Help with sanitizing swimming pool water
- Thread starter mikefamig
- Start date
I've fallen off the front page of the forum at TFP and still struggling with this problem. I'm doing my best to follow their advise and I have lowered the combined chlorine problem a little but have a long way to go. I've put enough chlorine through my pool to sanitize a small third world country at this point. There has to be something big that I'm missing.
A while back I spent months trying to figure out why my Elk would just start talking for no known reason and it turned out to be an intermittent connection through a crimped splice on the data bus. I will have to find some hidden problem here too before I fix this problem. When I get stuck I GET STUCK!
Mike.
EDIT I was going to say "enough chlorine to sanitize a Tijuana whorehouse" but that wouldn't be PC.
A while back I spent months trying to figure out why my Elk would just start talking for no known reason and it turned out to be an intermittent connection through a crimped splice on the data bus. I will have to find some hidden problem here too before I fix this problem. When I get stuck I GET STUCK!
Mike.
EDIT I was going to say "enough chlorine to sanitize a Tijuana whorehouse" but that wouldn't be PC.
pete_c
Guru
About two years ago here the neighbors had an issue with their in ground pool. They have DIY maintained it now for some 15 years.
It was the green thing pool color. They called for help and tried over a period of a couple of weeks to fix it.
It was graduation time and they were having a graduation party. They ended up emptying and refilling the pool just a few days before the party.
It was the green thing pool color. They called for help and tried over a period of a couple of weeks to fix it.
It was graduation time and they were having a graduation party. They ended up emptying and refilling the pool just a few days before the party.
Yes Pete that is always an option but my situation is not that urgent or immediate. the pool water is sparkling clear but chemical tests indicate bacteria growth that I need to kill. If I was to change the water and the contaminant turned out to be in the filter sand I would end up right back where I started. I am thinking about changing the sand.
I must also consider that the problem may be that the contaminant is airborne and re-entering the pool daily. there are a bunch of pine trees in the neighbor's yard that give off loads of pollen. Then there si bird droppings. The plan is to neutralize the problem and then maintain a chlorine level that will keep it under control.
Easier said than done.
I must also consider that the problem may be that the contaminant is airborne and re-entering the pool daily. there are a bunch of pine trees in the neighbor's yard that give off loads of pollen. Then there si bird droppings. The plan is to neutralize the problem and then maintain a chlorine level that will keep it under control.
Easier said than done.
video321
I have solved the mystery of my high combined chlorine reading. The reading was a false positive. I use a product called Sustain to sanitize my pool. The Sustain system uses a chemical that you add once at the beginning of the year called "Summer Shield". Summer Shield puts chlorine in the water that somehow stays locked in the water all season and is only released when you periodically add Sustain shock called "Energizer".
Well it turns out that Summer Shield reads as combined chlorine when you test with DPD method. There is no way to test CC when using the Sustain System. So to sum it up the entire process that I have been suffering through for two weeks was for nothing. What I was doing was to bleach the very expensive Summer Shield out of the water.
I have contacted the company and they have confirmed that this fact is not documented anywhere and that my store clerk should have schooled me on the product. If you have ever been in a pool store you know that it is no place to get schooled in anything.
This morning I am in the process of telling the company exactly how I feel about their marketing practice and their product.
Mike.
I have solved the mystery of my high combined chlorine reading. The reading was a false positive. I use a product called Sustain to sanitize my pool. The Sustain system uses a chemical that you add once at the beginning of the year called "Summer Shield". Summer Shield puts chlorine in the water that somehow stays locked in the water all season and is only released when you periodically add Sustain shock called "Energizer".
Well it turns out that Summer Shield reads as combined chlorine when you test with DPD method. There is no way to test CC when using the Sustain System. So to sum it up the entire process that I have been suffering through for two weeks was for nothing. What I was doing was to bleach the very expensive Summer Shield out of the water.
I have contacted the company and they have confirmed that this fact is not documented anywhere and that my store clerk should have schooled me on the product. If you have ever been in a pool store you know that it is no place to get schooled in anything.
This morning I am in the process of telling the company exactly how I feel about their marketing practice and their product.
Mike.
After a long discussion with a chemist from the makers of Sustain I learned that I really did need to go through the whole process of sanitizing the pool. While Sustain does affect the combined chlorine test level it is only by a little. With my CC reading of >7 I definitely needed to go through the SLAM process. I am down to about 1.2 CC which is as low as is expected when using Sustain as opposed to 0 that you would look for otherwise.
You can read all about it at TFP.
You can read all about it at TFP.
