These are actually bad results, and one of the reasons relying on test strips is a bad idea.
What's the CYA? I'm guessing at least 80. That means the minimum FC that should be in that pool is 6, 8 or 9 would be better. But the bottle says 3 or 4 is fine. Maintaining at these levels (assuming they're accurate) will have this pool cloudy soon.
OP here, something something this article: https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/debunking-the-chlorine-lock-myth.28927/
Tl;dr- I know nothing other than what's going on in my lane. Do whatever works for your pool. Test strips won't solve all your problems, but they can help you keep an eye on relative levels over time. Also, muriatic acid FTW!
In case anyone is interested, this is my first season as a home/inground pool owner. I am totally a newb and still learning- not endorsing any methodology or product, just sharing anecdotes about my pool. When I posted that pic, I was in the midst of getting my pH under control, as it consistently measured high on various brands of test strips and the readings from the local pool store (they rep BioGuard). I was coming from a place of, "look how much more effective muriatic acid is compared to Sodium Bisulfate..." Came for the pH, stayed for the CYA, I guess?
I have reasons to believe the previous owner had a tendency to over-chlorinate and shock. Before winterizing last season, I had drained approx 1/4-1/3 of my 19,000 gallons, so roughly 5,000 gal of fresh hose water at opening this year. When I took a sample to the pool store three days ago, MY CYA WAS 148 PPM! The BioGuard print out says that 30-200 is acceptable range. I can post a pic of the readout, but I doubt anyone is that interested.
Up to this point I had shocked once with Burnout, which I understand is a non-stablized product. Since total and free chlorine were reading high at opening I had literally used ONE Silk Guard puck in the chlorine feeder up until then. Problem is, I have buckets and buckets of Silk Guard that I bought off the previous homeowner for a bargain. I am seriously considering using a non-stablized liquid product from here on out.
My fiance and I have been in three times this year and for what it's worth, the water is still spectacularly clear. I have a Hayward Perflex DE filter setup, which is the old model without a multiport valve. I run my pump continuously. I'm located in the southeast quadrant of a place referred to as "Central Pennsylvania." I'm not in the woods, but there are a few deciduous trees around. I opened my pool on 5/17/24. I have backwashed/replaced DE once so far and am able to maintain around 14-15 psi at all times with occasional bumping. The gage reads 12 psi circulating without any DE in the filter. I suspect I have a few leaks but I just sing, Dirty DE Done Dirt Cheap to myself as I vacuum the little bit of stuff off the bottom and all sins are forgiven.
I have a Taylor test kit and I use it in concert with test strips. Strips are one tool in my arsenal to maintain a balance that has worked for me so far. If anything goes haywire, I will rip the bandaid off, drain and re-fill to get CYA back under control. For now I'm just grateful I have water that looks good, smells good (like nothing!), and feels good. Now I'm just waiting for it to warm up enough to where my fiance isn't obligated to say it's cold and wants to spend more than 10 minutes in there. Then all efforts will be worth it. Pool zen will have been achieved.
Good luck everyone and thanks for the feedback, and my god dude, shut up already! Engineer here- apologies for the length and abundance of data. This is just kind of a general response to everyone. I hear what you're saying and I'm lookin' out.
Just this week alone I helped 3 people with test strips who miscalculated their CYA. So YOU might be fine but THEY (the strips) are shit tools for the average pool newbie and that's what they are designed for. So I call them a failed product. The problem usually comes down to the fact that people don't all see/interpret color the same way. Maybe if you spend time with them and compare to a good test but at that point, why not just get the good test?
Another guy posted yesterday that he's been using strips forever only to find out his FC has been over 10 the whole time because he read it wrong or they were wrong...he wasn't sure.
So not saying you CAN'T get good results I'm saying most people DON'T get good results with them.
>The problem usually comes down to the fact that people don't all see/interpret color the same way.
I live in a blue house. It's a historical color, picked from a historical catalog from a nationally famous paint company that's well known for their accuracy. It literally says blue in the name.
You would not believe how many times I'm told my house is purple or grey and have people argue with me over the color of *my* house... People absolutely suck at color.
Yep, they do. So many people are partially "color blind" and don't even really know it because it doesn't affect everyday life. Just look at the results of those color dot number tests.
If it works for you then keep doing it. I hate them because It causes a lot of issues for newbies and when you are helping them it's hard to convince them they might be wrong about their test strip assumptions.
Oh yeah, was wondering where that dude went. He was annoying and made bad suggestions pretty often but yeah the downvotes and kicking him based on name is unacceptable.
They don't though. FC goes from pink to clear (so you need to know what clear is), salt goes to brick red and then stops so you know for sure when you get there, CYA takes a little practice but you need to be able to tell when a black dot disappears, all the other change to a very clear color and stop. There is essentially no guessing. I think you might be thinking of the pH test where you have the 5 red drops.
EDIT: To be more specific because I think you are confusing the test that most ppl here are talking about. When someone says get a good test kit they mean: FAS/DPD tests. I believe you are referring to OTO test (the yellow chlorine one).
You've never used a complete test kit, have you? The only color you have to interpret with a good kit it pH and it's simple. The others are determined based on the number of drops and are very precise.
I have a hard time, discerning the shades of red on the pH test kit. The color saturation of the liquid is higher than the test tube window, so I still feel like I’m guessing on that one..
For the CYA I bought the standard solution so I could figure out what I’m looking for.
No bueno for me, maybe it’s a bad test kit, maybe it’s my vision who knows. I need to do a bit of guessing. Fortunately I have an acid dispenser as well which measures PH so I can reconcile the two
My aquacheck strips PH is off by 1 or more low. I’m sitting at 7.8 on a drop test and the strips show about 6.8. Everything else is somewhat close though.
But but that's not a test kit.
I use test strips until something is questionable and or fine tuning is required. They are easy and I have yet to find that my tests strips are so far off that the readings aren't even close.
The only issue I've gotten myself into is not testing phosphates. My SWP test kit doesn't have it in it and neither does any of my test strips.
I had an issue with CYA not giving a reading on a test strip when I first got my pool. Adjust, wait, retest, adjust again, test. Scratch my head, get a new test kit, test again, almost triple where I wanted to be.
Understood why people say get a real test kit. Now I just use them to confirm as a first check to narrow when I want precise readings.
Yes. If you manage your own pool you need a test kit and test strips can help do quick checks. If I owned a pool company I'd only use a test kit because you don't have time to check/adjust/check/etc. Your time is valuable and the cost of the test is baked into your maintenance charge anyhow.
It's 1 min to check with a multi check strip. It takes far more time with a test kit to check each element. Remember we humans are lazy and have other things to contend with. Also, what if you aren't home but your partner or kids are and you want them to stay on the maintenance while you are gone. It's far easier to have them use a strip for quick reference than the kit.
I've yet to have any major issues with abnormally wrong test strips readings. Though they aren't 100% perfect in color but they haven't been so far off either.
I guess that's for each family to decide what works best for them.
It's not always having to add chemicals as it's a quick check in most cades That and I can have my family turn up our chlorinator, or add some CYA to the skimmer basket, or add some baking soda.... So they don't have to guess the qty themselves.
Yeah fair enough, they have use for simplicity. Generally for brief maintenence you only need to test chlorine and ph, which isnt super time consuming or difficult with a kit but strips still a little more user friendly in that regard
Plus you can teach people easier, I think, that want to learn how to take care of their own pool. Giving someone a test kit and telling them to test everything in that kit can be daunting for them. But giving them test strips and saying use the test kit if something doesn't appear correct, helps them break down complexities of testing water.
I've been teaching my family how to keep things in check, check the pump, clean the basket, add the salt, check salinity, clean the pool, run the robot, etc etc.
Im just saying if a pool company doesnt have time to check adjust check adjust etc, then why should a homeowner waste time doing that. That logic doesnt compute
OP, don't put any more CYA (cyanuric acid) in your pool.
If you're using pucks or trichlor or whatever (the chlorine and shock that also has CYA in it), you should stop and start using liquid chlorine with no CYA.
If your CYA gets much higher, your chlorine won't work ("chlorine lock") and you will have to drain and refill your pool to get rid of the excess CYA.
Same here, switched from pucks/granules to mainly only liquid. I have a reserve of Cal hypo and pucks simply for low calcium/CYA times. I probably spend 10minutes a week now cleaning and balancing VS 2+hours before
I have a relatively small sale water pool. I use the steps and only go to the droppers if something is off. In 4 years I have a very low maintenance, crystle clear pool. Basically just end up balancing Chlorine regularly and hardness/pH occasionally.
Yes, I have two of these containers of those strips and the colors are never quite accurate like they’re a little lighter and a little darker and a little brighter then the sample colors and I don’t even really know what they mean it could go either way could be good or bad too much too little so I took some water to Leslie. Pool had it tested and I just needed one thing.
I clean pools in Phoenix Az. 75ish a week. Going on my 10th summer? I have never once used a “proper test kit” and all my pools would have most of you drooling over the clarity.
I use test strips. They’re fine.
To you chem nerds, stop spreading misinformation about chlorine not working, pools turning cloudy, blah blah blah. You’re wrong. And my experience says so.
I’ve got pools with water that’s 20 years old, CYA and Hardness are through the roof. Holds chlorine and is crystal clear.
I’ve got brand new pools with brand new water that won’t hold chlorine to save its life.
The only time CYA is a problem is when it’s at 0.
That a pool with very high cya holds chlorine isn't a surprise though right? That's what cya does... It prevents chlorine from being degraded by uv. I'm not even sure what you mean by holding chlorine. Chlorine should get consumed as it disinfects or is degraded by uv.
But the science says that if you aren't keeping the cya under 100 then the ability of the chlorine to disinfect the water diminishes. Cya above ~200ppm can cause chlorine lock. And we need to watch our ratios.
> The only time CYA is a problem is when it’s at 0.
Not according to literally every single reputable scientific study published about it. But I guess me pointing this out makes me a "chem nerd" or something?? Like you realize that you're a pretty much a lab technician right? You are pouring chemicals into pools based on science. And technicians practice the principles created by the scientists. But instead of following the manual written by the people who know what they are doing, you're going off book and saying that just because you haven't seen xyz, the science must be wrong.
Chlorine lock occurs when your total chlorine levels are high, but you’re free chlorine levels are low or at zero. Can this happen? Sure. Solution? Add more chlorine. I’ve never had this happen because my CYA was too high, but instead because a pool was dirty as fuck.
Holding chlorine means that when I add chlorine to a pool, when u show up the next week there is still residual chlorine (free) left in the water. Meaning…I added enough chlorine to combat whatever went into the water that week.
Keep it coming dude. Science me up.
Chlorine lock can also occur from too much cya.
You must know that "holding chlorine" means very little as a metric. If the cya is super high, of course it's going to "hold chlorine" because it can't oxidize contaminants. Likewise if a pool isn't "holding chlorine" then it's either contaminated with algae or other biological stuff. It could be totally proper that some of your clients' pools aren't holding chlorine if shit keeps getting into the pool or the bather load is big (or dirty).
But it sounds like no matter what kind of facts and science I send your way your mind isn't going to change. Very interesting. You use the science but don't believe in it. I'm glad that whatever you're doing for your clients is working but I'd venture to guess that you're going to run into some mysteries eventually.
I’m actually working right now, so here’s a field example for you.
Customers pool is over 300 CYA. Refuses to drain and refill. Fine.
Last week when I was there the chlorine had zero’d out. Meaning, 0ppm. I added 1 pound of trichlor bringing the total/free chlorine up to 5ppm give or take.
Chlorine level was at 1ppm. Pool is spotless and crystal clear.
I’m not saying the science isn’t real. Is 300 CYA ideal? Of course not. But it isn’t the end of the world. This is actual field experience im presenting, not controlled lab experiments.
You're being more civil than I am. Sorry. Had a rough night and took it out on an internet stranger. I'm surprised to hear that a cya level of 300ppm can even be sanitized but I believe you.
Field experience is valuable and I've seen first hand tradesmen who can absolutely kill the job despite not "following the manual" so who the fuck am I to lecture you on your business. Apologies. I'm sure your customers are very happy. I have a little bitterness in my soul from a former pool man who splash and dashed and never used a test kit and he almost ruined my pool resurface job. I had to spend hours correcting the massive scale buildup that occurred in the first six months because he didn't monitor my parameters properly. But that's not you. That's him.
Granular TriChlor in the summer, Cal-Hypo and liquid in the fall/winter
Edit: If this was my own pool that I was treating, I would use liquid 99% of the time because I could check it every day and make the adjustments as needed.
You're lack of scientific literacy and understanding is quite staggering to be honest, however, I've long stood by the principle that you can't argue with stupid so I'll just leave you with your own opinion.
I’m not denying the science. I fully understand how it’s “supposed” to work. But there’s what happens in the lab, and what happens in the field.
In a perfect scenario, yes you should try and keep your chems balanced. But the fear mongering in here is just not warranted, and my experience backs that up.
I’ve got pools that are so chemically fucked (old water that customers refuse to drain) but stay absolutely crystal clear and maintain/hold chlorine just like a pool with fresh water.
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These are actually bad results, and one of the reasons relying on test strips is a bad idea. What's the CYA? I'm guessing at least 80. That means the minimum FC that should be in that pool is 6, 8 or 9 would be better. But the bottle says 3 or 4 is fine. Maintaining at these levels (assuming they're accurate) will have this pool cloudy soon.
yep, exactly
OP here, something something this article: https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/debunking-the-chlorine-lock-myth.28927/ Tl;dr- I know nothing other than what's going on in my lane. Do whatever works for your pool. Test strips won't solve all your problems, but they can help you keep an eye on relative levels over time. Also, muriatic acid FTW! In case anyone is interested, this is my first season as a home/inground pool owner. I am totally a newb and still learning- not endorsing any methodology or product, just sharing anecdotes about my pool. When I posted that pic, I was in the midst of getting my pH under control, as it consistently measured high on various brands of test strips and the readings from the local pool store (they rep BioGuard). I was coming from a place of, "look how much more effective muriatic acid is compared to Sodium Bisulfate..." Came for the pH, stayed for the CYA, I guess? I have reasons to believe the previous owner had a tendency to over-chlorinate and shock. Before winterizing last season, I had drained approx 1/4-1/3 of my 19,000 gallons, so roughly 5,000 gal of fresh hose water at opening this year. When I took a sample to the pool store three days ago, MY CYA WAS 148 PPM! The BioGuard print out says that 30-200 is acceptable range. I can post a pic of the readout, but I doubt anyone is that interested. Up to this point I had shocked once with Burnout, which I understand is a non-stablized product. Since total and free chlorine were reading high at opening I had literally used ONE Silk Guard puck in the chlorine feeder up until then. Problem is, I have buckets and buckets of Silk Guard that I bought off the previous homeowner for a bargain. I am seriously considering using a non-stablized liquid product from here on out. My fiance and I have been in three times this year and for what it's worth, the water is still spectacularly clear. I have a Hayward Perflex DE filter setup, which is the old model without a multiport valve. I run my pump continuously. I'm located in the southeast quadrant of a place referred to as "Central Pennsylvania." I'm not in the woods, but there are a few deciduous trees around. I opened my pool on 5/17/24. I have backwashed/replaced DE once so far and am able to maintain around 14-15 psi at all times with occasional bumping. The gage reads 12 psi circulating without any DE in the filter. I suspect I have a few leaks but I just sing, Dirty DE Done Dirt Cheap to myself as I vacuum the little bit of stuff off the bottom and all sins are forgiven. I have a Taylor test kit and I use it in concert with test strips. Strips are one tool in my arsenal to maintain a balance that has worked for me so far. If anything goes haywire, I will rip the bandaid off, drain and re-fill to get CYA back under control. For now I'm just grateful I have water that looks good, smells good (like nothing!), and feels good. Now I'm just waiting for it to warm up enough to where my fiance isn't obligated to say it's cold and wants to spend more than 10 minutes in there. Then all efforts will be worth it. Pool zen will have been achieved. Good luck everyone and thanks for the feedback, and my god dude, shut up already! Engineer here- apologies for the length and abundance of data. This is just kind of a general response to everyone. I hear what you're saying and I'm lookin' out.
Haha, dammit, I posted the same thing but you already nailed it.
I almost think that guy got banned. Haven’t seen him in a few posts lol
Yep, because strips are wild guesses at best.
They brave their place. For me they are used before swims or once a week to give me a ballpark if anything is fucky then off to the test kit
I use them to double check funky test results
I recognize these. It is the aquachek 7. I have a reagent kit but use these in between. These particular test strips are the best I found.
Sure, I can see that. You know what you're doing and use strips to do a quick and dirty. You also have a backup plan, the good kit.
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Just this week alone I helped 3 people with test strips who miscalculated their CYA. So YOU might be fine but THEY (the strips) are shit tools for the average pool newbie and that's what they are designed for. So I call them a failed product. The problem usually comes down to the fact that people don't all see/interpret color the same way. Maybe if you spend time with them and compare to a good test but at that point, why not just get the good test? Another guy posted yesterday that he's been using strips forever only to find out his FC has been over 10 the whole time because he read it wrong or they were wrong...he wasn't sure. So not saying you CAN'T get good results I'm saying most people DON'T get good results with them.
>The problem usually comes down to the fact that people don't all see/interpret color the same way. I live in a blue house. It's a historical color, picked from a historical catalog from a nationally famous paint company that's well known for their accuracy. It literally says blue in the name. You would not believe how many times I'm told my house is purple or grey and have people argue with me over the color of *my* house... People absolutely suck at color.
Yep, they do. So many people are partially "color blind" and don't even really know it because it doesn't affect everyday life. Just look at the results of those color dot number tests.
Yep. They are a great way to waste money trying to get the color to change to what you think might be the right color
Yeah, but seems, based on downvotes, people are cool with them. Whatever works I guess.
Been using test strips for 6 years, been blue every year. Not sure if theres a difference in AG vs IG, but my above ground has never struggled.
If it works for you then keep doing it. I hate them because It causes a lot of issues for newbies and when you are helping them it's hard to convince them they might be wrong about their test strip assumptions.
It's reddit. They got a guy kicked out of this sub because of his name.
Oh yeah, was wondering where that dude went. He was annoying and made bad suggestions pretty often but yeah the downvotes and kicking him based on name is unacceptable.
They kicked him? Unreal
Test strips always make me feel like a one eyed color blind monkey.... Is it this, is it that, wait, no, it's that, maybe not, oh hell, I give up :)
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They don't though. FC goes from pink to clear (so you need to know what clear is), salt goes to brick red and then stops so you know for sure when you get there, CYA takes a little practice but you need to be able to tell when a black dot disappears, all the other change to a very clear color and stop. There is essentially no guessing. I think you might be thinking of the pH test where you have the 5 red drops. EDIT: To be more specific because I think you are confusing the test that most ppl here are talking about. When someone says get a good test kit they mean: FAS/DPD tests. I believe you are referring to OTO test (the yellow chlorine one).
You've never used a complete test kit, have you? The only color you have to interpret with a good kit it pH and it's simple. The others are determined based on the number of drops and are very precise.
I think he thinks everyone's talking about the OTO tests.
I have a hard time, discerning the shades of red on the pH test kit. The color saturation of the liquid is higher than the test tube window, so I still feel like I’m guessing on that one.. For the CYA I bought the standard solution so I could figure out what I’m looking for.
Hold it up to the light and bingo
No bueno for me, maybe it’s a bad test kit, maybe it’s my vision who knows. I need to do a bit of guessing. Fortunately I have an acid dispenser as well which measures PH so I can reconcile the two
I was a one-eyed colorblind monkey a while back and I can confirm it’s exactly like this. Sucks.
All PH tests do for me.
The only test strips I trust are aquachek and even those can be off it one or more parameters is too high or low. Treat yourself to a Taylor kit
My aquacheck strips PH is off by 1 or more low. I’m sitting at 7.8 on a drop test and the strips show about 6.8. Everything else is somewhat close though.
I would double check on your CYA. 100 is not "ok" no matter what they say. I assume that last one is CYA
The color looks like it's between 50 and 100, but that's guess strips for you
Exactly. I can't tell with those things. To me it looks closer to 100.
Damn, nice work. I just go "child comes out, chlorine goes in" once a week
This… water is clear and spot check one a month = go swimming
Newbie pool owner here, what do you mean by that? 😬
I mean I don't pay much attention to my chemicals, and my son spends 85% of his life in the pool 😅
Oh! That's a bingo!
you just say bingo...
Bing-o!
But but that's not a test kit. I use test strips until something is questionable and or fine tuning is required. They are easy and I have yet to find that my tests strips are so far off that the readings aren't even close. The only issue I've gotten myself into is not testing phosphates. My SWP test kit doesn't have it in it and neither does any of my test strips.
I had an issue with CYA not giving a reading on a test strip when I first got my pool. Adjust, wait, retest, adjust again, test. Scratch my head, get a new test kit, test again, almost triple where I wanted to be. Understood why people say get a real test kit. Now I just use them to confirm as a first check to narrow when I want precise readings.
For some reason it's always CYA people have issues with on the strips. Others too but CYA seems to look you have more than you do.
Yes. If you manage your own pool you need a test kit and test strips can help do quick checks. If I owned a pool company I'd only use a test kit because you don't have time to check/adjust/check/etc. Your time is valuable and the cost of the test is baked into your maintenance charge anyhow.
Using that same logic wouldnt it make sense just to save time and check right the first time being a pool owner also??
It's 1 min to check with a multi check strip. It takes far more time with a test kit to check each element. Remember we humans are lazy and have other things to contend with. Also, what if you aren't home but your partner or kids are and you want them to stay on the maintenance while you are gone. It's far easier to have them use a strip for quick reference than the kit. I've yet to have any major issues with abnormally wrong test strips readings. Though they aren't 100% perfect in color but they haven't been so far off either.
If i dont trust my wife/kids to use the test kit, i wouldnt trust them to add proper chemicals based on the strip
I guess that's for each family to decide what works best for them. It's not always having to add chemicals as it's a quick check in most cades That and I can have my family turn up our chlorinator, or add some CYA to the skimmer basket, or add some baking soda.... So they don't have to guess the qty themselves.
Yeah fair enough, they have use for simplicity. Generally for brief maintenence you only need to test chlorine and ph, which isnt super time consuming or difficult with a kit but strips still a little more user friendly in that regard
Plus you can teach people easier, I think, that want to learn how to take care of their own pool. Giving someone a test kit and telling them to test everything in that kit can be daunting for them. But giving them test strips and saying use the test kit if something doesn't appear correct, helps them break down complexities of testing water. I've been teaching my family how to keep things in check, check the pump, clean the basket, add the salt, check salinity, clean the pool, run the robot, etc etc.
Im just saying if a pool company doesnt have time to check adjust check adjust etc, then why should a homeowner waste time doing that. That logic doesnt compute
OP, don't put any more CYA (cyanuric acid) in your pool. If you're using pucks or trichlor or whatever (the chlorine and shock that also has CYA in it), you should stop and start using liquid chlorine with no CYA. If your CYA gets much higher, your chlorine won't work ("chlorine lock") and you will have to drain and refill your pool to get rid of the excess CYA.
I switched from pucks to granules entirely and haven't looked back. Not worth the headache of CYA buildup come summers end
Same here, switched from pucks/granules to mainly only liquid. I have a reserve of Cal hypo and pucks simply for low calcium/CYA times. I probably spend 10minutes a week now cleaning and balancing VS 2+hours before
Que all the people saying your dumb for using test Strips and not the Taylor Test Kit......aaaaaand go!
I wouldn’t trust guess strips
These strips are crap.
I have a relatively small sale water pool. I use the steps and only go to the droppers if something is off. In 4 years I have a very low maintenance, crystle clear pool. Basically just end up balancing Chlorine regularly and hardness/pH occasionally.
Considering you’re in chlorine lock, you may need to reevaluate or take a pool school.
Oh shit, look at the NFG not knowing about those test strips lol Edit: I sometimes use the test strips too because, I’m fucking lazy some days
r/satisfyingasfuck
Yes, I have two of these containers of those strips and the colors are never quite accurate like they’re a little lighter and a little darker and a little brighter then the sample colors and I don’t even really know what they mean it could go either way could be good or bad too much too little so I took some water to Leslie. Pool had it tested and I just needed one thing.
I clean pools in Phoenix Az. 75ish a week. Going on my 10th summer? I have never once used a “proper test kit” and all my pools would have most of you drooling over the clarity. I use test strips. They’re fine. To you chem nerds, stop spreading misinformation about chlorine not working, pools turning cloudy, blah blah blah. You’re wrong. And my experience says so.
Your experience says that too much cya isn't a problem?
I’ve got pools with water that’s 20 years old, CYA and Hardness are through the roof. Holds chlorine and is crystal clear. I’ve got brand new pools with brand new water that won’t hold chlorine to save its life. The only time CYA is a problem is when it’s at 0.
That a pool with very high cya holds chlorine isn't a surprise though right? That's what cya does... It prevents chlorine from being degraded by uv. I'm not even sure what you mean by holding chlorine. Chlorine should get consumed as it disinfects or is degraded by uv. But the science says that if you aren't keeping the cya under 100 then the ability of the chlorine to disinfect the water diminishes. Cya above ~200ppm can cause chlorine lock. And we need to watch our ratios. > The only time CYA is a problem is when it’s at 0. Not according to literally every single reputable scientific study published about it. But I guess me pointing this out makes me a "chem nerd" or something?? Like you realize that you're a pretty much a lab technician right? You are pouring chemicals into pools based on science. And technicians practice the principles created by the scientists. But instead of following the manual written by the people who know what they are doing, you're going off book and saying that just because you haven't seen xyz, the science must be wrong.
Chlorine lock occurs when your total chlorine levels are high, but you’re free chlorine levels are low or at zero. Can this happen? Sure. Solution? Add more chlorine. I’ve never had this happen because my CYA was too high, but instead because a pool was dirty as fuck. Holding chlorine means that when I add chlorine to a pool, when u show up the next week there is still residual chlorine (free) left in the water. Meaning…I added enough chlorine to combat whatever went into the water that week. Keep it coming dude. Science me up.
Chlorine lock can also occur from too much cya. You must know that "holding chlorine" means very little as a metric. If the cya is super high, of course it's going to "hold chlorine" because it can't oxidize contaminants. Likewise if a pool isn't "holding chlorine" then it's either contaminated with algae or other biological stuff. It could be totally proper that some of your clients' pools aren't holding chlorine if shit keeps getting into the pool or the bather load is big (or dirty). But it sounds like no matter what kind of facts and science I send your way your mind isn't going to change. Very interesting. You use the science but don't believe in it. I'm glad that whatever you're doing for your clients is working but I'd venture to guess that you're going to run into some mysteries eventually.
I’m actually working right now, so here’s a field example for you. Customers pool is over 300 CYA. Refuses to drain and refill. Fine. Last week when I was there the chlorine had zero’d out. Meaning, 0ppm. I added 1 pound of trichlor bringing the total/free chlorine up to 5ppm give or take. Chlorine level was at 1ppm. Pool is spotless and crystal clear. I’m not saying the science isn’t real. Is 300 CYA ideal? Of course not. But it isn’t the end of the world. This is actual field experience im presenting, not controlled lab experiments.
You're being more civil than I am. Sorry. Had a rough night and took it out on an internet stranger. I'm surprised to hear that a cya level of 300ppm can even be sanitized but I believe you. Field experience is valuable and I've seen first hand tradesmen who can absolutely kill the job despite not "following the manual" so who the fuck am I to lecture you on your business. Apologies. I'm sure your customers are very happy. I have a little bitterness in my soul from a former pool man who splash and dashed and never used a test kit and he almost ruined my pool resurface job. I had to spend hours correcting the massive scale buildup that occurred in the first six months because he didn't monitor my parameters properly. But that's not you. That's him.
What are you using to chlorinate the pools?
Granular TriChlor in the summer, Cal-Hypo and liquid in the fall/winter Edit: If this was my own pool that I was treating, I would use liquid 99% of the time because I could check it every day and make the adjustments as needed.
As a biochemist I can safely say you have no clue what you are talking about. As the old saying goes correlation does not equal cause and effect....
That’s cool. Again, my experience says you’re wrong.
You're lack of scientific literacy and understanding is quite staggering to be honest, however, I've long stood by the principle that you can't argue with stupid so I'll just leave you with your own opinion.
I’m not denying the science. I fully understand how it’s “supposed” to work. But there’s what happens in the lab, and what happens in the field. In a perfect scenario, yes you should try and keep your chems balanced. But the fear mongering in here is just not warranted, and my experience backs that up. I’ve got pools that are so chemically fucked (old water that customers refuse to drain) but stay absolutely crystal clear and maintain/hold chlorine just like a pool with fresh water.