Hello All,
After a year of work my pool was finally opened Saturday, 5/27/2023. My brother-in-law told me about this site and I've been lurking for about 3 months checking out the pool school articles and looking up various questions I had. This has been a real help for me. The pool company I used didn't go over options with me and installed the Frog system which I will not be using after reading about it here. I received my test kit yesterday and completed my first complete test of my pool water and was very happy with the results: FC: 6.5 | pH 7.5 | TA 160 | CH 200 | CYA 40. Before this I was using the test strips that my pool company provided and am much happier with how accurate the test kit results are.
Here are some issues I ran into during this process:
1. Pool Deck - I had a deck installed next to my above ground pool and didn't know if it should be installed even with the top of the pool wall, above the pool wall, or below the pool wall. I wanted to make sure that the winter cover and the liner could be changed without having to dismantle the deck. There were various opinions on this and what I found is that every pool can be different. We ended up going above the pool so everything was accessible. This caused another issue where there was a large 20" gap between the top of the deck and the first stair in the pool. We ended up installing a step on the side of the deck that rests on the pool wall. We checked with the pool wall manufacturer and because it's an insulated wall it is capable of holding a lot of weight this was fine.
2. Pump - I requested a variable speed pump from my pool company and it they really gave me the run around to get one eventually they upgraded me to from a Hayward 1.5 speed standard pump to the Hayward 300 VS pump. The first thing I found that was confusing is that when the pump first starts it is very powerful on any speed but I would come back and it would be a very slow. There were 2 issues. First I didn't know that if the pump is shut off and then turned on it goes into an auto prime process for 30 minutes where it has uses high RPM. The second issue was that my filter was plugged up. After back-washing the pump started acting as I would expect. I have it set to 1250 rpm which is enough to to pull debris in from the skimmer. I plan to run it 24/7. So far this has worked great. I will be observing my electric bill very closely this summer!
3. Testing - I was really worried about doing the testing and accuracy. The test strips I was using intially was very hard to be sure what the results were; however, when I received my test kit. I got a sample of water from my pool and sat down at my kitchen table and was happy with how smoothly it went.
4. Rain - Now if only the rain would stop and I could get back in to the pool!
Have a great day!
After a year of work my pool was finally opened Saturday, 5/27/2023. My brother-in-law told me about this site and I've been lurking for about 3 months checking out the pool school articles and looking up various questions I had. This has been a real help for me. The pool company I used didn't go over options with me and installed the Frog system which I will not be using after reading about it here. I received my test kit yesterday and completed my first complete test of my pool water and was very happy with the results: FC: 6.5 | pH 7.5 | TA 160 | CH 200 | CYA 40. Before this I was using the test strips that my pool company provided and am much happier with how accurate the test kit results are.
Here are some issues I ran into during this process:
1. Pool Deck - I had a deck installed next to my above ground pool and didn't know if it should be installed even with the top of the pool wall, above the pool wall, or below the pool wall. I wanted to make sure that the winter cover and the liner could be changed without having to dismantle the deck. There were various opinions on this and what I found is that every pool can be different. We ended up going above the pool so everything was accessible. This caused another issue where there was a large 20" gap between the top of the deck and the first stair in the pool. We ended up installing a step on the side of the deck that rests on the pool wall. We checked with the pool wall manufacturer and because it's an insulated wall it is capable of holding a lot of weight this was fine.
2. Pump - I requested a variable speed pump from my pool company and it they really gave me the run around to get one eventually they upgraded me to from a Hayward 1.5 speed standard pump to the Hayward 300 VS pump. The first thing I found that was confusing is that when the pump first starts it is very powerful on any speed but I would come back and it would be a very slow. There were 2 issues. First I didn't know that if the pump is shut off and then turned on it goes into an auto prime process for 30 minutes where it has uses high RPM. The second issue was that my filter was plugged up. After back-washing the pump started acting as I would expect. I have it set to 1250 rpm which is enough to to pull debris in from the skimmer. I plan to run it 24/7. So far this has worked great. I will be observing my electric bill very closely this summer!
3. Testing - I was really worried about doing the testing and accuracy. The test strips I was using intially was very hard to be sure what the results were; however, when I received my test kit. I got a sample of water from my pool and sat down at my kitchen table and was happy with how smoothly it went.
4. Rain - Now if only the rain would stop and I could get back in to the pool!
Have a great day!
Lots of folks here ready to help with questions. Enjoy the forum and your weekend. 