I like to open early, so I went ahead and opened my pool last night after work.
My area has received a lot of rain over the past few weeks, the 10 day forecast shows no low temps below freezing and high temps consistently in the 60's-70's. That is my trigger to open because I want to be open before the water is warm enough for algae to grow and late enough that my equipment is not in danger of a freeze.
Pulled off my cover, water level was 4 inches below mid-skimmer. That means nearly 18 inches were added from rainfall and snow melt. Water was reasonably clear, some debris on the bottom but mostly dirt.
Step 1. Grab the leaf rake and pull out all the large debris.
Step 2. Toss my dolphin in to start the clean up process.
Step 3. Remove plugs from the returns.
Step 4. Reinstall plugs in heater and pump.
Step 5. Open Main Drain valve, prime MD line, fill pump pot, install pot lid, set multi-port to recirculate and fire up pump. Once primed and pot full, turn pump to 1500 RPM and let circulate while the pool finishes filling.
Step 6. Stop pump, remove Gizmos and prime each skimmer line.
Step 7. Start pump back up, run on recirculate until initial testing and dosing is completed.
Step 8. Take water sample and run tests.
FC - 3.5
CC - 1.0
PH - 7.5
TA - 100
CH - 250
CYA - 40
SALT - Didn't test because I will be managing pool as chlorine pool until water naturally warms up enough to use SWG.
At this point, I cleaned the dolphin, lots of dirt and some worms inside, but nothing surprising. Started by adding MA to bring PH to 7.2, let circulate for 20 minutes with pump on 3000 rpm. Added enough bleach to bring FC to 16. Let circulate for another 30 minutes. By this time, I was about out of sunlight so I needed to hurry a little bit to get my filter charged (DE).
Step 9. Stop pump, move multi-port to filter, turn on pump, open relief valve on filter and let air bleed out.
Step 10. Charge DE filter.
Step 11. Set pump to run 24/7 at low RPM for the foreseeable future.
Step 12. Retest FC - 17, over shot a little bit but not a big deal.
I ran into one issue, my easytouch was reporting an error for water temp. I traced the wire and found it broken right next to where it is mounted in the pipe. There was enough slack in the cable that I was able to repair the wire using quick connectors and then wrapping it in electrical tape, then heat shrink tubing. Water temp 47 degrees.
At this point, I cleaned the dolphin again and tossed her back in for another round and decided to call it a night. Water was slightly cloudy but hard to tell because it was getting pretty dark. Using a flashlight, I was able to see the dolphin in the deep end (8 ft), but not even close to TFP water clarity.
Still to do - Reinstall ladder, entry rail and basketball hoop. Tighten loop-loc bolts into concrete. Re-install return eyeballs.
This morning, tested water as soon as I got up, sun was starting to peak over the horizon but was not on the pool yet. FC - 16, CC - 0.5. Did not dose with any bleach this morning, will test again at lunch time. Water clarity is nearly perfect after filtering over night. I can see the screw heads on my main drains, but cannot quite make out that they are phillips head (too bad I already know).
Sorry for the long post, but I thought it might be good to get feedback on my opening process. This is my second time opening my pool after winter. If there are any suggestions as to how I can do it better, fire away. If not, this might serve to answer other people's questions on how and when to open their own pools.
My area has received a lot of rain over the past few weeks, the 10 day forecast shows no low temps below freezing and high temps consistently in the 60's-70's. That is my trigger to open because I want to be open before the water is warm enough for algae to grow and late enough that my equipment is not in danger of a freeze.
Pulled off my cover, water level was 4 inches below mid-skimmer. That means nearly 18 inches were added from rainfall and snow melt. Water was reasonably clear, some debris on the bottom but mostly dirt.
Step 1. Grab the leaf rake and pull out all the large debris.
Step 2. Toss my dolphin in to start the clean up process.
Step 3. Remove plugs from the returns.
Step 4. Reinstall plugs in heater and pump.
Step 5. Open Main Drain valve, prime MD line, fill pump pot, install pot lid, set multi-port to recirculate and fire up pump. Once primed and pot full, turn pump to 1500 RPM and let circulate while the pool finishes filling.
Step 6. Stop pump, remove Gizmos and prime each skimmer line.
Step 7. Start pump back up, run on recirculate until initial testing and dosing is completed.
Step 8. Take water sample and run tests.
FC - 3.5
CC - 1.0
PH - 7.5
TA - 100
CH - 250
CYA - 40
SALT - Didn't test because I will be managing pool as chlorine pool until water naturally warms up enough to use SWG.
At this point, I cleaned the dolphin, lots of dirt and some worms inside, but nothing surprising. Started by adding MA to bring PH to 7.2, let circulate for 20 minutes with pump on 3000 rpm. Added enough bleach to bring FC to 16. Let circulate for another 30 minutes. By this time, I was about out of sunlight so I needed to hurry a little bit to get my filter charged (DE).
Step 9. Stop pump, move multi-port to filter, turn on pump, open relief valve on filter and let air bleed out.
Step 10. Charge DE filter.
Step 11. Set pump to run 24/7 at low RPM for the foreseeable future.
Step 12. Retest FC - 17, over shot a little bit but not a big deal.
I ran into one issue, my easytouch was reporting an error for water temp. I traced the wire and found it broken right next to where it is mounted in the pipe. There was enough slack in the cable that I was able to repair the wire using quick connectors and then wrapping it in electrical tape, then heat shrink tubing. Water temp 47 degrees.
At this point, I cleaned the dolphin again and tossed her back in for another round and decided to call it a night. Water was slightly cloudy but hard to tell because it was getting pretty dark. Using a flashlight, I was able to see the dolphin in the deep end (8 ft), but not even close to TFP water clarity.
Still to do - Reinstall ladder, entry rail and basketball hoop. Tighten loop-loc bolts into concrete. Re-install return eyeballs.
This morning, tested water as soon as I got up, sun was starting to peak over the horizon but was not on the pool yet. FC - 16, CC - 0.5. Did not dose with any bleach this morning, will test again at lunch time. Water clarity is nearly perfect after filtering over night. I can see the screw heads on my main drains, but cannot quite make out that they are phillips head (too bad I already know).
Sorry for the long post, but I thought it might be good to get feedback on my opening process. This is my second time opening my pool after winter. If there are any suggestions as to how I can do it better, fire away. If not, this might serve to answer other people's questions on how and when to open their own pools.
