Any other chem that you put in that feeder can react with any residual trichlor and will cause an explosion, and possibly extensive damage (not to mention injuries). Even if you've never used trichlor in the feeder, it's still not safe to put any other type of puck in there--the pucks generate heat as they dissolve, and the feeder can't withstand the heat caused by cal hypo.

Whether or not to continue to use trichlor is really a personal decision. If you keep the feeder at the lowest feed rate, and use bleach to shock, you'll probably be fine for the summer, provided that as your CYA rises, you use bleach to supplement so that your minimum Cl level rises. However, once the summer is over, your CYA is going to be high, so your options for next year are going to be to either drain and refill to lower them, switch to a different form of chlorination, or hope that the CYA degrades over the wintertime (which happens consistently to some of us here but not to others.....it's a phenomenon we haven't been able to explain). While many people here frown on the trichlor feeders, I personally use mine with trichlor every other summer with bleach to shock, and switch to bleach only on the off summers. Works well for me, because backwashing and splashout on the off summers lowers my CYA enough to need the trichlor for the next year. So it's really up to you. Just understand that trichlor feeders are NOT a bad thing, if used properly!

Janet