Hi all, complete newbie pool owner here. My wife and I bought our first house back in November and of course it came with a pool. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and tend to research the heck out of everything, so when I found TFP it was a big relief. I've read everything in Pool School at least twice now (and probably will for a third or fourth before its all said and done). Our goal is to have this thing up and usable by June 6th for my son's 3rd birthday party.
Anyway, over the winter I peeked under the cover and could still see the bottom of the pool. Fast forward 7 months and it has mutated into a full on swamp. Although it matches the grass nicely, I would really like to be able to see the bottom (and whatever critters are tooling around in there).
Based on what I've read here, I feel much more confident that we can save this thing before something grows legs and crawls out of it. I've ordered a Taylor K-2006 FAS/DPD kit that is out for delivery today so no test results to post yet but I will have some this evening hopefully. I need to get more DE filter media this afternoon so I'm also going to take a sample to the PS and post those results in addition to the results from the test kit.
Now the info you guys really want to see:
30' round
21,200 gallon
Above ground, vinyl lined
Hayward EC50 DE filter
Hayward 1HP Matrix pump
2006? build, the wife said she saw a sticker on the side that said 2006
Taylor Technologies K-2006 FAS/DPD test kit
Accessories: 1 wife, 2 kids, 1 dog
Well water supply, no restrictions
I have no idea what, if anything, the previous owners did to winterize it other than just removing and draining the pump/filter unit. I'm really hoping the CYA is at a reasonable level since its already going to take massive amounts of bleach to hit shock level. I have reinstalled the pump/filter unit and of course I have a bunch of small leaks at all the threaded connections now that it's full. So, that leads me to my first question, now that the water level is up to the skimmer box, how do I disconnect the hoses without losing a couple thousand gallons of water so that I can reseal all of the connections? Also, the filter manual says do not run for more than 1 minute without DE, do I just start scooping DE into the skimmer immediately when I start the pump?
Once the pump is sealed up and we have some test results, we are planning to start a SLAM on Sunday morning since we will both be around the house all day Sunday and Monday. We'll be using standard bleach so I hope the local Wal-Mart is ready...
Anyway, over the winter I peeked under the cover and could still see the bottom of the pool. Fast forward 7 months and it has mutated into a full on swamp. Although it matches the grass nicely, I would really like to be able to see the bottom (and whatever critters are tooling around in there).
Based on what I've read here, I feel much more confident that we can save this thing before something grows legs and crawls out of it. I've ordered a Taylor K-2006 FAS/DPD kit that is out for delivery today so no test results to post yet but I will have some this evening hopefully. I need to get more DE filter media this afternoon so I'm also going to take a sample to the PS and post those results in addition to the results from the test kit.
Now the info you guys really want to see:
30' round
21,200 gallon
Above ground, vinyl lined
Hayward EC50 DE filter
Hayward 1HP Matrix pump
2006? build, the wife said she saw a sticker on the side that said 2006
Taylor Technologies K-2006 FAS/DPD test kit
Accessories: 1 wife, 2 kids, 1 dog
Well water supply, no restrictions
I have no idea what, if anything, the previous owners did to winterize it other than just removing and draining the pump/filter unit. I'm really hoping the CYA is at a reasonable level since its already going to take massive amounts of bleach to hit shock level. I have reinstalled the pump/filter unit and of course I have a bunch of small leaks at all the threaded connections now that it's full. So, that leads me to my first question, now that the water level is up to the skimmer box, how do I disconnect the hoses without losing a couple thousand gallons of water so that I can reseal all of the connections? Also, the filter manual says do not run for more than 1 minute without DE, do I just start scooping DE into the skimmer immediately when I start the pump?
Once the pump is sealed up and we have some test results, we are planning to start a SLAM on Sunday morning since we will both be around the house all day Sunday and Monday. We'll be using standard bleach so I hope the local Wal-Mart is ready...
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