Help! My pool boy and I got a divorce

[427hvn]

Please be patient with me as I am new to the forum and new to taking care of my own pool. I have a inground pool with a sand filter and a pentair intellichlor salt system. I have had the most trouble out of this pool..

This is the first year I have had to run it, my husband who built the pool and always maintained it is now maintaining a younger girls pool.. Enough said! I cannot keep this pool clean. I realize it takes some work but I seriously had to watch youtube videos to figure out how to backwash and unwinterize it. I noticed the other day that my pool was looking a little swampish... I went to check everything out and the salt system had no lights on. I googled this and found out their was a fuse on the power source. I took the fuse out and the entire fuse holder was corroded and ruined. I order a new one it came in Tuesday, I put a fuse into it replaced it and put the wires back on.

All my lights came back on and we seem to be working normal. I checked it on Wednesday and all lights were off again. I removed the fuse holder and the fuse is stuck in it. I cannot get it out for anything, so I am only assuming it could have blown again. How do I get the fuse out? Why does it keep blowing? My best question is why in the world does my pool walls keep growing Crud on them even when the system is up a running?

Is there daily care, weekly care or some sort of care program I should be following. I hear new pool boys are expensive, I don't think I can swing it. Thanks for your patience with me, and your help.

 

[NikiBelle]

Hugs to you!!!!! Been there done that!!!!!

Hang in there...someone will be along soon to help you....while you are waiting have you read the pool school? It is so wonderful!!!! It's at the top of the screen under the name.

I recently went though something very similar, and had to learn how to take care of my pool. I knew nothing!! You are not alone.
Smart, smart peeps here. They will be along to help you.

You've come to the right place!!!

 

[anonapersona]

Your mechanical issues are beyond my knowledge but I can help with the pool water in the meanwhile. I will guess that while the SWG was down your chlorine went to zero. Once algae gets started you have to really work to kill the algae. It can easily consume the small amount of chlorine the SWG puts out when working.

With some information, we can get the pool chlorine up to shock levels so that the algae is dying while you work on the fuse issues. Be prepared that this will mean adding rather a lot of bleach. We will know how much once we know the stabilizer level (CYA). Please understand that to KILL the algae, not just make it run and hide, we will need to get chlorine levels up to a point where there is enough active and available chlorine (not bound by CYA) to kill any algae, dead, totally dead, certifiably and undeniably dead. That means rather a lot of testing and adding chlorine to be sure no bits are hiding somewhere like cockroaches.

A good test of pool water is in order. Do you have any sort of test kit? We need FC and CC and pH and CYA. [edit - also TA and CH, in case it matters] It may be that you need to take water to a pool store to get some of these. We don't much care for pool store tests, nor for test strip tests. A drop based kit is preferred. What have you got?

Also, if you could go to the Profile section and input your pool data into your signature, along with location info, that will help a lot. Sometimes just knowing where you are provides tips on extra things that may be important.

 

[BadOleRoss]

Also take a few minutes...OK, maybe more then a few minutes and read through pool school. You will see a button to pool school at the top right of this page. Read that will get you on the road of understanding to what we do here. Taking care of a pool is easy once you understand a little bit about your water...pool school and the folks here will get you there. If you don't have one, you will also need a good test kit. There is a link to the recommended test kits in my signature line and there is also a link in pool school.

 

[techguy]

Can you still run the pump on the rest of the pool without the SWG (salt water generator) to keep the water moving? This is important, along with chlorine.

The SWG creates chlorine (CL) to help keep the pool clean but in some cases, it cannot make all the chlorine needed and you need to add more CL to keep it clean and clear. In your case you need to use liquid chlorine (aka bleach or liquid chlorinator, all essentially the same except strength) to get CL into your pool to kill off the algae and other swampy stuff since your SWG is not making chlorine.

I say this because you now have -2- distinct problems here. A dirty pool getting green and a broken machine (the SWG).

You can fix them separate from each other if you prefer. First priority (in my mind) is you need chlorine to clean the pool but you do not NEED the SWG fixed to do it. You can fix the second problem of a broken SWG later if it fits you budget better. Liquid chlorine, like the stuff at Wal-Mart can be used instead of the broken SWG. You have the pool that needs chlorine and water flow to kill off the algae and filter out the swamppy-ness that occurs if you don't keep it clean enough. In truth, even if you do fix the SWG, you are going to need to "shock" and that requires liquid chlorine, even if you have a SWG and may turn if off during th e cshock process.

Read to pool school on how to complete the "shock process" to get your water clean and you can solve your SWG problem after getting clean.

 

[427hvn]

I used a test strip... I know frowned upon, but this is what came free with the purchase of the new fuse cell. Which by the way is still not fixed. My free chlorine was at 0, ph 8.4 or high, ta 180 or so maybe 240, stablizer 0. I used the calculator and added roughly 232 oz of bleach. I still cannot use my salt system so I don't know what else to do. I have the water pumping normally through the system just without the cell powered on. Do I need to add algeacide also? My walls are so covered in algae, I just don't know what to do .

 

[257WbyMag]

Well, just get you a good test kit as soon as possible. We're guessing without it.

You need to bring down your pH to between 7.2 and 7.8 using acid.
Don't bother with the TA right now.
Add enough stabilizer to get you to 30.
Add enough bleach to get you to 12.
Keep adding bleach to get you back up to 12 until your water is clear and there is no more green, your FC loses 1 ppm or less over night, and your CC is 0.5 or less.
No need to add algaecide.
Order a TF-100 kit from www. tftestkits.net.

 

[anonapersona]

yup, what he said.... you can handle this water with out the SWG for now.