Hello world!
Almost a year ago, we moved into a house that included an in ground pool with an enclosure over it. Neither me nor my wife have ever had a pool. The previous (also original) owners of the house left us a briefcase full of documents pertaining to the pool build.
The house was built in 1966. The pool was built in 1984 by Anthony Pools and the enclosure was added a year later. The owners had it built so that their grandchildren had a place to swim all year long. Unfortunately, the wife passed away in 2010 and last year the husband had to move into an assisted living facility due to advanced Alzheimer's and dementia.
We have heard a few different stories, but the one that I believe is that they did not use the pool for the last few years. The plaster was in bad shape with many stains and it was separating from the concrete in a few places. There was no water - save for a puddle - in the pool. We were assured that it was winterized, which I believed because the spa jets had plugs in them. I guess that our water table is not very high because the water never got more than a few inches deep - the worst being after Hurricane Sandy blew through. We made it all the way through the winter without the pool floating.
There was no heater in the mechanicals, as it had apparently stopped working and they had it removed. The pump and DE filter were the original Anthony models and we were not sure if they worked. One "pool guy" told us not to replace them, because "they will never stop working".
Well, we had a few pool folks come out this year to find out what we needed to do to get everything running. We got some different opinions and settled on Anthony & Sylvan pools to get it running. This included retiling the dam wall and replastering the spa and pool. They bypassed the opened plumbing where the heater used to be and turned it all on and it worked! We went through the two-week long twice-a-day brushing and 24/7 pump running. We added chemicals according to the tests done by the local A&S store and have been monitoring it. The water is still nice and clear and since it is indoor, we don't have much chlorine loss due to sun, and don't have to use the leaf skimmer too often either. The chemistry stays pretty stable.
Up until now, I have just been using a cheap-ish test kit. I ordered a TF-100 last week and it just arrived, so I will finally get to fully test it this weekend and see if I have been keeping it in proper balance.
With the cool weather that we have had this summer, and with no heater, our temp has been steadily dropping. When we were first able to go swimming, it was at about 81 degrees. It is now down to 74, so it is a bit chilly. We are currently waiting for an estimate to put in a heater.
Happy Swimming!
Almost a year ago, we moved into a house that included an in ground pool with an enclosure over it. Neither me nor my wife have ever had a pool. The previous (also original) owners of the house left us a briefcase full of documents pertaining to the pool build.
The house was built in 1966. The pool was built in 1984 by Anthony Pools and the enclosure was added a year later. The owners had it built so that their grandchildren had a place to swim all year long. Unfortunately, the wife passed away in 2010 and last year the husband had to move into an assisted living facility due to advanced Alzheimer's and dementia.
We have heard a few different stories, but the one that I believe is that they did not use the pool for the last few years. The plaster was in bad shape with many stains and it was separating from the concrete in a few places. There was no water - save for a puddle - in the pool. We were assured that it was winterized, which I believed because the spa jets had plugs in them. I guess that our water table is not very high because the water never got more than a few inches deep - the worst being after Hurricane Sandy blew through. We made it all the way through the winter without the pool floating.
There was no heater in the mechanicals, as it had apparently stopped working and they had it removed. The pump and DE filter were the original Anthony models and we were not sure if they worked. One "pool guy" told us not to replace them, because "they will never stop working".
Well, we had a few pool folks come out this year to find out what we needed to do to get everything running. We got some different opinions and settled on Anthony & Sylvan pools to get it running. This included retiling the dam wall and replastering the spa and pool. They bypassed the opened plumbing where the heater used to be and turned it all on and it worked! We went through the two-week long twice-a-day brushing and 24/7 pump running. We added chemicals according to the tests done by the local A&S store and have been monitoring it. The water is still nice and clear and since it is indoor, we don't have much chlorine loss due to sun, and don't have to use the leaf skimmer too often either. The chemistry stays pretty stable.
Up until now, I have just been using a cheap-ish test kit. I ordered a TF-100 last week and it just arrived, so I will finally get to fully test it this weekend and see if I have been keeping it in proper balance.
With the cool weather that we have had this summer, and with no heater, our temp has been steadily dropping. When we were first able to go swimming, it was at about 81 degrees. It is now down to 74, so it is a bit chilly. We are currently waiting for an estimate to put in a heater.
Happy Swimming!
<hint! hint!>
