Open for construction in Ohio

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Leebo

Leebo

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TFP Expert
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Jul 21, 2011
12,570
Eastern Ohio
Pool Size
25000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Well after a good end to last years season, plus a VERY warm winter I've been itching to open my in-laws pool again this year. We had another 70* day this week and I couldn't stand the covers being on anymore. We're slowly adding on a storage building, building a new deck, adding a solar heater, plus maybe a new pump this year.....and with all the work being done out by the pool I HATED my kids being out there at all with the pool covered! We don't plan on starting up the pump or filter for a week or two, but at least this way I can run the vacuum some and get some bleach in there to at least slowly start cleaning the pool.

It wasn't nearly as bad I was guessing it was gonna be however. While there was still a TON of green on the bottom, I was still able to make out the changes in the depth all the way around the pool. I'm hoping that after a a few days of hard work and solid shocking that we'll be able to clean this mess up however.

ps.....I do have photo's but for some reason the site I use to host isn't working right at this time. :( I'll blow it up later once they come back up.....I promise ya. :D
 
We've started on one of many projects. Maybe if we would finish one before we start the next we'd make some progress. But where's the fun. The storage shed is a "new" add-on since last year. It was a free guard shack that had to be removed from a local mill that my brother-in-law found. Some new siding and some work and this is gonna make a great place to store the chemicals and such.
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This just looks NASTY!
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You can make out the shallow end however.....not as bad is I was fearing.
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My little helper has grown up since last year.
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Plus her sister is gonna "help" this year too. Help is a strong word however....more like "make sure we ALWAYS have ten sets of eyes on the pool. She for sure know's no fear!
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I've got 100% lucky so far on all this work. Every day that it was cold enough this year to move the shed I was either working, or already made plans with the girls. Haven't done much more than swept the floor of the shed but once. :D I'd HATE to see all the work that went into moving this beast.
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My work is going to come with the upkeep of the water, plus building the solar heater. Got 300' of 1 1/2" black pipe to run to try and boost the temp's up a few degree's. We tried this a few years ago with mixed results. When the old pump was working right it would raise the temp of the pool about 4 degrees on a very warm day. We're hoping to maybe gain a 10 degree boost total to help maybe get the pool up around 86 degree's during the milder June and early July days. It's going to take some tinkering.....but we like that. :D
 
WoW

It sure doesn't take a greenish tinted pool long to turn into a full blown GREEN pool. We can't get water added until next week, but I poured in 3 gallons of bleach to at least slow down the growth. I'm planning on tomorrow plugging everything in to test and praying there's enough water to start moving some water at least.
 
Alright...So today was one of those day's I just should have passed on working on the pool. Spent an hour trying to get the pump to start at all. The impeller had become stuck over the winter and we only got a "hummmmmm" from the pump. Took the motor apart from the housing and after a few minutes of holding our tongue wrong we were able to get it spinning. Plugged that in and was hoping to have enough of a water level to at least get the pump primed somewhat. Wrong. Spent another hour trying to get the pump primed enough to use a 20 year old vacuum to "skim" at least enough to shock it once until we can get some water into the pool. The weather has said rain each of the last 4 days.....but we've got NOTHING. Stupid weather. Instead it's going to be near freezing mornings...and that fact I noticed after I had everything running. YA me...now I get to worry about the pipes and pump freezing. :( Put a blanket over the pump and filter just in case....and will run it again tomorrow to move some water thru everything. Can't wait till we get the darn thing filled up some. I was able to add 3 gallons of 10% Liquid Chlorine however. :D

Day 2 (first day of shock levels and the filter running however)
FC....13
CC.... 0.5
PH.... 7.2ish I hate this test still. Never can tell nothing.
TA...... 110
CH...... 180
CYA.....20ish I ran around the 20 mark at the end of the season last year and haven't added more yet this year. After we fill the pool some and I can run the pump 24/7 I'll add another 4 pounds or so. For now I'm just going to feed some chlorine into the air.

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Ran the vacuum some more today....and saw a HUGE improvement since yesterday. Took an easy day as there's really not much I can do till we get some stinking rain!

FC went from 11 at 6pm yesterday down to a 6 today at around 2pm. Not a bad lose taking into account the fact that I've got so little CYA. Added another gallon of 10% to boost it up some. I've thought about turning on their garden hose to add some water....but they've got a TON of iron in the water (not sure the amount....but it's yellowish every time you get a glass of water). Is there anything you can do to filter out the Iron after it's been added to the pool....or is it cheaper to just order a truckload of water (about $80 for 2500 gallons)

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All but gave up today. Put the solar cover on and ran some water thru the pipes to avoid freezing. Didn't do a darn thing as without adding water I was just waiting chemicals. I'm sure I'll be back at step one with shocking, but it wasn't worth the headache that was gonna happen.
 

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girls.JPG


Girls said for me to shut-up that the pools open for business! You can make-out the bottom all the way around now, but the "sparkle" just isn't there yet. We've had squat still for rain this April so I've only been able to run the filter for two, three hours a day......and only using a hose tossed in the bottom as you can see in the background some.

Grand total so far to open the pool this year.....$30in chlorine. :D
 
You can see the victory in their eyes can't you. LOL We've never had the pool open this early....let alone clean. Now if I can get my butt onto building the heater we'll be set. Got the "lean-to" built and next step is to add some shingles on it. Then here comes the black tubing. After that going to replace the siding on the shed, add a door, run power to it, and figure out a way to add a potty for the little ones.
 
NO....NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!

I opened the in-laws pool early this year to try and fill the water some with Aprils RAIN showers!! Not snow! Great....now I get to worry about the pipes freezing rather than cleaning everything. 2 inches of snow called for the Pittsburgh area tomorrow.

NO NO NO!!
 
It's supposed to be in the 30's here tomorrow. granted it'll probably only make 39º but that's just crazy this time of year. Good luck with the freezing weather. I leave the vacuum hose hooked up and run the pump during the freezing weather. If you have a snow blower I'd blow the snow into the pool to help fill it up. Might as well use what you're given! :eek:

When you're given lemons, make lemonade; when given snow in April, fill a pool? :mrgreen:
 
Well now that it's getting closer to time that we would normally open, I decided to do a full test. Up until now I've just done the CYA test after opening, and tested for Chlorine. Didn't really have a need to test for others.

FC 5.5
Cc 0
Ph 7.3
TA 110
Cya 20
Ch 180

My question is about the CYA levels. When we opened I had a CYA level of about 15. This makes sense to me, as I only added 4pounds last year after switching from Baquacil.....which took us up to a level of just under 20. About two weeks ago I added another 4 pounds after we finished shocking the pool. It "should" be around 35 according to the Pool Calculator. The sky's today were very "dull" with storms off and on....and I tested about 5 times in various spots in the yard and deck. If I stop and let it sit for about 10 seconds it would cloud up enough so that I couldn't see the dot, but even there was at the CYA level of 20ish.

Could the weather today be a factor in the test?? As I stated, there wasn't much sunlight today at all....or was it an error in my testing? I've only did this test maybe 5 times so far, and I'm not 100% sure just how the dot should look. It get's to the point around 30 that it just get's bigger but I can make out the dot the entire time?? I'd hate to add more in at this point as I'd rather run low at the start of the year rather than high....even though I'm sure I'll add more in about a month.

Thanks again! Pool's 100% clear. A tag fell off some tar paper we were using today on the shed and flew into the water. I could clearly read the writing in the shallow end about 4 feet deep. :D I love it!!
 
Well, I've gotta say I've got the sparkle issue talked about on the forum. Took a sample to the store and they wanted me to add 3lbs of shock.

Only issue so far is I'm vacuuming daily. Can't keep the fine dirt, leaves, and stupid buds from the trees out of the pool. Water was never clear before do it wasn't an issue. Now that you can see the bottom gotta clean it up. Birds enjoy pooping in the pool, but we put out our plastic snakes to scare them away. Next step...fix the light and post pics.
 

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