New Florida pool and approaching tropical system

[trafficdoc]

Our newly-built inground pool is not quite 30 days old and we are watching an approaching tropical system (Elsa) heading in our direction. Because this will most likely dump large amounts of rain in a short period of time, is there any particular thing we should be doing to the pool in advance of the approaching storm? What about afterward?

We had our pool water tested at Pinch-a-Penny this afternoon and the results are as follows:
Total Chlorine-1.5
Free Chlorine-1.5
Combined Chlorine-0
pH-7.6
Total Alkalinity-60
Calcium Hardness-350
Stabilizer-50
Total Dissolved Solids-950

Thanks for any guidance you could provide....

 

[Texas Splash]

Doc, one thing's for sure, you need to get your own proper test kit - either a TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C. Aside from that, your FC is much too low. You need to have a few gallon of liquid chlorine or regular bleach on-hand, and add a gallon now. Remember the FC must always be balanced to the current CYA as noted on the FC/CYA Levels to avoid algae. Are you using tabs/pucks? If so, be careful as they will increase the CYA higher & higher. The storm might help you there if you exchange water.

Your biggest challenge will be keeping chlorine in the water. Somewhere in the 4-7 ppm range to avoid algae. Good luck and be safe.

 

[FnC80]

I know exactly how you feel. Our pool was finished about 3 weeks before Hurricane Harvey hit and we git 36” of rain. First off, make sure you and your family are safe. What worked for me was having plenty of bleach on hand to maintain levels, keeping the pump running to circulate and running our robot “Harvey” running non stop to keep as much debris picked up as possible. If there’s lots of debris, remember to dump the skimmer baskets often as needed. I had to clean the baskets about once every two hours with the leaves. A good rain jacket is essential, and any “lulls” is a good time to run out and check. Be safe and hopefully you’ll come out the other side nine the worse.

 

[wireform]

If you have an auto drain make sure it's open otherwise pool can overflow and get into a bigger mess by surrounding debris float in. You can't pump to waste unless the installer put a diverter valve somewhere by the pad.

 

[trafficdoc]

ELSA UPDATE--
I followed Texas Splash's advice and added a gallon of liquid chlorine that same evening which brought up our FC level nicely. We do have our own test kit, but not one of those suggested...which we will need to invest in. We got close to 8" of rain from the hurricane and our auto drain nicely kept our water level in a good place. Last week we have extended an angled PVC pipe draining from our auto overflow into an underground rock "leach field" about 10' away from our pool patio (we built that knowing how much rain we get here in Florida!). The whole system worked beautifully during the storm to keep the pool from overflowing! I was SOOO thankful for that. Luckily, we have a screened pool enclosure, so we had no issue with debris getting into the pool. Obviously, we are aware that a stronger hurricane will easily remove the screening or the entire enclosure altogether, but we were very lucky with Elsa.

Today's water test is as follows:
FC - 3
pH - 7.8
TA - 80
Calcium Hardness - 200
Stabilizer - 70

Planning to add 1 cup muriatic acid today and 1 gallon liquid chlorine this evening. Any other suggestions?

 

[wireform]

Traffic
With the stabilizer @70 the FC level is definitely low. For a chlorine pool which 70 isn't recommended you have a target of 8-10 but even if it were a SWCG pool the target there is 5 so either way it's low.