Hi. I am new here so, hopefully I am in the right place.
I live in an HOA that has a large outdoor pool (specs below in sig). I took over the pool 2 years ago, when I joined the board. From what I can tell about how the pool was treated prior to me taking it over, the old person that did the day to day management, just had the head lifeguard dump 5 gallons of liquid chlorine in each week with no other chlorine throughout the week. The pool was an absolute disaster. The DE filters (2) were never cleaned. It was nearly a solid block of DE when I opened it up. The pool surface was stained. Algae growth. Etc. Basically everything was wrong with this pool.
I set out to first get the chemicals correct. It was a not stop battle with 10 year old "broken" water. I realized the old chlorinator didnt work, so purchased a new chlorinator. We use a 2" stick chlorinator. So with the new chlorinator running I realized the water was so bad, that it wouldnt hold or register chlorine.
This year we got some work done to the plaster work done, drained the pool and after the work was completed, finally I got new water.
Everything started out perfectly. I took my water samples to the local pool store, and for the first time, I didnt need to add any chemicals (minus the preventative stuff i do weekly). Chlorine was holding, Ph was good, everything was perect. It was the first time that out test notes said "OK" next to each column.
In the past two weeks, I have completely lost chlorine. I am going through about 25 2" sticks every 5 days. So the chlorinator is working, but it isnt holding in the pool.
With no FC in the pool, I am now a breeding ground for algae, which promptly grew. As soon as i saw it (apparently the yellow furry looking stuff on the bottom of the pool, didnt catch our lifeguards eyes and they did nothing) I had the water tested. Minus the 0 chlorine and the algae, everything was perfect. I brushed the algae loose and waited a few hours for the water to turn over. Then i vacuumed, backwashed, shocked and added the copper algaecide.
My concern is obviously the 0 chlorine. That is the root of my algae problem, so I am trying to fix it. Would a second chlorinator help?
I have asked the staff at the local pool store and they said probably not and that the reason that it is reading zero is the heat and the use (about 85 - 115 people throughout the day) is causing the rapid drop. I am in Pennsylvania and it has been hot, rainy and the pool has a ton of use this year. So the odds are stacked up against me to begin with.
I am a volunteer and had zero experience prior to becoming a board member. We have had a few pool companies through the year and they were all a waste of time, because our pool is "too big" for them to spend enough time on. Excuses. I keep our pool cleaner and clearer than any of our pool guys ever did, but I am learning on the go.
Any advice would be appreciated. im trying to figure out which direction to go. my end goal is to have an automatic feeder system for our chemicals, but that wont be for a few years.
Thank you for your time and I apologize for the length, just figured I'd give as much info as i could.
I live in an HOA that has a large outdoor pool (specs below in sig). I took over the pool 2 years ago, when I joined the board. From what I can tell about how the pool was treated prior to me taking it over, the old person that did the day to day management, just had the head lifeguard dump 5 gallons of liquid chlorine in each week with no other chlorine throughout the week. The pool was an absolute disaster. The DE filters (2) were never cleaned. It was nearly a solid block of DE when I opened it up. The pool surface was stained. Algae growth. Etc. Basically everything was wrong with this pool.
I set out to first get the chemicals correct. It was a not stop battle with 10 year old "broken" water. I realized the old chlorinator didnt work, so purchased a new chlorinator. We use a 2" stick chlorinator. So with the new chlorinator running I realized the water was so bad, that it wouldnt hold or register chlorine.
This year we got some work done to the plaster work done, drained the pool and after the work was completed, finally I got new water.
Everything started out perfectly. I took my water samples to the local pool store, and for the first time, I didnt need to add any chemicals (minus the preventative stuff i do weekly). Chlorine was holding, Ph was good, everything was perect. It was the first time that out test notes said "OK" next to each column.
In the past two weeks, I have completely lost chlorine. I am going through about 25 2" sticks every 5 days. So the chlorinator is working, but it isnt holding in the pool.
With no FC in the pool, I am now a breeding ground for algae, which promptly grew. As soon as i saw it (apparently the yellow furry looking stuff on the bottom of the pool, didnt catch our lifeguards eyes and they did nothing) I had the water tested. Minus the 0 chlorine and the algae, everything was perfect. I brushed the algae loose and waited a few hours for the water to turn over. Then i vacuumed, backwashed, shocked and added the copper algaecide.
My concern is obviously the 0 chlorine. That is the root of my algae problem, so I am trying to fix it. Would a second chlorinator help?
I have asked the staff at the local pool store and they said probably not and that the reason that it is reading zero is the heat and the use (about 85 - 115 people throughout the day) is causing the rapid drop. I am in Pennsylvania and it has been hot, rainy and the pool has a ton of use this year. So the odds are stacked up against me to begin with.
I am a volunteer and had zero experience prior to becoming a board member. We have had a few pool companies through the year and they were all a waste of time, because our pool is "too big" for them to spend enough time on. Excuses. I keep our pool cleaner and clearer than any of our pool guys ever did, but I am learning on the go.
Any advice would be appreciated. im trying to figure out which direction to go. my end goal is to have an automatic feeder system for our chemicals, but that wont be for a few years.
Thank you for your time and I apologize for the length, just figured I'd give as much info as i could.