Opened pool after 3 years of being closed.

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Well I tested this morning and my fc was 12, so it is slowly holding better over night. I still have a cc level but when I tested today it was 1 and not .5, possibly from the stir up yesterday. So I put in more bleach this am as I am shocking higher than 12 for now as it is a big battle. Now as stuff is dying quicker I am dealing with my older filter clogging quickly. I look forward to getting my new filter and pump. Slow but sure!
 
So I got the CYA in completely it states once completely absorbed it should be around 30ppm. Tested my c=fc again and it started falling again, I'm pretty sure both of my filters are shot as I diligently cleaned them both according to suggestions here and once they go in for about 10 minuted they are fine but then the pressure jumps from 15 to 30 psi.

When I take them out they don't look terribly bad so I am assuming they are just not working well anymore.
Since I have a new pump and filter on its way in a month I am not buying a new replacement cartridge.

Question is~ Should I just vacuum to waste not really sure how to rig it up but everytime I stir the deep end a large scary brown monster comes up for the day, I want him out! He's eating my chlorine any suggestions? :grrrr:
 
Whoozer, I'm not sure how to help you figure this out... hopefully someone can advise how you can do that with your set up. A whole month?

Are you sure the gauge isn't bad or there isn't some blockage or something that could be affecting the pressure?
 
I think I should change my sig name to frustrated pool mom :rant: Yeah my filters are clogging up constantly right now. The pool is a mustardy brown color aweful! I have a feeling it is a mixture of both metal and algea though as a orange stain has appeared on my sides, think I'll get some metal remover of sorts today at the pool store.

Yeah I have a pentair system for my pool but the retired gentleman that is going to help me put everything together broke his wrist and his cast doesn't come off for 3 more weeks, it would have helped me solve alot of my frustration with an already to small filter system. I have no choice because money is extremely tight.

Vacuuming to waste is a mute point today as the monster has over taken my pool and has now turned it completely brown, back to barely seeing 6 inches in :roll:

I kept the pool at shock level all day yesterday as well, I am now on my 9th day of shocking and I do not see much change.

I still have cc-1 Fc was 20 last night and 8 this am, clean out the filter and it was completely green and nasty, swapped for a cleaner one. I brought it back up to FC-20 this morning, I would love to start seeing some real progress but it seems I'm going backwards and sinking some major dough into bleach, I'm at 52- 6%-96 bottles and working on #15-6% 18-oz bottles. Already at 180$ of bleach and counting! My purse can't keep doing this, maybe I should have waited.
 
think I'll get some metal remover of sorts today at the pool store.
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That will be a waste of money.

Three years of neglect is gonna' take a while to fix. From your description, it sounds like you have lots of solids and junk at the bottom of your pool. Chlorine will not remove those.....you need to vacuum all those solids and dead algae out of the pool.

No matter how many times you have to clean the filters or how badly it turns your pool brown, until you get the solids out of the bottom of the pool, you will not be able to get your pool clean.

I would suggest stop adding chlorine for now and start vacuuming until you get the bottom of the pool cleaned out. If it clouds the water and you can't see, turn off the pump and let it settle back down and then vacuum again.

Once the pool is clean of the junk on the bottom, you can start the shock process and you will have much better success.
 
I will throw the vacuum in today, it may be a mute point until things settle. I had the shallow pretty clean but there was alot of dead algea settled in the deep end, I have scooped and scooped and only come up with very fine algae looking stuff. It was covered very tightly with the safety cover for 3 years. So no major debri. I'm praying it settles quick enough to vacuum. I promised my son a birthday pool party on May 22....fingers crossed.
 
Because of some pump problems, my pool was ignored completely from September until April. I had to vacuum, wait, vacuum, wait, vacuum, wait for five days straight before I could get it clean enough to start clearing with Clorox. Even then, I had to backwash about every hour for the first day as the suspended junk made it's way into the filter.

It will be harder for you because the cartridge filters can't be backwashed but you just have to hang in there and do everything you possibly can to clear the solids. Once that's done, the Clorox will clear the pool probably in 3-4 days.
 
Have you found a way to vacuum to waste? If not try unscrewing one of the return jets and pull it out. It should be in 2 parts. Take the part that screws into the side of the pool to the hardware store and look for a connection piece of pvc pipe that is male threaded on one end and slip (smooth) on the other. It will probably be 1 1/2" but take the piece with you so you can match the size. The slip end should be about 2-3 inches long. Then get a backwash hose and a band clamp that tightens with a screwdriver. Put the hose on the slip end of the pipe, fold it over and hold it tight against the pipe if it is too wide and secure the hose to the pipe with the band clamp. Give the hose a little tug to make sure it is secure to the pipe. If the hose moves tighten the clamp more. Screw the threaded end of the pipe into the return opening in the side of the pool,and roll out the hose to where you want to direct the waste water. Hook up the vacuum and start vacuuming. You can take out the filter cartridge while vacuuming if you wish.
 

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Is this correct? My manual says not to operate the filter without the cartridge in place.
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I assume because that would simply return dirty water to the pool. Zea3 has cleverly relocated the return so that now the dirty water is dumped instead of getting back into the pool.

I don't have a cartridge so don't know of any harm that might be caused to the filter body itself but the idea seems like a good one to me......although perhaps more effort than many are willing to undertake to get a "waste" option.
 
Well my big issue now is I just spent some time trying to connect the vacuum and I don't have enough suction to vacuum anything cuz the filter is so clogged. I wish I had done this vacuum to waste before I spent all that money on bleaching...very frustrating, learning everything the hard way isn't fun. I'm thinking it will take at least a couple of days for the gunk to settle, before I can rig a waste and try to vacuum, it is hard to imagine it working well, since the particles in the pool are so fine as soon as you stir it up it floats t/o the entire pool within seconds.
 
I looked up the filter as described in Whoozer's signature and it looks like the drain plug at the bottom is too small to use as a waste outlet. Also you may want to plug the other returns, so all the water goes to waste, sorry I didn't think of this earlier! I used a similar setup last year but I only have 1 return, so I didn't think about the plugs. I couldn't think of another set up for Whoozer that didn't involve re-plumbing.
 
Yeah well something isn't right because it won't work either way! I've tried everything this afternoon. I set up the drain on the filter and water came out fine but I still could not keep the flow going without the pump sucking air. I also took the returns apart but they are looped and I still can't keep enough pressure for the suction to go to the vacuum.

I have officially reached my I give up point. If I can't vacuum this stupid thing how do I clear it? I scooped and scooped and keep coming up with nothing, all there is is very fine particles of smeg everywhere. Since I couldn't vacuum it just started pushing it towards the drain and skimmer and then skimmed for a long time the top where all the fine particles float up.
:hammer: :hammer: :hammer:


Edit: I hadn't seen all of the last post. I didn't think of plugging the other jet, still not sure if it will work but I'm spent today and tired of running into town 30 minutes one way everytime I need to try something new that doesn't work.....sorry for my aggravation.
 
I am sorry you are having so much trouble with the pool. I've been racking my brain and the only other thing I can think to check is the pump basket. Make sure your pump basket is clean and make sure the water level is at least 1/2 way up the skimmer. Can you post any pictures of your equipment? Maybe that will give us ideas for anything else to check.
 

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