Just bought a home, for the first time with a pool. It was green when the appraiser saw it and demanded that it be drained, cleaned and refilled. The seller brought in a pool service company and they did something to it to make the water clear/blue and overcome appraisal hurdle.
We are in the process of moving in and I wonder what have I gotten myself into. I am removing leaves every day and learning about pool maintenance at the same time. I have been reading through your forum and have ordered the recommended test kit which should be here in a week. The trouble is that my grand kids will be visiting next week so I need to do something quick to have the pool ready for them otherwise I will be in big trouble.
I took water sample to Leslie's today and here are the results they provided me:
Chlorine: 0
Ph: 7.4
Alk: 140
CAL: 610
TDS: 1,600
CYA: 100+
The guy didn't try to sell me anything. He said I need to have at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the water drained and refilled to bring the last three readings within acceptable range.
Please bear with me as my questions may expose my lack of knowledge about pool maintenance. I promise I am going to read much more and learn as time goes by.
1- Is he correct that I need to drain and refill the pool?
2- If it had to be drained, how do I do this? Is there a valve I could turn for the pump to send water to the sewer/rain water drainage system or do I need to bring in professionals to pump it out and refill it?
3- Where do I get a diagram of the various pumps/pipes/controls so I can understand how the whole contraption works? The previous homeowner left us nothing. (It was a short sale.) Can someone please point me to other resources on the internet for this information?
4- I see only one of the three pumps running when the timer runs it. Should all three be running at the same or various times?
5- The one pump that runs shows much turbulance/air through its window. I understand this is not good. How do I find the leak and fix it so it pumps effectively.
6- How long should the pump run every day?
7- There is a natural gas based water heater (I assume for the attached spa). How do i turn it on? I only see one timer that has a manual override switch to run one pump.
8- When the pump runs, the spa is filled with water that then flows into the pool. I have changed nothing but for the past few days, the water level goes down to the upper row of water jet nozzles (there are two rows at different levels). Where can I find and prevent the spa leakage?
9- Should I start adding Chlorine so the water does not turn green while I am figuring it out?
I have attached a few pictures and may have more questions as I am provided advice. Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge.
Best regards,
Clueless in Stockton, CA.
We are in the process of moving in and I wonder what have I gotten myself into. I am removing leaves every day and learning about pool maintenance at the same time. I have been reading through your forum and have ordered the recommended test kit which should be here in a week. The trouble is that my grand kids will be visiting next week so I need to do something quick to have the pool ready for them otherwise I will be in big trouble.
I took water sample to Leslie's today and here are the results they provided me:
Chlorine: 0
Ph: 7.4
Alk: 140
CAL: 610
TDS: 1,600
CYA: 100+
The guy didn't try to sell me anything. He said I need to have at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the water drained and refilled to bring the last three readings within acceptable range.
Please bear with me as my questions may expose my lack of knowledge about pool maintenance. I promise I am going to read much more and learn as time goes by.
1- Is he correct that I need to drain and refill the pool?
2- If it had to be drained, how do I do this? Is there a valve I could turn for the pump to send water to the sewer/rain water drainage system or do I need to bring in professionals to pump it out and refill it?
3- Where do I get a diagram of the various pumps/pipes/controls so I can understand how the whole contraption works? The previous homeowner left us nothing. (It was a short sale.) Can someone please point me to other resources on the internet for this information?
4- I see only one of the three pumps running when the timer runs it. Should all three be running at the same or various times?
5- The one pump that runs shows much turbulance/air through its window. I understand this is not good. How do I find the leak and fix it so it pumps effectively.
6- How long should the pump run every day?
7- There is a natural gas based water heater (I assume for the attached spa). How do i turn it on? I only see one timer that has a manual override switch to run one pump.
8- When the pump runs, the spa is filled with water that then flows into the pool. I have changed nothing but for the past few days, the water level goes down to the upper row of water jet nozzles (there are two rows at different levels). Where can I find and prevent the spa leakage?
9- Should I start adding Chlorine so the water does not turn green while I am figuring it out?
I have attached a few pictures and may have more questions as I am provided advice. Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge.
Best regards,
Clueless in Stockton, CA.