Big oops.....non-pool antifreeze in water :(

[chem geek]

P.S. to Chris:

Apparently there are quite a few users of this forum who live in areas where freezing is an issue and put antifreeze into their pipes. Clearly when they start up again in the spring, they flush this antifreeze into their pool water (at least for the return pipes from the pump/filter to the pool -- the drain/skimmer pipes could be flushed to waste, I suppose). I don't think anyone has had any problems with such antifreeze, but it is also probably true that they only use PG and not EG.

[chrisexv6]

The antifreeze that everyone uses (or is supposed to use, anyway) is RV-type antifreeze, aka PPG (safe) antifreeze. The AF I accidentally added to my pool (not intending to keep the water from freezing, I just opened the wrong bottle) is the EG (unsafe for consumption) stuff. When they let out the pipes in the spring and the AF goes into the pool, its not unsafe to do so.

The ironic thing is that I dont actually put antifreeze into my pipes, I use a line blower to blow them out and plug them. Never had a problem using no AF, but this year seems to have me thinking about just doing it as a precaution.

As far as next year, Im starting to agree we dont have much to worry about. The AF was added with the pool at winter closing levels, so the chlorine was fairly high (15-20ppm). Plus it will get shocked quite a bit next year during opening, so Im fairly sure it will all be broken down before we jump in next year.

Thanks!
-Chris