Conversion

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arbrey

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Aug 24, 2013
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Chicopee, MA
Timer for a question or two. Started conversion this morning. Added about 1280 oz of 5.25 and just recently 12.5 chlorine. Water is green, can't get FC above 3.
Been at it since 10:00am now 3:00pm. Changed out the DE twice so far. Just wondering if i am doing anything wrong? Using taylor 2006, maybe I don't know how to use test kit? I'm beat, 74 yrs young but don't have the stamina . That's it for now, probably be back later? just thought of something else. I don/t think i'm going to be able to run the pump thru the night . As i said earlier the fingers are clogging up. Is ok to shut pump off tonight?
 
arbrey, can you confirm please what "conversion": you are referring to? Baquacil maybe? That will help us in answering your question(s). As for the pump, if it's a multiport valve you can switch it to recirculate to keep the water moving. :)
 
arbrey, did you happen to measure the baquacil level before you started conversion? just curious. mine was still 30ppm even though i did not add any at closing last fall.
When you say "green", do you mean sort of Mountain Dew yellow/green? or algae green? Mine turned mountain dew yellow and had gobs of yellow precipitate. What is your precipitate color?
You will have a hard time keeping FC high during daylight hours, i wouldnt worry too much about that just yet. when you pour in the chlorine in front of the return jets you should still see the water change color as the baquacil goo is converted by the high chlorine content. if you dont, then you are closer to the end than the beginning.
Another idea since you have a DE filter that will likely clog quickly and be difficult to backwash effectively during this time of high precipitate levels: After adding chlorine at night and putting the valve in recirculation to bypass the filter, turn the pump off before going to bed but wait at least 30 min to an hour after chlorine addition. Before turning the pump on in the morning, assuming you can see the bottom of the pool, vacuum to waste as much of the goo as you can without using up too much of your water. Then go back to filtering/adding chlorine during the daylight hours. dont forget to brush/vac often and b/w when you need to. Good luck.
 
I replied to this but lost it all. The "green" my wife and I consider to be the Mountain Dew color you refer to. The "gobs" are brown and dense. Can pick up by hand at skimmer.
When I started the water, the water would change to a brown color and change to Mountain Dew. Cant remember if that happened the last time I added bleach?
Having trouble understanding vacuum to "waste" My filter has a skimmer port an outlet port and a fitting at the bottom that used drain water. Don't know how to "valve in recirculation to bypass the filter" Haven't been out to the pool this morning. Would like to keep pool for wife's benefit, but after yesterday, I'm ready to close it down. Been doing this for 25 years

- - - Updated - - -

From Baquacil to chlorine. Doesn't have multiport. tnks for answering. Need all the help I can get?
 
First things first, WELCOME TO TFP!!!

How often are you bumping the chlorine level up to 15ppm?? You will be adding a TON of chlorine at first however as time passes you will use less and less. The conversion is a pain and an expense, I know, but it's NOTHING like the headaches of Baqua.

As for your filter........a DE filter is going to need a lot of attention. At the beginning stages of you can bypass the filter all together it will be less of a headache. If you can't however just back flush frequently and keep an eye on things.
 
arbrey said:
...
Having trouble understanding vacuum to "waste" My filter has a skimmer port an outlet port and a fitting at the bottom that used drain water. Don't know how to "valve in recirculation to bypass the filter" ...
Click to expand...

Can you post a picture of your pump/valve/filter setup so i can tell what you have? I see you have the ec-40 de filter but that doesnt tell me what kind of valve if any you have. Thanks.
 
Never got to FC 15. Most I got was 3. This is after adding 15 gals of bleach. Really having trouble understanding how to bypass filter. Have Hayward EC-40 . Another post I received from a helpful person suggested I do this. Don"t really know how I can?
 
Took a picture with phone, but can't the picture transferred to PC. The three ports I described all their own shut off valve. The only way I think I can do this, is set vacuum til i get suction, then shut the outlet valve off and open "drain" valve. That will send water to outside, but I don" have much pressure. Plus I think water is still going thru the "fingers"? will keep trying to get picture loaded?
 

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Well pretty close to FC 15 as of an hour it was 14. Still have that Mountain Dew color. At what point does the water turn blue. Lost track of how much bleach in put, but it was a bunch and not done yet?
 
arbrey, sorry for the delays. Lee was called-out on the road so probably hasn't had a chance to get to his feed to see your replies. From what I'm guessing, your DE filter may have a plunger valve and therefore you cannot do a true "backwash" like those with a rotating multiport valve. So as Lee noted, you may have to run on recirculate from time to time to keep the "goo" on its toes and breaking-up, then occasionally bump or just go to waste when you can watch the psi closely. That's my guess right now. The fact you are beginning to hold FC close to 15 is a positive step, so don't let-up there. During the day will always be very difficult because you have no CYA and the sun is working against you as well, but do your best. Your goal right now if to maintain 15 as much as possible until you pass an (overnight (OCLT) test at 15. Good luck!
 
At the early stages you will see little color change during the conversion. The key is to continue to test/dose your chlorine levels to 15ppm. Understand that it will take a TON of chlorine at first. The more you can maintain your 15ppm FC level the faster you will notice a color change. It's VERY common (in fact expected) that in the beginning you will see no chlorine on your test after waiting an hour. It's being consumed that quickly during this process. As Texas splash mentioned it's a positive sign that you are starting to hold some chlorine so I expect a color change shortly.

How frequently are you testing and increasing your chlorine levels??
 
If your DE filter is like mine, which I think it is, then you have the pump input down low on one side, the filter outlet coming out near the top of the filter plus a drain on the opposite side of the pump. There is also a little thumb screw near the top outlet. When I did mine, I had to often open the thumbscrew and drain valve then use the bump handle a bunch of times to backwash the fingers out the drain (with pump off). Big chunks will come out. In hindsight, I think it would be easier to run the drain back into the pool to bypass the fingers. DE and Baqua-goo do not play well together. You will have to do some big cleaning of the filter fingers after the conversion is successful. May need to acid bath them or replace to get the goo out. I hope the rest goes easy for you.
 
Abrey-

Juat to give you an idea, I used just as much Liquid Chlorine during my conversion as I did the entire rest of the season (3 1/2 months) and I had a -0- reading for oxidizer when I started the process. You should start to see progress soon. Just keep that FC level at 15 as much as possible.
 
Thank you all for the support. Was getting a little down, but hearing from you people will press on. Again you guys are "GREAT". Just one thing , you might want to inform all to stock up on R-0871 reagent for the Taylor 2006 kit. Someone mentioned to stock up on the reagent for testing CYA, which I did. But I don't have any CYA as yet so don't need it. I run out of R-0871 and waiting for it to come in.
 
Ran out of R-0871 reagent use to test FC in Taylor 2006. Still trying to get to FC 15. Last test performed showed 11.5 calculator says add 56oz bleach. Expecting reagent in mail today but not until this afternoon. I test every hour, can I arbitrarily add another 56oz in the next hour or wait for the R-0871?
 
Ok! update. It's been a week now and lost track of how much chlorine I used. Pool is turning blue from the Mountain Dew yellow/green(I love that color description). Still can"t hold it at FC 15. It fluctuates between 13 and 15 but never stays. My CC is 2, according to someone around here, that's indication that something is eating at the chlorine. After a week I sound like a pro(grin). Definitely looks better than it did at beginning!
I have a couple of questions.
1. After everything comes together, FC 15, only lost 1ppm over night, do i just let FC bleed off to recommended goal of 3-5 as stated in pool calculator?
2.Planning on being away for the day Wednesday, don't want to run filter all day with no one here. Will I lose everything I've gained in the last week?
 

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