I haven't posted since last year so I thought I'd catch up anyone who's interested on the state of my former swamp! First, old business, things that were not working:
- I had the timer fixed. I'm now running on a 12 hour duration which seems to be sufficient for cleaning and skimming. Since it seems to be working fine at this stage, I plan on testing a shorter duration, probably 8 hours is next.
- I replaced the ailing salt cell with a Hayward GLX-15-W. This is heavier duty than a 15K gallon pool needs, but I found it at a decent price and hopefully it has a longer life span.
- My pool light is still out. I bought a replacement housing, and our usual contractor was kind enough to jump in there mid-winter to try and replace it, but he discovered that there is a break in the wiring to the panel. We decided to push this to a future project.
To close the pool last winter we had a Loop-Loc cover installed. This was mainly to keep the leaves out (the pool is under the arms of a living oak tree) and save the lives of a few frogs, but mostly it was due to a spontaneous onset of incredible laziness. I did not drain the pool any, I just adjusted the chemicals, slammed it, and let it go. When there was danger of a frost I turned on the pool pump. I did not turn on our well pump, on the other hand, which of course burst and needed repair. I pretty much ignored the pool all winter, and as a result foolishly let the FC drop to zero. It took on a slight green tint, but it did not take much slamming at all to bring it back to sparkly clean.
Removing the mesh cover I discovered significant difference in color between the exposed deck and the portion that was covered. I should have taken photos, I know, I'm sorry! I took a pump sprayer with a mix of bleach, and scrubbed the whole deck with a shop broom. After two hours of work, I'm not sure if I made it cleaner or if I just blended various levels of dirt, but in any case it looks better.
The initial readings on opening were disheartening. CYA was low enough to not register on the test, calcium was down to 200, salt was very low. When it rains in the Charleston area it sometimes gets torrential. I suspected there was some overflow, but I didn't imagine it would be this much! I balanced the chemicals right after the slam, and here is where the chemicals are today:
- FC 3
- CC 0
- TA 70
- CYA 75
- Calcium 300
- Salt 3400 (according to titrate test, 3000 according to control panel)
- PH: don't worry about PH, dog, I got this
The latest issue I've noticed is staining and divots on the pool surface. I don't know if this was caused from the reduced calcium over the winter, or if this was a preexisting issue that I just never noticed last year. To snap some underwater pictures, I threw on my snorkel mask and grabbed my Kodak waterproof camera which hasn't seem much use since our trip to French Polynesia four years ago. In part, moving to Charleston to a house with a pool is a palliative treatment of our desire to go back there.
This stain is in the deep end, and by running my hand over the edges I can feel a small depression. This is the one I'm most worried about:
This is in the shallow section, at the base of the stairs, in a corner:
There are several stains on the stairs. Hrmph!
Some of the photos look a little dirty and that's because the dog finally learned to swim. He doesn't like to get his head dunked, but he's happy to accept an invitation to walk down the stairs and then jump in. At first, he'd just swim to the ledge and back, but now he'll hang out in the center and follow me for a while until he gets tired. Anyhow, in between swims, Mugsy likes to nap in the dirt cavity he created under the palm trees behind the chairs. Hence, the dirt which tends to collect here and needs vacuuming.
And on the ledge is a good example of white marbling that is in several places. The white section is smooth, next to the regular texture of the pool surface. Is this an intentional design, or a result of degradation?
My next step in pool ownership education is to dedicate some time reading posts on the Chemistry 201 forum, looking at examples of stains. I'm hoping these things don't require a complete drain to fix, or that their degradation can be slowed to a point where we don't have to address it for a while. Next winter I resolve to be less lazy twit and check the levels monthly.
