Here we go! TFP method, take 2

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Household6

Household6

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LifeTime Supporter
Sep 15, 2013
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Fayetteville, NC
Pool Size
38000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
One year after having saved ourselves $8k and doing our own pool refurb. Never dreamed our biggest issue would be getting the water straight.

Spent $2k last year on chems and maintenance because the first pool guy took 5 days to get to our fresh water.

Second pool guy refused to believe TFP way works, bailing out a day (maybe even hours) prior to completing the SLAM.

So, we made the trip down (6 hours) to the house and pool from DC yesterday and we're going to get this baby opened and started back up! I have as many as 5 days, but prefer to get it right in 3. Possible?

Future maintenance will be the responsibility of our (new) tenant who moves in on Monday.

Given the time allotted, I realize we need to drain and refill the current swamp. That can be accomplished today with the aid of the fire hydrant across the street.

But before I drain (or during) I'm thinking we should go ahead and use the pool vac and brush the sides to get what grime and algae we can out so the new water has less to contend with. Good idea, or not necessary?

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If you have a "waste" setting on that filter, vacuum to waste. You'll suck up all the crud lurking on the bottom and spit it out without ever going near the filter. That should help speed things along.

If there's no huge chunks of debris in the pool and it's just green, draining and refilling may not save all that much time. Have you tested the CYA? High CYA and/or CH indicate a drain is necessary. If they're okay, start vacuuming to waste and then hit it with bleach.
 
That land in the background looks fairly flat, do you have somewhere you can drain 35,000 gallons of water to, also is the water table high there / have you had a lot of recent rain? If so there is a risk of the pool floating up out of the ground when drained.

Ike
 
I remember this pool! You can do this. You drained it and painted it. Richard has asked good questions about the need to drain and refill. A good old fashioned SLAM might be just the ticket after you vacuum to waste as much of the gunk on the bottom as possible.
 
and fire hydrant's may not be the best for fill... they can or may have metals in them and you really don't want that headache if you avoid it..

once you know your CYA level you can take it up to mustard SLAM level or just below it... you know he more you check and keep it above SLAM level the faster it goes... How long it takes just depends on how much green there is :)
 
Aaaaand I think we have a damaged pipe. DRATS!
Return on pump side of pool is going like a champ! One on opposite side is full force, but "spitting" - that indicates air, which indicates a break, correct?

I'll check CYA and CH and repot back.

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Well, we filled from the hydrant last year after our refurb. I did check on shipping water in last year and it was going to cost in the thousands.

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Don't have a main drain. So other than the vac picking up, is sort of our only option, right?

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Water dept lets us drain to sewer, but only charges for water usage in this case. Mighty nice of them, eh!
Drained last year for about 4 days without issue. I can only hope for the same luck again!

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And yup, that's me! Did a DIY renovation on the pool sealing cracks and such and repainting ourselves. Happy to report pool is holding water with zero issues! (We had a minor leak.) The quotes we Recd were between $10k and $30k.
 
If you want to get a sump pump, you can drain that way. Have you had a chance to test your CH and CYA levels. That truly will tell you definitively if you need to drain or SLAM.
 
i forgot thats how you filled the first time :) you both got it going before, I see no reason you cant do it again :)
 
Had it going, but pool guy was spending hours and hours at pool scrubbing with brush to remove algae spots.

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Ok,
CYA - 30.
CH - 400 to get it truly blue, but it was purple (just a tick over lavender) before the first drop. What shade of blue am I looking for?

This is only the 2nd time I've ever done the testing, so tell me if something is screwey.

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Oh! And the return is trucking right along now! Just needed 10 minutes or so to settle down I suppose. Sheeeew!

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All good now! Just needed some time to settle down I suppose.
 

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When the drop doesn't change the color anymore, stop the test and don't count the last drop. IMO the "ending color" is like the blue around the bottom of the "become a TFP supporter" button at the top of the page here.

The speed stir makes this test much easier.
 
CYA - 55
CH - 15
TA - 18000

PH test - I'm confused on where to go after adding drops for acid demand test. It took 5 drops of R-0005 to achieve a blue that didn't change color.

Tried the FC test, but no surprise there - wouldnt go pink.

Now, off to poolmath I go!
 
How, how could they allow that to get that bad??

Are you new renters on board to the TFP care way? Will you have them sign up for their own account? If you do make sure to PM me and let me know what their user name is and I will make sure to watch out for them.

Kim
 
So recommendation is to drain 27% of water to lower the CYA, but it also suggests I add 8.6M lbs of baking soda. Lol!
I've already allowed myself to get tangled up in other repairs and such, so I've lost a day.
Am I correct that Im looking at splitting hairs here? Which is most likely to be my best bet? At this point, I don't care what it is, I just need to do something! :)
Many thanks for yalls continued help.

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My advice remains the same. Vacuum any crud to waste. Refill. Set the pH and then it's jugs away. 55 CYA is on the high side for a SLAM, but if you vacuum to waste you'll lower that considerably. Backwashing the filter throughout the process will also drop the CYA. Everything but high CYA and high CH can be dealt with easily after the water is cleared, so stop worrying and kill that algae. Kill it all before it grows any more.

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Realizing the variance, what would be your best guesstimate on how long your suggested way would take, and what we would be looking at for a complete dump and refill?
 

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