How brittle does the liner feel? My wife and I changed out our liner ourselves one thing we discovered is once you add cold water to the pool it becomes difficult to stretch! Is it just the one corner? My guess is that you will have to drop your water level down some and on a hot day stretch it back up to the coping. When we got to our last corner putting the new liner in, we had to invite some strong armed friends over to help pull and stretch the last bit. it was tough and that was with a new liner. If the liner is brittle ( our old liner was ) i think it might be impossible to stretch but its all about how warm your liner is. I have pictures somewhere i will try and dig them up. On another note the stuff in your skimmer is from Oak trees. right before Oak trees get their leaves they produce that brown stuff and it actually acts like tea and turns pool water brown so we leave our pool cover on during the two weeks that the trees are producing that stuff.
Dream Home.....Nightmare Pool
- Thread starter czipper
- Start date
Thanks for your input on the liner Kellychaison. It's tough for me to gauge "brittleness" of the vinyl liner, I don't know what it should feel like new. I did feel it and did not think it was going to break apart if I gave it a good tug but I wasnt about to try. It should be about 5 years old, probably on the border of when it is salvageable from what I've read. I also don't relish trying to wrestle and hoist those corners up, it would remind me of putting my pants on in the morning.... It sounds straightforward, but it challenging and I think there is a significant danger that I would do more harm than good (to my pool not my pants). I have read that pouring boiling water over the part of the liner to be stretched helps, but third degree burns on top of a tear in my pool is not a thread I'd like to be the author of here (though I'd sure read it!). I'd truly appreciate pictures if you could find them.
Yes, there are many mighty oaks surrounding the pool (but no larches). Had I known that the long winter would linger so late It would make total sense to wait for the Oak-junk to subside before opening, but this is my first time with a pool ever, so I wanted to open early to help me sort everything out before pool season. I learned many valuable lessons, including that oak trees produce a lot more than acorns...
***he reads suggestion about covering pool just as the Oak shedding season has passed*** DOH!
Yes, there are many mighty oaks surrounding the pool (but no larches). Had I known that the long winter would linger so late It would make total sense to wait for the Oak-junk to subside before opening, but this is my first time with a pool ever, so I wanted to open early to help me sort everything out before pool season. I learned many valuable lessons, including that oak trees produce a lot more than acorns...
I think the only way to explain it would be if you think it would tear easily or if you folded it would it leave a permanent indentation.
I am collecting pictures from my pool rebuild and will start a new thread so I am not posting all over yours.
Just saw your thread. I've only been here a bit more than a month but I can tell it is quite a nice addition to the forum, one for the ages….It helps a lot, I appreciate the effort to put the pool together and to build the thread!
- May 22, 2013
- 2,796
- Pool Size
- 12000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Yup, you need to get in there and knead that sock of CYA a couple times a day to get it into the water. If you just toss it in the skimmer it will take forever to dissolve.
I know your pain on the organic tree material. I have three beautiful pine trees that hang over the pools fence. When planted 30+ years ago they likely were spaced pretty far away. But they are huge and they're too beautiful to cut down. That and they screen the pool for the neighbors. So I'm always pulling needles out of the skimmer, netting them off the surface and vacuuming them off the bottom.
Great job on your conversion from green monster to blue !!
Just a thought on the pump and motor. They can both be rebuilt and if the installer isn't going to give you anything for them you might consider keeping them and putting them up on Craigslist.
I posted this in my thread but I really wanted to post it in yours. just make sure water stays out from behind that liner, you saw what it did to my walls.
NO FC loss overnight!!! But it is down to 0.6 after a couple sunny warm-ish days (in goes a whole bottle of 12.5% NaOCl). CYA still not registering after my last week's dose, but I just realized that the prior homeownerds left a half of a 50 lb bucket of 3" Trichlor tabs. As a committed TFP SLAMer I was going to just ignore this, however as a cheapskate I cannot. This may not make me the most popular kid at Pool School , but I think I am going to get a cheap floating chlorinator and use that stuff up. Not only will it keep my FC up at no further cost (chlorinator excepted), but it will slowly accumulate the CYA I am sorely lacking too without having to diddle a floating sack of CYA powder several times daily (it just feels wrong!). I'll monitor the CYA periodically and stop using it when CYA gets to 40 or so. Since there was no CYA in the pool at opening, either the prior owners didn't really use these much (then why would they have a big bucket?) or a large CYA decrease over storage (it wasn't opened at all last year) is a reality for my pool.
I can at least document the use of these trichlor tabs and all the TFPers can laugh and say "I told you so" if it blows up in my face. But if CYA creep is the only downside and I take precuations against that, what could go wrong? (famous last words)
From what I could get elsewhere online (not here at TFP of course) one 3" tab per 10K gal per week is the recipe. So I rounded up, and chucked three tabs into a floating chlorinator that was fully open last night, Let's see....
I can at least document the use of these trichlor tabs and all the TFPers can laugh and say "I told you so" if it blows up in my face. But if CYA creep is the only downside and I take precuations against that, what could go wrong? (famous last words)
From what I could get elsewhere online (not here at TFP of course) one 3" tab per 10K gal per week is the recipe. So I rounded up, and chucked three tabs into a floating chlorinator that was fully open last night, Let's see....
Thanks. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. ALICE was horrified when I told her that people don't just dump years old pool water and refill with fresh, she had to do an internet search on her own because she didnt believe me (she has a strong will and an innate belief that I cannot be correct,ever). But she's come around and now is really looking forward to swimming in the pool after seeing the triumph. I consider THAT the biggest victory.
There is definately a lot that could be cut down around the pools that would help to keep it cleaner and not affect privacy that much, but it would change the character of the backyard so completely I don't want to go there. these are 100 foot -plus oak trees around it, and (cornball alert) I think their majesty adds a special feel to the space that would be gone if I took them down. I can trim them down a bit, and there are surely some saplings and other undergrowth that I will clear eventually, but the really big guys do seem special (at least until hurricane force winds force them down through the roof of the house).
I think I will open a new forum to ask people for suggestions for a new term to refer to all tree cast-offs that foul our beautiful pools. It seems like something that should have a specific word...
http://www.troublefreepool.com/thre...ris-that-fouls-pool-water?p=661243#post661243
I had considered re-habbing the motor and filter and keeping them around, or selling them. The new pump should be discounted by a rebate from the electric company, they may need to take it as a condition for the rebate, but if not it might make a feel-good project for my (non-existent) spare time.
As long as you keep track of how many you use and monitor CYA, might as well make use of them. They could also come in handy if you have CYA wiggle room and plan on being gone for several days.
I thought about cutting back on the oak trees around my pool but come July when the pool temp climbs to 90+ it's nice having that shade and shade just to sit under and eat lots of good food. I am sure in the future when hurricane whatever rolls through I will have tree in pool!
- May 22, 2013
- 2,796
- Pool Size
- 12000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
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Your skimmer full of junk is what I run into all the time. I keep forgetting to take a photo of the needles packed into my skimmers but here is a photo of the culprits. They hang over the fence and are at the edge of the sidewalk. Depending on which way the wind is blowing the skimmers may have a few or be nearly packed. :-(
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Things are going very smooth, TFP method is clearly delivering everything it promised! So far my pool is Trouble FREE. Here's a different angle of my backyard getaway. The FC is hovering around 3 with my pucks, which are dissolving disturbingly slowly.I attribute this to the fact that the pool is only up to 60 degrees. I'll check the CYA too, to see if its registering yet. The last couple days have been in the upper 80s, I'll check temp again this evening. We actually went in this weekend for the first time and 60 deg is cold. Could stay in for about 5 min before my 4 year old got very shivery, but she LOVED it anyway. She's getting swimming lessons, and this helps keep her interested. The 1 year old loved it even more! So great to see my fam enjoying the pool, making all the work worth it.
FINALLY got my filter and pump upgrade, which only confirmed to me that what I had was feeble and leaking. No more DE at the bottom of the pool, and no more air leaks on the suction side. See pic. See also the poor critter that wound up in the new pump basket the first day.
The two projects left are the liner and you can see my rusty steps here. Steps dont come clean regardless of scrubbing, so they are slam resistant, I assume this means rust. I can try to get someone in for the liner soon because pretty much all the pools in the area should be open by now. The really cold spring made a lot of people wait to open. Neither of these issues prevents the use of the pool which we so badly want to do.
Enjoying my PoolBlasterMax, and am Looking for a Robot now. Dophin sure doesnt make it easy....
FINALLY got my filter and pump upgrade, which only confirmed to me that what I had was feeble and leaking. No more DE at the bottom of the pool, and no more air leaks on the suction side. See pic. See also the poor critter that wound up in the new pump basket the first day.
The two projects left are the liner and you can see my rusty steps here. Steps dont come clean regardless of scrubbing, so they are slam resistant, I assume this means rust. I can try to get someone in for the liner soon because pretty much all the pools in the area should be open by now. The really cold spring made a lot of people wait to open. Neither of these issues prevents the use of the pool which we so badly want to do.
Enjoying my PoolBlasterMax, and am Looking for a Robot now. Dophin sure doesnt make it easy....
Looking great! Good luck with the stains. I have some similar ones on my steps, maybe not quite as large but look close.
Poor critter. I imagine that ride through the pipe on the way to the pump was a wild one with a rough stop...
Poor critter. I imagine that ride through the pipe on the way to the pump was a wild one with a rough stop...
- May 22, 2013
- 2,796
- Pool Size
- 12000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Getting closer to "Dream Home.....Dream Pool" 
There are a lot of boat products to remove rust stains from fiberglass that might work wonders on your stairs. When you drop the water lever for the liner or winterizing you might want to have one or two handy to try out.
There are a lot of boat products to remove rust stains from fiberglass that might work wonders on your stairs. When you drop the water lever for the liner or winterizing you might want to have one or two handy to try out.
Holy cow, scrubbing all that decking and rails is a job and half! All the algae and and moss that has accumulated is now gone. I've got sore muscles I never thought I had, but the decking looks so much better. It was tricky trying to keep all the wash out of the pool, but I think I worked out well. Unfortunately TREX decking is not supposed to washed with a pressure washer, so manual scrubbing it called for 
Any suggestions to make that process easier would be greatly appreciated for the next time.
The water was up to 64 Degrees this weekend (outside temps in the mid-upper 70s), I would say warm enough for an extended swim, although the 4 year old still got the shivers well before she was done swimming. Come on summer, where are you when my pool is ready?!?!
QUESTION ABOUT SAND FILTERS: The new pump and filter clearly work way better than my prior set up, but I need to ask experienced sand filter owners this. The filter was installed with Zeostuff, and it was nicely backwashed when it was installed. When I backwashed after a week, I saw a little come out in the sightglass, and over the first week it is pretty clear that there is a little bit that has come out from the return jets. I was under the impression that i shouldn't see sand anywhere if everything was set up properly. With a new sand filter is it normal to see a little come out as the filter is broken in, or should I contact the installer and have him come to come check it out?
Any suggestions to make that process easier would be greatly appreciated for the next time.The water was up to 64 Degrees this weekend (outside temps in the mid-upper 70s), I would say warm enough for an extended swim, although the 4 year old still got the shivers well before she was done swimming. Come on summer, where are you when my pool is ready?!?!
QUESTION ABOUT SAND FILTERS: The new pump and filter clearly work way better than my prior set up, but I need to ask experienced sand filter owners this. The filter was installed with Zeostuff, and it was nicely backwashed when it was installed. When I backwashed after a week, I saw a little come out in the sightglass, and over the first week it is pretty clear that there is a little bit that has come out from the return jets. I was under the impression that i shouldn't see sand anywhere if everything was set up properly. With a new sand filter is it normal to see a little come out as the filter is broken in, or should I contact the installer and have him come to come check it out?
Nobody interested anymore? s'okay, I can think out loud in peace.Funny how when I introduced using trichlor pucks I stopped getting other people posting.....
I can report that about 5 weeks after starting the trichlor pucks the CYA reading made it up to around 50. As you know the CYA test is not very precise, but 50 is about the upper limit for what the true level is. Considering I don't really know where the pool was at when I started the pucks (below 30 because CYA was nondetectable when I started, but I added 5 lbs of CYA the week before) that means that the CYA levels climb at least 4 points per week (3 pucks per week in a 25K gal pool), 6 points per week if my CYA started at 20, or 8 points per week if my CYA was at 10. I'm going with a starting CYA of 20, for 6 points a week.
If my season on Long Island is 3 months long (13 weeks) this means I would be adding 78 points of CYA If I relied only on Trichlor from opening to closing. That level is probably tolerable, but toward the end of the season may be begging for trouble. If the CYA is lost over the winter and goes to 0 (I opened my pool it was probably 0) this would clearly make exclusively using the Trichlor pucks feasible where I am. I have to say that this last several weeks was easy peasy. Checked the FC and pH about 3 times a week, Kept the equivalent of about 3 pucks in the chlorinator and the FC was quite constant.
Now I'll probably need even more FC than before since the CYA levels are up. So an FC of 2 (as the pool has settled into) might not cut the mustard from here on in. Time to supplement with a little liquid chlorine, the after another week get off the pucks altogether.
UPDATE ON SAND FLITER It seems that the flow of sand has stemmed, so I'll chalk up my sand issue to the new installation.
GOT A DOLPHIN POOL ROBOT. I don't love it unconditionally, I think it doesn't spend enough time in the shallow end, or climbing the walls. I am not alone, this is the primary complaint from other owners. But it is better than the alternative of me not getting around to doing a proper pool vacuuming, so I think I'll live with it. Maybe it will grow on me a bit more with time.
I can report that about 5 weeks after starting the trichlor pucks the CYA reading made it up to around 50. As you know the CYA test is not very precise, but 50 is about the upper limit for what the true level is. Considering I don't really know where the pool was at when I started the pucks (below 30 because CYA was nondetectable when I started, but I added 5 lbs of CYA the week before) that means that the CYA levels climb at least 4 points per week (3 pucks per week in a 25K gal pool), 6 points per week if my CYA started at 20, or 8 points per week if my CYA was at 10. I'm going with a starting CYA of 20, for 6 points a week.
If my season on Long Island is 3 months long (13 weeks) this means I would be adding 78 points of CYA If I relied only on Trichlor from opening to closing. That level is probably tolerable, but toward the end of the season may be begging for trouble. If the CYA is lost over the winter and goes to 0 (I opened my pool it was probably 0) this would clearly make exclusively using the Trichlor pucks feasible where I am. I have to say that this last several weeks was easy peasy. Checked the FC and pH about 3 times a week, Kept the equivalent of about 3 pucks in the chlorinator and the FC was quite constant.
Now I'll probably need even more FC than before since the CYA levels are up. So an FC of 2 (as the pool has settled into) might not cut the mustard from here on in. Time to supplement with a little liquid chlorine, the after another week get off the pucks altogether.
UPDATE ON SAND FLITER It seems that the flow of sand has stemmed, so I'll chalk up my sand issue to the new installation.
GOT A DOLPHIN POOL ROBOT. I don't love it unconditionally, I think it doesn't spend enough time in the shallow end, or climbing the walls. I am not alone, this is the primary complaint from other owners. But it is better than the alternative of me not getting around to doing a proper pool vacuuming, so I think I'll live with it. Maybe it will grow on me a bit more with time.
I have no idea about zeobrite so did not comment.
As for it coming out....I don't think it should but it could have been from being a new install. I do not have a sight glass so do not know if any of my sand came out right after it was installed. I just look at my flow coming out of the pipe and when it is clear I let it run a couple more mins. than rinse.
I am glad you have found a system that works for you. Every one is different so we just make sure they know what needs to be done (good test kit and good levels) and let them do what they want.
Kim
As for it coming out....I don't think it should but it could have been from being a new install. I do not have a sight glass so do not know if any of my sand came out right after it was installed. I just look at my flow coming out of the pipe and when it is clear I let it run a couple more mins. than rinse.
I am glad you have found a system that works for you. Every one is different so we just make sure they know what needs to be done (good test kit and good levels) and let them do what they want.
Kim
Regarding tri-chlor pucks, I think they are fine to use as long as you understand the effect they have and know how to monitor/control it. It seems that you have a good handle on that, so go with it if you are comfortable. Keep in mind that they are acidic and can affect pH, so when you stop using them you may see the pH drift upwards a bit.
It is normal to see a little sand in the sight glass when backwashing (well...I do at least), but there should be very little if any in the pool. It seems to be a non-issue for you at this point, so just FYI.
Nice work getting it cleared up
It is normal to see a little sand in the sight glass when backwashing (well...I do at least), but there should be very little if any in the pool. It seems to be a non-issue for you at this point, so just FYI.
Nice work getting it cleared up