Hello all i have been browsing this site for a few days trying to learn as much as I could before we opened our pool. Short story is we rented a house with a pool and if we want to use it we care for it. Well the pool hasn't been open for about a year I believe, had a cover on it and was closed with chlorine and the pump has been running twice a day. Well the cover started to fail about two weeks ago (stupid cheap tarp) and we just had some free time to finally try to open the pool. Well its not a swamp but its green water for sure. Have a test kit on order just waiting. Soooo I've never had a pool before and am clueless as what to do. I read the pool basics but could use some tips for sure. We were going to vacuum the pool but couldn't get suction... no idea why any suggestions? Should that be the last thing I worry about till I get the chemical levels in line? The home owners had wanted to use the pristine blue junk and have a bunch of it in the storage shed, should I even mess with that? It has/had chlorine in it all winter and would be fine with staying with that. The pool is an oval above ground with a single speed pump and the sand tank thing filter (can you tell I don't know anything about this) and from using the pool calculator the pool holds about 13000 gal.
New to pools need help!
- Thread starter midday_skulker
- Start date
Welcome to TFP!
To get the vacuum working, you need to make sure that no air is getting into the pump. That means making sure the vacuum hose is completely full of water when it is attached and that there aren't any leaks in the hose that could let air in.
I would stay away from Pristine Blue. In some situations it can cause unsightly stains that are difficult/expensive to remove. I wouldn't want to risk that on someone else's pool.
The next thing to do is to get a good test kit and get a complete set of water test results after the pump has been running for a couple of hours.
To get the vacuum working, you need to make sure that no air is getting into the pump. That means making sure the vacuum hose is completely full of water when it is attached and that there aren't any leaks in the hose that could let air in.
I would stay away from Pristine Blue. In some situations it can cause unsightly stains that are difficult/expensive to remove. I wouldn't want to risk that on someone else's pool.
The next thing to do is to get a good test kit and get a complete set of water test results after the pump has been running for a couple of hours.
Welcome and good luck with your pool. I'm in the same situation as you - renting and responsible for setting up the pool if we wanted to use it. It took a while for my green swamp to turn clear, but with the advice I received here it now looks wonderful. Stock up on bleach!
always document with pics so that
A. we can enjoy the cool colors of the water changing colors and
B. the homeowners can't accuse you of doing "something" to their pool while you were using it/cleaning it.
Just my .02
A. we can enjoy the cool colors of the water changing colors and
B. the homeowners can't accuse you of doing "something" to their pool while you were using it/cleaning it.
Just my .02
Get your test kit in hand and quite a few bottles of bleach/liquid chlorine when you're ready to get that sucker cleaned out. Be sure you have the time to devote to it when you start to get it cleared, if you don't spend the time to keep the chlorine levels up during the clean up process the it will take longer and more chlorine than it needs to.