The Pool Boys recently joined the CYA Smart Alliance as well, and pledge to adhere to the alliance’s four benefits that lead to the best pool and spa water quality. These benefits include:
Better Water Care - With the proper levels of cyanuric acid, maintaining balance will not only be beneficial for swimmers but easier for pool service professionals as well.
Sustainability - The right amount of CYA in the water enables proper residual levels with less draining and filling of the pool and spa.
Healthier Water - The water will be resilient and able to keep up with bather loads for faster recovery and safer swimming.
Chemically Safe and Consistent Water - A swimmer has lowered exposure to excessive chemicals and enjoys a safer swim experience when we avoid overstabilization.
What is CYA and Why Does it Matter?
Cyanuric Acid or CYA is the number one problem we fight with Chlorine Pools in our Gulf Coast market.
Using Tabs you find at the Pool Store are simple, and easy to use, but they have one big drawback, and that’s Cyanuric Acid (CYA) is added to each dose to protect the chlorine from the sun. The chlorine is used up and burned off throughout the week, however CYA does not burn off at the same rate. So with year-round pool seasons and 60-70 inches of rain a year, we use a lot of Chlorine Tabs throughout the year and the CYA just keeps on building up.
In our market, CYA should remain at or around 50 ppm in a Chlorine pool. Salt Pools can be as high as 70 - 80 ppm CYA and still effectively kill algae with a Free Chlorine level of 4.0.
Many customer pools we take over have anywhere from 80 to 120+ ppm CYA in their pool. Some even higher. The only way to fix this issue is to stop adding Trichlor tabs filled with Cyanuric Acid to the pool, or plan to drain and refill your pool 50% a few times a year.
Even though we hear customers say “I’ve never heard this before? Why do I have to drain my pool?”. It’s an industry wide problem that many pool owners and professionals alike are learning about. There’s even an association of manufacturers that came together to form the CYA Smart Alliance to teach pool professionals and homeowners about this issue and ways to solve it. With rising CYA, it’s the perfect opportunity for The Pool Boys to find a better, safer way to sanitize your swimming pool.
The Pool Boys Preferred Method is Salt
If we remove TriChlor Tabs from use due to high CYA, that leaves us 3 choices to sanitize pools. Liquid Chlorine, Cal-Hypo Tabs, or a Salt Chlorine Generator to convert salt to chlorine.
We can’t easily distribute liquid chlorine to 200 customers on a weekly basis. It’s just not safe. And liquid chlorine must be added on a daily basis to maintain a safe chlorine level, so you will be outside storing and handling liquid chlorine year round, or paying for a liquid chlorine dispense system that will need to be filled on a weekly basis. Not to mention, liquid chlorine raises Total Dissolved Solids and will need to drain occasionally to correct this issue.
CalHypo Tabs (chlorine tabs without CYA) are an acceptable way to sanitize a pool, but Customers MUST understand you cannot mix CalHypo Tabs and TriChlor Tabs together, as they are extremely dangerous when mixed (explosive actually). Also, CalHypo Tabs increase Calcium, which you must drain to correct… so that leaves us with Salt as the Solution!
While both salt and chlorine pools have their advantages and disadvantages, The Pool Boys recommends saltwater pools as a safer and healthier way to sanitize your pool.
Entry level Salt Cells from Pentair, Hayward and Jandy for pools up to 30,000 gallons are currently available and have shown to be extremely reliable in the field. These systems have standalone controllers and easily install inline. They provide continuous chlorination through salt and electrolysis. They are the most cost effective and trouble free method we’ve found to chlorinate your pool without adding CYA. The bonus of a Salt Pool is you get softer water, and less chemicals to irritate swimmers.
If you have any questions about Chlorine Tabs, CYA, Pool Maintenance or Salt Cells give our office a call at 832-473-5715. If you’re looking for quality pool care, check out our Total Care Weekly Pool Maintenance Service.
