Ready to Fill it In!

[jodi bernard]

I have stumped my local Leslie's dealer, and Inside Out guys! My pool is dirty--I can't get the dirt to filter out. I have been using a Dolphin Pool Vacuum along with running the filter 24/7 for 3 weeks. I have used 3 bottles of Clairifier and litteraly 20 pounds of Shock. I have 3 chlorine floaters in the pool (and they ARE dissolving), and I have not been able to get a chlorine reading yet! One dealer suggested liquid chlorine, so I put 2 cases in on Friday evening and tested the water the next day--still no reading! I used a Super Flocker last night (for the 2nd time) which usually does the trick, but not this year. I have also added a conditioner to the water (per Leslie's) to try to raise the chlorine level, but it also did not work.

Pool Info:
16 x 32 inground
vinyl liner
Cartridge filter (new Cartridge this year)
12 years old

Any help would be appreciated! I'm ready to fill it in!!!

[jodi bernard]

I forgot...My PH and Alkalinity levels are both o.k.

[Buggsw]

Is it really dirt or just cloudy?

What is your CYA level?
Calcium Harness level?
Pool volume in gallons?

You probably have chlorine lock. Post all of your readings here along with your pool volume.

[Guest]

What is Chlorine Lock, and how is it treated?

I'll go to the pool store tomorrow to get my levels--

Thanks

[Buggsw]

If your CYA levels are too high, it causes the free chlorine to register as 0. The way to fix it is to drain your pool, at least partially, and refill.

Sometimes you can raise your shock levels as high as 25 to 30ppm in order to break down the CC's if they are high.

[Backglass]

What is Chlorine Lock, and how is it treated?

I'll go to the pool store tomorrow to get my levels--

Thanks

Chlorine lock is caused by having high CYA levels (Stabilizer). In small amounts it protects the chlorine from sunlight degradation...but in high amounts it prevents the chlorine from doing it's job, requiring very high chlorine levels to accomplish anything.

The traditional way of lowering CYA levels is to drain a portion of the pool and re-fill with fresh water. You then need to switch to liquid chlorine as it has no CYA...otherwise it will just build up and happen again.

[gd]

If you are using a DPD test kit, too much chlorine will bleach out the reading showing you a 0. Go try the cheap test kit (the one with yellow reading) and see what you get. It doesn't bleach out.

[Backglass]

If you are using a DPD test kit, too much chlorine will bleach out the reading showing you a 0. Go try the cheap test kit (the one with yellow reading) and see what you get. It doesn't bleach out.

You can also dilute with water and multiply the reading to avoid bleaching.

1 part pool water, two parts distilled. If the test kit says 2.5, you have a chlorine level of 7.5, etc. Sometimes if the level is REALLY high, you have to dilute/multiply by ten. Use a shot glass to make it easier.

[Guest]

I took my sample to the pool dealer...he said that Chlorine Lock is a myth. He went into a detailed explanation in which he lost me, but he did not suggest draining the pool (which was ok with me). He did recommend "Phos Free" as that level was slightly high. I haven't used it yet as I am still in the process of cleaning up after the flocker. I'm not holding out too much hope for it helping my Chlorine level, but we will see. Time will tell, I guess...in the meantime, I've decided to enjoy the pool regardless of the cloudiness.

[Buggsw]

Well, your pool dealer is incorrect. Chlorine lock may be a poor term to use, however, it has been proven time and again that CYA levels that are too high reduce the effectiveness of chlorine. You get to a point that the "normal" ppm of chlorine is doing nothing for your pool. You will fight a losing battle and see faster recurrances of algae.

The more pucks and pool store shock you use, the higher the CYA will get, causing even more of a problem. Good luck with that.

[Ray]

Well, your pool dealer is incorrect. Chlorine lock may be a poor term to use, however, it has been proven time and again that CYA levels that are too high reduce the effectiveness of chlorine. You get to a point that the "normal" ppm of chlorine is doing nothing for your pool. You will fight a losing battle and see faster recurrances of algae.

The more pucks and pool store shock you use, the higher the CYA will get, causing even more of a problem. Good luck with that.

Given that how often should one change the entire pool water content (or a significant fraction thereof?

[Buggsw]

Ray, so much depends on the pool, location, fill water, costs, environment and many other things.

If your CYA gets over 50 ppm, you should stop using stabilized products.

However, most people don't know about this and continually use stabilized products and often get over 100 ppm to 200 ppm. It's real easy to do.

You can do one of two things at that 100 to 200 ppm point. Use a ton of unstabilized chlorine regularly and keep your chlorine ppm at 8 ppm for swimming and shock at least 25 ppm. Or start, dumping or vacuuming to waste regularly and refilling to hopefully get your CYA down.

If you let your CYA get to 100 ppm you'd have to dump half your water to get to 50 ppm, if your fill water had no CYA in it (which most fill water does not)