Want to convert from Baquacil to Chlorine

[jule]

Over the 28 years we've had our pool I've used chlorine and baquacil products, draining pool halfway for winter as Wisconsin climate warrants. It's been on baquacil for the past 5 or 6 years. Normally when I open in spring, I fill, vacuum to waste, fill, add Baquacil flocculent, wait for water to clear and settle, vacuum to waste again and refill. If it's green, then I had chlorine shock, and go through the process of clearing the chlorine to get back on baquacil. Pool stays nice till about half way through summer, then becomes a struggle to keep it clear.

Two weeks ago, when the water was not green but cloudy, I added the flocculent to the half filled pool thinking to save a step, but it did not settle things to the bottom and now it's green. We don't have leaf problems, but pollen from pine trees and whatever bugs/worms like to get in as its not covered in winter.

I found this website, read through some info and am interested in converting back to chlorine for $$$ reasons. (I ordered the TFTestkit TF-100XL this morning.)

Two days ago I bought 2 cases of chlorine shock and another container of Baquacil flocculent which I'm told I can use with chlorine. I filled the pool last night thinking to add the chlorine, run the pump till it got closer to blue, add the flocculent to settle things, vacuum to waste, then refill. After reading through some of the info on the site, now I'm not sure if my procedure is the way to go.

We have well water and with cartridge filters that are hard to get and must be ordered every year, I NEED to vacuum to waste, or I will be dumping a lot of money and time into the pool. There is always debris on the bottom.

I've not read any post about conversion to chlorine that says their dealing with well water or using a flocculent.
I have not done a water test, but will get one this afternoon. My own test kit will arrive on Wed. In the meantime, suggestions on the use of the Baquacil flocculent with chlorine or anything else would be welcome.

Thanks

 

[zea3]

O.K. A few questions first,
Is the chlorine shock liquid or powder?
What brand and model is your filter?
What do you use to test your water until your new kit comes?

In order to convert to chlorine you will need to run the filter 24/7 until the process is complete. That means frequent cleaning of the cartridge. You will also need to replace the cartridge after the conversion is complete. I wouldn't use the flocculent.
If you are concerned about large debris such as leaves you may want to consider an inline leaf canister to use when you vacuum the pool. It will catch large debris before it gets to the filter.

 

[duraleigh]

Waiting on your test kit before you start will be helpful.

Have you tested for iron content in your well water.

Is your pool around 19,000 gallons?

 

[jule]

Sorry if this shows up twice. Was sure I hit submit on my reply. ARGH!

The filter system is a Harmsco Better Filter upflow system with a Hayward 1hp motor. Motor is only a few years old. Filter system is original to the pool setup which was here when we bought the house in 1982. We've replaced the vinyl liner twice. (Steel walls, sand bottom). I know the filter system is old, but hubby would rather call 1-800-DIRT than convert to a sand system that's been recommended, so I have to work with what I have if I want to keep the pool.

We've estimated gallons at 13,900.

Generally the water is always tested for metals, always at the pool store I get chemicals from throughout the start up until I get it where it needs to be. Then I test myself routinely and once a month back at the store. I use my Baquacil test kit and/or strips.

There are 14 cartridges in the tank - $70.00 this season. In past years, before using Baquacil, and before hubby set up the system so I could easily vacuum to waste myself, I did vacuum through the filters but this is a very time consuming process. The filters won't last 10 minutes before I need to clean them when the water is in it's current state. They surely won't handle a 24 hour run if I vacuum through them, regardless how many times I hose them. Pine pollen is not fun. This is the main reason I started bypassing the filters on start up and adding fresh water. It takes longer for the pool to warm up but saves a lot of time, energy and thoughts of filling the darn thing in.

I've been considering covering the skimmer and filter baskets with nylons (can't seem to find any of the product this year that they actually make for this purpose!), adding the chlorine shock and running the pool without the filters out of the tank until it clears up some. It means keeping a close eye on the baskets but easier to deal with those than cleaning the filters every ten minutes. If/when the water gets clear enough for me to see to the bottom, then vacuum to waste. Crazy idea, right? hmmm

 

[duraleigh]

I phrased my question poorly....Do you have iron present in your well water?

Maintaining the pool how we teach here will require some fairly accurate measuring of "ingredients" so we'll need to know the correct gallonage. From your sig, It looks like your pool is an octagon measuring 28 feet across and having about 4'3" of water through out. I'm sure it's not quite like that but if you're pretty sure of that 13,900 gallonage we can work with that.