I recently bought a house that has an above ground pool. I know zero about pools so please tell me what I am doing wrong.
Today I managed to pull the cover off without getting the dirty water into the pool. I think I managed to plumb up the pump and filter correctly but the water level is not high enough to get it going. Then I took a sample to the local pool store. They sold me a bunch of stuff... mostly DE and something for pH called Lo and Slo, and some stuff for the copper because the reading was 0.5, and an algicide.
I came home and am now using my hose to try to fill the pool up enough to be able to turn on the pump but I have some questions...
1) It's a DE filter (Hayward EC40) and I read something about pouring a slurry of DE into the skimmer... Does that mean I should put the clamp collar on the filter with it all just empty? Should I prime that thing with some DE so that when it starts up the grid doesn't get all gummed up?
2) Was I supposed to take a water sample after filling the pool and getting the pump running?
3) All of the instructions for adding chemicals state that the pumps should be running when doing it, so I guess I just need to wait?
4) It mentions backwashing... From a quick google search it seems that this means using the hand pump on top... Do I need to open the drain valve afterwards to remove the "used" DE or just let it collect at the bottom?
Any other advice? I have been reading threads on here all day to try to learn the basics. This is a lot more complicated than I expected.
Today I managed to pull the cover off without getting the dirty water into the pool. I think I managed to plumb up the pump and filter correctly but the water level is not high enough to get it going. Then I took a sample to the local pool store. They sold me a bunch of stuff... mostly DE and something for pH called Lo and Slo, and some stuff for the copper because the reading was 0.5, and an algicide.
I came home and am now using my hose to try to fill the pool up enough to be able to turn on the pump but I have some questions...
1) It's a DE filter (Hayward EC40) and I read something about pouring a slurry of DE into the skimmer... Does that mean I should put the clamp collar on the filter with it all just empty? Should I prime that thing with some DE so that when it starts up the grid doesn't get all gummed up?
2) Was I supposed to take a water sample after filling the pool and getting the pump running?
3) All of the instructions for adding chemicals state that the pumps should be running when doing it, so I guess I just need to wait?
4) It mentions backwashing... From a quick google search it seems that this means using the hand pump on top... Do I need to open the drain valve afterwards to remove the "used" DE or just let it collect at the bottom?
Any other advice? I have been reading threads on here all day to try to learn the basics. This is a lot more complicated than I expected.