Problem with my Pool Guy.....Help

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catagory5

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May 23, 2009
26
To make a long story short, I am a shift worker at a local Refinery. It is hard for me to give my pool the care it really needs during the summer months so I have hired a pool guy.(big mistake) Anyway, I have a 20,000 gal in ground plaster pool with a hayward D.E. filter and I believe a 1.5 H.P. pump. In Houston so it is Hot almost year round. My Problem is every week the pool guy gives me my report about what he had to do to the pool. It always is the typical cleaning, backflush, skimmer, etc. etc. What I have a question about is the chemicals or lack there of. He has not shocked it yet this summer. He only adds 4 o.z. of No more Problems and puts in 4 of the 3' pucks. I told hem we had 30 people in our pool this past weekend and I knew it needed to be shocked. He checked and said no it did not and that the No more problems acts as kind of a shock. I have to say my pool is crystal clear. I have never had a problem with cloudyness or green water. Only after the hurricane last year but it cleared up soon after. Should he be shocking like every 14 days or at the very least after a heavy load of 30 people? I check my water every other day or so and I have been getting like a 7.2 P.h. and Chlorine is usually around 1 or so . He says the chlorine is way high, but On my tester it comes out the a 1 or 1.5 at most. Should I be worried about this guy or what? I am considering making time for my pool and going BBB.

Thanks
 
Hi and Welcome to TFP! :wave:

What kind of test kit are you testing with yourself? If you have a TF100, I'd go with that. If you don't have a TF100 test kit, I'd still go with that. The link is in my siggy. :wink:

A pool doesn't always need shocked. My pool has been open since April and the last time it was shocked was in Sept 08'. The reason is, is because I have no CC which is combined chloramines.

You will need to find out what your CYA level is. 1ppm of chlorine is very low and truth be told, may need shocked. I have a CYA reading on my pool of 40. I keep my chlorine at a minimum of 4ppm. As long as I don't go below 4ppm and my CC stays at 0-.5, there is no reason why I should shock my pool. It's when my CC's go above .5 that I would need to shock.

Have you read up on Pool School? It's in the Upper right of every page, on the Home Page or in my siggy. Why don't you start there. You'll gain alot of useful information if you take the time to read it and if you have questions, you can ask.

Also, if you have time, get us a complete set of numbers, including FC, CC, TC, PH, TA, CH, and CYA. We'll be able to help you more but not until we can see what is going on with your numbers.
 
Yes I have started reading the page. great info. I will take a sample up to the local Pool Warehouse and get a complete rundown. I have a test kit but it is cheap and unrealiable I think. I am gonna get a taylor 2006.

I'll get back with you when I get those Numbers.

Thanks
 
When you get back, it would be good if you could add your location and the specs of your pool like size, pump, filter i.e. sand/de/cartridge, vinyl/plaster/pebble/fiberglass ext... to your siggy so we don't have to continually ask you. It get's lost and helps us if it's right there when you post. :wink:
 
I would like to see a more frequent shocking schedule. The NMP product he is using is working for your pool. I would prefer a more frequent shocking schedule to ensure nothing that becomes resistant to the lower chlorine concentrations survives since the Free vs Total ratio is still low.

Scott
 
Shocking a pool on a schedule is not one of the principles of BBB. Testing your water regularly for the need to shock is.

Your pool guy may be doing just fine or he may be horrible. Until you get your test kit and understand the test results it provides you, you (and the rest of us) are guessing.

BBB is all about testing, not guessing, and knowing what to do with the test results you get.

PS - The test results you get from your K-2006 will be far more reliable than what you get from a pool store.
 
I agree with duraleigh, there is no need to shock regularly. You only need to shock when there is something wrong. In order to know if something is wrong we need a full set of test results. It seems highly unlikely that a FC level of 1 is sufficient, but it is possible if CYA is low enough. However, chances are that CYA is really high. There is no way of telling without a full set of test results.
 
Cat 5,

I hope you are able to spend some time looking for a pool guy who believes in the BBB method. With you coming off a "graveyard" shift, :sleep: , it will be hard to get up and test, add the appropriate chemicals and wait an hour and go back to test and add some more until you get your chems at the right level. This might wear you down even further and you end up not being attentive enough. The next thing you know you'll be fighting an algae bloom and the battle really starts. :grrrr: This same scenerio can come again once you go straight days or even have to do a "shut-down" or "turn-around". Hopefully you're not on the emergency crew and have to be on call to battle fires like the one BP had recently with the tank burning for 44 hours straight before they got it out.
 

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catagory5 said:
...hard for me to give my pool the care it really needs ...I have a 20,000 gal plaster pool/hayward D.E. filter/1.5 H.P. pump...Houston so it's Hot year round. Every week the pool guy gives me my report about what he had to do to the pool: always is the typical cleaning, backflush, skimmer, etc. etc. He has not shocked it yet this summer. He only adds 4 o.z. of "No more Problems" and puts in 4 pucks. I told hem we had 30 people in our pool this past weekend and it needed to be shocked. He checked and said no it did not and that the No more problems acts as kind of a shock...Should he be shocking like every 14 days or at the very least after a heavy load of 30 people? I check my water every other day or so and I have been getting like a 7.2 P.h. and Chlorine is usually around 1 or so: He says the chlorine is way high, but On my tester it comes out the a 1 or 1.5 at most. Should I be worried about this guy or what? I am considering making time for my pool and going BBB.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the Pool Party Cat5! :wave:
Cat5, If he's using pucks he's adding CYA (stabilizer) to the pool as all pucks have it. It doesn't disappear or evaporate and unless there is water replacement, will end up requiring more and more chlorine to properly sanitize the pool. See the articles in Pool School/Chlorine-CYA level to understand.

The entire premise of the BBB method is that you spend a little bit of time with your water each day, usually 5-10 minutes is all, and prevent problems before they have a chance to happen. I work 9-10 hours a day and drive 3-4 hours a day back & forth to work so I understand the time constraints!

It really is easy, once you have your own test kit. Most of us use the TF-100 kit because it's easy too use, has a good supply of reagents, and duraleigh has made it very economical.
Without testing and knowing your water you don't know what's really happening in the pool: There is no reason to shock a pool unless you get hit by a hurricane (TX and NC are "targets" 8) ), have a heavy swim load, or have a high organic content. I live in the middle of the woods and need to shock my pool when I open it in the spring. Other than that it hasn't been shocked in 2 years!

I keep some CYA, chlorine (walmart plain 6% bleach), borax (green box, laundry isle), & baking soda (2-3#) in the garage, and muratic acid (big box stores) for taking care of higher PH (due to the salt-water generator I use for daily chlorination). Before the teenage parties that we have, I'll hit it with an extra 1-2 quarts of chlorine, well below the shock level, and that's it!

I spend the 5-10 minutes testing, and brush the pool every other day; another 5-10 minutes. Alternating days I put in the Polaris pool cleaner to suck up the organics from the trees (or the mulch from the parties 8) ).

Is it worth it? For me, absolutely yes! I know what's happening in the water and can almost predict the water readings: Clean clear, and low levels of CC (the 'bad' chlorine).
 
We are on a rotating shift schedule here as well. If you get your pool on a schedule, you may not even have to spend as much as 5mins a day - I hate to push buying more equipment, but one thing that can save some of the chemical add time is a SWG - that has cut my chemical handling down to almost zero - I shocked three times last year, once at opening in the spring, once when the SWG quit during a storm and once at closing for the fall. You have your pool open all year so you may only need to shock in the "emergency" situations then. The rest is getting the chemical balance right to start and maintaining it there if there is some drastic event that changes it. CYA should start at a good level and not have to be changed - rain, storms, heavy swimmer load can also change things. Day to day events should not really so I would say you only spend the time it takes to do the quick level checks.

My guess is you are already spending more time and money dealing with the pool guy issue than you will with a good test kit and BBB.
 
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