Hello all! I guess I have a pool now. We weren't seeking one out but the house we love came with a pool so here we are!
This is the third summer we've lived here. The first summer we kept the cover on (probably should've put some chemicals in at some point in retrospect). Second summer had a pool guy (at great expense) come every week plus open and close. Now the pool guy is back (he's a great guy and seems to know his stuff) but I'm feeling like I'm spending too much money here. He does a backwash, vacuum, deck blow off (so many leaves!), skimmer/polaris cleaning, and chemicals (usually Trichlor pucks) every week. I bought some testing supplies and have been testing daily for the last week. My goal is to take over the chemical and maintenance duties sometime this summer.
I've attached the results of my first week of testing along with some notes about what the pool guy has been doing and reporting (he's been off on FC measurements). Looks like I have high CYA (due to the trichlor?) but everything else seems normal to me. What do you guys think?
Here's an example of a report I get every week. I'm sure he's not adding 8lb of Trichlor right? I don't have the most recent ones scanned in yet
Some other nagging issues:
1) Brown stain all over plaster. Not sure if it's organic or metallic but I dropped some Vit. C tablets in there and while they didn't make it white, it is a little bit lighter where they fell (my sock tore open while trying to rub it on). I'm down for an ascorbic acid treatment at some point but I don't have a "recirculate" setting on my filter (push pull valve, not a spider valve). Pool guy says potentially a candidate for a drain and acid wash but he warns that the plaster is kind of old so he's not sure how thick it is.
2) Very rough plaster on bottom. Possibly related to 1) above but last year I jumped in and my knees and feet were bleeding a lot. Not sure if it's pitting or something on the surface but my CH doesn't seem too out of whack and the ph has been maintained (at least for the last two summers) at an appropriate level.
3) I'd like to get the heater up and running. Not really a topic for this forum but my water temperature is 78deg and I am apparently a huge wuss. If I can't fix it I'll probably replace it. Hopefully with the money I'll save doing my own chemicals I'll be able to pay for that heater in no time! Has anyone here installed their own propane heater?
Anyway - this is a lot of info that could probably have been spread among several threads but I wanted to get it all out.
Glad to be here!
Dan
This is the third summer we've lived here. The first summer we kept the cover on (probably should've put some chemicals in at some point in retrospect). Second summer had a pool guy (at great expense) come every week plus open and close. Now the pool guy is back (he's a great guy and seems to know his stuff) but I'm feeling like I'm spending too much money here. He does a backwash, vacuum, deck blow off (so many leaves!), skimmer/polaris cleaning, and chemicals (usually Trichlor pucks) every week. I bought some testing supplies and have been testing daily for the last week. My goal is to take over the chemical and maintenance duties sometime this summer.
I've attached the results of my first week of testing along with some notes about what the pool guy has been doing and reporting (he's been off on FC measurements). Looks like I have high CYA (due to the trichlor?) but everything else seems normal to me. What do you guys think?
Here's an example of a report I get every week. I'm sure he's not adding 8lb of Trichlor right? I don't have the most recent ones scanned in yet
Some other nagging issues:
1) Brown stain all over plaster. Not sure if it's organic or metallic but I dropped some Vit. C tablets in there and while they didn't make it white, it is a little bit lighter where they fell (my sock tore open while trying to rub it on). I'm down for an ascorbic acid treatment at some point but I don't have a "recirculate" setting on my filter (push pull valve, not a spider valve). Pool guy says potentially a candidate for a drain and acid wash but he warns that the plaster is kind of old so he's not sure how thick it is.
2) Very rough plaster on bottom. Possibly related to 1) above but last year I jumped in and my knees and feet were bleeding a lot. Not sure if it's pitting or something on the surface but my CH doesn't seem too out of whack and the ph has been maintained (at least for the last two summers) at an appropriate level.
3) I'd like to get the heater up and running. Not really a topic for this forum but my water temperature is 78deg and I am apparently a huge wuss. If I can't fix it I'll probably replace it. Hopefully with the money I'll save doing my own chemicals I'll be able to pay for that heater in no time! Has anyone here installed their own propane heater?
Anyway - this is a lot of info that could probably have been spread among several threads but I wanted to get it all out.
Glad to be here!
Dan
Your CYA is too high, ad the only way to reduce CYA is a partial water drain. With a CYA that high, you can't increase FC enough to properly sanitize the water. You're currently showing the CYA as 120, but it could be higher since our CYA tests only go to 100 anyways. A good water exchange of 50-60% might reveal you need to do it a second timer perhaps to get the CYA down to somewhere between 30-50. That's the problem with relying on tabs & pool store backs of shock versus regular bleach or an SWG.
You can wait for the off-season providing you keep the FC high enough to ward-off any algae. The puck might change or lighten the spot if it were organic in nature. That's just another effort to confirm or rule-out what it may be. Probably good to wear a glove of some type while you're handling the puck.