New pool, first readings

[Ugmul]

So, I got access to my pool today, though I dont take control of it untill monday. There is a company taking care of it untill then so im nervous throwing chemicals in.

When I took the readings, the water was blue, no smell at all, some debree floating on the surface but thats not a big deal. There were 3 tablets in floaty.

15000gallon plaster in ground pool. Just filled last week, plaster was just resurfaced as well. Im in Tucson AZ so lots of sun.

CYA: 25
FC: .5
CC: 0
CH :140
TA: 120
PH: 7.5

Im really debating going back to the pool and dumping some bleach into it. Sun is pretty much off the pool right now, so those tablets should be adding into through the night, upping the CYA and FC.

TA seems high but not sure if that's a problem, Ch low but from what everyone has said, it will go up pretty quick with Tucson sun and water. Please let me know what you guys think!

Thanks

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP, neighbor!!!

Please add your pool details and location as described HERE to your signature as it will help us help you.

I would also suggest you add some bleach to keep the FC up above 2ppm at the minimum ... although what do the plasterers say about start up and warranty requirements?

The TA seems reasonable for the water around here ... similar to the CH I have as well (Who supplies your water?). Do not raise the CH, it will raise fast enough on its own, just keep your pH between 7.5-8.0 or so for now.

 

[Ugmul]

Thanks, I went out and picked up some bleach and used the calculator to bring up the FC. I set the pump on high for an hour and headed back home.

I believe they filled using Tucson City Water, I saw the hose line slowly filling 2 weeks ago.

I didn't write down the pump name, but it's a sand filter, pump is a duel speed as well. When I turned the pump on high it seemed to be running just fine, vacuum was running too, but I could not find a a return jet that was really moving water. There are several vents/holes in the bottom of the pool, are these returns as well as drains?

I'm contacting the construction company tomorrow to get more details, figured I'd ask here too.

Thanks again.

 

[jblizzle]

The things in the floor may be pop up jets, called a in floor cleaning system that the water shoots out. Do you have a little dome with a bunch of pipes out the bottom?

 

[Ugmul]

So went back to the house this morning on the way to work to test chlorine levels and take some pics.

Last night I put in enough bleach in for a 15k pool to go from 0 to 4. When I retested at 7pm, the remaining chlorine had burnt off. The new reading was 5ppm, with .5CC, There were floating tablets in the water so that might have caused it to rise little higher then I intended, or pool size is closer to 12.5k gallons then 15. I'll be able to pinpoint it more on Monday when I actually move in.

I’m happy with a FC: 5ppm right now since I won’t be able to get to the pool today, and next time I can check will be tomorrow morning. CC of .5 I think is understandable since it was void of FC yesterday, it probably cleaned up a little organic stuff over night, and the pumps/filters/sun will clear it out before the days out. We don’t plan to swim until Monday anyway. PH was unchanged.

So, I also took some pictures and looked at the pluming a little bit more.
I got a High Rate Triton II sand filter, Running PSI was at 35ish last night, with pump on high(might have been 45). I have a WhisperFlo High Performance Pump. Now when I first turned on the pump, some air escaped from the top of the sand filter, couple hissing sounds and then it stopped. I’m assuming it was just a pressure valve that cleared out. Pump was running this morning when I went by, no “odd” sounds.

Both clear caps that are in the picture had water moving through it at a good rate, which is why I was curious about the return feeds for the pool. The 2 eyelit returns really didn’t have water flowing through it. One I could not feel anything, the other I could feel some water moving, but could plug it and could barely feel any back pressure. When I first turned on the pump, some bubbles came out of the eyelit holes but stopped within a few seconds.

In the picture of the bottom of the pool, you can see the main drain/filter, and then the other 6 “holes”. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[jblizzle]

You have the little dome by the equipment pad for the in floor cleaner ...but. ... You are missing all the actual pop ups in the pool. There should be something in each hole that pops up to shoot the water tangent to the surface.

 

[Ugmul]

Ahh, I'll contact the contractors for those then, they should have had that installed and will put them in I'm sure. Thanks for the help!

 

[Ugmul]

Well I got ahold of the construction company. They didnt install the bottom vents/directional jets because well, owners didnt want to fund any more and its not required for it to be functional. So Im not worried.

He also explained my other question with the return flow being low, it is pushing the water back in through those 6 bottom jets as well as the eyelit valvues, so I really wont feel any movement. So im happy

SO since I dont have a decent return jet to mix stuff in, what would be a good place to add chemicals, through the skimmer? Let the pump pull it in and feed it through the pool that way?

 

[jblizzle]

You should be able to close off the floor returns for better flow out of the wall. The floor system will not "work" as designed without the pop ups, but sure water will move. I think they are less than $30 for each pop up, but this whole setup sounds shady so who knows

 

[Ugmul]

If the pop-ups are $30bucks or so I'll try and pick some up. It is a rental unit so Im not to concerned. It would be diffrent if I really owned the pool, verse taking care of water chemistry and such. I would have pushed to have everything right from the company. But it seems they were just contracted to refinish and upgrade/fix pump and filter.

If I need to spend an extra 180 for some vents to keep toys/pebbels and increase the flow I'll look into it. Any suggestion besides going down to the pool store for ordering them?

 

[Ugmul]

A quick question on the topic of floor fittings,

Are Floor Inlet Fittings the right name for these items? I am finding lots of adjustable inlet fittings on several sights. Are these a press and fit, or are the inlets threaded on the floor? Can we install these things while the pool is filled?

I am looking at one titled "Hayward SP1424 1-1/2-Inch FIP by 2-Inch MIP White Adjustable Wall/Floor Inlet Concrete Pool Fitting" on amazon right now, my question is what are some of these measurements mean. 1.5" FIP, and 2" MIP? Are the floor fittings universal? So one size fits all, or adjustable meant to measure flow out, and not the size of the inlets?

May seem like a silly question, but before I go diving in with a measuring tape and some goggles, I wanted to clarify some thoughts :-D

 

[jblizzle]

FIP is female threads and MIP is male thread. These are certainly not universal. You would need to identify the type of in-floor system this is and find the proprietary pop up fitting. You may want to wait and confirm that would be all that is needed. For all you know the entire gear system in the dome by the pool equipment is not in there and thus it would not work anyway.

If you do not own this place, I would not worry too much about it. You could just turn the floor system mostly off and have most of the return to the walls for better circulation.

Oh wait, just looked at the picture again and all the water is force through the pop up system ... so the wall must just be one zone in the setup.

Hard to say if all the water is being split between all the zones at this point or if the zones are in fact still rotating through.

 

[Ugmul]

Thanks for all the replys and advice.

The construction company has a follow up appointment next week for the pool, so I'll be able to corner someone one on one for final questions. I cant wait to get in there, get to move in on Monday.

Now all I have to do is make it through this weekends work shift and in I go!

Thanks again everyone, I have learned so much from these posts and The Pool School!