Negative Impactors on Disinfection

In this post, I want to talk about some of the more unusual situations that negatively impact the action of your pool's disinfectant. You may remember that I said in an earlier post, that if you keep your pool's chlorine level at three parts per million (ppm), your pool will seldom have an algae bloom. This is because at three ppm, there is still a reserve of chlorine in your pool, a reserve that will allow for exceptional situations to occur, even ones that negatively impact the amount of existing chlorine. This way there will still be some chlorine left over to carry the pool through until the next time you can add some more. It is the same here for bromine, if you decide to use this disinfectant, you will have to keep the concentration at about twice the level, in parts per million, as you do for chlorine. So lets talk about some of the situations.

Phosphates:

High phosphate levels: Phosphate is a nutrient for algae, and when there is too much phosphate in your pool's water, you may find it difficult to keep the water clear and free from algae. Phosphates originate from many sources: bird droppings, rain runoff, agricultural fertilizers, decaying plant and animal organics, urine, and sweat.

If your pool repeatedly turns green with algae blooms, even in the presence of a rigorous disinfection program, then it is time for you to test your pool water for phosphates. Take a sample of your water to your local pool store. If it is found that your pool has a high concentration of phosphates, then also have them test your pool water for it's TDS (total dissolved solids) level too. Most likely, your water will have a high TDS reading also.

There are a couple of remedies. If it is winter, go ahead and drain the pool, and then immediately fill the pool with fresh water, you don't want to let the pool remain empty for any length of time. The second remedy is for you to use a phosphate precipitating product. This will cause the phosphates to fall out of suspension, onto the floor of the pool. Then you simply vacuum the resulting debris out of the pool. Preferably, if you can, bypass the filter, directly to waste.

If you have a pool with a multi-port valve, you can just set the dial of that valve to "waste" and the precipitate will leave the pool directly. If you don't have a multi-port valve then it still may be possible to divert the water around the filter by cutting into the pipe as it leaves the pump, and connnecting the backwash hose to this stub, and as you vacuum, the phosphate precipitate will go elsewhere instead of into your filter. Later, the pipe can be glued back together. Another option here is it install a Jandy three way valve immediately after the pump, this will give you the option to vacuum to waste whenever you want to.

Nitrates:

Nitrates are formed when nitrogen from ammonia, urine, sweat, and lawn care products combine with oxygen in the water to form nitrates, nitrates will take the oxygen out of your hypochlorous acid. This destroys the hypochlorous acid and obviously weakens your disinfection program. The solution here is to drain the pool, there is no alternative. Pool draining will be covered in a later post.

Dust Storms:

These acts of nature carry so much dirt and debris that it can completely destroy all of the chlorine in your pool! Summer dust storms are the main reason I tell prospective swimming pool owners that what they need to have is the smallest pool that they can possibly get by with, as well as the biggest pump, piping and filter that they can afford. Further more, let's go ahead a get two skimmers, a dedicated line for the automatic cleaner and design a nice oval shape for that swimming pool.

The worst situation is when the new pool owner gets saddled with a huge rectangular pool with an undersized pump, an undersized filter and undersized piping. I have noticed that large pools almost never have a corresponding increase in the size of their equipment, even though the volume of water that needs to be moved and treated, is two, three, four or more times the size of an ordinary pool.

The only way to compensate somewhat for a large pool with undersized equipment is to run the pool's pump and cleaning system much more often, perhaps even continuously during the monsoon season. The owner of this kind of large pool, at any rate, is really going to have to suffer looking at a messed up pool during most of the monsoon season, or be involved in constantly cleaning it out manually, it can get to be quite a bit of work.

The dust storms that are generated in the Phoenix area can be really huge. Just in the past week, a monster dust storm more than a mile high and 50 miles wide passed through Phoenix and most of Maricopa County. It made national and international news. You can see it on YouTube. The upshot here is that if your pool is built properly, it will be better able to take a hit from one of these monster dust storms.

If you hear about or see that a dust storm is coming in, you might as well turn the pool's pump on and add a bag of shock to the skimmer. That will help prevent your pool from greening up. If the dust storm is huge or with very high winds, then as I have said in an earlier post, you might as well turn the pool pump off, and let the dust and debris settle to the bottom of the pool before you begin any clean up efforts.

Dogs in the pool:

If you let the family dog have access to your pool, the hair from it's body will shed into the pool water, make a mess inside the skimmer and pump strainer basket, the hair will entangle itself in the pump's impeller, and any that gets into your sand filter, will likely remain there for a long time, hair doesn't backwash out easily. Mud, from the dog's paws will enter the pool and since the dog's paws will be repeatedly washed off inside the pool on the steps or love seat, the filter will get plugged up sooner. Dogs also like to urinate inside the pool. Your dog's anus will be rinsed off also.

A dog that uses the pool for it's own personal entertainment is a happy dog. The pool service professional has a different viewpoint. Everything that I have been talking about up to this point, the whole sanitation process, the cleaning and disinfection procedures, are completely negated by the swimming pool owner who thinks it's wonderful to see "little wolfie" play in the pool. Sometimes, "little wolfie" gets to play in the pool with the children, or grandchildren. A wonderful sight it is! I hope they take a lot of photos.

I will not be a party to this type of joy. If I see dog hair in my customer's pool on a regular basis, I have learned from experience, that I will probably have to let them go. Usually, they will not restrict their dog's activity. So...they will have to take care of the pool themselves, or find someone else who will. I do not want to take care of, or service a swimming pool, for the pleasure of a dog. Even if that dog is accompanied by humans. Sorry.

Of course, after I became exclusively a pool repairman, I was more than willing to fix whatever pool problems "little wolfie" was causing. But, I let the customer know what the facts were on the subject. Swimming pools in the summer are always difficult to keep sanitary under the best of conditions. Keeping your dog out of the pool is a smart thing to do. Buy your dog a large plastic pool and put it off in the corner of the yard somewhere. The dog will love it. Minimize your dog's access to your pool.

Ducks:

Ducks sometimes decide that they like a certain pool, maybe your pool. Usually, the chosen pool is surrounded by mature vegetation, giving the duck, or ducks, some cover. A swimming pool that is starting to be visited by ducks, not surprisingly, will have duck poop on it's floor, and because these birds are large, the poop will be large. Obviously, this will cause an increased need for chlorine, because poop of all kinds is about 50% bacteria. That is why those ducks need to be chased away. If these ducks are allowed to build a nest in the vegetation surrounding your pool, or somewhere nearby, they will be really difficult to get rid of.

I was called once to a home where the customer had ducks for pets, this guy thought that I should be able and willing to take him on as a customer, even though the ducks used the pool, and turned it into a green pond! Sorry, no dog pools, no duck pools. There are companies that service ponds exclusively.

If you notice duck poop in your pool and you happen to see the ducks, you are going to have try to chase them off immediately, otherwise they may get nested on your property and you may have ducklings! You may have to get used to throwing bread on the swimming pool's surface!... Quack and quack, quack!

The next post: More Negative Impactors on Disinfection