New pool owner with first results ... CYA 100+

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zoonews

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Mar 17, 2015
17
Oakland, CA
Bought a house with a pool.

IMG_63861_zpshks2npzl.jpg


The adventure begins!

A solar system was ripped out when roof was redone, but the ancient Fafco 303 controller and plumbing was still in line. The roof side is shut by valves.

Skimmer intake was almost imperceptible so that was project #1. I suspected the solar flow control "pinch valve" on the cold side was limiting flow. Not wanting to fiddle with outdated electronics, I simply removed the pinch valve and replaced it with straight pipe. Much better! This topic http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/51671-Fafco-solar-controller-stuck-in-ON-position was great help in sorting components out. Flow is functional but not awesome. I wonder if main pump should be bigger down the road?

Pressure indication on the filter is ~10 PSI. Seems low but who knows. I used bleeder to fill it up.

After fixing skimmer, the Polaris 380 backup thrust was stuck on and it just sat there lamely. This will be project #2. I suspect something jiggled loose while I was doing the above and traveled through. Turns out there was no screen filter in the quick connect to prevent this. I hauled it out and plan on investigating: backwash with a hose, take apart if needed.

Preliminary testing last night indicated 0 Cl, 7.5 pH, and very high CYA. So I dumped in 3x 121oz 8.25% and went to bed. Start with a bang. First real testing this morning:

FC 15, CC 1, pH 7.5, TA 260, CH 700, CYA 100+

Chlorine high, due to my late night glug glug glug, but I knew I'd be out all day today and wanted to see how it reduced, if only to get a feel of where we are at now.

Do the TA and CH numbers even make sense? I was a bit rushed. I hope to get the stirrer involved soon.

If that CYA number is legit, I'm in a bit of a bind. Refill water in the middle of our drought restrictions with our elevation pumping surcharges tacked on is not a cheap and easy solution.

Still: pool!

:cool:
 
100 is the limit of the CYA test, so you have to do a diluted test. While the full instructions are in the Pool School, here is the short version. Mix 50% pool water with 50% tap water. Use this mixed sample as your test water. If still at a 100 you will need to dilute more. Here is a great chart by JamesW to explain dilution rates and what you multiply the results by to get an approximation of your CYA level.

Pool water......Tap or distilled water.........Multiply result by

....1...................1................................2
....1...................2................................3
....1...................4................................5
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

I would get a better feel for the CYA level following Tim's recommendation.

This could be a situation where the new Bioactive CYA reducer magic potion might make sense. This is a new product that we are still trying to determine if and how well it works. Searching the forum can find a few threads discussing it.
 
Tested again this morning:

FC 11, CC [forgot], pH 7.5, TA 120, CH 600, CYA 170 (85 @ 50% dilution)

Clearly I'm still dialing in my testing! Took the sample deeper, swirled better, etc.

I'm thinking a 2/3 drain would be the straightest path to where I want to go. Water some parched landscaping with it. Scrub the shallow end. If I understand the water rates correctly, this would be in the neighborhood of $100. And we'd probably get a trophy for cutting back our water use in the subsequent months.

:cool:
 
First, "swirled better"? No Speed Stir?;)

You are still in much better shape than when I started out. Rather than a big drain I took close to a year, slowly working it down. But, I get a reasonable amount of rain. As pool costs go $100 is the same as most of your neighbors drop at Leslie's in one trip....

@/3 would get you perfect, anything more than 50% will get you into an easily manageable range and doing nothing is your third option and just understand you need to control it with your FC level.

Great job!!
 
Just took the Speed Stir out of the box to investigate. Cool gadget!

I'm keeping an eye on the magic elixir test thread but it's looking less appropriate for me (cost-wise) due my my somewhat small pool size. Perhaps some application notes still to sort out there anyways. But I'd be happy to try it if they sent it to me for free!

I have to balance my pool initiation with everything else new house related, such as: what are these switches for, and: I think the dishwasher is supposed to make that noise, also: maybe the silverware fell off the truck sweetie I've looked everywhere do you want me to look someplace specific or can we just keep using the plastic stuff until we come across it I'm fine either way?

:p
 
I've swirled many a CAN test for Nitrites and other things....but once you use a stir bar setup, you never go back to hand swirl.

Good job on pushing the end point deeper. It's a common error to go too shallow and stop before its done. :goodjob:
 
zoonews said:
I have to balance my pool initiation with everything else new house related, such as: what are these switches for, and: I think the dishwasher is supposed to make that noise, also: maybe the silverware fell off the truck sweetie I've looked everywhere do you want me to look someplace specific or can we just keep using the plastic stuff until we come across it I'm fine either way?

:p
Click to expand...
Work has moved us every 4 - 5 years for as long as I can remember......

All of those comments hit home with me!
 
I finally drained ~50% onto my garden to get my CYA from 180 measured to ~110, which seems a manageable level in our milder climate: now keeping FC about 12 as per pool math and I can measure pH accurately (when safely chlorinated) again. Hoping to work with rain in the winter to finish the job. If it ever rains again.

I spiked it to 24+ and left town for a week, it was as hot as it gets around here while I was gone. Got back and measured a safe and clear 10 FC. Big assist to the new bubble cover, no doubt.

Life is good. The kids love the pool.

:cool:
 

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12 ppm I get same results as around 8, which is often the FC at which I test and replenish to 12-14 FC. Maybe my still-high CYA buffers the effect?

Above 15 ppm, the pH reading seems to falsely read higher and higher.

My limited experience, fwiw.

;)
 
Well, admittedly I have never experimented, so interesting to hear your observations.

The CYA should not affect it, we just know that below 10ppm the pH test should be fine and above that it will start to drift at some point.
 
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