Why would Chlorine turn my water yellow?

Dan · science forum beginner Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 20

I'm hoping someone with a chemistry background can help me figure out
why our water turns yellow when we add granulated or tablet-form
chlorine to our water. My wife noticed that when we use Clorox powder
to our laundry, our whites turn yellow and the washing machine
accumulates a yellow sludge. When we use chlorine tablets to our toilet
tank, the water in the bowl appears yellow, making it look like our
flushing habits aren't the best. Most recently, we purchased an
above-ground pool, filled it up with 3000 gallons of tap water and then
added a third cup of chlorine crystals (sodium
dichloro-s-triazinetrione dihydrate) and watched in horror as a yellow
cloud appeared as the crystals disolved in the water. Now, the whole
pool is yellow and we're debating whether to drain the thing and try
bromide.

It had been a couple of years since the toilet and laundry incident, so
I didn't expect the pool thing to happen. Argh!

Any ideas? Or explanation? The pool chemical folks were no help at all.
They just had a list of stock responses to "cloudy water" questions.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Best regards,
Dan
(dbeets@yah00.c0m)

rekuci@gmail.com · science forum addict Joined: 22 Sep 2005 Posts: 98

Dan wrote:

Tom S · science forum beginner Joined: 01 Jul 2006 Posts: 1

On 30 Jun 2006 10:30:44 -0700, "Dan" <dbeets@gmail.com> wrote:

Google