New (old) house, new (old) pool

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If you can get the spider gasket out of the valve in one piece you can take it to a pool store and they will probably be able to find you a matching gasket. Or you could try tracing it onto a piece of paper and see if they can match that.

Adding a timer is fairly easy, but it will need to be hardwired in. To pick out the correct timer you need to know if your pump runs on 115 volts or 230 volts.

Yes, the ball valve can handle the pressure in the filter. You can simply leave it installed.
 
Nice gasket buddy. Leslies should be able to hook you up. Those gaskets are pretty standard - and I think they come in a 2 inch and 1.5 inch size - but no need trying to save 5 bucks guessing online.....

I'd wait to do anything shock/filter wise until you've got all your pieces together. Test Kit, fixed multiport, Tons of chlorine, DE etc. etc.

One thing just in case - don't try to use the filter to get the bigger stuff out (leaves, etc.) Make sure to manually scoop out anything that could get stuck in the piping. If you dont already have one, invest in an inline leaf basket for vacuuming the bottom - if your skimmer still has the vacuum plate that accomplishes the same thing - get the big stuff before it enters the piping.

A couple of leaves are no big deal, but a handful of sticks and a garbage can of debris can really clog your lines and that's a real bummer.
 
Thanks as always gents.

So the timer is hardwired between the power source and the pump I suppose. That could be an expensive proposition once the timer is bought and the electrician paid. But I guess the alternative is having to remember to turn the pump on and off every day.

Will definitely take the gasket to Leslies, hope it is a standard size. Will report back if that fixes the leaky valve.

lightingguy - Will definitely scoop what I can but I'm working blind. Some areas seem to have just a little sludge while others have tons of leaves.

Now the in-line leaf basket. From what I can tell online, that attaches to the hose so that when you vacuum, it traps the leaves from going in the pipes. I have a skimmer on the side of the pool with a basket in it. I also found a hose, the vacuum attachment, and something that I believe you are calling a vacuum plate (which goes in the skimmer on top of the basket. This basket would essentially do the same thing as the in-line leaf basket, correct? Leaves would just get caught in the skimmer basket instead, right?

I guess I could end up clogging the hose, but that is hardly a big deal.

If any of my assumptions are wrong, let me know.
 
Yep, you have the right idea about vacuuming. The advantage of an in-line leaf basket is that it will hold way more leaves than the skimmer basket will hold, but I wouldn't bother getting one just for the cleanup as you probably don't need one otherwise.
 
Just a couple of things, first off, it should be easy to add a timer, I don't know your local electrical code requirements, but it could be an easy half hour do it yourself type job, on par with adding an electrical outlet or changing out a light fixture, you just need to know if your pump motor is wired up for 120V or 240V most pumps under about 2HP can be wired either way, they just draw more amps at 120V so need larger wire. Around here the best prices on DE is from Lowes, also if your going to be using liquid chlorine/bleach you want to make sure it is fresh as it looses strength with time (faster when warm so store in a cool place), I was just at the local Home Depot with my wife shopping in the garden center and noticed that they had a couple of pallets of liquid pool chlorine that must have been left over from last summer if not longer given the faded labels on the jugs and deteriorated cardboard. Best bang for the buck on bleach is usually a dollar store or Wal-Mart you can be fairly sure it is not old stock that way.

Ike
 
Isaac - thanks for the tips on where to buy cheap bleach. We have a Sam's and a BJ's near the house so I will check those along with Home Depot, Lowes, and Wal-Mart.

I'm trying to get a sense of how much chlorine I should have on hand when I start shocking so that I don't have to go to the store every day. Pool School says to have 4 times more than you expect. I haven't tested my water yet (test kit is inbound), but after the pool sitting for 2 years unused I can probably safely assume that FC is zero, right? Using the pool calculator and assuming my pool is 23K gallons, to get to shock level 15 for FC, I'd need 719oz of bleach. That is just to start. If I'm having to continually add chlorine for several days to keep shock level up, we are talking about 20+ 128oz bottles of bleach. Does this sound right?

Also, I have a chlorinator filled with tabs and a bucket full of tabs in the shed. Should I dump these or can I use them until they are gone so they don't go to waste?
 
The amount of chlorine you will need to recover a pool left for two years is difficult to predict. If you are worried about it, you might want to do an experiment with a five gallon bucket of water to see how much chlorine it takes to clear that water up. Or you could just get enough chlorine to raise the FC level about 60 to 100 ppm and then see how things go from there.
 
20 bottles of 182oz is probably more like it :shock: Maybe much more - it's kinda hard to say.

It's quite possible your CYA is 0 as well. Those tabs are Trichlor (mix of CYA and Chlorine) so you could very well use those to boost both your FC and CYA simultaneously.

1 7oz tab of trichlor will raise the CYA in 22k gal of water by about 1.3ppm

If your CYA is 0 you could fill up the tab feeder and throw a bunch in the skimmer while you are shocking to help maintain your FC and boost your CYA. (Always keep the pump running if you have tabs in the skimmer)

If your CYA is 10 - 20, maybe dont use the tabs as that will allow for a lower shock value and make the chlorine more aggressive to the organics. Then you could use the tabs after shocking to get your CYA up to 30 - 40 to start.

If your CYA is higher - hold off on the tabs until you really need them. They'll be useful if you take a summer vacation.

Obviously you could just raise your CYA manually - the above is just an example of how you can plan a long term strategy to use the chems you have on hand and not waste them.
 
Your shock level will depend on what your CYA level is, the pucks/tabs you have will add both chlorine and CYA, we generally advise against using them around here as they lead to high CYA levels after a few month of use. The only practical way to lower CYA is through water replacement. Until we know your CYA level I would say don't us them (save them for adjusting CYA level later, or vacation use), it will also be hard to test your CYA accurately until you get the water cleared up a bit, sort of a catch 22 problem. The more I look at your pool photos the more I tend to think at least partial water replacement would be the smart way to go here, but that is hard to say without knowing other factors, like how high the water table is in your area cost of water, etc. Any time you drain a pool significantly you risk things like side wall collapse, liner issues, lift out etc, but sometimes you also just have to say it is worth the risk.
 
Isaac - My test kit should be here Wednesday so I can do my first test.

I live on the Lynnhaven Bay. So if you walk 20 yards from the back of my house you could launch a canoe (at high tide). The house and pool are elevated so we are technically not in a flood zone, but I would imagine the water table is very high where I'm at. Not sure how that affects your thinking about replacing some of the water.

I have a well on the property which I could theoretically use to fill the pool if I was to partially drain it, but I've heard or read that that is a no-no due to the untreated water being very rich with metals.

Some good news though: bought a new spider gasket and the leak stopped. Bad news is I bought it at a local pool store and they charged $24 for an $8 gasket (first time getting ripped off at the pool store!). Plus I think the spring for the handle on the valve is going to snap any day now. So looking online that is another $25 or so. Joy!

I picked up 6 cases of bleach (three 182oz bottles per) at Sam's Club today. So I should have everything I need to get started except for the test kit.

I still plan to start shock Sunday when I can devote a ton of time to it, but if you guys have further advice on what I should do, I'm all ears. If you think dumping some of the water, perhaps down to the bottom of the skimmer, would help, I'll give it a shot, but not sure how much that would actually help.
 

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Ok, sounds like you are on your way, for your test water you may want to filter the worst of the sludge out by running the black water through a coffee filter or 2 before trying to preform the tests.

Well water will be highly dependant on mineral levels in your water, many municipal supplies do very little to treat water for mineral content if it is not serious problem in your area. Having said that mineral content of well water can vary from well to well even when they are of similar depths and relatively close together. You may want to have yours tested professionally, at a minimum you can probably get it tested for metal content and hardness from your local pool store. (quality of results may vary).

I don't know what your weekend schedule is like, but if it were mine I would try to do the partial drain and refill (repeatedly if needed) before trying to jump into it on Sunday, as this is stuff that can be spread out a little each day over several days.

Ike
 
Isaac - Will do about filtering the sludge out a bit before testing.

My Saturday is packed with my youngest daughter's 1st birthday, so you can imagine how well that would go over with the Mrs. if I had to duck out every 30 minutes to work on the pool.

I generally have a few hours in the afternoon during the week where I could start dumping, but Jason said an older liner may not survive a dump and refill. I have no idea how old the liner is in our pool, although one pool company inspector said it looks like a pattern from within the past 2 years.

Should I go rent a pump from Home Depot and dump water? I thought that with enough chemicals it is possible to get almost any water clean, of course that could get quite expensive. If dumping and refilling could end up tearing the liner then I'm tempted to at least try to shock the water to see what happens.

Perhaps I should wait until the kit comes in and then I can test the water to see what I'm working with.
 
I wouldn't bother with a partial drain and refill unless there was a significant amount of fertilizer put into the pool. If you have any doubts you can do the test described in this post to get an idea of what cleaning up the pool is going to be like.
 
It may be early to make any decision on water change, it was just one of those gut feeling things on my part. Regardless I would say not to drain more than 2 feet or so of water at time. There is no reason to risk major liner problems by draining too much water. A partial draining and refilling is a cost/benefit question, if potential fill water is cheap (you have your own well and electricity is reasonably priced in your area) and the water is relatively balanced, then it would be somewhat easier than trying to clean what you have (less bleach, maybe a little less scrubbing, and less filter cleaning). Your test kit will be there soon, and we can get a better idea of the condition of both your pool water and your potential fill water and go from there.

Ike
 
So I conducted my first test:

FC: 0
CC: 0
TC: 0
pH: 6.8
T/A: 30
CH: 50
CYA: 20 (I filled the tube and could still see the black dot?)

What's the verdict? Pool Calculator is telling me I need to dump a ton of chemicals in, which isn't surprising, but do you all think the water can be saved?
 
Certainly the water can be saved. There was never any question of that.

The first thing to do is to bring the TA up to 50. Then measure the PH again and adjust up to 7.2. Then test TA again and bring the TA up to 70.

Was the black dot partially obscured (which I call CYA of 10) or clearly visible (CYA of zero). I would expect it to be zero.
 
JasonLion said:
Certainly the water can be saved. There was never any question of that.

The first thing to do is to bring the TA up to 50. Then measure the PH again and adjust up to 7.2. Then test TA again and bring the TA up to 70.

Was the black dot partially obscured (which I call CYA of 10) or clearly visible (CYA of zero). I would expect it to be zero.
Click to expand...

Black dot was completely visibile.

When you say the first thing to do is to bring the TA up to 50, does that mean before adding any bleach? And by adding baking soda to raise the TA, that should also raise the pH - which is good.

I have a garage full of bleach and a Sam's club 2 miles away with several pallets more if I need it. And it looks like I might!
 
The TA and PH should be dealt with before you start shocking. It won't be nearly as easy to measure PH once you start shocking, and TA and PH interact so much that you need to do them together. Both should be simple adjustments that don't take very long.

Ideally when you do start shocking you should add some CYA at the same time, and reserve at least one day for intensive attention on the first day.
 
Thanks Jason.

So according to Pool School and the Pool Calculator, I'm going to spread 87oz (by volume) of baking soda across the surface of the deep end to try to raise the TA from 30 to 50. This should also raise the pH.

Questions:

1. How long should I wait before retesting? Hours? Day or more?
2. Can I work on the TA and pH with the pool cover on? I have two small kids and two dumb dogs who can't swim (front heavy boxers that sink face first). Would rather keep the cover on as long as possible until I'm ready to start shocking.
3. Should I start running my pump 24/7 if I plan to adjust TA and pH today and shock on Sunday?
 

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