Starting off right

[JoyfulNoise]

I have the TF-100 (or 1000?) Has all the tests I should need minus salt and borates, but I'll deal with that when I have salt or borates to test for ;p. I got ham fisted with the FAS-DPD and put in too many drops at once, hence it wasn't really accurate, and I didn't have time to retest it. I did get a chance to look over some of the paperwork, the pool was refinished almost exactly one year ago - is one year of pucks enough to cause CYA issues? What does CYA look like on a pool that's maintained this way for years?

It's hard to say without knowing the history of usage but every 10ppm FC added by trichlor brings with it 6ppm CYA. Each 3" trichlor tablet, if pure 99% trichlor and well made, weighs about 8oz. So you can use Pool Math and the volume of your pool (you don't list that?) to determine how many pucks it takes to get 10ppm FC. If the previous owner was using trichlor pucks then it's a safe bet that they were also using dichlor shock powder. Every 10ppm FC added by dichlor brings along with it 9ppm CYA. So, depending on how often they shocked their pool, it is easy to see how stabilized chlorine can rapidly raise your CYA. Most pool stores will tell you to do it weekly and pool maintenance companies will also use the weekly shock method.

Typical daily FC loss for a "clean" pool during the swim season is roughly 2-3ppm/day.

And yes, pools that exclusively use pucks and powders often have sky-high CYA. When most people come to the TFP door step and test their water, some find that the CYA is greater than 100ppm even with the 1:1 dilution. They simply drain their pools as it is not very instructive to know the exact CYA level. Once you go above 100ppm, you have to use massive amounts of chlorine to keep a pool clean. It's just cheaper to drain it and start over.

 

[MarianParoo]

A year of pucks can, yes, skyrocket your CYA. You can live with high CYA, but we don't always recommend it.

Please test your fill water: the water you will use to add water to your pool when it gets low. That will give us a better idea about how to proceed. (No need to test CYA in your fill water).

 

[johnbrodie]

So I went back over tonight and checked everything again. This time I had my wife (with much better eyesight than myself) double check my findings, since some of the tests seem fairly subjective.

My findings:

CYA: 70
FC: 3
CC: 0
pH: 7.5

I poured between 1/2 and 2/3 of 8.25% bleach into the pool. Poured it in front of a return with the pump running at 3/4 speed, and left the pump run for a few hours afterwards. I'll recheck tomorrow. Hoping I can deal with the CYA for now, since I plan on getting a SWG within the next year and Pool Math says 70 CYA is OK with a SWG. I also need to find some type of measuring container that's marked in ounces.

In other news, I checked the pump and filter out today. The pump has the following schedule:

9pm to 12am - Filter High, 2900 rpm
12am to 5am - Filter Low, 1400 rpm

Any opinions on the schedule?

The filter's PSI gauge with the pump on the highest setting looks like this:

(The needle is right behind the red thing)

I found paperwork stating that the filter, when installed, had a pressure of 10PSI. So I should move the green/red marks so green is at 10, and backwash the DE filter when the gauge gets to 20 PSI?

I also played with the valves just a bit, and found out I have an aerator, which is neat. I'm a bit confused about this one valve though. Currently, there's a suction side cleaner in the pool that starts up when the pump is on (although it seems like it's always hitting the same 1/8 of the pool over and over)... I popped off the skimmer cover and didn't see too much movement, although I'm not sure how much I'm supposed to see...

The writing says "Pool Cleaner" and "Skimmer", and there is a line on the valve body that lines up with a line on the housing. Is this splitting the suction 50/50 between the cleaner and skimmer? Is that what I want? I tried moving the valve a little but it very audibly put more load on the pump, so I wussed out and put it back in it's original position.

Thanks for the continued advice guys, appreciate it! I know I'm asking a lot of questions here.

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum.

I would clean and backwash your filter right now. If you choose to do that, you will have a "true" clean pressure which may or may not be 10 psi.

Once you get that clean psi, backwash anytime your filter exceed 25% of the clean psi. So, if it really is 10, then backwash around 12-13.

Run you filter as often as it takes to keep your pool clean. If it's working now, leave it alone or decrease the runtime until it gets too dirty too often......every pool is different.

 

[kimkats]

Ask any question you might have no matter how small or silly it might seem. We LOVE to help!

Good job having your wife help with the testing. After a while you will be able to do it without her help as you learn the ins and outs of testing.

I just a plastic measuring cup (2 cups). It has the oz. listed in the middle. Do NOT take one out of the kitchen! Wife might not like that! I bought mine at the dollar store.

Valve for skimmer and cleaner---I would have wimped out also if it chanced noise that much. I will let someone else help on that one as I am still learning that part of pool care.

Kim

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

You need to run the pump to keep it clean and mixed but maintaining the FC is what will keep the blooms away. For some of us there is a $$ advantage to running the pump at night during off peak and I haven't had any problems doing that.

 

[johnbrodie]

Thanks for the advice all. We move in Saturday, so until then I have limited time to actually check on the pool. With the CYA high, it being winter, and a target FC of 8 when I added bleach on Sunday, I'm hoping everything will be OK until tomorrow when I can retest. I did stop back over at the house for a brief moment today, and the darned puck holder was back in the pool (I had taken it out and put it in the unlocked shed). I don't think the pool company got the memo that the old owners are gone!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I've seen posts where the pool service guy kept coming even after the homeowner called and cancelled the service. Sometimes with the larger companies, the techs just get into a rut and don't know that a customer has cancelled (says a lot about how detail-oriented these guys are, eh?). The homeowner had to literally lock the gates and let the dogs out to get the service guy to not come back.

You may have to call the service company a few times and let them know you will not be paying them anymore.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006

 

[johnbrodie]

Brief update and a new question:

I finally backwashed the filter, dropping the filter PSI from 18 to 9. Tried out unlabeled valving on the filter outlet, and realized I can direct filtered water either to the pool or into the sewer - so draining to solve my CYA problem should be easy.

Question - what the heck is this? It can be pulled upward but not all the way out. I don't see anything else like it in the pool, and it's not one of the two umbrella holes (which have a screw-on cover installed atm). I'm lost as to what it could be... There's no in floor cleaning system or anything in the pool.

 

[Texas Splash]

Almost looks like a type of bubbler. Does any water flow out from it when valves are operated?

 

[johnbrodie]

I pulled it up by hand (it'll stay at the top position) and turned the pump on, but nothing. There's two lines going back to the pool, one for the return jets, one for the aerator... No other return pipes, and no valves I haven't already played with.

 

[Texas Splash]

to keep this going. Humm. I was thinking (hoping) perhaps it was for something like on THIS THREAD. Look for the pic on post #3. I'm assuming it's the only pop-up of its kind in your pool correct? And it does not come on when the valve is set to aerator? If not, I'm at a loss my friend. Another TFP'er might have experience with that specific design and chime-in.

 

[johnbrodie]

to keep this going. Humm. I was thinking (hoping) perhaps it was for something like on THIS THREAD. Look for the pic on post #3. I'm assuming it's the only pop-up of its kind in your pool correct? And it does not come on when the valve is set to aerator? If not, I'm at a loss my friend. Another TFP'er might have experience with that specific design and chime-in.

Does not come on with the aerator (I've had it on lately to try and get TA under control), and it's the only one like it in the pool

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

That's what I was thinking but I've never actually seen one.
The other thing, any chance that's the on/off valve ??

 

[johnbrodie]

So after some more research, I'm fairly certain it's one of these Paramount Parascope Water Feature - YouTube. The other thing in the first pic isn't a valve, it's just a screw on cover for an umbrella hole. There are pictures of the equipment pad further up the thread, the only return lines go to the aerator and the main return jets... Neither one being on turns on the fountain.

 

[Texas Splash]

In that case, I wonder if you could ever get lucky enough to find the pool builder for your pool? Did they leave any paperwork or ID info the equipment? You could ask them about the activation for that feature...... unless the previous owners had problems with it and had it disabled and/or specific valve removed.

 

[johnbrodie]

OK, I give up. The valve after the backwash plunger valve that I THOUGHT sent water to the aerator/main jets AND/OR waste doesn't appear to work like I had assumed. The unlabeled line must be capped somewhere, I left the pump on speed 3 (of 4), and the water level never went down, the auto-refill float valve never started hissing, and the pump sounds the same as if I close all the pool returns completely. So I guess what I thought was a "waste" line is.... nothing?

The valve I'm talking about is right after the backwash valve in this picture. I'm totally lost now .

 

[Wheels007]

I'm thinking along the same lines as Texas. Maybe a fountain of some sort?

 

[Texas Splash]

Some others are really good about this, but I'll give it a shot. That last valve after the backwash handle seems to be in the open position for water going back to the pool (return jets) right now. If it were turned the other way, it would allow water to go to the two pipes at its left and into the ground with the blue shut-offs. I would "think" the larger pipe with blue shut-off might be for the aerator you speak of, and the skinnier pipe with blue handle going to that pop-up fountain on your steps. The skinny one (blue handle) looks closed right now.

I believe the pipe under those with the clear see-through glass is your waste line for visiblity.

If I'm off the mark, hopefully someone else will have an idea or two. Now this is just a challenge, so I'm very curious too.

Actually, "OFF" is to the right on that valve isn't it? So water should be currently flowing to the left at the two pipes with the blue shut-offs. But that left (skinny) one is still closed.

 

[Wheels007]

Again I agree with texas. Do you have a pressure side cleaner such as a Polaris? Or can you open the valve that feeds the 1" pvc and let us know what that does?