I know it seems like a scramble, but as Dirk said, awesome job. You'll have mastery of this stuff in no time and wonder how you ever lived without it. 
thinking of emptying pool
- Thread starter outdoorsgal
- Start date
thx Dirk. I forgot to take a pic of the bottom fill since it was so late last night. Only 1.5' filled in 9 hrs. That's the bottom with curved edges so maybe another 12 hrs per foot? If so, 48 hrs to go! Not sure the calculations will work. That's a lot of showers, toilet flushings, dishes to wash... I have 4 hoses in the pool. Not sure how much that helps since it's all from my lines but looking at what happened with emptying the pool, it must help some and it's keeping different places wet. I can't wet the pool x 15 minutes for the next couple days so I'll just do my best. I'm thinking of putting a couple tarps over a couple edges to keep sun off but worried that could heat the area up.
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At least the forecast went down a couple degrees. 83/55 sunny today 83/53 windy & sunny tomorrow.
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At least the forecast went down a couple degrees. 83/55 sunny today 83/53 windy & sunny tomorrow.
That's ok. Once it's done, take another picture of the meter reading, calculate for units correctly (mine is in pound feet or something funky), and then subtract a "fudge factor". You'll still be lightyears closer to a real number than you're going to be eyeballing it and calculating based on dimensions. For example - a very experienced pool inspector told me mine was about 13k gallons when I bought the house. The calculator on PoolMath said 10k or so based on my average depth estimate with real length/width dimensions, but a meter reading on a fill with children and wife showering and running other water based appliances came in at about 7500. You really don't have to be exact, it's just going to help you to dial in PoolMath a lot better!
- Nov 12, 2017
- 12,681
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Wow, 48 hrs, bummer. It is what it is. More hoses is better. They'll share water pressure and each drop some in flow, but overall volume of water will be better. Use 'em all!
Yah, pretty tough to embargo water use for two days. There's a work-around, if you want to continue to pursue the meter trick, and if you don't want to count showers and toilet flushes.
Geez, this Dirk guy just won't give up!!
Meter Trick Two! Keep track of the start and stop times of your fill, along with the meter reads. Then you can check the meter usage for the same period of time after the fill and estimate your daily use of water when you're not filling a pool. You can then use that number to offset the pool fill number to account for the water usage during the fill. Huh? Yah, I know, but it's all clear in my head.
Meter Trick Three! You can use a recent water bill to get an estimate of your daily water usage (water amount used ÷ number of days of billing cycle).
I use about 100 gallons a day. Your usage will vary by the number of people in your household. Point is, whatever amount you're off with your guesstmate for your daily use, even if it's hundreds of gallons, will be negligible compared to the number of gallons in your pool. You'll still end up with a pretty good number to use for Pool Math and figuring out your chemical dosing.
And then I'll finally be able to stop worrying about your pool's volume and maybe be able to sleep at night!!
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Hey, hey, hey, hey! triplex! You're stealing all my best material!!
Just because you can write faster and say it with less words!!!
Yah, pretty tough to embargo water use for two days. There's a work-around, if you want to continue to pursue the meter trick, and if you don't want to count showers and toilet flushes.
Geez, this Dirk guy just won't give up!!
Meter Trick Two! Keep track of the start and stop times of your fill, along with the meter reads. Then you can check the meter usage for the same period of time after the fill and estimate your daily use of water when you're not filling a pool. You can then use that number to offset the pool fill number to account for the water usage during the fill. Huh? Yah, I know, but it's all clear in my head.
Meter Trick Three! You can use a recent water bill to get an estimate of your daily water usage (water amount used ÷ number of days of billing cycle).
I use about 100 gallons a day. Your usage will vary by the number of people in your household. Point is, whatever amount you're off with your guesstmate for your daily use, even if it's hundreds of gallons, will be negligible compared to the number of gallons in your pool. You'll still end up with a pretty good number to use for Pool Math and figuring out your chemical dosing.
And then I'll finally be able to stop worrying about your pool's volume and maybe be able to sleep at night!!
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Hey, hey, hey, hey! triplex! You're stealing all my best material!!
Just because you can write faster and say it with less words!!!
- Nov 12, 2017
- 12,681
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Oh, geez. That's right. I'm supposed to be calling Pentair about fixing my IC40...
- Feb 6, 2015
- 7,862
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Let's not overcomplicate this for the OP. She already has enough on her plate. In previous posts and questions over the past 3 years, the listed volume of the OP's pool (14,400 gals) is close enough for our needs.
Makes sense that the pool company will want to tell u u have more gallons than u have so it looks like they're giving you more pool than u r.That's ok. Once it's done, take another picture of the meter reading, calculate for units correctly (mine is in pound feet or something funky), and then subtract a "fudge factor". You'll still be lightyears closer to a real number than you're going to be eyeballing it and calculating based on dimensions. For example - a very experienced pool inspector told me mine was about 13k gallons when I bought the house. The calculator on PoolMath said 10k or so based on my average depth estimate with real length/width dimensions, but a meter reading on a fill with children and wife showering and running other water based appliances came in at about 7500. You really don't have to be exact, it's just going to help you to dial in PoolMath a lot better!
Thanks guys. Thanks Proavia.
Now I'm more awake and took better measurements and using a different way to calculate so good news is she's about 1 foot 10" full with about 2'2" to go. Started around 11pm and it's 9am. Almost 2" per hour, so let's say another 20 hrs? Method #2 would take me a few times to read to try to understand and method #3 is an interesting idea. I also have a garden. I can hold off on watering my fruit trees for the most part for another day but not my veggies.
Now I'm more awake and took better measurements and using a different way to calculate so good news is she's about 1 foot 10" full with about 2'2" to go. Started around 11pm and it's 9am. Almost 2" per hour, so let's say another 20 hrs? Method #2 would take me a few times to read to try to understand and method #3 is an interesting idea. I also have a garden. I can hold off on watering my fruit trees for the most part for another day but not my veggies.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 12,681
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Not to be too ornery, and with respect for your posts about focusing the conversation, she seems to me to be a very capable person, one who has clearly indicated she's interested in all things pool, and who has herself steered her thread in all kinds of directions, including opening the discussion to some pretty high-concept stuff. Certainly capable enough to decide for herself what should be on her plate, if you don't mind me saying. She rocks, frankly, and while she got a little harried there for a while, as everyone would under those circumstances, she came through big time all on her own.
Sounds like you two have worked together, and if between you you've figured out her volume, then great. But she did express interest in validating her number, and has already taken steps to do so, and this is a great opportunity to do just that. Which doesn't come around all that often, right?
I just know I calculated my own pool's volume in this way, which turned out to be about 5000 gallons off from what I'd been told about it by several pool pros, and knowing the actual volume has helped me greatly in understanding TFPC and my pool. Just passin' it forward, so to speak. So if she posts her meter data, and wants my help, I'll help her, and if she doesn't, I won't. No harm, no foul.
cfherrman
TFP Guide
You can also add chems and test 30 mins after and adjust your gallons in pool math, takes a month or less but works
- Nov 12, 2017
- 12,681
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Arguably that method is all you need, because that's all that really matters, to be able to test for x, put y in your pool and get z as the result, right? But it's somewhat dependent on the freshness of the various reagents and pool chemicals involved, and an individual's testing methods. Having the "chemical method" and one of the "volume calculation methods" validate each other is the ultimate solution.
I'm still struggling with the CYA test. I'm working to fine tune my testing method for that. So I'm kind of working it backward by observing the dot with a known water sample, right out of my own pool, because I know my pool's volume and I know how much CYA is in there (because I just added it for the first time after a 100% fill). I understand there's test solutions for that, but I like the "real world" appeal of how it all works specifically in my pool. Lots of ways to skin the cat...
i was wondering about that. my pool gallons have always seemed so far off. In the end, I'll try this method for now if all goes well and then see if I'm still off and know that's a great back-up idea, too.
Dirk, I don't think taking the average water bill of my home will work. I keep planting more and more fruit trees and am still learning in that arena, too, so nothing is typical around here. Also, wow, 5k gallons off! What a good feeling to know u have it right (and knew more than the pb).
And, thx for the compliment.
When will I turn the pump on? Should I just wait until water level is up to the skimmer or shut skimmer off and wait until it's up to the returns or since it's past the in-floor and drain am I good (once I get the salt cell back on-ugh the muscle part is where i lack a little-that's the one thing I don't think I'll be able to figure out how to do myself other than starting working on my little ol' biceps). We have a vac line but it's off. I want to get the leaves off of the ground. I got in there last night and got some but there's still more just sitting stagnant.
Go ahead and add some bleach now while it's filling to keep it from sitting too long. I'd leave the pump off until the water level is halfway up the skimmer - you can stir the water with your pool brush in the mean time to keep the chlorine distributed.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 12,681
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
As I've alluded to, and triplex described, you could almost ignore what you've been using in the house while you fill and still come up with a decent number. If you even guess at an amount used, and factor that in, you'll be that much closer.
However you do it, you can just get as close as you can, don't beat yourself up, then plug that number into Pool Math, then use Cfherrman's method (which you'll also find way way back in one of my posts) and see it you don't start getting better results than the 14,400 you've been using. If you do, great, mission accomplished. If not, fudge the number a bit until you do! And then try again next time you refill!
Not to torture you even more (but I guess I'm going to!!), this is the way I actually measured my pool. I happened to have a plumbing project going on at the same time my pool water was being exchanged. It was at a different property, but it involved installing water meters, which I just happened to have at my house the day of my fill. So I ran to Lowe's and got a couple of adapters and attached one of the water meters to my hose and filled my pool with that. That's about as accurate a way as there is. So I never actually used the meter trick as described. (Dun, dun, dunnnnn...)
I tried to sell the idea of buying a meter online for this purpose, for about $50, to some other members here, but that never took off. So then I came up with using the water meter that most everyone has built into their house instead. And it's no stroke of genius, many others here came up with the same idea before I ever did. It's free, but the downside is, as you've bumped into, the meter is not just measuring what goes into the pool unless you move out for a few days!
I'm only pushing this so because while an approximation is plenty close enough, as Gene pointed out, having my exact number has been very useful to me... But I'm an "overkill" kind of guy, so that might just be me!!
However you do it, you can just get as close as you can, don't beat yourself up, then plug that number into Pool Math, then use Cfherrman's method (which you'll also find way way back in one of my posts) and see it you don't start getting better results than the 14,400 you've been using. If you do, great, mission accomplished. If not, fudge the number a bit until you do! And then try again next time you refill!
Not to torture you even more (but I guess I'm going to!!), this is the way I actually measured my pool. I happened to have a plumbing project going on at the same time my pool water was being exchanged. It was at a different property, but it involved installing water meters, which I just happened to have at my house the day of my fill. So I ran to Lowe's and got a couple of adapters and attached one of the water meters to my hose and filled my pool with that. That's about as accurate a way as there is. So I never actually used the meter trick as described. (Dun, dun, dunnnnn...)
I tried to sell the idea of buying a meter online for this purpose, for about $50, to some other members here, but that never took off. So then I came up with using the water meter that most everyone has built into their house instead. And it's no stroke of genius, many others here came up with the same idea before I ever did. It's free, but the downside is, as you've bumped into, the meter is not just measuring what goes into the pool unless you move out for a few days!
I'm only pushing this so because while an approximation is plenty close enough, as Gene pointed out, having my exact number has been very useful to me... But I'm an "overkill" kind of guy, so that might just be me!!
As I've alluded to, and triplex described, you could almost ignore what you've been using in the house while you fill and still come up with a decent number. If you even guess at an amount used, and factor that in, you'll be that much closer.
However you do it, you can just get as close as you can, don't beat yourself up, then plug that number into Pool Math, then use Cfherrman's method (which you'll also find way way back in one of my posts) and see it you don't start getting better results than the 14,400 you've been using. If you do, great, mission accomplished. If not, fudge the number a bit until you do! And then try again next time you refill!
Yep, that sound right. I could see how it'd be useful to have the real number for sure.
will do. thx.
now about the salt cell. I don't think i'll spend my time going to Leslie's yet. I'm cleaning the salt cell and it's been bubbling away for 15 min now. Less bubbles now but either my husband didn't clean it that well (which would explain why I don't think the "low salt cell" light every went off after he cleaned it) or it got filled up with calcium right away again.) Nonetheless, that was what got us to rush and empty the pool-the battle with the salt cell seemed never-ending. I may clean it and see if it still says "low salt" before going to Leslies although it may be worth the trip if it is broken so I don't have to use chlorine while waiting for the pb to fill the warranty. If it's going to break soon before June 23 (warranty ends) would be nice. My guess with it still bubbling, it's not broken. Hubby is certainly not as detailed as I am (which is why I'm in good company on this site with so many detail oriented folks). So, keep it bubbling even if more than 1/2 hr? I typically spray it out with a hose once it's not bubbling so much and then clean out any pieces we couldn't get with a chopstick or something.
cant get a couple pieces of calcium that r at an angle. I think i'll have to soak it again. or maybe a coathanger so i can bed the end to get in the area that is impossible to do with a straight edge since a part of the cell is in the way. left it in acid half an hr so far
- Nov 12, 2017
- 12,681
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I just did mine, and that's my entire experience portfolio for cleaning an SWG! But what I saw in mine, was that the calcium came away from the plates pretty quick, floated up to the top, and kept bubbling away. Which at first was obscured by a foam cap. So I think it's possible to have the acid contacting the plates more than you need to, because they're actually already calcium free, but the crud is still bubbling away in the acid. Next time I do it, I'm going to water blast the plates first (which was recommended but I skipped), and acid wash a bit, blast a bit more, then acid wash again if there's any stubborn deposit left. That way the acid contact will be minimized. My instructions warn about more than 30 minutes, which leads me to believe the less acid contact the better. Mostly all just supposition on my part.
I didn't try poking anything in there. Not sure I would, unless someone could assure me that the alignment of the plates isn't critical to their performance. I wouldn't know.
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Ooh, I think that's bad. I thought I read the plates are coated with a very expensive material (two different ones actually) and that it is the coating that wears off and ends their usefulness. Another reason I wouldn't go poking at them, and certainly not with anything metal that could scratch that coating. I have no idea how tough it is.
Maybe someone in the know can weigh in about that.
I didn't try poking anything in there. Not sure I would, unless someone could assure me that the alignment of the plates isn't critical to their performance. I wouldn't know.
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Ooh, I think that's bad. I thought I read the plates are coated with a very expensive material (two different ones actually) and that it is the coating that wears off and ends their usefulness. Another reason I wouldn't go poking at them, and certainly not with anything metal that could scratch that coating. I have no idea how tough it is.
Maybe someone in the know can weigh in about that.