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Switching methods from @ease Smartchlor to dichlor then bleach


kasunart

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I got a new Bullfrog R6 a month ago exactly and started the chlorine based @ease inline smartchlor/mineral cartridges-dealer installed. All seems to be going well but since starting I've done enough research around here to know I want to switch to a manual method of adding straight chlorine based on usage.

Instead of switching to a new smartchlor cartridge (first one is used up) today I switched to adding dichlor (until the CYA levels are correct then bleach after). I'm hoping I don't need to dump the water since it's clear and perfectly balanced at the moment. The water tests indicate a high level of total chlorine and a very low level of free chlorine. So far I've put in one ounce of dichlor granules (it's a 351 gallon tub) and half hour later still reads as low (.5 ppm) free chlorine. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

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I am not very familiar with smartchlor, but have heard that it reads as total chlorine from other threads. I have heard it explained that the smartchlor acts as a chlorine reserve that is converted to free chlorine as needed somehow. (I am no chemist). I also do not know what effect it will have to switch it over.

We recommend ahhsome spa plumbing cleaner on every new spa purchase. Biofilm in the pipes will eat up chlorine like my 9 year old eats cheetos.

@waterbear, master of the chemical stuff, what do you think?

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2 minutes ago, RDspaguy said:

I am not very familiar with smartchlor, but have heard that it reads as total chlorine from other threads. I have heard it explained that the smartchlor acts as a chlorine reserve that is converted to free chlorine as needed somehow. (I am no chemist). I also do not know what effect it will have to switch it over.

We recommend ahhsome spa plumbing cleaner on every new spa purchase. Biofilm in the pipes will eat up chlorine like my 9 year old eats cheetos.

@waterbear, master of the chemical stuff, what do you think?

Thanks RDspaguy! It's moot at this point. After I posted the question, within an hour I had decided to go ahead and break out the new Ahh Some I had and went to town purging and draining. Fortunately, only a small amount of yellowish green appeared on some of the foam bubbles and I got it drained and flushed. 

Refilling took less time than I recalled from the first time, only about an hour and a half, and I just booted back up the tub and WOW I forgot what totally clean water looks like. The old water (only one month old, mind you) would turn white with bubbles--they'd clear out after about 15 seconds of jets turning off, so I didn't worry, but this is pure clear. Now on to balancing the water, I have a recent tap water test from my dealer so I'll start with that. 

Now I'm off to re-read the notes a few dozen times to try to fully understand the process. I appreciate all your posts over the years, I think I've scanned over most of them over the last few weeks! 🙂

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19 hours ago, RDspaguy said:

I am not very familiar with smartchlor, but have heard that it reads as total chlorine from other threads.

It's 1,3-dichloro-5,5-dimethylhydantoin and from what I know from reading the abstract of the patent  it does test as mostly total chlorine because of a possible interaction between the hydantoin and the DPD reagent used in testing for chlorine.. Hydantoin stabilized bromne has a very long life in  a spa and I assume that hydantion stabilized chlorine is similar.(which is why a bromine spa has to be totally drained and refilled when converting to chlorine while plain sodium bromide, as used in some pool algaecides, will eventually be degraded by sunlight and the pool becomes a chlorine pool within a few weeks).

19 hours ago, RDspaguy said:
19 hours ago, kasunart said:

I'm told I need a hobby and your posts are as good as any...

Well, I disagree, but whatever toots your kazoo... 😉

Testing water can be a fun hobby!  ;)

 

  • Haha 1
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