Minnesota pool closed at least 2 years in our new house

[Jeff MC]

Hello,

New house, new pool owner. We closed on this house in December and we've had very wild winter. Today we took the safety cover of the pool to reveal the challenge, inky black water with lots of sediment on the bottom (picture attached).

I had a pool years ago and remember the basics, but I never experienced anything like this! Happy to read the pool school stuff, but not sure if I should even start the pump.

Would love some advice tp help me get started. I am wary of going to the local pool place, all I can think about is the dollar signs in their eyes. I'm inspired by the thread that had someone going from swamp to pool in 12 days.

Thanks!

 

[George N]

Welcome to TFP!
Start by getting as much thrash off the bottom. Not sure I would run the pump till I had most of the big stuff cleared.
And since you been going to Pool School read the one on shocking.

You will need a good test kit, might I recommend the one many of us use here, see my sig below.

 

[HoleInOne]

Looks interesting. I would start by cleaning as much stuff off the bottom as you can with a net. Once that is done check all the skimmer baskets and fire up the pump. You will be doing a lot of back washing and shocking. Pool school is good reading. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Lana537]

Welcome Jeff~

Get a very good test kit right away. Go out and buy liquid bleach--lots of it. Use a leaf rake to pull up the gunk (see leaf rake in the Pool School Visual Encyclopedia). After you have pulled out as much gunk as you can, pour in a few gallons of bleach to see if you can get the water to clear or lighten a bit so you can start to see the bottom. Pull out the rest of the major gunk, then start up your pump and begin the shock process along with vacuuming.

Your pool owner patience will eventually be rewarded.

Lana

 

[Jeff MC]

This is fantastic advice! Thank you! Tomorrow I'll start the project and take pictures daily. Thank you again, in advance! I ordered a TF-100 XL test kit earlier tonight. I'll plan to shock and backwash until I get my kit.

Jeff

 

[linen]

Welcome to tfp, Jeff MC

Yeah...another Minnesotan ...not too many of us on here...I am in Lino Lakes.

Probably not an issue, but remember we are in MN, so it is possible we could still get some cold weather. If you are in the cities, average frost date is end of May, if you are outstate north, frost date can go into June. The weather this year is so strange...I am not sure yet when I will open. My water is already above 50F!

Way to go on the tf100 purchase, you wont regret it. Continue to read pool school and post any questions here.

 

[Jeff MC]

Attached is a picture of my stairs this morning before raking. I'm gonna be busy!

 

[LinLori]

Oh, my gosh! That reminds me of our pool when we first moved in last summer, except ours was green instead of black! Good luck - patience is rewarding!

 

[Jeff MC]

Wow, what a great morning, early afternoon! Learning a lot. We got some new pool rakes (since the old net disintegrated once it had a load of gunk in it) and spent a couple hours getting whatever sludge we could get off the bottom of the pool.

Then, I took on the filter. Got all the plastic plugs put in their places, found the place for the pressure gauge and primed the pump. Took a few tries but got the water circulating (after I realized there were plugs in the returns and put the eyes back in them .

Put in 2 gallons of 12.5% sodium hypochlorite and let it go!

A few questions.....

How long should I run the filter before backwashing?

What is the white mystery fitting (photo attached)?

As always, thank you for your help!

Jeff

 

[Jeff MC]

Work is done for today, except I'll add another gallon of shock tonight.

Cost for chemicals used today: $15.92

Tomorrow I'll schock some more and backwash once, unless anyone can recommend a better plan.

Thanks! JEff

 

[Buford]

Jeff:

Do you have a good test kit? Like a TF100 or Taylor 2006? You will be asked for a complete set of "numbers" so advice can be given.
Please re read pool school, and take a look at this turning-your-green-swamp-back-into-a-sparkling-oasis-t4147.html

You should backwash when your pressure rises 10 psi from the starting preasure; Some recommend to backwash when the pressure rises 25% ( others will comment on this and give the correct percentage, if I am wrong). If you don't have a manual to operate your filter, there should be one here" http://www.hayward-pool.com/webapp/wcs/ ... iltersSand as well as instructions for your multiport valve.

Without a CYA number, the chlorine level is a shot in the dark, but the process is: "Add enough chlorine to bring the pool up to shock level. Wait half an hour. Then test the FC level, and add enough chlorine to bring the FC back up to shock level. Repeat this cycle: test, add chlorine, wait, as many times as you have time for, or until the FC level remains nearly at shock level after a one hour wait."

 

[duraleigh]

My bet is you have ZERO CYA in a pool looking like that after two years of neglect so, if you calculate your dosage to get to around 10ppm, that should do it.

1. Your FC will likely vanish VERY quickly...just a couple of hours...for the first day or so. You will need to replenish FC very often.

2. The more sludge and solids you can remove mechanically, the cheaper and faster your clearing will go.

I suggest you backwash when the pressure rises 25% from it's clean condition. I see 15 psi on your gauge so, assuming that's with the pump running and your gauge drops to zero when you turn the pump off, you should backwash before the psi reaches 20. That may be many, many times at first but you will get longer and longer intervals.

You are on the right track. You will probably see daily improvement from here on out. I assume you cannot see the bottom anywhere so I imagine there is a lot of stuff down there and you are going to have a really big, physical job of getting it removed but there really is no choice. A big HEAVY DUTY leaf net will be your best friend.

PS - the amount of chlorine you are going to use will be frustrating to you. Again, you have no choice.....you have to kill all those organics and it's gonna' take a lot of jugs.

 

[CUTiger78]

... unless anyone can recommend a better plan....

This would be a better plan for me: Drain that pool. Scrub it down and drain the wash water away. Refill with fresh water and add chemicals as necessary.

Just my opinion.

 

[carlscan26]

That's a vinyl liner pool - if it's drained they'll need a new liner. How is that a better plan?

There are plenty of stories on this site of recovering black water to sparkling clean and sanitary water.

Keep going with that you're doing. You'll get there!

 

[Lershac]

As things start to change and you stop getting trash up with the leaf rake, you may want to begin brushing things down with a pool brush. This will stir up the gunk and help get it into solution so it will get to the filter faster. Dont be too vigorous, you don't know the condition of the liner.

 

[linen]

You are making progress, keep up the good work! No need to drain. 4 gallons of 12.5% at fleetfarm for $10

 

[Jeff MC]

Day Three. Big difference! Raked more gunk out and brushed lightly. Can almost see the bottom in the shallow end. It's funny, what would be a crappy pool for everyone else looks great to me; it's now lighter green and not the inky black I started with.

Looking forward to my new test kit which should arrive Wednesday to start learning how to do this the right way. Two shocks today, some vacuuming and three back flushes (with the proper rinse).

Chemical cost today: $18. $36 total so far, I would imagine I'll save hundreds compared to paying a pool service.

Thanks for the support!

 

[reindeerboy]

Once you get the larger sludge out, do you have a way to vacuum your pool to waste? Once the algae is dead, you will need a way to vacuum that mess out of the pool! Read it in Pool School here on this website too.

Good luck!

 

[Jeff MC]

Yes I can vacuum to waste. Tomorrow I'll see what I can see and start working the vacuum, after I go around with a rake twice more.

Thanks!
Jeff

 

[cramar]

Man, your gonna need a lot of bleach...but what ever method you choose your gonna need alot of something, so dont get too frustrated, it's gonna take some time but it will be worth it.
I was wondering if perhaps you should try to get a large commercial size batch of bleach or something, your gonna need a lot and it might save you some cash. Not sure where you would get that though. Just a thought.