Its a bit soon for you to have built up a cyanuric acid level CYA. Without this the sunlight can burn off the chlorine in a matter of hours. Would that fit with your situation? Stop using Javel, switch to cheap galetts which are Dichlor. (Dichloro-S- Triazinetrione) this will add CYA quicker than the more expensive trichlor.
Could take a couple of weeks but you could pull your cover back over during sun periods
Give the probe a clean would be my first thought and check with calibration fluid. You already had my thoughts on pH dosers, do it manually its safer, get the TA lower and you probably wont need to adjust it for a year or two and then it only takes 1/2 a cup of acid.
It is, just not with your new toy. If the pool shops dont have a TA test kit, try an aquarium section of a brico shed. Reducing TA does require some work lowering the pH with acid then aerating water, depending on how high it is to start with this may or may not need repeating.
Having mastered the technicality of my Taylor test kit (purchased from Spain) i have successfully lowered the TA in my pool from 190 > 100 in a week using hydrochloric acid. The PH has lowered in line (as expected) and its currently 7.4 As a result of also getting my CYA to 70 (using powder stabiliser in a sock to deliver it into the water), the salt water chlorine generator is now at setting 3 (out of 10) for the first time since i have been doing my pool (2016 on).
My lack of understanding of CYA balancing with the chlorine level has meant i was chasing the chlorine levels almost every day … until now
CYA is the most dominating chemical in the pool. Correctly set it helps maintain the chlorine, incorrect it wreaks havoc!
Running with a chlorine level 5% of the CYA figure keeps most people out of trouble.
I also use Dryden Aqua’s ACO, this increases the sterilisation effect as apposed to CYA that diminishes it. In combination I found the chlorine lasts even longer.
Enjoy the fettling while you can, lads. Depending where you are in FR the restrictions on pools will kick in as the climate of Andalucia extends ever northwards. Last summer we even had bans on filling pools in verdent, bosky Calvados.
Mi amigo Fernando, in the town of Xativa, 50kms south of the city of Valencia, has reported 38C already.
I get the idea, a spill over small pool into larger. I have seen free form pools with sectional strips of cover joined with a hinge portion if you follow. Obviously a bit more hassle than a straight cover but only requiring a short roller, maybe something along those lines?
Always trying to help, hope you get some use from it. I know there were the lilly pad type woth magnets at their edges so they clung together. But they were hard to store (inflated) and obviously had gaps between the round disc shapes.
oh it’s all such a cauchemar. My chlorine goes up when I put in a galet, when that’s finished the level is quite far down so I bung in another. that seems ok. But the ph is the colour of a raspberry. I’ve put in some ph minus and will see tomorrow. cover not on yet. Why can’t i just fill it up from the hose, after all that comes from where the tap water does? though I do have a water softener but when I test the ph in the tap water the ph is often quite high . And I drained it (it’s only 5x7) and refilled. what did one do in olden days?