Blank slate/Pool build in Maryland

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BayonPools said:
Takes some work getting everything straight...but once you get it under control, you should be a lot better
Click to expand...
You’re not kidding! Spending Easter Sunday chasing after chemicals is no fun.

I think the 10% liquid chlorine I’ve been getting from the hardware store is pretty weak this year. Today the water tested FC of only 1 after a whole bottle yesterday. The sale on the Circupool saltwater chlorine generators this weekend is really tempting me. I’d probably bite the bullet and go for it if I had a variable speed pump. My last above ground pool had a cheap Intex SWG and it worked flawlessly for 5 years.

pH tested 7.04 today and my target was 7 to try to alleviate some of this calcium issue (read that in some threads here on TFP).

Added two bottles of 10% chlorine, 19lbs of calcium chloride (target 300, currently 175), and about 3/4 of a pound of CYA (mostly new water this year).

Still running the pump full time, the dust or calcium (whatever it was) is about 90% gone.

All of this aside, my water is sparkling!



 
Your water looks great! And for the record my vote would be to pull the trigger on the SWCG! I can't imagine having to lug bottles every day for the whole season :)
 
Thanks! I'm trying to do the math on this SWCG, but it's still hard to justify, even if I add a "hassle charge" to the price of each bottle of chlorine. Last summer I was spending about $2.50/day on liquid chlorine. Even if I entirely discount cooler times in the spring/fall and assume I spend the same on chlorine all season, this is what my math looks like:

$2.50/day * 180 days = $450
Add $1/day for "hassle charge" to get chlorine and I'm still at $630.

A SWCG I would buy is about $800-1000. I can install it myself, but $800-1000 is more than $630, not to mention there is wear on the salt cell and that will have to be replaced too. You can basically entirely discount the cost of electricity of running the SWCG as it's like 9 cents per day based on my calculations. I think I can still run my single speed pump with this setup and for the same amount of time, so no change there either.

Now here's where it gets muddy--last year I had a hard time finding liquid chlorine a few times and the case I bought at the pool store was old junk (and one was broken/half empty!), so now the "hassle charge" needs to go way up. I keep telling myself I'll just buy like 6-8 bottles at a time, but the hardware store often doesn't have that many. Bleach from Walmart is very hit or miss and seems to often be old stock.
 
I stopped by the pool store this morning on the way to work to drop off my sample for maintaining the shell warranty. I explained the situation with the calcium and she said it happens sometimes in the winter because the pH goes up. Her suggestion was to pull out the crystals with the vacuum and lower the pH which will likely remove the scale/calcium. Of course, I already knew/did this because of what I read here on the forum. She said there is a product called "Scaletec" but she didn't think I needed it and that acid and lowering the pH would probably do the trick.

The rest of the test results were as follows:

FC: 2.02
CC: 0.26 (I think pollen is the culprit here)
pH: 8 (this is a lot higher than my meter is reading, I'll check again this evening)
TA: 118
CH: 271 (target was 300 so I'm doing good!)
CYA: 23
Phosphates: 1593 (I don't pay any attention to this but I find it funny how much they emphasize this on the printout-she didn't mention this at all)

She did say that my water test was "beautiful, especially for a new pool that was just opened!" Yeah, you should see what I went through this weekend getting it this way! Now I just need it to warm up a little so I can use it!
 
If you swapped to a variable speed pump, wouldn't the energy savings alone pay for itself rather quickly? How long are you running your single speed each day?
 
That is a great question. I actually had a variable speed pump for a short time in the summer but it had some issues so I had to send it back. Regardless, I did some calculations. Here is the chart I posted before. As you can see, it's pretty hard to make up $800-900 in cost for the variable speed pump.

Variable speed pump:

ScheduleRPMHourskWhCost DailyCost Monthly
12p-5p80050.0460.03059
8a-9:30a25001.50.9450.1885275
7p-10p250030.9450.377055
12a-3a60030.0350.013965
12.50.6101375$18.30


Single stage pump:


8a-9a315011.920.25536
12p-4p315041.921.02144
7p-10p315031.920.76608
82.04288$61.29
 
Captchaos said:
That is a great question. I actually had a variable speed pump for a short time in the summer but it had some issues so I had to send it back. Regardless, I did some calculations. Here is the chart I posted before. As you can see, it's pretty hard to make up $800-900 in cost for the variable speed pump.

Variable speed pump:

ScheduleRPMHourskWhCost DailyCost Monthly
12p-5p80050.0460.03059
8a-9:30a25001.50.9450.1885275
7p-10p250030.9450.377055
12a-3a60030.0350.013965
12.50.6101375$18.30


Single stage pump:


8a-9a315011.920.25536
12p-4p315041.921.02144
7p-10p315031.920.76608
82.04288$61.29
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I imagine your running about 6 months a year like me? You're right at 250-ish a year savings it would take a while to make up for it. On the other hand, it's also really nice to be able to dial it up or down on demand. :)

Depending on how much junk you get in the pool, you might be able to get away with running at the high speeds (2500) for just an hour or so a day with the VS pump. Aside from brushing speeds which I do 2x a day currently since the pool is new, I'll likely run the pump at 1500-1600 for 12 hours or so depending on what my SWCG and/or heater wants which is a fairly low wattage consumption. That might save you a little more and give you plenty of run time if you decide to go with a SWCG.
 
Yes, I am running about six months a year. The two weeks or so I did have the variable speed, it was really nice! The one thing that table of calculations doesn't account for is the flexibility aspect.

You are right on the high speeds for only an hour, but since the variable speed is so much more efficient than the single speed, I decided the extra few cents per day was worth it to keep the pool a little cleaner and ran at high speed for another 3 hours in the evening. I also like the look of the waterflow and that's the times I'm in it after work in the summer. :)

One another thing I didn't mention is that my electric company provides a $400 rebate for variable speed pumps, so payback time is cut from 19 months to ~10 months, or about 1.5 seasons.
 
Captchaos said:
Yes, I am running about six months a year. The two weeks or so I did have the variable speed, it was really nice! The one thing that table of calculations doesn't account for is the flexibility aspect.

You are right on the high speeds for only an hour, but since the variable speed is so much more efficient than the single speed, I decided the extra few cents per day was worth it to keep the pool a little cleaner and ran at high speed for another 3 hours in the evening. I also like the look of the waterflow and that's the times I'm in it after work in the summer. :)

One another thing I didn't mention is that my electric company provides a $400 rebate for variable speed pumps, so payback time is cut from 19 months to ~10 months, or about 1.5 seasons.
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$400 rebate?! Wow, that's very decent. You might be able to even fetch a few hundred for your pump on craigslist or facebook marketplace too. Our power co also offered a rebate, but only for those who upgraded, not for new installs so we didn't qualify. :(
 

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I thought about that too but used pumps seem to go for very little from what I've seen on eBay and Craigslist. I'm typically all about saving money and I would probably never buy a used pump either so there's also that. :laughblue:

As a result of this conversation I am now bidding on pumps on eBay, so...
 
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Well you'd never know by looking at that pool that you hauled out so much stuff! Looks fantastic! So weird about those crystals, but calcium does make sense with high PH. The good news (as you've found out) is that you can fix it. :)

I might be in the same boat. Opening delayed to this weekend. Wish me luck.
 
kristmas said:
Well you'd never know by looking at that pool that you hauled out so much stuff! Looks fantastic! So weird about those crystals, but calcium does make sense with high PH. The good news (as you've found out) is that you can fix it. :)

I might be in the same boat. Opening delayed to this weekend. Wish me luck.
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Thanks. You should see the pile of empty bottles I've collected in the garage. I also asked my wife to go to the hardware store today because I know they get a truck and buy "every single bottle of liquid chlorine they have." I've decided to just buy out their entire stock every time I'm there as it seems easier that way. :laughblue:

My kids have been in the pool multiple times so far, including my 4 year old son who was in four times yesterday alone. It was sitting around 70 degrees last night so still a bit too cold for me but they sure are enjoying it.
 
I'd go in voluntarily (and quickly) over 70 degrees if I was already hot. Not there yet. My kids are older (H.S.) and already more wimpy.
 

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