The following email about foam in a pool was received from a customer.
I have been using the Watermaid salt chlorinator for about 10 years and have come up with a new issue that I am hoping you can help me out with.
I needed to replace the vinyl liner in my pool this year so I now have a fresh fill of water in the pool. The salt level is at about 4700ppm. PH is OK there is a little tinge of green to the water so I have added a bit of algaecide to the mix.
I have added about 8 kg of epsom salts as well.
I realize that the salt level is still a bit low so I will be adding another couple of bags of salt to bring it up to 6000ppm as recommended by watermaid.
My concern is that when I run the chlorinator the discharge is quite cloudy and my pool became covered with what looks like sea foam. This has never happened to me in the past and I was hoping that you could explain what is happening and if I should be concerned.
Thank you for any enlightenment you can provide.
P Edgar
Hi Mr. Edgar
The foam in your pool is probably from the use of the algaecide. You should look for non-foaming algaecide and when you use any algeacide don’t put too much in the pool. The thought that if a little does well, a lot will be even better doesnt work here.
The cloudy discharge and foam could also from the new liner. The vinyl will stick together when it is folded for shipping so they often use a powder to prevent this. Soap is also used sometimes to get a liner into place. I am not sure what has taken place with your liner but it isn’t something you should worry about.
Most of the time, foam will go away on its own. If there is a lot of foam, you can get a foam remover from almost any pool shop. It is used a lot in hot tubs.
You are correct, you need to get the salt up to 6000 ppm.
The epsom salt should be 20 kg
I usually warn people that the year after you replace a liner, you will often have a problem keeping a chlorine residual. The powder used consumes a lot of chlorine in the first year until it is gone so expect to run your chlorinator at a higher level and you may need to shock a few times in the year. I often suggest using household bleach as a cheap and clean way to raise the chlorine level. 2 jugs of Truly bleach from No Frills will raise the chlorine level in a 16 x 32 pool by 5 parts per million.
The problems that you are seeing are not salt chlorinator problems. They are more related to the new liner and the state of the water.