osie Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 Can anyone tell me the effects a storm has on pool water and if there are factors depending on the severance of the effect.I have a really easy to maintain pool which is very clear.. not sure if it is the water or something else.. but it sure is not my expert knowledge of pool chemicals.However if there is a storm the ph goes up a bit and the chlorine goes to zero... I am on a hill and so this may be a factor.Also, what should one do... leave it and just continue as normal or give it a shock... I did the later which was fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted August 13, 2010 Share Posted August 13, 2010 The chlorine gets used up very quickly oxidising the dirt etc from the rain water, just top up the chlorine to prevent algae from getting a grip and starting the problems.The PH rising is a puzzle as rain is normally acidic (worth measuring your rain water) around 4.6-5.6.without an idea of the other water parameters it is difficult to say what the reason is, it can be the off gassing of the chlorine reaction but without knowing the other levels it's guesswork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osie Posted August 14, 2010 Author Share Posted August 14, 2010 Hi teapotThanks for that answer... I guess I am going to have to be more vigilant during heavy rains... Maybe the ph rise was due to the bacteria taking control.osie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 It would be doubtful that the bacteria would create a rise in PH as from my studies bacteria prefer a low PH environment and actually try and create that environment within your sand filter. The bacteria create a saccharide glutenate film (biofilm) in which they live and this can be at a low PH.I would prefer to have the total alkalinity and water hardness figures as PH fluctuations are nearly always due to the buffering effect of the water.How are you adding your chlorine, by liquid, salt conversion or multi action tablets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Araucaria Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 [quote user="osie"]However if there is a storm the ph goes up a bit and the chlorine goes to zero... I am on a hill and so this may be a factor.[/quote]Alkaline soil washing into the pool? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osie Posted August 17, 2010 Author Share Posted August 17, 2010 no alakaline washing into the pool...Teapot: is the total alkalinity the same as the acide isocyanurique.. if so it is = 65The water hardness I dont know but there is alot of calk in the kettle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Cya should be 30-50 and TA 80-120 +Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 [quote user="osie"]no alakaline washing into the pool...Teapot: is the total alkalinity the same as the acide isocyanurique.. if so it is = 65The water hardness I dont know but there is alot of calk in the kettle...[/quote]No they are completely different, which one is 65?acide isocyanuric (cyanuric acid CYA) is a chlorine stabiliser, that is, it protects your chlorine from being burnt up by the sun's ultraviolet light (U.V.) if the level gets too high, too much of your chlorine gets chemically bound to the CYA and there isn't enough left to keep your pool nicely sanitised and algae free.TA, total alkalinity in pool terms is the ability to resist fluctuations in the PH level. Books state 70-90ppm as a reasonable level some prefer higher up to 120ppm however the real figure depends on your PH, if you constantly have to add PH minus then lowering the TA may help. Chlorine will always up the PH as it has a PH of 11-12 but that is only temporary as the chlorine gets used up the PH will reduce slightly. If you use multi action gallets they tend to be very acidic and therefore you do not usually have to correct the PH.The testing of the water is very important, what method are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osie Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 The method I use to test CL and PH is with the test tubes and the colour change... which seem to work very well.I have paper tabs to test the TA which reads about 80 but I have read(on this forum) that these can not be relied on..The CYA was 65 in July and 70 in AUG... This was done by DDASS.... They do not seem to have a TA reading on their analysis.The origin of this post is because the pool has been exceptionally good except for the day when they came in August... where the chlorine disappeared after a storm.I added 3kg of ph-, chlor choc'ed and and then everything was fine again...In fact I dont think the chlor choc was necessary... it would have been sufficient to wait for the auto doseur to do its stuff...The ph does not generally fluctuate and I usually end up putting about 10kg of PH- (80m3 pool) in over a year into the pool. .. never needed ph+A point aside... the guy that came was very thorough... checking the shower worked, confirming we keep pool results, and checking which chemicals are used.It was just a shame he came on a bad day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 Glad it seems to be sorted Osie,I take it that you don't add multi action gallets (hint in the auto doseur) so you shouldn't have any rising CYA issues as it's already on the high side, I don't know how far south you are but you may need more than the recommended 30-50ppm. As the CYA increases you need to have slightly more free chlorine available as most of what you have at for example 1ppm chlorine is bound chemically to the CYA to protect the chlorine from being burned up by the sun's U.V.On your test kit the PH is fine but on the bottle of reagent for chlorine does it say "OTO" test? The yellow liquid orthotolidene detects total chlorine not free chlorine. What that means is you could have a reading of 2ppm total chlorine but 1.5ppm of that could be combined chlorine (the nasty bit we don't want that can cause eye irritations and shortness of breath common in indoor communal pools as "that pool smell"). Combined chlorine is a good indicator of problems ahead algae etc so it's well worth knowing but it is also important to know exactly what the free chlorine element is. That you can test quite cheaply using a Dpd 1 tablet test available from most pool shops (Palintest or Lovibond are the best tablets)TA seems fine as you have only a reasonable PH- addition, sometimes if it gets lower 60-70 you can find you use less acid without PH fluctuation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osie Posted August 20, 2010 Author Share Posted August 20, 2010 Thanks for the quick response...Yep.. pool is fine but the problem is 'if' it goes wrong [:-))] . The pool is in Figeac.I may have misled you.. I have a tube with lots of gallets in it... however, until now I have not had a CYA problem.. it may disappear over the winter... or just lucky.I will get a dpd kit tomorrow and check it... Is there a CYA test tablet too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted August 20, 2010 Share Posted August 20, 2010 If your CYA disappears over winter it's because a bacteria has eaten it but that bacteria can have a veracious appetite for chlorine too.Yes there is a tablet and tube test for CYA its a turbidity test (a cloudy sample and a disappearing dot) Similar to this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poolguy Posted August 21, 2010 Share Posted August 21, 2010 OsieI've sent you a pH about SCUBA +, it does all you want without the messing.Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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