Newbie from the Philadelphia Suburbs

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raisinfingers

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Aug 6, 2012
6
Philadelphia Suburbs
I just purchased a house in the western suburbs - seemingly every house on the block has In Ground pools (6 houses in a row on my side of the street and 4 of those have pools on the bordering back yards)

We just settled last week and I was given bad news upon having my water chemistry tested (the store owner said I had 2 "drainable offenses").
Upon exploring a few threads, I am confident I can resolve it myself and I don't want to seem like a dunce when I meet all my pool-savvy neighbors.
 
I have 2 sets of partial test results as noted below, but nothing complete yet.
I should also mention that the ex-owner admitted that the heater (that was only a year old) was bad just before settlement. They obtained an estimate and provided funds to replace. The estimator noted that he couldn't believe the amount of rust after one year. I assume it was the result of bad water chemistry.

1. I first went to a local supply store and the owner kept grimacing and saying "Uh Oh". The first "drainable offense" was the level of copper in the water (no number given). He also said the Chlorine level was way too high and something else that was made it "drainable" (possibly the TA as noted in test #2). He claims he couldn't solve it via chemistry and doesn't offer service or recommendations. I was discouraged.

2. The next day I visited a large chain pool store . The technician came up with a pH of 7.0 and Total Alkalinity of 0. No mention of Copper, but he didn't have the right test drops. The recommendation was a seemingly ridiculous amount of Soda Ash.

I am just starting to read the Pool School articles and hope to have better pool measurements when I return to the house next. I will also try to get better test results in the near term once I get a home test kit. At this point, I like the challenge of proving local supply store owner wrong and also making my pool operational in time for the kids to use it before the end of summer as promised!
 
Welcome to TFP! You'll want a TF100 from tftestkits.net (best value IMO and uses taylor reagents and duraleigh (owns TFP) will likely have a kit to you by end of week if you order tomorrow) or the taylor k2006. Those are the only two test kits we recommend.

Unless your water is translucent green, copper in your water is not the end of the world, although high levels can cause staining. If TA is truly 0 your PH would be around 4.5 and would explain the heater going bad as that would indicate very aggressive water, but can be solutioned with a combination of baking soda (TA increaser) and Borax (PH+).

That said at this point, get a kit and see what YOUR true results are...from there the team here can guide you and yes we'll tell you if a drain and fill is in order...but not before we are sure! Read up in pool school while you wait for the kit to come in the mail!
 
I just submitted my order for the TF100 w/ speedstir and a Copper testing kit just for good measure. I hope to have test results posted by the end of the week.
If my copper levels are too high, would that be reason to drain regardless? Even if so, I am excited to have the best test kit out there as balanced water is already an obsession given the damage caused by the previous owner.
 
Given your getting the best test kit and reading this forum, you will likely be much more savvy than any of your neighbors in a very short time. :goodjob:

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 
raisinfingers said:
If my copper levels are too high, would that be reason to drain regardless?
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but only if your fill water is lower in copper content. Let's see what your copper level is before we take any action.
 
Most of the time there are only 2 reasons we see a drain needed.
1. High CYA levels
2. High calcium levels

We'll figure out where you're at in a few days. For now.....read pool school 30 times, and watch the TF-100 "how to" videos on YouTube. You'll have the best pool in the area in no time!
 

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Hey neighbor. Water round these parts is pretty good. Are you on municipal water or do you draw from a well. About the only way for copper to be a problem on muni water is having it added by using copper algaecides or Chlorine pucks that contain copper. I'm over in Delaware county and my fill water is very soft and extremely low in metals. I list Philly because it's a stones' throw down the road and where I was born and bred.

Nothing you've listed sounds insurmountable and you've certainly come to the right place to sort it out. Getting that test kit was a real smart move. You could be the envy of all those other pool owners when you get that pool in shape and tell them how little it costs to keep that way.

Maybe that last statement is underestimating your neighbors. :) They could be doing the BBB thing. I beginning to think that a lot of people around here are using bleach to Chlorinate. Every Walmart in this area is devoid of their house brand bleach. I literally can't find any and it's the second year in a row that it's been that way.
 
I finally moved into the new place (the bottom of the pool is yellowish green now) and ran a couple tests of the supposed trouble areas.

The Copper test was probably >1.0 ppm and I am having trouble completing the TA test. After adding the R-0007 and R-0008 tp 25 ml of water is dark pink/purple so I never got the desired green color.

Should I bother with the other tests or is this indicative of bad things?
 
I'll let the metal heads comment on the your copper levels. There are some very experienced folks here when it comes to dealing with metals. I'd test CYA and CH. Problems with those two are only solved by water replacement or water treatment (reverse osmosis). If one or both of those are too high, water will have to be replaced anyway and will play into any metal control.
 
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