Would like to sound intelligent when pool company comes

[urbanjaybird]

Weel, I survived the winter. I had my pool put in right as Sandy hit, followed by a foot of snow. The pool company came and opened the pool this week, and are coming next week to provide what htey call an orientation. This is where they will be showing me how to operate my pool. I have been on this site religiously reading throguh a lot of posts. I don't necessarily want ot just take the PB word for it when they c ome out here, so I have a few questions I would like to pose to be a little bit more informed when they get here.
I have all hayward products for my pool.
3600 DE filter, with GOldlilne AquaPlus automation unit.
This is controlling my Hayward VS pump and SWG.
When they came out to open, they set hte filter to run 4 hours a day on recirculation only, there is no DE In the filter yet.
They set the pump to operate at 65%
They told me they shocked the pool.
Once they left I tested the water using my t100 test kit that I purchased after reading here.
PH - 7.2
FC - .5 (he said they shocked it)
CYA - 0 (why shock my pool if CYA is 0)
TA - 50

My first question is in regards to the pump operation. Is 65% a good % to operate in summer months, will that operate my waterfall, what are others operating their VS pumps at during what time of year, and to operate what.
They told me they would be providing enough checmicals to start the pool, including stabilizer, and PH adjustments, plus the salt needed to start.
Should there be anything I make sure of when they are here, or anything I should be looking out for. They say they will want me to bring in a sample of water a week after they leave and I am operting my own pool. I am going ot assume this is where they will try to take advantage of a new pool owner and try to sell them the world when it comes to pool maintenance chemicals.

Thanks in advance for any and all comments

 

[cramar]

They say they will want me to bring in a sample of water a week after they leave and I am operting my own pool. I am going ot assume this is where they will try to take advantage of a new pool owner and try to sell them the world when it comes to pool maintenance chemicals.

Funny, but your probably right.

0.5 FC can be ok, that's the upper limit, if it goes higher than that there's trouble brewing.

 

[RobbieH]

You said "Why shock if CYA is zero". Shocking has nothing to do with CYA. CYA is a stabilizer to assist in keeping your FC levels steady. Since you have a SWG, you need to get that up around 70-80. You also need to bring your FC up, bleach is a good way to do this.

Pool people like to say they shocked the pool when all they do is do a one-time addition of "something".

Do you know what your salt level is?

Cramar, I think you meant CC of more than .5 is an issue. 0.5 FC is too low.

 

[jblizzle]

Just to add about the pump speed.

It seems like the most efficient operating point is around 1000 rpm, most water moved / $. Going high or lower than this will use more electricity.

I think many people would run maybe at the speed they recommend for 1-2 hours, and then run on a much lower speed for longer. The only reason to run on high speeds would be if it is needed for a cleaner or if your skimming was not working well on the low speeds. Also seems to be recommended to have multiple shorter pump runs than a single long one to better skim before stuff sinks.

 

[Leebo]

Best spot to start.....pool school.

Does them starting up your pool effect your warrenty?? If not, take their chemicals and tell them to scram. Easier to to learn by fire at the start than it is to fix what they did after-the-fact.

Pool school!

 

[urbanjaybird]

You said "Why shock if CYA is zero". Shocking has nothing to do with CYA. CYA is a stabilizer to assist in keeping your FC levels steady. Since you have a SWG, you need to get that up around 70-80. You also need to bring your FC up, bleach is a good way to do this.

Pool people like to say they shocked the pool when all they do is do a one-time addition of "something".

Do you know what your salt level is?

Cramar, I think you meant CC of more than .5 is an issue. 0.5 FC is too low.

RobbieH,
The reason I mentioned CYA is because I was thinking shock as it is described here and the shock [process of raising and mainting a certain FC level, why raise if CYA was not there to help maintain it. It does however make sense now in your comment that they simply they "shocked" it by adding something.
I do not have a salt level yet at this point. That is part of what they will be adding when they come for their orientation, but would the salt level matter at this point, as I thouht i remembered seeing something out here about SWGs not operating at low temperatures, and my water is only 44 right now.
I did add bleach, and the FC level 30 minutes after adding that is 5.5. I know a little high in regards to day to day levels, and winter levels, but didn't think it would hurt at this point. That was adding 1 jug of 8.25% bleach.

 

[RobbieH]

Brrr! 44 is cold! My water is almost up to 70, just checked it this morning.

I could see them adding dichlor, which would assist in bringing up the CYA level while it added FC. You could use trichlor tablets for now to chlorinate, they will add CYA.

 

[cramar]

Cramar, I think you meant CC of more than .5 is an issue. 0.5 FC is too low.

Whoops, my bad, thanks for correcting.

 

[urbanjaybird]

Brrr! 44 is cold! My water is almost up to 70, just checked it this morning.

I could see them adding dichlor, which would assist in bringing up the CYA level while it added FC. You could use trichlor tablets for now to chlorinate, they will add CYA.

Yea, I'm in NJ, only reason they opened the pool is to get the mason for concrete and waterfall in to complete the job.