RMS

Yes, winterize your pool properly or you might pay for it in Spring. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/pool-winterization.html

The Y has a salt cell, Chloromatic for both hot tub and pool, of which I'm the pool operator. From my understanding the cell can burn up if you have either too high or too low salt. Too much salt will cause the fins inside the cell to crust over and that will affect performance. Too little and they will jsut be burning water, and the fins will burn up themselves. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/salt-wat...ming-pools.html

Well, here I am and I will answer your question on how I helped the Y save so much money. Before me: The guards (mostly 16-17 yr old kids) were using 35 gallons of acid per month at $35.99 per case of 4 gallons. $323 per month times 12 months is $3886 per year. Calcium per year $479, Bicarb $180, Salt $957 and Phosfree $1583 (at $32.99 per bottle/4 per month) Total=$7085 per year Acid to drop the pH to 7.0, then 25lbs to bring it up to 7.4. After 2 days the pH is 7.6, then 2 more gallons of acid, now it's below 7.0, so 50lbs. of bicarb, etc...throughout the entire month. There were days when they would put in 2 gallons of acid at 8:30pm, then add 50lbs. of bicarb at 9pm. Salt (50lb. bags) and sometimes the salinity in the water was 3700 - 3900. Burned out a Chloromatic cell ($4500) and went through 3 of them in 2 years. After me: Acid $73 (this includes both the pool and hot tub) Calcium $25.99 (1 bag per year) Bicarb $60 (pool and hot tub) Salt $545 Phosfree $0 (don't need it) Total=$703 per year Difference=$6342 This past June our chemical order was $65 for the entire month. Not to mention we haven't had to purchase another Cloromatic cell because it is properly cleaned each month. So I didn't save the Y money by "throwing in bicarb." I did it using common sense, proper training, and an understanding of what the pool needed, how it needed it, and when it needed it. I kept it simple. The members are happy, the pool is happy, and so is the management. And it's all documented. Nuff said. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com

Many times you may have an explosion when you add water to a chemical, instead of the chemical to the water, or if you mix wet and dry chemicals like muriatic acid to Calcium Hypochloride, which is granular chlorine. Always keep liquid and dry chemicals seperated and wear goggles and rubber gloves when dealing with chemicals. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/swimming-safety.html

Water is complex, but you don't need to make it that way. Just remember the basics and you'll be fine: chlorine 1.5-3.5ppm pH 7.6-7.8, not 7.2. You'll use too much acid Alkalinity 80-100 Hardness 150-250. Cyanuric acid 50-70 Being in CA you probably won't need to add calcium to your pool, so 240-250 is fine. You did good in testing your fill water because you need to do this in order to have a starting point. Chlorine...use about 1lb. of Calcium Hypochloride. This will bring it up to around 4ppm. pH...depends on the pH of your water, but I wouldn't add any Sodium Bicarb. unless the pH is below 7.2. You'll need Sod. Bi Alk. Increase with Sod. Bi....http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/pool-alkalinity.html will tell you how to raise it. The pH section will tell you how to raise the pH without much to the TA. Muriatic Acid, gloves and goggles for safety Chlorine tablets http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com can handle your questions

Pool operator for the YMCA We have a salt system, Chloramitc for both the hot tub and pool. When our system was not producing chlorine, we cleaned the cell, but you've done that already. We also tested the salinity with a Myron Salinity Meter. We got a bottle of their salt water and calibrated the meter to 3000. This did the trick. The meter was off. You can call TMI Salt Pure based in Washington state. I also weekly calibrate the Chloramatic box with the test from the salinity meter and calibrate the salinity meter once per month with the salt solution I get from TMI. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com

Chloramines are a chemical combination of chlorine and ammonia. It can be really irritating, especially for a pool operator. I'm lucky because here in Oregon, we have pretty good water, as far as tap water goes, Chlorine is 0, Alk. 30, pH 8.0, hardness 30. The only way I know to get rid of chloramines is to blast them with chlorine or another kind of sanitizer. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/swimming...l-chlorine.html Have people take showers and use the bathroom before entering the pool. Also, if it's an indoor public pool, be sure you have good ventilation and a good source of fresh air. Never ever turn the exhaust off. If you close the pool at night you may want to put a couple of high powered fans on the deck at the opposite end of the exhaust, blowing towards it. This moves the chloramines across the water to the exhaust. We started this a few months ago and it has reduced the chloramine level a bit. It's better than shocking and adding tons more chemicals to the water. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com

Thanks for the info chem geek. You have really researched this topic and for that I thank you. This is what I know: I have an 80,000 gallon pool with the alkalinity of 70 and the pH of 7.6. I want to get the alkalinity to 100. I add about 570oz. of Sodium Bicarb. with the method above and allow it to sit for 2-3 hours. Come back, fire up the pump for 5 hours, (full turn-over) and re-take the alkalinity test. The alkalinity is 100 and the pH is still 7.6 and it will stay there for 3 months. All this with 2000-3000 people per week swimming in the pool. Maybe add 1 gallon of acid every 25 days or so to keep the pH in check. Doing this, among other things, has saved the YMCA nearly $7000 in chemicals since July 08. They couldn't be happier and the members couldn't be happier because now they now have a well balanced pool that uses 80% less chemicals than in previous years. And it's all documented. Best regards http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com

With pretty much any pool you'll want these readings: Chlorine 1.5-3.5ppm pH 7.6-7.8, not 7.2. You'll use too much acid. You may hear to keep your pH at 7.2, which is using the Langelier Index. This was initially used for public water systems, not for pools. Alkalinity 80-100ppm Calcium Hardness 150-250, not up to 300-400. Go to: http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/swimming...nance-tips.html http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com for more info on how to accomplish this.

Balancing your chemicals is fairly easy, but there are some techniques to employ. If you're throwing chemicals at a problems, the problem will always get worse, not better. Too much info to go over here, but you can go to: http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com for pretty much all you need for chlorine, pH, alkalinity, and hardness. For your Hot Tub use bromine because it seems to be a bit better at higher temps. than chlorine.

You can use bleach, but you should use it only for emergencies. As was stated, bleach is about 15% chlorine, while Calcium Hypochlorite is about 65% chlorine. Why would you use 12% when you can get 65%? Use Cal Hypo. and get more bag for your buck. The only drawback is when you shock you'll have a layer of calcium of the bottom of the pool that will need to be vacuumed. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/swimming...l-chlorine.html

Depending on the quality and the amount of the poop, you need to bring your chlorine up to 25ppm. I just posted a new decontamination memo at the Y where I'm the pool operator. Everything you ever wanted to know about poop and vomit, but were afraid to ask. Scoop out as much as you can, disinfect everything and keep the net in the pool after you shock to disinfect that as well. Do this at night to give your pool the best chance. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/swimming...l-chlorine.html

Thanks for much for the "No Need To Shock" info. I think shocking is, most of the time, a waste of money and time. If you keep your chlorine to the proper level, and everything else, ph, alk. hardness, then there's really no reason to shock. It's way overdone and the only one that benefits from shocking are the chemical companies. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/swimming...l-chlorine.html

An honest answer is that the Saturation Index comes from the Langelier Index which was first used for public water systems. In the 1950's it was introduced to residential pools simply because there wasn't any other index around. Great for your local water company, not so much for pools. Here's where you want to keep your levels: Chlorine 1.5-3.5ppm pH 7.6-7.8, not 7.2. You'll use too much acid. pH naturally rises in water through swimmers. Alkalinity 80-100ppm Calcium 150-250ppm I know this may upset some people because they live and die by the Langelier Index and the Saturation Index. Sorry to upset you. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/swimming...nance-tips.html

I agree with chem geek, but lay off the MPS and try using Calcium Hypo. Keep the cover off, and if that doesn't work, you may want to add Thiosuplphate to get the chlorine level down. http://www.clean-pool-and-spa.com/swimming...l-chlorine.html