Have Intex Pool Filled with WELL water...questions

[kellysue]

I have a 15ft x48" intex pool with a 1000gph cartridge filter. For the previous two years we have had city water brought in at a cost of $225/year and treated it with chemicals. This year we filled it with well water, results from most result lab test on our well
ph 7.7
color<5
Odor none
turbidity .7
alkalinity --
chloride 6.0
hardness 78
Nitrite AS N <.005
Nitrate as N ,.10
Iron <.05
Manganese .021
sodium 9/7

I filled it a little over about 3 days with roughly 2800 gallons of water, the pool holds about 4400 but this year we only filled alittle over halfway b/c I have twin 4 year olds. Hence less water so we thought we would fill it ourself and save money.

I added some mineral magnet to the pool two days ago and ran the filter a few hours each day. It says to wait 3-4 days after adding the mineral magnet to shock the pool. I ordered an intex saltwater generator (new one with the copper thing although I just read to order the older one). So before I hook this up is it ok to use with well water? What should I do prior to setting it up and adding salt in terms of chemicals? Should I buy a bigger pump? I am worried about the well water ruining the new saltwater generator if not done correctly and that the puymp may not be good enough to even work well with the saltwater generator although it says it meets the requirements.

I am pool stupid and could use any and all advice in what to do for the well water and if I should use a saltwater generator with well water. etc

Also let me add this pool will be dumped after this year and a new one purchased b/c after 3 years it will have numerous patches and I had to move the inlet hose lower due to half filling the pool and suspect it will not survive another year.

 

[linen]

I too have used well water to fill my pool. Originally I had a small intex pool with their filter (mine was 500 gph) that I upgraded to their 1000 gph. When I chlorinated my pool, the water turned brown (but was still see through) which I assumed was metals. The intex filter could not remove the color, so I used a drinking water filter on a separate pump with separate pipes hanging over the edge of the pool to attempt to filter out the metals. This seemed to work, but took about 2 weeks (at that time, my pool was 1000 gallons).

I have the intex swcg, and it came with the copper plates. After hearing the problems with adding copper in these forums, I totally removed the plates from my swcg. With the 1000 gph intex filter I sometimes got the low flow error. I ended up "jamming" the flow sensor so it always thought there was flow. I suppose if the pump stopped, this might cause the swcg to burn out? Didn't happen to me.

This swcg is my source of chlorine now in my new, much larger (12000 gallon) pool that i filled with the same well water. It is all I have needed to maintain my chlorine level (though if I need to shock, I shock with bleach), so I would think it would work for you as well. Incidentally, on the new pool, using a sand filter 24/7 for the first two weeks after filling my pool seemed to remove the brown color of the water. I did not use a sequesterant (sp?) or my extra filter.

 

[kellysue]

It would take me a month to fill my pool with 12000 gallons of water from my well!

 

[linen]

If I recall, it took about 1.5 days to fill. I was a bit worried about my well pump, but it seemed to do fine, even with the fairly constant cycling.

 

[Bama Rambler]

You can use the swg with well water. If that iron number is correct then you don't have enough to be a real problem.

What does the water look like?

I wouldn't worry about shocking it but I'd raise the FC up to about 3 ppm (use Pool Calc to figure out how much) until you get the stabilizer in there and get the swg running.

It's easy to unplug the copper ionizer from the unit.

 

[linen]

It's easy to unplug the copper ionizer from the unit.

Hey Bama,

Is it best to remove the copper ionizer completely verses just unplugging it? That is what I did, but I am not sure if it was really necessary.

 

[Bama Rambler]

It's better to remove it completely but some units don't allow that without modifying the unit.

 

[linen]

Mine was pretty easy, I just unscrewed the "nut" on the copper stage, pulled out the cell, cut a piece of rubber the diameter of the top cap of the cell, cut a piece of plastic (~1/8 inch thick) the diameter of the top cap of the cell, and put those parts in place of the cell and put the nut back on.

 

[kellysue]

The water looks great right now. I just shocked it and stabilized it since it has been 3 days with the mineral magnet.

Still haven't got the swg from target yet, but I found an intex model 2008 swg (no copper) on craigslist, still in the box for $110.....should i return the target one and buy that? but i wouldn't have a 2 year warranty with it or be able to try it to make sure it worked before buying it.

 

[kellysue]

I know I have iron b/c we will get a toilet ring if I don't clean them every 2 weeks, also i put two socks over the hose when filling it (nice extra filter...lol) and it turned orangey!

But the pool did not turn color when I shocked it which is what seems to happen with really hard well water from what I read.

 

[kellysue]

If I run my well too long or use it too much in a day it can hit bottom and pull up tons of sediment and brown water, so that is why i did it slow.....i did it 30 on and then let it rest for atleast 30 minutes. I also used hot water to fill it b/c my plumber said the heating removes a lot of minerals.

 

[Bama Rambler]

It's up to you whether you keep the one you have or not. Since you have it ordered I'd probably just keep it.

You'll need to keep some chlorine in the pool until oyu get the swg running.

 

[kellysue]

Thank you!