Jetmanjo said:

So what exactly is my reading?

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Essentially zero. If the fluid was at least cloudy, call it less than 20. Add 10 ppm worth of CYA and call it 30 ppm until you test again in a few days.

Jetmanjo said:

I have heard that baking soda can also be used instead of higher priced chemicals but I forget what that replaces.

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Baking Soda adds TA. You do not need any. Never will.

Uncle Rico's Pool said:

Any additional feedback as far as moving the slope further back from the diving board?

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I can't give you an interpretation of the standards.

Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:

The returns are sending water back to the pool. They won't make a difference. The other set of valves are your suction valves and control balance between the main drain (bottom of the pool) and the skimmers.

The diverter valves should have a tab opposite the handle side that says off.

In the photo, the valve directly in front of the pump is pulling 100% suction from the bottom drain. If you turn it 180°, so that off is facing main drain, you will be pulling 100% from the skimmers.

The skimmers valve is currently pulling 50% from each skimmer. The position of the handle is in the middle. If you turn it 90°, so the handle is facing down, you'll have full suction from the shallow end skimmer.

There's really no reason to have 100% suction from your main drain. Keep the handle facing skimmers take care of floating debris.

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Questions:

In the photo, the valve directly in front of the pump is pulling 100% suction from the bottom drain. If you turn it 180°, so that off is facing main drain, you will be pulling 100% from the skimmers. - Why would I do that? Is it normal to pull 100% from skimmers are not from main drain? whats the purpose / difference between pulling from skimmers vs main drain?

The skimmers valve is currently pulling 50% from each skimmer. The position of the handle is in the middle. If you turn it 90°, so the handle is facing down, you'll have full suction from the shallow end skimmer. - So basically, if I want to use the vacuum, on the deep end of the skimmer, then that handle should be facing 12 o'clock? and if I want to use the vacuum on the shallow end skimmer, that handle should be facing 6 o'clock? Also, what about the main drain, where should that be pointing to?

There's really no reason to have 100% suction from your main drain. - Why? Keep the handle facing skimmers take care of floating debris.

Uhhello said:

What is confusing? You have to be specific in order to expect help.

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I guess for the first part, in doing the CYA test, after mixing up the correct amounts of pool water and the associated reagent (The large container) correctly shaking and waiting at least 30 seconds and then a final shake before filling the vile with the black dot in it. I slowly filled the entire vile with the mixed solution but could always see the black dot when holding at waist level. So what exactly is my reading? Seems like the marks on the vial near the top were around 15-20? I did not bring my laminated cheat card to work today, so maybe I am missing a step, or a calculation in that process.

The other questions are what is Dry Chlorine Stabilizer, and where should I get this from? My goal is to try and stay away from Leslies as they seem like such a rip off.

As I have posted my current results, is there a shopping list I should be getting so I dont have to go back to the store to pick up this or that several times a day or week? Or something I can compare to for some of the things I have currently? I have completely drained and refilled the pool as I noted at the beginning of this thread. I have posted the things I have done. Our water is nice and clear. There was some algae growth starting around the top 2-4' around the upper pool wall which is the reason I took a sample in to Leslies for some help. But then decided to come back here because I know the help would be better and nobody will try to sell me things I dont need.

I can follow the step by step directions, but I must be missing something because it is just not clear to me. I need to research more about the pool math app which I do have as maybe that is what will give some guidance or calculations I am missing.

I have heard that baking soda can also be used instead of higher priced chemicals but I forget what that replaces.

I am just running on little sleep and also away from home a lot so an hourly or every couple hour option will not work for me. I can do a morning and evening testing and adjustment right now.

Once my wife returns home from visiting family she will be able to help out at least 5 days a week when she is not at work.

I will try and go over everything again tomorrow and see if I can get some sort of grasp on what the process needs to be. I do have the LC I purchased and have been adding a gallon each day.

Move the valve that's directly in front of the pump 180° so the handle faces the skimmers. This will give you full suction to both skimmers. You can make the adjustment from skimmer to skimmer then.

HermanTX said:

Currently your photo shows the following
The 3 way valve directly in front of pump suction is CLOSED to the skimmer and OPEN to only the main drain.
The 3 way valve between the skimmers is OPEN to both skimmers but it doesn’t matter as the 3 way valve in front of the pump is CLOSED.

To create suction from 1 skimmer do the following
Turn off pump
Rotate the 3-way valve in front of the pump 180 degrees such that the main drain is CLOSED and the skimmers will be OPEN
Rotate the 3-way valve 90 degrees such that 1 skimmer is OPEN and the other is CLOSED
Insert your vacuum hose into the skimmer that is OPEN
Turn on pump.

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Questions:

The 3 way valve directly in front of pump suction is CLOSED to the skimmer and OPEN to only the main drain. - What happens if I move the 'Main Drain' valve 90 degrees to the left?
The 3 way valve between the skimmers is OPEN to both skimmers but it doesn’t matter as the 3 way valve in front of the pump is CLOSED. - I dont understand what this means?

Thank you! I will read through this. Any additional feedback as far as moving the slope further back from the diving board? I have attached a drawing from our contractor.

mblind said:

Calcium Hypochlorite. Is that calhypo? That didn’t list dichlor or trichlor so I assumed it had no CYA.

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Cal hypo is a lazy nickname for that stuff. It’s the same thing. But it has calcium that will cause problems when it builds up kinda like CYA.

I feel you may have just saved my sanity...

Spudgers.

The plug didn't work for me, I didn't want to tighten it much and my compressor was woefully inadequate anyway.

What has worked is continuing to block the jet for 15 seconds or so, so the pressure from the pump pushes water and gunk out of the majn drain and causes trapped gunk in the line to flow into the bag... and cleaning the bag a lot. The flow from the main drain is much better now.

TinFoilHat said:

If that hole is below your water level then it's the hole that fills the pool. Do you have a lower hole that does that?

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Yes, there’s a hole at the bottom that feeds to the pool. This one goes opposite direction from the pool.

Thanks!
Roger

I installed the new one and am testing it. I think something is wrong. everything is powered up fine which was a relief.

In testing the timer, I turned on the SWG and then set the knob so that it would hit the off and turn off. Well it got to the off, I heard the noise of the peg go. But the switch did not move to the off position. I notice there’s like goopy stuff on the mechanism that is behind the yellow timer. I thought that was weird but then I saw that this is also on the old timer and it worked fine for 10 years.
I am now trying the “on” knob to see if that works.

Any thoughts?

Yep, works with your existing pole, click right in...

Jimrahbe said:

Roger,

I had assumed that if you had an overflow in your auto-fill that you would not have an overflow port in the pool..

If they are both overflow ports, the the lower one wins...

I have a fill line in the back of my skimmer.. To keep junk out of it, I just took a short piece of 1/2" pvc pipe and glued a cap on one end.. I stick that into the hole (No glue) so I can remove it when I want to use the fill line..

You could do something similar to plug the hole in the back of your auto-fill..

Thanks,

Jim R.

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Great tip, I’ll do that, thanks!

Roger

YES. I need this in m life, thank you!
How long does the handle extend? The crud is currently sitting at 8'
Can I use one of my existing extending brush/net poles?

Dumb question… when you same turn them off… do you just mean via the app? So have them on and running then turn them off then back on after 4 to 5 seconds?

What was the salt level from your test? 3500 would put your pool volume at just over 12,000.
That is why we recommend adding 2/3rds of what you think you need, then test 24 hours later, then make final addition...that first traunch give you a sense of the volume.

It's pretty simple, just follow each step.
Generally,
You want to add 30ppm of CYA.
Then your Target FC is 12.
lower your pH

The slam part is that you test FC, then add enough chlorine to get back to slam level fc.
wait a couple hours, do it again, wait a couple hours do it again.

Then at night you want to do the OCLT. Because there is no UV, you should not lose FC at night. Link-->Overnight Chlorine Loss Test

When you pass OCLT
Your CC <= .5
and
Your water is clear clear no dead alive algae or debris

You are done.

Should I pour food grade propylene glycol down the conduit?