New Pool Owner in Las Vegas

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Chateau Fuss

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May 14, 2013
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Thanks for keeping this great site. I've owned a pool in Las Vegas for 1.5 years and I've decided to start managing it myself. This site has been a great source of information.

I've been repeatedly told by everyone from my neighbors to the pool repair guy to the sales person at the pool store that everyone drains their pool every 2-3 years in Vegas. This is done to clean the pool with an acid wash, blast the calcium deposits off the tile, and to get the chemicals back in balance.

I'm wondering if this is really necessary or just what the local pool industry is telling everyone?
 
Welcome to tfp, Chateau Fuss :wave:

You likely have a couple of things going against you in the desert: likely high CH fill water ( and likely high TA too), and high evaporation rates. Others with direct experience will chime in soon, but there are many members on tfp that are able to manage even with those conditions without having to drain/refill often. One member (Richard320) has been fighting high CH and now uses rainwater collected from his roof to top off his pool when he can to reduce how much CH he is putting in the pool. In addition other parameters need to be watched closely to avoid having scale.

Post a full set of test numbers and we can help you get started. See: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/read_before_you_post

Having an appropriate test kit will be imperative. See: http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison Many of us use the tf-100, most bang for buck.
 
Thanks for the responses. Here are my test results.

FC - 3
pH - 7.9 - I've since added muriatic acid to bring down to 7.5
TA - 90
CH - I don't have this available, but we have very hard water in Vegas
CYA - 100 - Do I understand correctly that this is high due to the chlorine tablets I'm using? That's what my pool service was using and I haven't been ready to make a change.

I've added my pool details in my signature as well.
 
What did you use to get your test numbers?

You will need to be able to monitor your CH and also know you cya accurately. By the way, cya measured at 100 ppm can often be a lot higher.

Chateau Fuss said:
Do I understand correctly that this is high due to the chlorine tablets I'm using? That's what my pool service was using and I haven't been ready to make a change.
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Yes, trichlor tabs constantly add cya to a pool, and if the 100 ppm is right (and I have my doubts about that) then you need to do a partial drain/refill.
 
Chateau Fuss said:
I got my test results from the pool store. I took a water sample in for testing.
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Yeah, there's your problem. If CH is 1000, not hard to do in Vegas, they'll just go so far and give up to save time and test reagent.

Up to about 900 you can control scaling. Above that you don't have much wiggle room on pH or TA. So the drining is called for. If you have that scratchy abrasive scale that leaves rugburn on people who scrape against it, a drain and blast is clled for. Then test and magae it yourself and you can probably go a lot longer than you would if you follow the store's regimen.
 
Thanks for the advice. So at this point, its really too late in the season to drain the pool since we're already into the 90s. I'm thinking I'll start using liquid chlorine as recommended in pool school and stop using the tablets unless needed while on vacation. Then in the fall I'll drain the pool and start fresh.
 
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