Buying House with AG pool, Need Advice

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Snowmonkey517

Snowmonkey517

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Jul 2, 2012
20
First of all I want to say I am extremely happy I found TFP.
We are closing on a house in Maine in a couple of days that has an 18'x33' AG with a large surrounding deck. The pool has not been maintained yet this season and is extremely green. I see a great post on how to go from swamp to oasis and plan on reading that once I have a good idea of what I need to do beforehand.

The pool liner has a couple of tears above the full waterline, so first of all, does anyone know if this is repairable enough to be able to use the pool for the remainder of this summer? If I can't, I won't even get started. If I can do some kind of temporary repair, at least enough to get the filter going and get the water from green to blue for the short remaining summer, I'm sure I'll have more questions.
Thanks,
 

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Welcome to TFP!

You probably need to go ahead and price out a new liner. It is hard to say when it is going to "give" and turn your yard into a swamp.
 
I would almost say drain it ... but then you have the danger of a giant hole in the ground that someone could fall in to.

You could certainly get it clean with some work and maybe get some use out of it this year ... I am not familiar with liners, sounds as if it could completely rip open at some point.
 
Not so worried about the big hole, but I would be concerned about messing up the ground under the pool and have to rework that before a new liner goes in. And that probably would happen if the liner gives out. The back yard has a downward slope, so its hard to say what would happen. I'll know more when I move in and can take a closer look. Its probably a Crud shoot.
I won't be able to replace the liner until next spring, unfortunately I have other projects that are a bit more important. I want to rework the decking and get it off the lip, if I can.
Nice to know you guys are here to help, can't wait till I can contribute!
Thanks,

~Michael
 
Welcome to tfp, Snowmonkey517 :wave:

If you can't replace the liner till next year, then I would try and clear the pool this year and hope the liner lasts...I think it might. You could duck tape (I would use gorilla tape) the areas where it is separating and reinforce any other area that looks like it is starting to tear.
 
I used Gorilla tape to patch the sidewall tears. That works perfectly. Thanks for that bit of advice.
I have followed the "Turning your Green Swamp" guide and the pool is cleaning up nicely. I am able to hold FC now. I am keeping it up to shock level until the algae dies. The water is cloudy as I expected, but its blue now and I will keep it at shock level and backwash occasionally until the water clears.
All I have is a basic test kit at the moment. Planning on getting a Taylor very soon. The only way I have to test CYA is with a strip, and it shows very low even though I am adding stablizer in the "old sock". If my FC is holding above shock level
for good period of time, the CYA should be close to normal? The only thing showing a little low(other than the CYA) is the PH.
I will be replacing the liner next spring, so I'll have to start all over again but at least it won't be with green water and a ton of leaves!
 
Curious how you are holding at shock level if you do not have the FAS-DPD test?

Backwash when the pressure rises 20-25% of the clean pressure.

Glad to hear you are making progress.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 

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I doubt it was holding. I finally got a Taylor K2006 today, my water is still cloudy( almost 2 weeks since I started cleaning the swamp). I added about 1.5 gal of 6% bleach last night and ran these tests this evening.
My test results:

CYA- 37ppm
FC- 0.4ppm (2 drops x .2)
CC- 1.8ppm (9 drops x .2)
PH- 7.5
Ttl. Alk- 100ppm
CH- 30ppm

Any suggestions for getting the pool clear and keeping the clorine level up?
 
Snowmonkey517 said:
Any suggestions for getting the pool clear and keeping the clorine level up?
Click to expand...
Do the shocking process. This will require a lot of bleach/liquid chlorine. Dose as often as you can to raise your FC back up to your shocking level (but no less than 1 hour between).

By the way, you do not need to do the 25 ml sample for FC and CC. Save your reagents and do the 10 ml sample where each drop of the R-0871 is 0.5 ppm FC (or CC). See: http://www.troublefreepool.com/extended-test-kit-directions-t25081.html#p206393
 
Great info! Thanks. I did the 25ml test because I didn't really know where I stood. I'll continue on with the 10ml tests.
It doesn't really say in the Shocking Process doc, but should I still watch CYA, PH and all the others during the shock process?
I'll start this process tonight and repost in a few days.
Thanks again for the great info.
 
Hi there! Do you have a leaf rake yet -- that's like a skimmer net but with a deep net pocket. Have you checked to see if there's any debris, leaves, etc on the bottom? As my handle suggests, I recovered a foreclosure swamp -- though yours just sounds like a regular sale -- but you'll make much faster progress if you first ensure you've manually removed any debris, then maintain shock level at all times if possible, and be sure to filter 24/7.

When you add cya, sometimes it doesn't show up in the tests for up to a week, just so you know. Let us know what kind of read you get, and best wishes!

Ps - ph readings won't be accurate with Chlorine at shock levels/above 10 ppm. Cya reading you only really need once unless you're adding more -- once it's there, it's there, save losing a little due to splash out or occasionally overwintering having bacteria convert it to ammonia. So if you've added enough for your target level, you don't need to read (once you have a baseline reading.)

The cya test is tricky, so if you want to practice, remember you can just keep pouring the same solution back into the view tube over and over until you're certain of your read.
 
Thanks Swampwoman.... house was a short sale (might as well have been a foreclosure!). The owner left and obviously didn't maintain the pool.
I have both types of nets and have been using them daily. I have also vaccuumed 3 times but I am still pulling up occasional leaves. I found 4 masks, a snorkel and a pair of shorts but no body parts!
Its hard because I can't see bottom yet, but its slowly getting better. I had a cheap-o test kit until my Taylor K-2006 arrived so the chlorine or CYA test was never accurate until now.
My CYA is at 50 ppm today (no problems getting good read), PH at 7.5 and FC was at 10ppm after a dose of shock. (I am following the Shocking Process linen mentioned above.) So I gave it another dose of shock to get the FC up to 20ppm as the guide states.
Following this:

Shocking:
Measure the FC level

Add enough chlorine to bring FC up to shock level (or a little higher)

Repeat steps 1 and 2 as frequently as practical, but not more than once per hour, and not less than twice a day, until:
CC is 0.5 or lower;

An overnight FC loss test shows a loss of 1.0 ppm or less;

And the water is clear.

Brush the entire pool once a day

Backwash or clean the filter as needed

Filter is running 24/7 through the process.
I'll check it again in a few hours, probably shock it in the morning if needed, have the kid shock it in the afternoon and just keep going until we get the results. This whole process of going from swamp to oasis is pretty expensive, it would have been cheaper to maintain it. But when someone doesn't care, it doesn't matter.
And to think I need to replace the liner next spring!
 
You will have to be more specific as there are 3 different chemicals it could be ... 2 of which add CYA quickly and you are already at the high end.

Also, you need to review the shock process article in Pool School ... typically using powder chlorine and directions on packages is not what we recommend.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 
Yeah, I see. Its Trichlor- increases the CYA. I have 6% bleach with no additives that I bought at Home Depot. Its a little cheaper than the shock.
I'll use that instead, using the calculator.
Thanks for pointing that out.
 

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