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ThePez

ThePez

0
LifeTime Supporter
May 2, 2008
26
Virginia Beach, VA
total pool newbie here...

thanks for the forum guys! between last night and this morning, I've spent about 6 hours reading this site. I bought a house with a large AG pool at the end of last season. I helped the previous owner put the cover on. Needless to say, although I got a brief rundown 7 months ago, I didn't know squat about pools...until now. I got somewhat of a working understanding now.

I just ordered my TF100 kit, and in about 30 minutes, will begin to uncover the pool. I guess I'll take my first water sample up to my local PS, (a mile away) for the initial test...just to give me a starting point, until my test kit arrives. First thing I need to do is measure this thing, I don't know what size it is or how many gallons it holds!

Thanks again...with you guys behind me, I'm actually looking forward to this "chore" now!
 
thanks.

well, I'm still not sure about the size, but I found a pool water test bottle that says the pool holds 11,500 gallons. I have some chemicals, but I do need chlorine. Pics are worth 1000 words, so this is what I started with:

pool004s.jpg


And this is what I found when I took the cover off:

pool010s.jpg


The contraption worked great for keeping the cover clean through the winter. And water looks in great shape. I'm adding water now, my question is this: How high should the water be filled? It was at the bottom of the skimmer trim. I assume it needs to at least go half way up the skimmer trim.? I don't know. I'm off to put the ladder in, take the cover contraption out, then test the water, and fire up the pump. Wish me luck.
 
Wow! Looks great!

Don't you just know that everybody who covers their pool wishes they could open to that!

Water level? We try to keep ours about half way up the skimmer....or just a little higher.

You can estimate your pool volume with Jason's Pool Calc. Link in my signature.

Again, welcome and thank you for the pix! :-D
 
Pez,

Welcome to the forum. The pics are great and indicate your previous owner took some good care of the pool. The "tent" is an indicator he put some time and thought into winterizing and the condition of the water sure looks great.

Usually, about halfway up the skimmer is just right for water level so you're okay there.

While your out at the pool store getting your test results (VERY smart), pick up some chlorine....either pool chlorine at the pool store or unscented Clorox at the grocery store. 2 gallons of pool chlorine or 4 gallons of Clorox should be a good starting point.

Post up your test results and you'll get great help interpreting them.

BTW, thank you for the Test Kit order. It'll ship Monday afternoon and I believe you'll have it Tuesday.
 
Got to the pool store around 5:30, they closed at 4. So no test until Monday.

Per duraleigh's suggestion, I added 2 gallons of 6% bleach a few minutes ago, and I'll at 2 more after dark. (if I was thinking right, I would have added them all after dark.)

I don't know anything about the pump and filter, other than how to hook them up...and thankfully that went without a hitch. No leaks! Set the filter to "filter" and it's doing great...it's been running for about 2 hours now. Given the condition of the water, how long should I let it run? I'm thinking about vacuuming the bottom tomorrow. Is that a good idea?

Thanks for your help.

newb.

p.s.
of course the kids want to swim now. the water is about 65 (very cold) I know, I had to get the "tent poles" out. The bottom feels slimy. I think they should wait until we get some tests, but if I caved...would it be dangerous? Surely lake water is more polluted than this pool.
 
Pez,

Yeah, I've swum in worse! Your kids are brave soles to tackly that 65 degree water.

If your liner feels a little slimy, I wouldn't be surprised if you have algae in your pool. Test your Cl tomorrow AM before the sun get all the way up.....your chlorine will most likely be gone or almost gone indicating it's busy killing the algae (and itself in the process)

In an 11.5K pool, you put in enough chlorine to go to 20ppm (if you put all 4 gallons in)...If it's much lower than 18 or so tomorrow AM you've got algae and will need quite a bit more chlorine...probably another several gallons.

Oops....you can't test yet, can you.....okay, plan B

Put in another 1 gallon of Cl tomorrow and each succeeding evening until you can get a good test,,,,, I think you'd be okay waiting for the kit on Tuesday because pool store testing is so erratic.

Meanwhile, brushing the walls and vacuuming will "loosen up" the algae and make it more susceptible to being killed

Post your test results Tuesday aft5ernoon/evening and there's lots of good folks to help you go from there. :lol:
 
Dave! Man you've been great. So much help. I'm really glad I ordered the kit from you, the support has been priceless.

So, the extra gallon of 6%, that should go in tomorrow night? Or one in the morning and one more at night? I did brush the sides and bottom a bit after adding the first 2 gallons of Cl.

Any idea on how long I should run this pump? It's been going since about 4pm this afternoon. And when should I "backwash", I don't even know what that means or what it does...I'll search around the forum a bit and see if I can find out.
 

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Pez,

I am genuinely appreciative of your business and this forum is a lot of fun. I hope you'll be a regular visitor...even after your pool is squared away.

When you get a chance, put the size of your pool (In gallons) and the type filter you have, the size pump, etc....anything that will help folks understand your parameters and give good advice. You can put it permanently in your "signature" by editing your profile.

"Backwash" pertains to a sand or DE filter and essentially means getting it clean. Simply, you reverse the flow of the water thru the filter and out of the system. The reverse flow lifts the dirt and crud away from the filter medium and pushes it out somewhere away from your pool.....it's how you clean your filter.

Cartridge filters are different. If you have one of those, you do not backwash but remove the cartridge and hose off the dirt.

I'm guessin' a little on adding another gallon of chlorine tomorrow night but I'm about 99% sure you had none when you started. So, you put in about 20ppm but (and this is where the real guess comes in) I'm not sure how much will be burned off by tomorrow night. You'll be safe by adding one more gallon tomorrow night but don't add any more than that.

The test results will be very revealing and we'll get you on track to a crystal clear and "Troublefree" pool all summer.

I'd run my pump about 8 hours daily until you post test results....then go from the advice given.

Please jot down the psi on your filter guage now (or, even better, when you first turned it on). That'll come in handy later.
 
The PSI on my filter gauge has been below zero since I turned it on, I last checked it about an hour and a half ago, and it had not changed. It's a sand filter, not sure about the size...I'll post up some pics later...I'm on the deck with a laptop, so when I get on the desktop, I'll put up some pics I took earlier.

The motor is 3/4 hsp. Works like a champ, it's been in the garage all winter. I'll post up how the previous owner tightened things up before he left. He was a very smart guy...I like to call him the "old man", but he was a "do it yourselfer" many times over. Hence the cover tent.

hey, I found a receipt for the liner replacement, and the liner size is 15x33. so is that the exact size of the whole pool, or just the liner? I know, I'm an idiot. :D
 
15x33 makes sense and I think that 11.5k gallons sounds about right, too. Tell us if the depth varies and how deep.

Replace your filter guage. Pretty common for them to be broken. About $6-8 bucks and screw-out - screw-in. (use some teflon tape on the new) That guage will help you quite a bit.

If you haven't found them yet, the "Stickies" section in the black bar near the top of the page is really good to get you started gaining a better understanding of what's going on in your pool. In particular, check out the "ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry" to help get your water balanced. Mechanically, it sounds like you're in pretty good shape.
 
Right on. Got my kit. I went to the PS to get some Liquid Cl, and get my water tested there out of curiosity.

Their results:
T/A = 142
pH = 8.14
Calcium Increaser? = 120
TC = some # I can't read, looks like 013 or 0/3.
FC = .22?
Chlorine Stabilizer (CYA?) = 10

My results: (not guaranteed accurate, but I followed the instructions fairly well.
FC = 3
CC = 5
TC = 8
T/A = 180
PH = 7.6
CYA = ???

I didn't do the calcium test because I have a vinyl pool.

Couple questions. First, is the only ph test in this kit the one in the blue K-1000 box? Second, I'm not sure I understand the CYA test. I filled to the line with pool water, then to the second line with R-0013, shook, waited, shook, and started dropping it into the CYA tube, while looking down into the tube from above. the whole time my mixture was clear, and the black dot never disappeared. I dumped the whole solution in the tube and could still clearly see the black dot at the bottom of the tube. What did I do wrong?

Thanks for all your help, BTW, the pool is crystal clear now...just been adding bleach at night. Very nice, but very cold (66).
 
Hey, Pez (btw, A friend of mine has, of all things, a pez collection.......truly one of the most interesting things I've ever seen!!)

1. The good news is you did your CYA test just fine. The bad news is your results indicate you have no CYA. That test is not intuitive, IMO, and I remember having trouble with it when I first learned it as well.

The more CYA that's in your pool, the cloudier that mixture will be. So, when your pour it into the tube, the dot will disappear with little mixture if your CYA is high. If your CYA is zero, the dot will never disappear because the mixture never gets cloudy.

2. I did a quick check on your pool size. If you're truly 15 x 33 and 4' deep, I think that works out to about 15,000 gallons

3. Get some stabilizer (CYA) in your pool and you'll be all set. How much depends on accurately figuring your gallonage. Let's get that resolved and we'll fione tune the pool and you'll be set for the summer.

4. I thought that was really smart of you to get a comparison test at the pool store. It will normally give you confidence in your results and, sometimes, will prove to you how awful pool store results can be. I thought their results were decent except for the pH and it wasn't awful. If ther's a discrepancy, you will always be wise to trust your own results.

5. Yeah, that's the only pH test that's available within reasonable costs. It's tough at first but gets easier. Always read it under the same lighting conditions
 
Thanks for the welcome Sean, you have a wonderful site here!

Dave, thanks so much for your help man. Pez comes from my last name Lopez. ThePez nickname goes way back.

As far as my gallonage goes, I got those numbers from a pool liner receipt. The depth I'm guessing on. I'll stick a tape measure in there tomorrow. 11,500 number came from a water test bottle from my local pool store, who I'm assuming either installed the pool for the previous owner, and/or maintained the pool.

So, I found a bunch of Cl pucks in the pool stuff left behind. Should I through a couple of those in the skimmer basket to add the CYA? or do i need to do it a quicker way?
 
So, I found a bunch of Cl pucks in the pool stuff left behind. Should I through a couple of those in the skimmer basket to add the CYA? or do i need to do it a quicker way?
Click to expand...

You'll need some CYA a little quicker.....the pucks won't give you enough and they're quite slow. Again, I'm reluctant to advise you on how much CYA 'til we nail down that gallonage.

Throwing the pucks in the skimmer is not advised by many. The idea is that when you turn the pump off, the puck continues to dissolve and spreads a concentrated amount of chlorine in it's vicinity......maybe not good for the liner. Also, some say it provides a big slug of chlorine into the pump when you turn it back on.

I personally believe those effects to be minimal but I hate to tell you to do it and then you fade your liner right around the skimmer face.

Hang onto them for when you go on vacation. You can get one of those floater dispensers and suspend it in the middle of the pool with the pucks in it and your pool will be nice when you come back.
 

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