Total newbies AND clueless!

[LadyBayou]

So, we bought a house that has n aboveground pool. Previous owners said they'd come by & show us the ropes & then were out of town for 2 weeks when it was time to open the pool. Went to the store they said it came from & said the guy there was helpful. He was. Somewhat. Soooo we've been struggling Big time. And we just leaned today that you're not supposed to leave the pump running 24/7. Which we have been. We feel pretty stupid. It has a frog system, which we're not sure we want to continue using.

Any help? Other than reading forums such as this, anywhere I should go read up? I'm kind of on my own here without much help from my husband. [emoji20]

 

[ewkearns]

Welcome! You need to go to Pool School! Spend some time reading.... pool care is easy, but it requires constant attention. Best advise you will get, here, is stay away from pool $tores. You'll have a beautiful pool and save tons of money, with less work. Read Pool School, buy a test kit ASAP.... the quicker you can get test values the more good advice you will get. Do NOT use test strips nor believe pool store testing. And there is NOTHING wrong running the pump 24/7.... especially if you are in the middle of a pollen explosion....

 

[Divin Dave]

Hi, welcome to TFP.
I would recommend to start, with clicking on the Pool School button at the top of the page.
Start with the ABC's of pool chemistry. This will teach you what the main water parameters are. Do dont have to learn to become a scienst or chemist to take care of the pool, but it help tremendously to know some basic things.... and thats all the ABC's are, is basic.
This will also help you lear the terminilogy, such as FY, pH, TA, CH, CYA, etc.. you need to know what those mean as its the language of pool care.

Next,
Read up on the recommended levels. This is a nice reference. If you will just keep your pool parameters to these recommendations, you wont have any problems.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/134-recommended-levels

Next, you need to learn the relationship between Cyanauric Acid (also known as stabilizer) and Free Chlorine. There is a cheat sheet for this too. Just use this to maintain your chlorine (dependent on the stabilizer), and you will have a sparkly pool with no problems at all.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock

Next,
Make the best investment in your swimming pool that you can make, and get your own top notch test kit. TFP recommends the TF100, or the Taylor K2006.
Most of us would recommend the TF100, its the best bang for the buck. The TF100 can only be gotten online at 2 sites. www.tftestkits.net and another which I cant recall. The Taylor kit can be obtained from several places only, just do a google for that.

Im sure some other folks will chime in shortly with more recommendations.

 

[Isaac-1]

My best advice is to read pool school, take a break let it soak in a bit and then read pool school again, most people get MUCH more out of it the second or even 3rd time through when it all suddenly just clicks. Once you get through there, go to your message settings and add a signature line like most of us have with a list of your equipment, and fill out your location in your profile so that it can show us at a glance where you live. (we don't need to know exactly where you live, nearest medium size city or region of the state is often close enough as our suggestions may depend on local climate / conditions). Once you get all that done come back here and tell us more about the issues you are having, and we can help get things sorted out.

 

[Richard320]

Welcome!

What does the water look like? Is it a swamp? Is it clear with patches of algae? Is it all clear but the pool store has you on a terrifying roller coaster ride with levels going up and down wildly with no end in sight?

First thing, ditch that pool frog. It uses metals which eventually will stain the pool and quite possibly turn blond heads green. If you use the search box up above, you'll find out more than you wanted to know about them.

Second, you'll need a test kit to get trustworthy results. You can read the article in pool scjhool, or skip it and head straight for http://tftestkits.net/TF-100-Test-Kit-p4.html and order up a proper kit that will take you through this season and possibly next. I suggest the XL option now, to save shipping when you need refills. If you can swing the speedstir, get one. Nobody who has one regrets it. Makes testing a breeze.

Third, spend some time in Pool School. Start with the ABCs, so we're speaking the same language.

Once you have a test kit in your mitts, test everything. It's easy. Just watch the videos.

Once we have test results and we know what the water looks like, then we can offer specific instructions on how to clean that mess up. The first couple weeks is usually a steep learning curve, but within a month, maintaining the pool will be about as difficult and time-consuming as brushing your teeth.

 

[Casey]

Welcome. Start with the ABC's of pool water chemistry and look into purchasing a TF100 from tftestkits.net. If You have any questions, ask! We're here 24/7.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! If your frog system uses minerals then yes, you will want to discontinue using that system. The main reason we are against mineral systems is that they lead to stained pool surfaces and discolored water over time.

As long as your pump stays full of water while it is running it won't harm anything. Running it 24/7 may be over kill as far as filtering the water goes but its not a bad thing.

We have an extensive collection of pool care articles, ABCs of pool water chemistry is the best place to start. Look through the forum heading on Above Ground pools and read any of the threads that interest you, then come back to your own thread if you have any questions.

Finally, we do ask that you edit your signature to include basic information about your pool. That will help us troubleshoot any problems that may come up in the future. What we need to know to answer your questions will help a great deal.

If you have questions about any of your equipment, post some pictures and ask away!

 

[jwise5055]

I am using EZ Pool. I started to use the BBB method but the pool place told me that liquid chlorine bleach would destroy my liner and damage my pump and filter. I am confused. Is the BBB method really safe ?



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[jblizzle]

The pool guy is an idiot or just wants your money. We have never had a report of a liner being damaged following our recommendations.

Once the bleach is in the water,, the chlorine is identical to any other form of chlorine you use without the side effects.

Ask yourself who has something to gain from you if you follow their advice ... The pool store or the free pool forum with thousands of sparkling pools ... Follow the money trail

 

[ewkearns]

I am using EZ Pool. I started to use the BBB method but the pool place told me that liquid chlorine bleach would destroy my liner and damage my pump and filter. I am confused. Is the BBB method really safe ?

I am confused, too. I can't figure out Pool Store advice, either.

Either it is all about the money and they will lie through their teeth to sell you anything or it is simply explained by Hanlon's Razor (Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.)

In any event, if you research and understand the relationship between CYA and chlorine as described on this site, you will be fine. There is nothing inherent in liquid bleach to hurt your liner.... I was told the same thing by the pool store and by the PB, but neither could offer an acceptable explanation as to why.

IMHO, following pool store advice to use tabs which add (and continue to add) unnecessarily large portions of CYA to the water causes you to use unacceptably high levels of chlorine... which still isn't enough to prevent algae, so you must "shock" the pool once a week (which means adding additional huge does of chlorine).... until you get "chlorine lock," which doesn't really exist, but you are going to have to start dumping large quantities of pool water (that you paid a fortune to pollute) and replace with fresh water, anyway.

I rebuilt hundreds of pool pumps, before I understood pool chemistry. Today, I know that most of what I had to repair was unnecessarily caused by high chlorine use due to mismanagement of CYA and pool shocking. The equipment in your system will, if you follow directions, never see as much chlorine as pool store advice would cause.....

 

[Defgufman]

I echo the above suggestions, and want to add that testing and understanding the results yourself is very satisfying. Having control over your pool and knowing the chemistry beats relying on someone else all day everyday. Plus, it gets very easy to test once you do it a few times.