Opening day 2023

[VinnyinNJ]

I looks like tonight is going to be our opening day. We usually open Memorial Day weekend but we want to get the pool ready, get my bearings with the SWG, put the solar cover on and hopefully have somewhat warmer water to go in.

I opened the winter cover to put the hose in and the water looked to be crystal clear - THANKS TFP!!

I was concerned about the Aquador holding through the winter (first time using this) but I struggled to get it off this morning so my concern was stupid!

Got a couple of new pool tools so we should be all set. Hopefully no leaks on all the unions and everything goes smoothly!

 

[Texas Splash]

I opened the winter cover to put the hose in and the water looked to be crystal clear

Outstanding!

 

[Newdude]

PLAAAAAAAAY BALL !!!!!!!



(We're here if you need us)

 

[Decoy205]

Heyyy! Great to hear Vinny!

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I got home from work and no cover removal. My wife had a busy day and she wasn't up to it; she also said the bugs were having a feast biting her. BUT, I turned on the filter and got that running. I am not used to the Hayward filter valve, my old Pentair DE filter wasn't this complicated ... I left the valve on winterize and was wondering why nothing was moving with the pump on!

Also found 2 leaks, one easily fixed (needed another 1/4 turn ), the other needs to be repiped due to it springing up when we cut the pipe in the fall to add unions. The pool company made it about 3/8" or so too short but just held it together until the PVC glue took hold, we didn't know that; we cut the pipe and the pipe popped up. We figured we would give it a shot in the spring but no good; my son is going to work on it tomorrow but we we did get the leak to stop.

We plan on getting the cover off tomorrow morning before the rain.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

Pump has been running about 2 hours and I measured chlorine, 3.5, and pH, 7.2. No CC ... so being crystal clear, survived the winter and still had chlorine and no CC I'd call that a successful TFP opening! Water is cold though. Will continue tomorrow with testing and adjusting the water.

 

[Decoy205]

Sounds like you had a successful opening nonetheless. I know you weren’t 100% on your plumbing last year with the people who set it up so now you’ll have a full season with it set up the way you want it. Show pics when the cover is off!

 

[VinnyinNJ]

Well the cover came off today, the water was crystal clear and I started the 2023 pool chemical routine. I had a few firsts since owning our first pool 20 + years ago. My first first, CYA was higher than I measured last year even though I drained about a foot of water at closing; they must have been having a party in my pool and reproduced! Now I have a 14 lb bucket plus a little that I didn't use last year so basically I wasted my money this year for CYA. I do plan on retiring next year so I'll look at it as a future pool investment. My second first is I got a whiff of muriatic acid, smelled a little like vinegar (I think, didn't whiff too long!) because I put too much washing soda to raise my pH and TA a bit so I had to knock it down. I truly get paranoid about certain things so now that it happened I'll be a little bit more paranoid!! My third first was adding salt to the pool. The water is 60 F and I dumped in the first bag thinking "OK, how long will this take now" and I was pleasantly surprised in that I think it took maybe 15 minutes. I added a second bag and the same thing so all's good.

Readings from the testing:
CYA: 90 or 100, lets shoot high so 100. It measured 80 last year, not sure what happened. I'll let it burn off or when I backwash/refill it'll lower. A little higher than I want but at this point I think I'll leave it since I have a SWG and it's recommended to be around 70-80.
FC: 13 after putting a gallon of liquid chlorine
CC: was using the 0.5 scale and it was slightly pink and 1 drop turned it clear so anywhere from 0.2 to 0.5 (?) I don't know how pink it should be for a "true" reading.
pH: 7.6 BUT I now forget if that was before or after adding the chlorine so it could be invalid.
TA: 70 before adding muriatic acid and I didn't test it after, I will assume that if it knocked down the pH it should have done something to TA. Measuring tomorrow.
CH: 50
Water Temp: 60 .... Brrrr

So now here's a question - with a SWG do I have to worry about the CSI (-1.38) because of the metals in it or is that only for "stone" IG pools. I don't want to have the metal be eaten away by a corrosive condition. Logic tells me no problem since pH is above 7.0 but just want to check.

Here's the pool after opening, if you look closely you can see the swirls on the liner. Crystal clear!

 

[VinnyinNJ]

Woo-hoo, passed the OCLT!

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I went in today! We have been getting cooler nights here in Jersey and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go into cold water but I took a temp reading and it was 70 F ... a little on the cold side but not too bad! Took the solar cover off, the sun was shining and the air was warm so I decided to go in to vac the pool. There's something great for me being in a pool on a warm day and the sun beating down even if it is vacuuming! By the time I stopped doing stuff in the pool the water was up to 74 F - getting there!

Something I realized as I was putting the ladder in today was since we already took the winter cover off and had the filter going that it was much easier to actually get into the pool on the first day.

Here's a shot of my water standing next to the ladder, everything that has a blue tint is due to the solar cover.

 

[Decoy205]

Noice! heck yeah. I was so tempted to go in today too. It was a beautiful day here in the northeast. Not humid just great sun with a gentle breeze.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

Noice! heck yeah. I was so tempted to go in today too. It was a beautiful day here in the northeast. Not humid just great sun with a gentle breeze.

I think it hit 81 by us today, I'm sure it was about the same by you. My pool loses the sun about 3 PM and a lot of times there is a slight breeze and I actually get cold even when the air temp is high 80's. I usually hate the heat of summer but give me a day with the sun shining on the pool and put me in a CLEAN and sparkling pool and it's one of the best experiences I can have. Include an adult beverage and it gets even better!

At one point after I put the cover back on the water temp hit 78, hopefully the nights don't get too cool to drag down the water temp!

 

[Decoy205]

I agree man that’s why we try and keep the pools nice! That is the best. Put some tunes on have a drink and float away. Love it.

I think with the solar cover you’ll be ok. I’m considering getting one too. I’m June and July the temps hold great but once you’re in august it gets a little tough to keep it warm.