I am unable to raise my chlorine level no matter how much chlorine or shock I add. Any ideas?Thanks John?

Question

I am unable to raise my chlorine level no matter how much chlorine or shock I add. Any ideas?Thanks John?

Answer 1

If you use strips to test your pool then then your chlorine level could be too high and the high level is bleaching the strip (this can also happen with drop test kits but is more rare). I would suggest testing your tap water or a neighbors pool to make your test kit isnt tainted. If your pool is in bad shape then the chlorine could be being used up almost immediately killing all the organic debris. Also, if you do not have any stabalizer (cyanuric acid) in the pool the chlorine could be being burnt off very quickly by the sun. You can lose all your chlorine in a couple hours with no stabalizer.

Answer 2

The main reason I see this happening is because people do not have enough stabilizer in their water.  Most strip tests will not test this, so you should bring in a sample to your local pool store and they can test it for you.  Your stabilizer levels should be between 30 and 50 parts per million (ppm).  Stabilized pucks/tablets/sticks often do not provide enough stabilizer for your whole pool if you are just relying on them for stabilizer.  Even if your level is at 25 ppm, you need to raise it to at least 30.  This will give your chlorine something to bond to and prevent it from being evaporated by the sun.

Also, just note that you don't want all your shock to stay in the water.  That would send your chlorine levels through the roof and would be dangerous to swim in.  Shock usually burns off after a few days, but within those first few days, testing it will usually result in a high chlorine reading of at least 5 ppm (it should be between 1 and 3 ppm normally).  If your strip tests still aren't picking up any chlorine reading 12 hours after you shock it, there's something wrong with your testing kit.  It may be expired or it could have gotten wet or bleached at some point.  You should either invest in a new package or bring your water into the local pool store.  They will usually test it for free and they use very accurate drop tests, and can tell you if your tests have been reading accurately or not.