Help me pick out a pool for this summer

[Mdragger88]

Nope not bothering with salt. I've never minded the chlorine process. If I ever upgrade to a permanent pool I'll definitely do salt though.

I've been looking at the in-ground pool kits and they're pretty compelling. Seems like 8k for the kit and then I can buy a mini-excavator for 6k and get the lion's share of the entire project done by myself for under 20 which is extremely compelling.

You must be some distant relation to my husband- looking for any reason to buy a mini ex!

 

[bkp22]

You must be some distant relation to my husband- looking for any reason to buy a mini ex!

Correct. Ending the project with a new toy is just the cherry on top.

With the weather today I decided to put the pool up. Went up mostly without a hitch and it's filling now. I'm proud to say that on my third pool I finally have gotten ZERO wrinkles in the floor. The trick is to build the pool and then let it sit in the sun empty for a couple hours before adding water. Letting the liner sit in the sun by itself doesn't do much. You are better off just building it as fast as possible and then letting it sit.

I ended up carving out 16' for a 16' pool so I'm a little nervous how the legs are going to settle but so far so good. I've got maybe 8" water in it so far and everything is holding up. Got the pump assembled and every plumbed up so now I'm just waiting for it to finish filling.

Oh and I used the included patch kit to install a temperature probe for my weather station:



This will be awesome. It can even text me when the pool hits perfect swim temps.

 

[bkp22]

Guys, what all vacuum and or hose configuration do I need to get to plug into the return?

 

[Mdragger88]

Guys, what all vacuum and or hose configuration do I need to get to plug into the return?

A standard suction vac hose- like this

will attach to the intake (you may need to remove the grate cover) & use one of these which may be included with your pool.

There’s usually a kit available by intex that has all the stuff- pole, head, hose, & adapter.

A pressure side cleaner (like the Intex automatic pool cleaner) will attach to the return (where the water returns to the pool).

Another alternative is the terrible water hose vac that operates independently of your filter/pump system - these are sometimes included with the pool

 

[bkp22]

Good stuff, thank you.

 

[Mdragger88]

One other option that I have employed many times is siphon vacuuming to outside of the pool.
This involves creating a siphon with a regular manual vac head, hose & pole by submerging the head & hose, then completely filling the hose and instead of connecting it to the pump (intake) you simply put your hand over the end and quickly put it on the ground outside of the pool where you want the water to go before letting go.
It does waste a bit of water but not as much as using the pump on the waste setting. If you go this route work quickly.

 

[bkp22]

Well darn, had to abort the filling of my pool. This thing was leaking:



I tried to bypass it, but still a leak:



Dunno what to do from here.

 

[Mdragger88]

Lube the oring that is inside the locknut
Also confirm the oring is inside the locknut

 

[Mdragger88]

You can put a plastic bowl over the whole fitting inside the pool or stuff a rag in there to slow the water down so you don’t get drenched while you’re working on it

 

[bkp22]

Okay I took a deep breath and then re-assembled the return valve doohicky. Couple things I've noticed with this intex pool that came out the factory not perfect.

That did the trick. then I ran rinse for a bit on the valve and then said screw it, let's go filter mode.

So far so good.

 

[bkp22]

Arghhhhh. The stupid cover Intex ships with these XTR pools is....shall we say.....incompatible with the pool.

I have no CYA and the only pool store in town went out of business. Does anyone know where I can overnight CYA granules? I'm striking out on every site--oddly enough half the pool supply sites I'm looking at don't carry it, and the ones that do don't inspire confidence for quick shipping.

 

[bkp22]

Also--can someone explain to me why pool companies REFUSE to use the words "cyanuric acid" on products that are probably cyanuric acid? I'd rather buy the product I'm looking to purchase rather than "conditioner" which could actually be god knows what, and half the product descriptions don't even state what chemical you are buying. Like half the """"pool supply"""" websites I go to and type in "cyanuric acid" I get no results.

 

[kellyfair]

Are you also searching for “Chlorine Stabilizer?” I’ve purchased from Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, etc.

Don’t panic - and remember, you don’t have to shop at pool stores to get practically anything you need!

 

[bkp22]

Are you also searching for “Chlorine Stabilizer?” I’ve purchased from Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, etc.

Don’t panic - and remember, you don’t have to shop at pool stores to get practically anything you need!

Ended up finding some at Lowes, which was nice. They didn't carry it (my local one) last year. And then my wife had a filter sock for the fish tank to distribute the granules. So all good.

I did 1lb which I'm guessing for my 5k gallon pool will put me somewhere around ~25ppm. Maybe a touch low but I'd rather err on the low side slightly.

 

[kellyfair]

Ended up finding some at Lowes, which was nice. They didn't carry it (my local one) last year. And then my wife had a filter sock for the fish tank to distribute the granules. So all good.

I did 1lb which I'm guessing for my 5k gallon pool will put me somewhere around ~25ppm. Maybe a touch low but I'd rather err on the low side slightly.

Always add in stages. Once that has dissolved give it a day, then test to see where you are at.

 

[Mdragger88]

I mostly buy my cya/stabilizer at Walmart- clorox brand (this is pretty much the only Clorox product that’s on the ok list). It’s generally the cheapest as well.
Walmart is also the quick cheap spot for liquid chlorine. Pool essentials “chlorinating liquid”
Speaking of liquid chlorine- you need to get some in the water asap. Aim for high target level.
FC/CYA Levels
As kelly mentioned most items can be bought at other places besides pool stores.

Recommended Pool Chemicals

Which should I buy? TFP's recommended pool chemicals are cheap, easy, and won't unbalance your pool water.

www.google.com

Non-Recommended Pool Chemicals

These pool chemicals should not be added to your pool. Save your money and frustration and avoid these chemicals!

www.google.com

 

[bkp22]

Yeah I'll wait at least a week before I check the CYA levels. I have the cover jerry-rigged on so it'll be fine for a few days. Too cold to swim anyway.

Chlorine levels are fine. Actually all my specs are completely in line with as good as I've ever had them (at least according to my test strips which I trust more than a lot of folks for dead reckoning whats in my water).

That said, is there a good way to manually put together a taylor test kit? I don't want to purchase reagents I don't need. I only want to test:
FC
CC
CYA
ALK

I have a lab-grade ph meter and obviously CH doesn't matter on one of these pools. No bromine so no need to test for that either. Don't care about phosphates, borates, etc either.

 

[Mdragger88]

Yeah I'll wait at least a week before I check the CYA levels. I have the cover jerry-rigged on so it'll be fine for a few days. Too cold to swim anyway.

Chlorine levels are fine. Actually all my specs are completely in line with as good as I've ever had them (at least according to my test strips which I trust more than a lot of folks for dead reckoning whats in my water).

That said, is there a good way to manually put together a taylor test kit? I don't want to purchase reagents I don't need. I only want to test:
FC
CC
CYA
ALK

I have a lab-grade ph meter and obviously CH doesn't matter on one of these pools. No bromine so no need to test for that either. Don't care about phosphates, borates, etc either.

While Low ch is not a problem for vinyl pools- high ch is a problem for all pools. You don’t want scale.
You shouldn’t solely depend on a ph meter - it should be checked against the phenol red drop test occasionally. No matter how nice it is.
Purchasing all those tests separately would cost you about the same as kit that allows you to also keep tabs on ph & ch as well & be all together with the cylinders & directions & such.
The Taylor k2006 & tf100 don’t have a borate test.
The bromine test is the same as the fc & tc tests - its not an extra test. You just multiply the results by 2.25.
There are alternative bromine reagents but they aren’t included in the tf100/k2006.
The tf100 is the best value as it contains more fas/dpd reagents & more cya reagents than the k2006

TF-100 Test Kit

tftestkits.net

You can buy things separately there as well if you wanna part it out. Or need replacement reagents.
They are all Taylor reagents.

The k2006(c) & the tf100/pro are the only kits we recommend as they contain the fas/dpd test which is missing from other Taylor kits along with some other reasons.
Test Kits Compared

 

[bkp22]

LOL so I was poking around on amazon and saw an old order of mine. Apparently the last pool cover I used was actually an Intex cover. I thought the material seemed familiar.

Anyway, last year the cover I was using was an 18 foot on my 14 foot pool. It fit like a glove and in no way was it "too large". It fit like it was designed to fit, with the vertical sections fitting perfectly even.

Fast forward to this year and I'm using a 16 foot cover that came included with my 16 foot pool and it's clearly the wrong size and does not fit.

WTF Intex??

 

[Mdragger88]

Is it the kind with the string or with the clips?