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Scuba Forum / General / June 2007Bleaching of Swimsuits
<disgruntled-rant-mode> I was up at the pool of my local dive shop (Houston SCUBA Academy) yesterday helping a friend of my daughter get ready for his open water dives (he wasn't comfortable with clearing his mask and a few other things)... The smell of the pool area seemed a bit high in chlorine, but since it is inside, I just figured that it was just that there wasn't enough air flowing through to cut the air concentration down a bit... After I rinsed out my swimsuit, I noticed it seemed a bit discolored, but I thought that perhaps it was just the different materials appearing different colored when wet... After it had dried overnight, I looked at it again this morning... There is a significant change in color in the swimsuit... I called over there this morning to inform them that I believed that they had their chlorine level set too high, but the owner claimed that the city *required* them to keep it that high... Since I've never had it bleach out my swimsuit before, I am fairly certain that the chlorine level is considerably higher than what it had been on previous trips there... Of course, the owner didn't even offer to compensate me for my ruined swimsuit... Hell, even the offer of a few air fills as compensation would have been nice... </disgruntled-rant-mode> > <disgruntled-rant-mode> > I was up at the pool of my local dive shop (Houston SCUBA Academy) [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > nice... > </disgruntled-rant-mode> If the chlorine smell is that bad, something is out of whack. Generally, a strong smell of "chlorine" is indicative of having too little chlorine. What you're actually smelling is the chloramines. *Probably*, the pool maintenance people need to "shock" their pool to get things back into line. http://www.waterandhealth.org/healthy_pools/healthy_pools_faq.html#7 The generally accepted method of fixing the problem is to raise the chlorine levels to around 10 ppm (normal levels being in the 2-3 ppm range). I'm not sure about the chemistry involved, but somehow this neutralizes (sanitizes?) the chloramines. This site (http://www.videofoundry.co.nz/ianman/laboratory/pool/shock.html) gives a basic explanation of the process. Also, there's this: http://www.waterandhealth.org/healthy_pools/faqs3.pdf "Chlorine does not have a strong "chlorine" smell in a healthy pool. Strong chemical odors are caused by the presence of chloramines, and indicate an unhealthy pool. Chloramines form when chlorine combines with perspiration, urine, saliva, feces, body oils, lotions and other wastes introduced into pools by swimmers. Chloramines are less effective for killing germs, and high levels may cause skin, eye, or respiratory irritation. Surprisingly, the pool may actually need additional chlorine treatment to get rid of chloramines and sanitize the water. " Unfortunately, there's probably nothing that can be done about the bleaching effect except to rinse your suit well after swimming in the pool. The next time you go to the pool, if there's still a problem, ask the manager when they last checked the combined chlorine levels and when they last compensated for values too high (shocked the pool). If there's still a problem in the near future, it (shocking) almost assuredly needs to be done. > The next time you go to the pool, if there's still a problem, ask the > manager when they last checked the combined chlorine levels and when > they last compensated for values too high (shocked the pool). If there's > still a problem in the near future, it (shocking) almost assuredly > needs to be done. Ask them about a urinalysis as well. Years ago, when I was taking my Water Safety Instructor course, several people complained about the smell and soapy taste of the water. They checked the chemicals and they all were spot on. Then someone thought to check for the presence of urine. They drained and refilled the pool the next day. Lee > > The next time you go to the pool, if there's still a problem, ask the > > manager when they last checked the combined chlorine levels and when [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > on. Then someone thought to check for the presence of urine. They drained > and refilled the pool the next day. If urine were able to bleach Mike's swimsuit, my wetsuit would be white by now. On Jun 14, 8:15 am, Grumman-581 <grumman...@DIE-SPAMMER-SCUM- gmail.com> wrote: > <disgruntled-rant-mode> > I was up at the pool of my local dive shop (Houston SCUBA Academy) [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > nice... > </disgruntled-rant-mode> So skinny-dip next time. That will teach them. > So skinny-dip next time. That will teach them. Perhaps they're just trying to tell everyone that they should wear a white swimsuit... If I had worn one of them, I would probably be complementing them for how bright and clean my swimsuit looked afterwards... As it is, I'll just bitch and rant a bit and not use their shop again... Here's some photos of how much it bleached out the fabric... Quite impressive for a single 2 hour session... http://grumman581.googlepages.com/consumer-rant--houston-scuba-academy Oh well, I needed an excuse to go get a new one anyway... >> So skinny-dip next time. That will teach them. > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >Oh well, I needed an excuse to go get a new one anyway... Go to a local pool supply store and buy a test kit, they are cheap. Go back up and test the water yourself, or take a sample to the pool supply store and have them test it. at worst case they will charge you a couple bucks. Then if it is truly out of wack you have something to discuss with the owner. >>> So skinny-dip next time. That will teach them. >> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >a couple bucks. Then if it is truly out of wack you have something to >discuss with the owner. I do that about once every six weeks in our neighborhood pool. Just checking up on the pool service.  Signaturedillon The pen may be mightier than the sword, but I've never seen a .sig beat a Sig. On 14 Cze, 17:15, Grumman-581 <grumman...@DIE-SPAMMER-SCUM-gmail.com> wrote: > <disgruntled-rant-mode> > I was up at the pool of my local dive shop (Houston SCUBA Academy) [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > nice... > </disgruntled-rant-mode> Be careful. Next time they can charge you for bleaching ;-) What about your hair are they bleached too? Janusz > <disgruntled-rant-mode> > I was up at the pool of my local dive shop (Houston SCUBA Academy) [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > nice... > </disgruntled-rant-mode> I forget where you live, but in NYS the mandated levels of chlorine (min/max) take several months of daily use to bleach a swimsuit. YMMV based on suit choice. (I swim 5 days or more most weeks.) John Eells |
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