New pool owner. Older pool.

[Mesamav]

Hello,
I just moved to Arizona from Oregon. The home I purchased has an awesome pool. I wouldn't want to live in the desert without one.
I am a total newbie to pool ownership and maintainence although I'm a pretty handy guy. The place I bought was a bank owned home so I know nothing about the pool and no accessories were left with the place. I'll be moving into the place in about a week.
What do I do now? lol.
I'm thinking of getting a pool company to go in there a few days before it closes just to make sure the water is ready to go when we get in there.
After that, I'll probably take care of things myself. The pool is an in ground concrete diving pool. Old style. The deep end is 9 feet deep and although I haven't measured for the dimensions yet, I'd guess it's about 18 feet wide and 35 feet long. All the equipment is there and working. Pump, filter, etc.
So what equipment do I need and what chemicals, test kits, etc. do I need right off the bat?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Butterfly]

Welcome to TFP

You definitely need a good test kit. The fav around here is the TF100. Link in my sig.
Have that ordered and ready from the get go. Best bang for the buck and fabulous service.
If you learn from the pool guy that the pool is a mess/green/needs shocking, add the XL stuff to the test kit order.
If the pool is plaster, do yourself a favor and add the speedstir.
We have recommended test kits compared in Pool School.
If you decide you want to 'support this site', you can get a $10 discount on the test kit!
Yep, that link is in my sig, too

When you learn info about your pool and equipment, put it in your sig.

Well, I know you don't know the answer, but it would be good to know whether or not you have an automatic chlorine feeder and, if yes, what kind? IOW, if it has a Liquidator or SWG (salt water chlorine generator), no problem - good. If it has a chlorinator that uses trichlor pucks, then you are going to need to stop using the chlorinator and stock up on bleach/liquid chlorine.

Maybe you can get some info from the pool guy that might be checking on the pool for you.

Post a full set of pool water test results ASAP. In fact, I suggest you go ahead and get one from the pool store, just so we can see if there is a major problem.

Also have your tap/fill water tested for TA and CH.

So, what will you need? You will need a leaf rake with a pole long enough to easily reach the middle of the pool, a skimmer net, some skimmer socks (optional), bleach/liquid chlorine, muriatic acid. Others will chime in w/comments. Also, you will need a way to vac the pool, so maybe you can find out about that from the pool guy, too, as to what is there.

Okay, hope that helps. We're glad to have you here and wish you the best with your new pool

 

[anonapersona]

Also, you need a brush or two. The Wall Whale brush is really nice. You will want a measuring cup, hard plastic, for bleach, maybe a separate one for acid.

I like the leaf rake that has a hard dust-pan type lip on one side. I think it makes scooping easier.

 

[257WbyMag]

Good advice from Butterfly as always. Welcome to TFP!

 

[Richard320]

Order the TF100 now. My standard advice is also to spring for the XL option because you'll be burning through reagents at an amazing rate once you start playing with your new toy. Also get a speedstir - it makes the CH test bearable. And since you're in the Southwest, might as well pre-order your R-0012 refill with the kit to save on shipping. http://tftestkits.net

You will need a pole, a brush, a vacuum and hose at bare minimum. Then a different brush, a thermometer, a backwash hose.....it adds up. I bought most of my stuff at Lowes - and used the 20% discount card I got after sending in the change of addresss form at the post office.

I don't know that I'd hire anyone to get it ready to go. You won't need to read much here to learn that there are a lot of hacks in the business, who will shock using cal-hypo no matter what your current CH level is, or add algaecide that is rich in copper, or use - I am not kidding - test strips. It may take a few days to get it balanced yourself, days you'd want to take a plunge after carrying furniture and unpacking boxes and cleaning, but at least you'd know what's in the thing.

 

[Mesamav]

Hey thanks guys. Invaluable information for a newbie. I'm really looking forward to spending some time in the pool.
I have a pool where I'm staying right now until the house closes and with the high temps around here, a pool is almost a necessity if you ask me.
I just looked again at the pool yesterday for a few minutes and the water is still clear but there is some debree that hasn't been removed since the big dust storm last week so I'm assuming that they have someone to keep the water up but not keeping it in check chemically.
I can sneek in the backyard for a few minutes at a time so is there something I can put in the pool just to keep it from turning into a swamp until I can do it right?????
The only thing I know for sure is that the water level is being kept up to the proper level and as of right now, the water is clear even in the deep end. And BTW, the water around here is extremely hard so I'll assume there is a lot of calcium. I just had to work on my brothers swamp cooler and it's almost entirely encrusted with calcium build up after only one month and my new house gets water from the same place his does.

 

[RobbieH]

If it were me, if the pool is concrete/gunite/plaster, I'd be putting a gallon of bleach in it every day or two until I was moved in, given the ability to do so. If you can't, it isn't usually too hard to recover (shock process).

 

[anonapersona]

Ask how the pool is being maintained now. Someone can tell you if a service is doing it all, and when they will stop.

 

[Raaron]

I am not sure how things are out in AZ but i am in CA and recently purchased a bank owned home with a pool and mine was a big mess. Also every single bank owned house with a pool I looked at was cloudy or green with things swimming in it as well as several posts from people with the same scenario. So chances are the pool is not being maintained at all right now since it would be up to the listing real estate agent to do so. In my case my pump did not work properly and several of the seals had to be replaced as well as the filter elements being so filthy they were caked with gunk. I would get the water tested asap. If you are planning on doing things yourself test your water yourself, I was getting mine tested at the pool store and was getting all kinds of different results. As stated before I would not hire anyone to get it ready for you no one is going to care for your pool the way you will.

 

[Mesamav]

Ask how the pool is being maintained now. Someone can tell you if a service is doing it all, and when they will stop.

Yeah, I'm trying to find out but this house is a bank owned and the bank apparently is pretty tough to get information from. I can't even get info from the selling agent so I might be on my own until close.
If nothing else, I'll get a few gallons of chlorine and dump it in there when I can sneek in. I hope that does the trick for a few days.

 

[Mesamav]

I am not sure how things are out in AZ but i am in CA and recently purchased a bank owned home with a pool and mine was a big mess. Also every single bank owned house with a pool I looked at was cloudy or green with things swimming in it as well as several posts from people with the same scenario. So chances are the pool is not being maintained at all right now since it would be up to the listing real estate agent to do so. In my case my pump did not work properly and several of the seals had to be replaced as well as the filter elements being so filthy they were caked with gunk. I would get the water tested asap. If you are planning on doing things yourself test your water yourself, I was getting mine tested at the pool store and was getting all kinds of different results. As stated before I would not hire anyone to get it ready for you no one is going to care for your pool the way you will.

Well, the bank is in So. Cal. so I am proceeding under the assumption the pool is not being taken care of, just filled with water. Until I find otherwise, I just want to keep the pool clear until I get in there to check it out for myself.
We should be closing in the next day or three so I'm hopeful I won't be running into a green monster when I finally get in there.

 

[Mesamav]

The place is supposed to be closing on Friday or with a little luck, sooner but I'm guessing Friday the way things seem to go for me. lol.
I went over there today and the water still looks clear although if you have watched the news lately, it's a national story about the two dust storms we had. There is a lot of dust and dirt on the bottom but the water itself looks good. I poured in two gallons of bleach as suggested so I'm hoping that when Friday comes, I'll be able to sweep everything out.
Any suggestions????????

 

[Richard320]

The place is supposed to be closing on Friday or with a little luck, sooner but I'm guessing Friday the way things seem to go for me. lol.
I went over there today and the water still looks clear although if you have watched the news lately, it's a national story about the two dust storms we had. There is a lot of dust and dirt on the bottom but the water itself looks good. I poured in two gallons of bleach as suggested so I'm hoping that when Friday comes, I'll be able to sweep everything out.
Any suggestions????????

Have you ordered a test kit yet?

You're going to need a vacuum head, a hose, and a pole. And possibly a skimmer plate or something else to adapt the hose to your setup. If I were in your shoes, I'd start the pump, be sure it's working, vacuum, then do a full teardown and clean on the filter (if it's DE, otherwise backwash the sand or clean the cartridge) , just to establish baseline pressure. Fire it back up, let things circulate a bit, then run the first test. Then add whatever, but not all at once, in case you miscalculated the volume.