Chemical Orders
Pool chemical orders are tracked on this page. Do not post costs here as they may be considered proprietary to the supplier (not public).
Summary
| Year | Order (Start of Season) | Inventory (End of Season) | Usage | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ca(ClO)₂ | HCl | CaCl₂ | NaHCO₃ | (CNOH)₃ | Ca(ClO)₂ | HCl | CaCl₂ | NaHCO₃ | (CNOH)₃ | Ca(ClO)₂ | HCl | CaCl₂ | NaHCO₃ | (CNOH)₃ | |
| 2016 | 50 | 108 | 3 | 2 | 5 | No Data | |||||||||
| 2017 | 40 | 212 | 1 | 7 | 4 | No Data | |||||||||
| 2018 | 63 | 132 | 1 | 3 | 2 | No Data | |||||||||
| 2019 | 72 | 160 | 1 | 2 | 1 | No Data | |||||||||
| 2020 | 30 | 120 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 130 | 4 | 0 | 3 | No Data | ||||
| 2021 | 60 | 30 | 0 | 11 | TBD | 10 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 145 | 1 | 11 | 0 |
| 2022 | 55+10 | 152 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 32 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 135 | 0 | 8 | 4 |
| 2023 | 55 | 140 | 0 | 8 | 6 | Did Not Inventory (see 2024 notes) | Unknown | ||||||||
| 2024 | 60 | 160 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 21 | 8 | 0 | TBD | 3 | Unknown | ||||
| 2025 | 55 | 172 | 0 | 8 | 0 | TBD | TBD | ||||||||
Key:
- The Order column contains the total number of units ordered for the entire season. If subsequent orders or made (beyond the pre-season order), this should be noted in the notes, below.
- The Inventory column contains the total number of units on-hand at the end of the season.
- The Usage column contains the number of units used during the season (the prior year's inventory plus the order minus the usage).
- Ca(ClO)₂ is Calcium Hypochlorite - see 2024 notes for details.
- HCl is hydrochloric (muriatic) acid, measured in 1-gallon containers. Typically 4 gallons are packed in a case.
- CaCl₂ is calcium chloride, measured in 50-lb bags.
- NaHCO₃ is sodium bicarbonate, measured in 50-lb bags.
- (CNOH)₃ is cyanuric acid (CYA, stabilizer), measured in 25-lb buckets.
Notes
Pre-2021
Chemical orders were not well-tracked. Early season discounts were not fully utilized due to repeat orders (sometimes up to 5 orders in a season, resulting in added delivery charges).
2021
The chemical order was based on 2016 through 2019 averages. The result was a planned excess of some chlorine and acid. No additional orders for chlorine and acid were made, so the pre-season discounts were fully utilized.
However, excess purchase of sodium bicarbonate was necessary to keep the pool alkalinity in range (compared to data from 2016-2019). The amount of stabilizer in the pool was also regularly low.
2022
Starting in 2022, it was determined that there is no need to purchase calcium chloride. The calcium added by the calcium hypochlorite, in addition to the hardness in the city water supply, is more than sufficient to keep the water hardness within desired bounds.
The early season discounts ended in 2022 (with our primary supplier) due to inflation and supply chain issues. We still aim to purchase all chemicals up-front to minimize delivery charges.
A high burn rate of sanitizer was observed in early 2022. A modest stabilizer level is deemed necessary in the pool water.
2024
In 2024, the chlorinator was changed from an Accu-Tab tablet system (which used 60-lb buckets) to a Pulsar briquette system (which uses 50-lb buckets). Inventory and usage to be noted as such. Unfortunately, it appears the during the changeover period, we did not inventory chemicals on-hand. So, usage for 2023 and 2024 is unknown (unless the missing inventory data is located).
2025
Lacking data for usage in 2023 and 2024, it's a bit difficult to know how much chlorine is required. With 21 buckets on-hand, 55 additional buckets will be ordered. As these buckets are 50 lb, this will be equivalent to having about 61 x 60-lb buckets post-order. It's not clear if the Pulsar system uses more or less chlorine - again, lacking data (and also lacking supporting data for burn rate based on weather and pool usage). As acid was nearly depleted in 2024, ordering extra (172) for 2025 may make sense. If memory serves, we nearly ran out in 2023.