Super high combined chlorine

[themaccs]

Geez. I don't know. As fast as your cl level is dropping, it probably wouldn't stay at 30 for long but I can't tell you that it won't fade you liner. What is the highest you have shocked it to thus far?

About 22, didn't stay there long though.

[aylad]

If there's no fading of your liner, and no strange "feel" to it, then liner degrading isn't the problem. At the time I wrote the post for some reason I was thinking you had a gunite pool....just kind of "thinking out loud".

With a CYA of 50, I'd hold off on shocking to 30--try going to 20 instead. There was one time in the past that I actually shocked mine to almost 40 and held it there for about 3 weeks with no apparent liner damage, but that was a very extreme case and I wouldn't recommend it, just to be on the safe side.

Janet

[themaccs]

So - is there another test I should be getting done on my water, or should I be throwing in the towel and doing a drain and refill? I have really thought for the last several days that we were almost there: I have been dosing the FC up to 20 ppm or slightly above before leaving for work in the morning, checking it as soon as I get home and trying to keep it above 16 all evening, then up closer to 20 before bedtime. FC was down to 10.5 when I got home after an extra long work day yesterday, and down to 11 when I got home today. Basically, FC has been dropping 1-2ppm/hour during the day and 4.5-5ppm overnight. CC was holding pretty steady at around 0.5 or slightly above. Then my readings when I got home from work today are as follows:
FC - 11 (down from 21 in about 6 1/2 hours - a short day at work)
CC - 1.5
pH - 7.6

TA is holding at about 160
CYA is staying at about 45.

Now have added close to 120 total gallons of bleach.

I really thought we were getting somewhere this morning when the CC barely showed up, but then that was followed by the worst readings I have had in several days this evening. We did have a fair amount of rain overnight last night, but not since this morning's testing and dosing.

So - is there another test to figure out what I am dealing with, or is it time to just drain and refill, or should I keep hammering the bleach?

Thanks for any insight you can give me!

[themaccs]

There was one time in the past that I actually shocked mine to almost 40 and held it there for about 3 weeks with no apparent liner damage, but that was a very extreme case and I wouldn't recommend it, just to be on the safe side.

Janet

Can i ask what the extreme case was that you needed to keep you FC at almost 40 for 3 weeks? I'm needing some hope that this will eventually work - I am at almost 2 weeks on a job i thought would take 2-3 days!

[Watermom]

I'll let Janet answer about her need for high chlorine for 3 weeks.

I just wanted to tell you that it will eventually work. I have no doubt that you are totally frustrated and I don't blame you for feeling like throwing in the towel. But, there is no other alternative. You just have to keep hitting it really hard with bleach. I know it seems it will never end but it will. We have had several people in this same situation this year and some of them have made it through to the other side. You will, too. So sorry this has been so hard but don't give up.

[aylad]

Can i ask what the extreme case was that you needed to keep you FC at almost 40 for 3 weeks?

Yeah, if you really want to....The adult son of our next door neighbor committed suicide by drowning himself in my pool about 6 years ago, fortunately it was in October and at the end of the swimming season. In all honesty, shocking it at a much lower chlorine level for a few days would have been sufficient to make sure the water was clean, but it took about 3 weeks at extraordinarily high shock levels (and several water changes after that) to kill the "ick factor".

At the beginning of the next swim season I (overdoing it, as usual) called the head of the Infectious Diseases departments for our local 3 major hospitals and described the incident and my solution, just to make sure in my mind that the water was safe to swim in, and they all three actually laughed at me, said they'd drink the water with no problem and that my pool was probably the cleanest place in the state. Shocked it again after that, and THEN we went swimming!

I know this is no help to you, and like Watermom, I understand your frustration, but unless there is something introducing large amounts of "stuff" for the chlorine to kill every night, the only thing you can do it keep it shocked and it will eventually burn off. Have you tested it for ammonia lately?



Janet

[sonocop]

Just wanted to say good luck to you and I hope you get your problem solved soon!

[Watermom]

sonocop, nice to see you back on the forum!

[themaccs]

I am so sorry you had to go through that horrible event. And I guess you are right - no real help for my situation. But thanks for the encouragement. And again, sorry you went through that.

"but unless there is something introducing large amounts of "stuff" for the chlorine to kill every night, the only thing you can do it keep it shocked and it will eventually burn off"

Is there something that might be able to introduce large amounts of "stuff"?

No, I never really have tested for ammonia - kind of just assumed that is what I was dealing with and that I had to do the same thing whether or not I knew the ammonia level. I am kind of wishing I had at this point. Would a really high ammonia level have smelled like ammonia? I have smelled the "chlorine" smell, but not anything I would say smells like ammonia.

[aylad]

You wouldn't necessarily smell ammonia--but there are test kits that will check for it, and they're pretty cheap--look in the aquarium section at WalMart or any pet store. Since you're been fighting this long and it still hasn't cleared, I would check to make sure that's what you're actually fighting. I guess I have been assuming all along that we knew for sure that there was ammonia in the water. It's the only reasonable explanation that I can come up with right now, but maybe we need to verify it.....

Janet