Feeling really lost with new pool

[atx78704pool]

Hi - so we purchased a house with a pool and have been using a pool company for a couple of months now to manage it. I'm ready to move on from that and handle it myself, but really feeling lost with what to do. Maybe I'm just overthinking stuff but don't want to mess anything up... I have all the readings from the pool company below as well as what they added on each visit:



I've recently added a WaterGuru so that I have automatic daily readings and the results of those so far are below:



I can now see that my CYA levels are way too high and from what I've read, sounds like I'm gonna need to drain most of the 16,500 gallon pool. I can't understand why the pool company would not have been checking that... is that normal?

So my questions are mainly based around the below:

What chemicals should I be getting to take this over myself? And do I just do the readings, dump into the Pool Math app and do as it says?

Is there any maintenance I need to be doing on the equipment below?

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Yes, you need to drain around 80% of your pool water to get your CYA down around 40.

Your Trichlor tablets are adding CYA to the water every day. If you don't want to drain your pool every 6 months you need to chlorinate your pool either with liquid chlorine daily or install a SWG that will generate the necessary chlorine.

The most reliable pool water tests come from the Taylor K-2006C or TFT Test Kits . Your Waterguru is ok but its accuracy can be suspect at times. The ColorQ cannot test FC over 10ppm and its CH test is inaccurate. So when you have a pool chemistry problem the Taylor or TFT should be your go to tests.

I don't know where you are in reviewing pool school but these links are a good guide...

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

PoolMath is a good guide but you should not blindly follow its recommendations. If it does not pass a reasonability check then ask questions here.

I have a SWG for chlorination and add muriatic acid once or twice a week to lower my pH. CYA and salt are added a few times during the year as needed. That is it for chemicals.

Basic Pool Care Schedule

This basic pool care schedule can guide you in creating your own pool care routine. Regular pool maintenance will keep your water sparkling!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Bperry]

I can't understand why the pool company would not have been checking that... is that normal?

Normal? Yes. Good? No. The pool service company doesn’t have to pay for any repairs (or for replacement water) so there’s not much incentive to be good at it.

 

[atx78704pool]

Welcome to TFP.

Yes, you need to drain around 80% of your pool water to get your CYA down around 40.

Your Trichlor tablets are adding CYA to the water every day. If you don't want to drain your pool every 6 months you need to chlorinate your pool either with liquid chlorine daily or install a SWG that will generate the necessary chlorine.

The most reliable pool water tests come from the Taylor K-2006C or TFT Test Kits . Your Waterguru is ok but its accuracy can be suspect at times. The ColorQ cannot test FC over 10ppm and its CH test is inaccurate. So when you have a pool chemistry problem the Taylor or TFT should be your go to tests.

I don't know where you are in reviewing pool school but these links are a good guide...

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

PoolMath is a good guide but you should not blindly follow its recommendations. If it does not pass a reasonability check then ask questions here.

I have a SWG for chlorination and add muriatic acid once or twice a week to lower my pH. CYA and salt are added a few times during the year as needed. That is it for chemicals.

Basic Pool Care Schedule

This basic pool care schedule can guide you in creating your own pool care routine. Regular pool maintenance will keep your water sparkling!

www.troublefreepool.com

Thanks for all the feedback. So adding a SWG would be converting to a salt water pool in the process I assume? Knowing that I was probably gonna need to drain, I was interested in exploring that route too. I understand some of the advantages of that route, but what disadvantages does a salt water pool bring?

 

[Bperry]

Thanks for all the feedback. So adding a SWG would be converting to a. Salt water pool in the process I assume? Knowing that I was probably gonna need to drain, I was interested in exploring that route too. I understand some of the advantages of that route, but what disadvantages does a salt water pool bring?

The first thing to realize it’s that it’s not really salt water. It’s more like “salty water” and is maintained just like a normal chlorine sanitized pool. The machine just splits up the “CL” and “Na” in the NaCl that’s in the water to create the chlorine for you. Then the Na and CL recombine back into salt and the process repeats as long as the machine is running. So you add some salt at the beginning of the season and that’s it.

A “salt water” pool is nothing like the ocean. It needs just as much chlorine as any other pool and so you can’t get any “Nemo fish” to swim in it with you.

Ultimately it means you never have to add chlorine yourself because you’re generating it on site. You’ll need to add more salt on occasion as rain and splash out during use happens, but that’s it. There’s really no downside except for the initial cost, but even that is easily amortized over the life of the system compared to buying pucks or lugging jugs.

 

[ajw22]

Thanks for all the feedback. So adding a SWG would be converting to a salt water pool in the process I assume? Knowing that I was probably gonna need to drain, I was interested in exploring that route too. I understand some of the advantages of that route, but what disadvantages does a salt water pool bring?

The dirty little secret is that every pool is a "salt water" pool. Every pool has salt in the water since almost every chemical you use adds salt. Liquid chlorine adds salt, Trichlor tablets add salt, muriatic acid adds salt, and it all accumulates in the pool. If you don't have a reason to drain the pool for a year or two your pool can have enough salt to power a SWG.

Your pool has the same chlorine and salt whether the chlorine comes from a SWG, liquid jugs, or tablets. With a SWG you manufacturer the chlorine you need on site as you need it. A SWG cell is consumable and has a finite chlorine generation life. Typically 6000 - 10,000 hours of chlorine generation. So you are buying a year or two or three or more of chlorine in one payment when you buy a SWG cell.