Giving up for this season, planning for next year

[mlrogers]

I am sorry to disappoint and I appreciate the info here so very much but I am calling it a wash for this pool season. Our cya is sky high (155 or higher), therefore I have to keep the chlorine high, therefore I can't get a good PH reading. We are having a terrible summer for pools in Michigan, rain every few days, cloudy, and cool. We can't get the temp above 80 and we are half way thru the season. If we drain down as much as we need to to lower the stabilizer, we will lose more temp. We have only been in swimming about 5 times because of weather and pool cooling down so much after rain. By the time we warm it back up after draining enough it is going to be too late to even bother.
The pool has been clear for the most part and I have switched to liquid chlorine ,thank goodness! Can you imagine what the stabilizer level would be if we had been using trichlor all this time? The info here has been so valuable.
So, instead of driving myself nuts trying to figure out how to keep it crystal clear, and worrying about the stabilizer problem I am just going to keep it swimmable if possible. My plan will be to do a small draining in fall, then refill since we won't care about water temp. We will then do the big drain as usual for winterizing and hope that by spring the fresh water that refills pool thru winter (rain and snow) will bring the cya down to a manageable level, like maybe 80. I would be comfortable with cya of 80 because in a normal hot summer we have 10 hours of sunlight on the pool. If we do things right starting from the beginning of next pool season I hope to be able to say we have a sparkling pool that I enjoy maintaining using the BBB method.

 

[BoDarville]

mlrogers:

Sorry to hear about the bad weather and pool problems you are having this year.

Before throwing in the towel for this year, let me ask...What are you using to test with? --OR-- Are you getting these results from pool store testing? If it is the latter, there may be some hope. Every time I take a sample to the pool store for testing (just for grins to see how their results compare to my TF-100 results), I have found that the pool store's CYA reading is always twice what my reading is. Of course, I manage my pool based on my results, not the pool store's. I think the primary reason for this discrepancy is due to ambient lighting, which is critical for the CYA test. I test CYA in midday sun while the pool store tests inside the store -- big difference in lighting.

If your >= 155 CYA is confirmed to be accurate, I would drain it enough (when you do the "big drain") to get CYA somewhere between 30-50 ppm. You will find it much easier to manage vs. CYA of 80. Even here in Texas, I keep my CYA in the low 30's and I get full sun for much of the day. With all that, my mid-summer FC loss over 24 hours averages around 40%.

...new water chlorine built into system,...

Is this an in-line chorinator or ???

 

[Richard320]

You get rain! Harness it. Divert the raingutter downspout into the pool and double, triple, maybe even quadruple the CYA-free water you get from a storm.

 

[Smykowski]

You get rain! Harness it. Divert the raingutter downspout into the pool and double, triple, maybe even quadruple the CYA-free water you get from a storm.

This. Thanks to Richard, I haven't paid for water yet this year.

 

[DKT113]

As you really aren't swimming right now due to the rain and cooler temps & wanting to wrap it up for the season~ right now would be the most ideal time to allow nature to assist you in swapping out some of the water to lower your CYA.

It hasn't come up for us yet with our AGP (we've had the rains in PA (every day for weeks) and I have had to drain opposed to be worried about evaporation), but with our IGP I can remember very hot summers where we guttered in water, ran sluices & it was worked out wonderfully for keeping water in our pool. With the rains you are having you could do an awesome water exchange naturally, keeping the pool open, enjoying it when weather allows, but definitely getting that water sorted.

I would really reconsider packing it up for the year and instead allow nature to assist you with balancing your water. I think too you will find our season got a bit of a cooler, late start but it's going to make up for it before it finishes off. We're in for some heat and some truly enjoyable pool days. Use the rains now to salvage what you can of the season.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[mlrogers]

I do like the idea of using the rain water, but doesn't it have a lot of debris in as it comes from the gutters? I would have to figure out how to bring it over to the pool as my husband currently has the closest downspout going underground so our patio doesn't flood.

I would ideally like the CYA to be less than 80 but would settle for 80 if we can lose that much over the winter. CYA 155 is a pool store number but they have a new computer program they use, if it is accurate the stabilizer has come down about 10 points since June with rain and my draining down about 4 inches a few times. I suspect it is correct as we used trichlor for 4 years, and then dichlor for shock as well. How hard would it be for the pool store to mention that using those two things would raise the stabilizer in the pool and cause issues later?!

I intend to get the recommended test kit for next season so it will be fresh andsince I just found out about all these additional tests that need to be done on this forum. I am a little worried about following all the steps for the test kit, it sounds pretty complicated when I read other threads, I hope I can figure it all out. thanks for the help

 

[Richard320]

I do like the idea of using the rain water, but doesn't it have a lot of debris in as it comes from the gutters? I would have to figure out how to bring it over to the pool as my husband currently has the closest downspout going underground so our patio doesn't flood.

I would ideally like the CYA to be less than 80 but would settle for 80 if we can lose that much over the winter. CYA 155 is a pool store number but they have a new computer program they use, if it is accurate the stabilizer has come down about 10 points since June with rain and my draining down about 4 inches a few times. I suspect it is correct as we used trichlor for 4 years, and then dichlor for shock as well. How hard would it be for the pool store to mention that using those two things would raise the stabilizer in the pool and cause issues later?!

I intend to get the recommended test kit for next season so it will be fresh andsince I just found out about all these additional tests that need to be done on this forum. I am a little worried about following all the steps for the test kit, it sounds pretty complicated when I read other threads, I hope I can figure it all out. thanks for the help

The first day of rain usually cleans off the roof, and there's a lot of fine silt. After that, it diminishes a lot. Mind you, this is what passes for rain in Southern California, where an inch in twenty four hours is a deluge. Places that get real rain will probably have a clean roof in an hour. Besides, the filter will take care of it. I divert mine into the spa, which acts as a settling basin. When the rain stops, I move the valves around and just filter the spa. It clears it all up in about twenty minutes. You could even divert it straight into the skimmer and leave the pump running, so everything that comes through the gutters goes through the filter before it hits the pool.

The testing is only hard the first couple times. Then it gets routine. If you have a speedstir, you can run everything in under ten minutes.

 

[DKT113]

We really had no debris coming off of our roof and I do remember as the one came in right on the steps (white) out of the corner. The water was crystal clear. Never had to clean the steps or run the vacuum so we could get in the water & my grandmother would not get in if anything at all was on the steps or bottom of the pool ~ that was never an issue though with the sluices. We used a couple downspouts both of them diverted from their original spots ~ they were on the ends of a sunroom. Granddad easily tuned them around and directed them into the pool. When pool was at the level he liked he tucked them back into their original nesting place. You might possibly need to purchase additional gutter, make a sluice to take you from where it tucks in under the porch to the pool. Should be an easy task. I know this season I have drained several inches of water out of the pool because I needed to. I also backwashed and rinsed liberally (very liberally) because I had too much water in the pool. I have also had to reintroduce stabilizer because my initial dose this season is not registering, it has diminished so much because of the rain. That's a nice amount of water and all these rains really will assist you. A few light showers a day produce more water than I think some people realize. I know we have shaken our heads looking at the skimmer box completely underwater several times this year already. It's raining again today for us ~ I know I will need to vac and backwash tonight or just backwash some out because if it keeps this up my skimmer will be covered again.

The testing ~ reading on the forum I can imagine some people without the test kit in hand think Holy Bajoly I need to be a Chemist to do this testing. That's simply not the case. It is very easy, and if you run through the tests a time or two you'll easily have all of your numbers in a matter of a minute or two. I am very confident my soon to be 8 year old daughter could handle the testing of the water. Try not to be intimidated by that, once you get the kit in hand and use it a few times you will be very comfortable. The nice thing about it is if you have a question on testing methods there are hundreds of people here who can help you.

 

[mlrogers]

well, DKT113 you were correct. Pool temp is now 90 degrees! We are draining down and adding hose water to try to cool it off. A week of intense sun and 95 degree humidity has replaced the cool, rainy summer we were having. Doing okay right now with clarity despite high temp of water and 9 hours of hot sun on pool. Supposed to be rain coming tonite which should also help with temp and PH (our rain is about 6.7 PH).

 

[techguy]

Heck, keep your eave gutters clear and sluice the water into the pool, even when you don't need it and pump the overflow out. As the summer progresses, you will dilute the CYA. I know you have heard the buy a TF,it but even the HTH 6way would give you accurate CYA testing and then you can upgrade this winter.