Pump died...

[waskydiver]

Here we are... the hottest day on record in the Pacific Northwest...

And my pump decided to die on my 15,000 gallon in ground plaster pool.

I had JUST gotten the water just about perfect, bringing it back from swamp like conditions about 2 months ago.

I don't have my numbers, but they are just about right on. Water is crystal clear, and 2 days ago, I added 1/2 of my Borax treatment, so I should be about 25 ppm Borates, but that's untested.

I've been using trichlor tablets for maintenance, and lithium (Burn Out 35) for shock, though I just started using dichlor as I found a great deal.

I called the pool repair place, and they are due out in about five days.

I asked them what I should do in the mean time, and if it was safe to swim.

They suggested I add liquid clorine, and it should be safe to swim as long as I keep the chlorine levels elevated.

When I said: "Oh... OK... so I can just use bleech..." he said "Oh no way would we recomend that. In addition to chlorine, it has a bunch of additives which are bad for your equipment."

Although I suspect that he just wants me to buy their chemicals, the statement leads me to wonder if he knows what he is talking about. So, I seek a 2nd opinion.

Over the next five days, with record high temperatures, should I just attempt to maintain my chlorine levels with bleech, and continue swimming? Or should I put the pool off limits until I get the pump running?

Any additional advice?

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[Heckpools]

lol.. Im sure he just wants you to buy his stuff. And i understand.. We do have to make a living!

Bottom line is if you just got your pool nice and clean, KEEP IT THAT WAY

Yes, i would highly recommend keeping the chlorine level up until they get there to fix the pump. You dont need to keep it super high, but just dont let it go one day without checking on it with the weather your having out there.

I would also Try skimming any leaves out that fall in as well..

 

[anonapersona]

Bleach is the same as liquid chlorine, be sure to get unscented at 6% strength and avoid cheap dollar store types as well as any that do not state strength. Or get liquid chlorine at pool store, might be a better deal. Also check Walmart, Sam's club, Costco, and your local grocery store for both Clorox unscented and the house brand if 6% unscented. Do the math to figure cost per oz per percent, since pool store may be 10% or 12%.

Big question is, how much chlorine do you need? That answer will depend on your CYA level and you need a really good test kit to know that. You can go to the pool store to get that tested but we hear all the time here about how random pool store tests can be (one store says 50 next store says 20, next says 120, good test kit at home says 140).

What sort of test kit do you have now? What are the numbers? Have you gotten any tests from the pool store?

One more thing... any source of chlorine has to be well mixed in the pool. With the pump off, you will need to really brush it well to get it mixed around so it does not sit on floor of the pool -- normal advice is to only add chemicals with the pump running, and to add in front of a return -- not into the skimmer where high concentrations might damage parts.

Meanwhile, the moderators here will be along soon to give you the best advice. I'm just a pool novice still. Welcome to the forum.

 

[JasonLion]

You need to create some circulation in the pool when you are adding chemicals, so that they mix throughout the pool. There are a number of ways to do that, canoe paddles, sump pump, cover pump, brushing the entire pool, as well as various other things, or some combination of the above.

Liquid chlorine/bleach is a little denser than water, so it can "puddle" on the bottom and cause minor damage if you don't keep things stirred up when you are adding it. It mixes in completely fairly quickly, so you don't need to do too much, but you do need to do something.

 

[waskydiver]

Don't know what my CYA numbers are... except that they are pretty good. The test kit I have basically sucks.

What I've been doing is I'd go to the pool store once a week, and buy whatever they told me to buy and do whatever they would tell me to do.

During the week, I'd just maintain my PH with my test kit. Don't even bother testing the chlorine, since it only gives me TC. And, especially in the beginning, that number was pretty much useless since my CC was so high from such poor water quality.

Any way, they've been pretty much driving me to the poor house. E.G., the first shock cost $250 for 22 bags of burnout.

The kicker came when they finally said: "Well, your water looks perfect. Now you just need to buy $125 for 'clarifyer'". To which I figured there had to be a better way.

To which I came here, and discovered borax, bleach and other things that would have been saving me money along the way.

Of course, right when I am beginning the wean myself from the pool store, and started looking into decent test kits, the pump died, kinda throwing a wrench in my plans.

 

[anonapersona]

What I've been doing is I'd go to the pool store once a week, and buy whatever they told me to buy and do whatever they would tell me to do.

...Any way, they've been pretty much driving me to the poor house. E.G., the first shock cost $250 for 22 bags of burnout.

The kicker came when they finally said: "Well, your water looks perfect. Now you just need to buy $125 for 'clarifyer'". To

I am only realizing now how lucky I am to have found this site before that happened to me. I choked on the $100 of dichlor tablets and the $90 for cal-hypo but I never got to needing all that other stuff since a hurricane messed up the pool so badly right before we bought it that the owner pretty much had to refill it and start over I'll guess. Before 6 months we were on the verge of problems and I started BBB just in time.

 

[orthofish]

Welcome to TFP
You really need to get a good test kit. I'm a noob, and the TF100 has been worth its weight in gold. Stay away from the PS.
CYA number is very important. Especially since you've been using dichlor and trichlor.

 

[estogo]

When my pump died I was lucky enough to have my Tiger Shark robotic cleaner. He has his own little filter in him and I pretty much ran him non stop until they could replace it. It gave me some circulation...

 

[Buggsw]

Here's what the pool store or pool service people would tell you to do while your pump is broken. "Put their favorite brand of shock in and brush the pool to stir it up once or twice a day until you get your pump fixed"

Here is what the BBB method will have you do. "Keep your chlorine level up with liquid chlorine and brush the pool once or twice per day to stir it up and keep doing that until you get your pump fixed"

You will be okay. Just use your skimmer net to skim anything that blows into your pool and keep your chlorine level up for the couple of days it might take to get your pump going again.

 

[tgramm]

You can keep your pool from going green while you wait on your pump repair. I would get a couple tab floaters, and put one in each "body" of water spa etc if seperate. These by design will distribute choloring quasi evenly just from drifting around.

But if your service man has an extra porta vac, I would borrow it and run it a few hours a day for some filtration.

 

[Bob_Funk]

I had JUST gotten the water just about perfect, bringing it back from swamp like conditions about 2 months ago.

I don't have my numbers, but they are just about right on. Water is crystal clear, and 2 days ago, I added 1/2 of my Borax treatment, so I should be about 25 ppm Borates, but that's untested.

I've been using trichlor tablets for maintenance, and lithium (Burn Out 35) for shock, though I just started using dichlor as I found a great deal.

I'm not posting this to call you out but if you want help, you need to be honest & post your latest test results, people are trying to help you & they just can't if you are not honest with your #'s.

In this thread post131170.html#p131170 you say your CYA is 124=

You have high CYA, you added a lot of non-chlorine shock, you have added 25ppm borates & did not adjust your TA first, over 1/2 of that borax will be gone when you drain your pool to get your CYA right, you were in the process of lowering your pool & your pump goes out on you

On top of that your pump has been down for 5 days in 100+ degree weather

I don't know where you are at right now, this is why you need to keep all of your posts in the same thread.

So my advice to you is

1 Slow down & read pool school

2 get a test kit so you can get accurate #'s

3 get your pump fixed

I don't know if it is possible, but if a mod can merge the threads in to an accurate time line that would help, there is this thread & 2 others

having-difficulty-transitioning-t16087.html

post131170.html#p131170

The last thread is already merged so it may not make sense