Foreclosure House with an in ground Pool! No Chlorine...

Jump to latest Follow Reply
M

muckraker

0
May 8, 2010
15
Hi, We bought a foreclosure house with a 15 x 30 in ground vinyl pool (19,000 gals) with system 3 Sta Rite Cartridge Filter. Pool was uncovered for year and loaded with leaves and muck which we raked out. After running the filter 24/7 for 11 days and adding approx 10 gals 12% liq shock, 8 lbs Dura Shock powder, 22 gals 6% bleach and many other chemicals including algecides, we have the following numbers:

Free Chlorine 0
Total hardness 170
cyanuric acid 0
ph 7

Water still very greenish gray, can only see about 2" into the water.
I have a Hayward off line chlorinator and it is not dissolving the 3", 7 day tabs. I disconnected the outlet side and chlorine is coming out. There is no smell of chlorine in the pool. I even checked the water fall discharge and the concentration is the same as the general water. Any ideas of what we need to do to get the pool clean?? Thanks, Muckraker..
 
Please read this article:
Turning Your Green Swamp Back into a Sparkling Oasis

It doesn't sound like you are done shocking the pool properly, despite the amount of chlorine you have added.

Did you do an overnight test?

What are you testing with?

What is an "off-line" chlorinator - can you post a pic?

Dura Shock is Dichlor, correct? The active ingredient? If so, 8 lbs would put your CYA level at atleast 25.
 
frustratedpoolmom is right. You just need more chlorine, probably quite a lot of it. When adding large amounts of chlorine you need to think about the side effects of the different forms of chlorine. Trichlor tablets and dichlor granules both add CYA and lower the PH. Cal-hypo raises the CH level. I prefer liquid chlorine (ie bleach). It doesn't add anything extra and is net PH neutral.
 
One of the forum topics is Chemical automation and liquidators. I reviewed some of the info although I must say I was amazed at some of the systems. I thought all somewhat larger pools used either in line or off tablet or stick chlorinators or SWG.

After 12 days of dumping all forms of chlorine and other chemicals and still having brown water, I bought 12 - 1.42 gallon bottles of 6% Chlorox on sale at Shoprite yesterday and dumped it all in. Finally I had a FC reading and it was off the chart - the water actually smelled from chlorine!
This morning the water is still brown..I thought by some magic I would wake up this morning and the pool would be clear....

I might just break down and buy one of those expensive water test kits although I would have thought after the running the filter for 13 days straight the water would start to come out clear. Maybe the power company is coming at night and dumping dirt in the pool...LOL.

If the water chemistry is right, the water turns clear? Could their be a problem with the cartridge filter? How to check?
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
Please read this article:
Turning Your Green Swamp Back into a Sparkling Oasis
Click to expand...

You cannot just randomly dump stuff into your pool. You need to know where your levels are, and what your goal is (besides clear water!)

You need a test kit so you know what your CYA is, so you know how much chlorine you need to shock your pool. You need to keep your water at shock levels until you
1) have less that 0.5 ppm CCs and
2) lose less than 1ppm FC overnight

If your current testing method cannot measure FC and CC, you need a batter kit. Are they pricey? yes. But presently you are just throwing good money after bad and Hoping that your pool will clear. If you test your water and keep your levels up, I Know your pool will clear!
 
If you want to ruin your liner, then dumping in 12 large jugs of bleach all at once is a good place to start.
If you want to clear your pool, follow the instructions in the article I gave you.

I apologize if that sounds harsh but the methods here work - if you want a clear pool we can help you. That much bleach is enough to raise your FC to over 55. That's just risky at best.
 
Sounds like you're in a hurry. But take some time to read some of the other 'swamp' stories, they'll give you some perspective.
Perhaps some more info about the # of returns/skimmers would help. Perhaps the flow of water isn't moving all of it through the filter. If you put in a net can you still get stuff out? Or is it just cloudy?

If you are getting good flow, perhaps just letting the junk settle, then vacuuming out the sludge on the bottom to waste (not through the filter, just out of your pool) would help. You'll have to add more water, but at least you wouldn't have to fight the particles.
 
Hi everyone,

Day 14, I have a new Taylor Test Kit on order. Chlorine level is still off the chart, Ph looks good but no CYA. Besides all the chemistry, the cartridge filter does not seem to be picking up the debris. I hosed the two cartridges today which were pertty dirty since Sunday. After cleaning and then doing some vacuuming, I took a water sample from one of the outlets to a small water fall. The water coming from the filter was dirtier than the samples from main part of the pool - more particles suspended in the water.
Is there a way to check the effectivness of the filter? Is there something else I could be missing? I was thinking of trying to contact the Sta-Rite Company which is now Pentair.

Thanks, John
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Test Kit arrived and after carefully reading the instructions for each test we arrived at the following numbers yesterday evening:

CYA 55
Total Alk 120
PH 7.4
Total Hdness 100
Cal Hdness 120
FC 10.6
Comb Chlor 4

All results were very similar to the test strips with the exception of CYA which "0" on test strips.

Water is still very "muddy looking", a lot fine particulate. Took filter apart again this morning and cleaned really welll between the pleats in cartridge, a lot of work -was actually slimmy.
Talked to Sta Rite Company rep, can convert the S7M120 cart filter to either sand or DE using the same housing. Under consdieration. Only problem is having space to add a multiport valve.
One companY that sells the parts said that small amounts of DE can be added to the cart filter. Also said the Cart only last about 2 to 3 years...any confirmation from people out there using cart filters?

muckraker
 
Bring your FC level to 15 and add as much bleach every hour as it takes to keep it there. I would be leary of the cya test result because water is so murky it would be difficult to get right at this stage. One reason I suspect you have struggled so long is because you have not been bringing your FC high enough for long enough.
Your filter may need cleaning every 20 min or so depending on the pressure drop across the filter. Keep the filter running 24/7 as best you can. test your FC every hour to start a lot will be consumed at first.

As far as a new sand filter goes, I have one and I like it's ability to be backwashed. That decision is yours to make though.
 
You can check to see if the murkiness is causing a problem by filling the CYA view tube with straight pool water. If you can still see the black dot then the CYA level is good. If the black dot disappears, the actual CYA level is lower than what the test indicates.

With CYA at 55, shock level is 17 to 22.

With CC at 4, you still have some shocking to do, but getting better.

I don't recommend adding DE to a cartridge filter. That increases the water resistance of the cartridge permanently and doesn't help anything very much.

Cart lifetime depends a great deal on how they are treated and some luck. A well treated cartridge can last a long time. 3 years is doing alright, not the longest they can last nor the shortest.
 
Filled CYA tube with water this morning and I can see the black dot at the bottom of the tube but very cloudy.

I took the following readings this morning:

FC 6.8
CC 3.2
CYA 65

Sounds like I need to bring the shock level FC up to around 26?

muckraker
 
This morning
FC 27.6
CYA 70

With CYA at 70 could be at 28 for shock level. Added 2 more 1.42 gals bleach.
Ordered new cartridges, cleaned old cartridges, water still very muddy looking. Drained about 4" and refilled.
18 days since opening and running filter 24/7. Of course hind sight is 20/20, if I had to do over I would have taken the risk and emptied the pool ,cleaned and reflilled. May still come to that.....

We keep envisioning floating in crystal clear water and sipping a whatever!
 
It looks like you are using a FAS-DPD chlorine test measuring by 0.2s. I recommend that you switch to measuring by 0.5s instead. There really isn't any need for the precision of going by 0.2s, and it used significantly more reagent that way.

I really don't recommend draining an in-ground vinyl pool below about 1 foot of water in the shallow end. Depending on how old your liner is there are significant chances of ruining the liner, and even if the liner survives it will be difficult to prevent it from getting all wrinkled.
 
Installed new Cartridges 5 days ago and seems to clean better. Still have slime on the pleats. Have the following chemistry:
CH 100
PH 7.0
TA 100 was tricky to measure I got blue and yellow instead of green and red,manual said due to high CL,made adjustment
FC 24
CC 1.0
CYA 60 to 85 I find this difficult to measure, sometimes it seems I can still make out the black dot.

Pool store gets following results

TA 60
PH 7.1
CYA 0
TH 110
T CL 15.7
FC 11.4

Loaded me up with yellow out algecide and stabilizer. Have not put anything in yet. Any ideas on the big swing in readings?

Pool water is light green can see down about 18".
 
I'm still a semi-newb myself, but from what I've read on here - DON"T TRUST POOL STORE NUMBERS!! I also have the K2006 test kit. I love it! Now that you have yours, YOU are the master of your domain. Trust your test results! The CYA test can be tricky. I usually do it 3 times, (refilling the squirt bottle with the same solution each time) and go with the best out 2 of 3.
Do not add what the pool store sold you. Trust in continuous shocking with bleach and your pool will be sparkly in no time.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply