Chloramines

C. Jensen says...

Quoted message said:

My levels of combined chlorine are high while my free
chlorine is very low. No matter how much chlorine is
dumped into the pool, the free chlorine is always low. I
have been told that I have a chloramine problem. What do
I need to do to resolve this?

Quoted message said:

One pool store told me to shock the pool. I have done
this multiple times with no results. Another pool place
told me not to chlorinate the pool at all until the
levels of combined chlorine have dropped off.

Quoted message said:

The pool is an inground with a capacity of 30000 gallons.
The water is clear.

Quoted message said:

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

In theory, adding a large dose of free chlorine is supposed
to "burn" the combined chlorine so that the chlorine in the
pool is predominately "free".

I don't really have an answer for you, but here are some
things to consider:

I think you want to be shocking with calcium hypochlorite,
not one of the oxygen shock treatments. Not sure about that.

Are you sure your test kit is working properly? If the free
chlorine reagent is dead, that could be the only problem. My
guess is that your test kit doesn't measure combined
chlorine directly, but rather free chlorine and total
chlorine. Under normal circumstances, if combined chlorine
is very low, both tests should produce the same readings -
in other words, almost all of total chlorine is free.

One thing you might try is drawing a gallon of tap water,
add a couple drops of Clorox, and see how it tests.

If you really do have a very high level of combined
chlorine, there would have to be a source of something that
may be contaminating the water. The two most common sources
are urine (small kids) and lawn fertilizer.

Sorry I can't give you a magic bullet, but maybe something
here will help, or inspire a suggestion from someone else.

(C. Jensen) said:

My levels of combined chlorine are high while my free
chlorine is very low. No matter how much chlorine is dumped
into the pool, the free chlorine is always low. I have been
told that I have a chloramine problem. What do I need to do
to resolve this?

One pool store told me to shock the pool. I have done this
multiple times with no results. Another pool place told me
not to chlorinate the pool at all until the levels of
combined chlorine have dropped off.

The pool is an inground with a capacity of 30000 gallons.
The water is clear.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks, CJ

If you have a chloramine problem, I think you will be able
to "taste" it while you are swimming. In Adelaide in an
indoor 50 meter pool, during the hot weather, we sometimes
had what some people called a chloramine problem, which
manifested as gas that seemed to hang just above the surface
of the pool. When we tried to train with this gas there, we
could not breath and would choke and gag. This only happened
during very hot weather, when there were many people
swimming and splashing in the pool all day long, and it was
hard to keep the pool chemicals balanced properly.

martin

On 5/10/2004 11:22 AM, in article
[email hidden], "C. Jensen"

Quoted message said:

My levels of combined chlorine are high while my free
chlorine is very low. No matter how much chlorine is
dumped into the pool, the free chlorine is always low. I
have been told that I have a chloramine problem. What do I
need to do to resolve this?

One pool store told me to shock the pool. I have done this
multiple times with no results. Another pool place told me
not to chlorinate the pool at all until the levels of
combined chlorine have dropped off.

The pool is an inground with a capacity of 30000 gallons.
The water is clear.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks, CJ

Hi CJ,

The classic way to eliminate chloramines in the water is
to burn it off with a supershock of the pool. As a rule of
thumb, you'll need to raise the chlorine level to
approximately 10 times the combined chlorine level to
reach what is called the breakpoint. Adding more chlorine
than that will not help. Breakpoint reactions (burning off
the chloramines) begin around 7 times the combined
chlorine level but pool operators commonly shoot for 10x
just to be sure.

If you have not added enough chlorine to reach the
breakpoint, you will just aggravate the chloramine situation
further and the free available chlorine will remain
relatively low.

Chloramines (combined chlorine compounds) are smelly and are
irritating to the skin, nasal passages, and lungs. They are
also MUCH less effective at sanitizing and oxidizing organic
wastes in the water than Free Available Chlorine. Many
health code require that the chloramine level (Total
Chlorine minus Free Available Chlorine) be in the range of
0.0 to 0.2. Any higher than that and it is time to shock the
pool as described above.

It is important that the pool be reasonably clean for this
to work. Chloramines result from the combination of free
chlorine (hypochlorous acid) and organic material in the
water. If you have lots of organic debris in the water,
you've got your work cut out for yourself.

Some forms of chloramines may also be more difficult to burn
off than others. I've also heard of neutralizing the
chlorine to zero, ensuring that the water is clean, and then
chlorinating the water back to normal levels. I've never
tried that myself and the bulk of my experience is with
larger pools (~400,000 gals) rather than smaller ones so I
can't endorse the method with personal experience.

Finally, breakpoint chlorination relies on good air
ventilation in order to achieve good results. This is more
of an issue with the indoor pools that I work with than with
outdoor pools - and it sounds as if you have an outdoor
pool? I wanted to mention that plenty of airflow across the
surface of the water is an essential part of the breakpoint
chlorination process - just in case.

Good luck with your pool. I hope this information helps.
Regards, Greg

"C. Jensen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message =
"]news:[email hidden]...
:My levels of combined chlorine are high while my free chlorine is very
:low. No matter how much chlorine is dumped into the pool, the free
:chlorine is always low. I have been told that I have a chloramine
:problem. What do I need to do to resolve this?

:One pool store told me to shock the pool. I have done this
multiple :times with no results. Another pool place told me
not to chlorinate :the pool at all until the levels of
combined chlorine have dropped :off.

:The pool is an inground with a capacity of 30000 gallons.
The water :is clear.

:Any suggestions would be appreciated.

:Thanks, :CJ
------------------------
The on that told you to wait until your total chlorine level
dropped before shocking again is on the ball.

Chlorine only kills bacteria and does practically nothing
against algae. Combined chlorine is about 15th as effective
against bacteria than free chlorine.

If you have a painted cement patio deck around your pool
chances are contaminents from the paint are making there way
into your pool during a rain and foot traffic in and out of
pool. Chlorine likes to bind with just about anything. So,
what you most likely need to do is vacumn the pool and then
take apart your filter and clean it very well. Best yet,
leave your vac head in the deep end and have the return set
to put your water into a swirl. Clean your filter a few
times more over the course of a few weeks.

mark_