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PiscinaSana

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Jun 10, 2015
9
EU
Hi. Well, am I relieved to have found this site before spending more than 45 euros!!

Rented a house in Southern Spain with an outdoor in-ground pool. We emptied it as the water was grody and the pool was full of leaves etc. It has taken 6 weeks to fill it back up again as we are rationed for water each day.

However, it is now full, the pump is working, we have back washed and rinsed the sand filter today (just found that thread!) and have a very basic PH and chlorine kit only.

So, next pay check we will order a better kit so we know more about our levels. The water is cloudy although the bottom is slowly becoming obvious with 3 x 1 hr runs filtering each day and vacuuming the bottom at the same time.

We think there is about 80,000 litres but I have no idea what any of the equipment is to fill out my sig so that is my next task.

Great forum. Once I know all our levels I am sure I will be back with questions! At the moment all we know is chlorine is too low and PH is too high so I have added 4 more chlorine tablets in a highly unscientific attempt at improving the situation whilst I read more!
 
OH took photos, thanks!


Ok, I have a question about this backwashing thing. Because there is still debris on the bottom of the pool, we have been vacuuming each day. Then we clean the filter out and then ...do we need to backwash too? What exactly is the procedure for this?

I am sure we are doing something wrong with this. Firstly, we haven´t been closing off any valves or anything. Just turn off pump, change setting on the Multi function valve thingy to backwash, then point the hose that is connected to the system at the garden and turn on. The thing is, this throws our precious and rationed water away so we don´t do it for very long. Then turn off pump, change valve to rinse for a few seconds. Turn off pump.

Is this what we should be doing and how long should you run backwash for? If it is until the water runs clear, we are going to lose quite a few litres if yesterday´s backwash is anything to go by.

Also, we have been having problems finding a decent test kit so that has been delayed somewhat. Although I have just found a thread by teapot so I will check to see if he is still shipping across EU next. As we have a lot of sun, I presume we do need the FAS/DPD test too? Am still a little clueless about all of this but am reading Pool School in my spare time to learn. I am quite happy swimming in semi clean water but it would be preferable if we could see the bottom again!
 
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Hi PiscinaSana.

I'm in Northern Spain and thanks to this site; I’ve just got my pool looking fantastic. There’s a lot to learn so just keep plugging away at the search button because whatever questions you have, someone has asked them before. I’ll leave the technical stuff to the professionals but in the meantime, I can help with some of the basics.

80,000 litres is 21,133 US gallons which doesn’t look quite right to me, unless there is some optical illusion going on with the picture of your pool. How did you calculate 80,000 litres?

Like you, I wasn’t sure about which valves to close or open when doing a backwash and watched quite a few youtube videos and none of them closed any valves when they went from filter to backwash. My gardener had told my wife to close the return valve and the side wall valve (for the hose) but I’ve been leaving them all open when backwashing and so far, nothing has gone wrong. I wouldn’t mind confirmation on this myself to be honest, particularly with the return valve. Can’t see why you would want it open so would like to know why all the youtube people do.

With regard to cleaning out the filters, do you mean the pump basket and the skimmer basket? When vacuuming the pump basket will fill up pretty quickly if you have debris on the floor so you’ll have to empty it quite often. You’ll know when that is because you’ll notice a drop in suction power. The skimmer basket isn’t too important at this stage but if you see stuff in it, just scoop it out. It is important to make sure the skimmer isn’t sucking air so you’ll want the water level half way up the skimmer window.

Very briefly, you backwash until you see the water run clear and then you rinse for roughly 20 seconds. Always turn the pump off before you turn the handle on the spider valve. After backwashing take a note of what the PSI is on your gauge, that is your starting point. Mine is 15. Once the pressure rises 25% you should backwash again. I backwash at 20 which is technically 33% so I’m a little over the guidelines here but I used to backwash at 30 psi so I’m happy with 20.

I got my test kit from Sword Scientific in the UK, if it’s posted to Spain it will set you back about £125 with a bit of haggling. You might be able to find cheaper with a bit more hunting. I had a small window of opportunity and had one delivered to an address in the UK as I was paying a flying visit. They are out there; it just depends on how good your Spanish is?

I can help you with bleach volumes and costs and hydrochloric acid (or ácido clorhídrico), haven’t found muriatic acid yet but again, I haven’t looked that hard.

That should get you started!
 
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