Teaching an old dog…

[DaddioStL]

My father-in-law has been a pool owner for over 30 years. As much as I talk up the TFP method, he’s not akin to change. This year he was telling me about his issues with the water being cloudy still and a problem with staining.

My wife convinced my mother-in-law for me to bring over my K-2006C kit and test their water (he uses strips). So I did, and the results are below. He has an 18,000 gallon, free form, fiber glass in-ground and uses chlorine pucks in his Hayward chlorinator.

FC = 2.0
CC = 1.5
PH = way lower than 7.0
TA = 120
CYA = 100
CH = 80
Salt = 800

I see the obvious problems in those numbers. The first thing I did was to start aerating the water by pointing the returns up, turning on the slide, and “forcing” the kids to start splashing.

My thought was to first get the PH and TA in line then tackle the CYA and FC. My question is, with the PH soooo low and the TA soooo high, is there a better/quicker way than aeration to lower the TA and raise the PH?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Not really. With a TA that high, his pH should come up fairly quickly. You need to get the pucks out of the pool and remove them from the chlorinator. They are acidic and keeping the pH down. If you switch to liquid chlorine, the pH should come up fairly quickly.

Are you sure about the CYA being 100? Did you do a diluted CYA test? A result of 100 typically means it’s much larger than 100 especially if that pool is on a steady feed of trichlor.

 

[DaddioStL]

N

Not really. With a TA that high, his pH should come up fairly quickly. You need to get the pucks out of the pool and remove them from the chlorinator. They are acidic and keeping the pH down. If you switch to liquid chlorine, the pH should come up fairly quickly.

Are you sure about the CYA being 100? Did you do a diluted CYA test? A result of 100 typically means it’s much larger than 100 especially if that pool is on a steady feed of trichlor.

No, I have not performed a diluted CYA test. Bu honestly, with years and years of puck use I am not at all surprised with his CYA being that high.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

I have not performed a diluted CYA test. Bu honestly, with years and years of puck use I am not at all surprised with his CYA being that high.

I believe what Matt is saying is that Dad's CYA could be much higher than 100. You need to do the diluted test to get the correct reading. Once you know the true CYA level, it may be that your best option is a partial drain & refill. You should really get the true CYA level before you start adding chemicals because you may just throw them out with the bathwater, so to speak. Refilling might also help the TA level; you can test Dad's tap water and find out.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

If he's using those XtraBlue pucks that contain copper his fiberglass pool may have a lot of staining to deal with also. Fiberglass is like a magnet for copper! See if you can figure out which pucks he's using?

Maddie

 

[an1vrsy]

@DaddioStL your biggest concern may be how to bring TFPC methods to your Father-in-law. Will he be willing to drain water to lower CYA, stop using pucks and stop using guess strips. Be respectful and show you truly want to help him manage the pool.

 

[kimkats]

Gift him your time and experience. THEN when he sees how good the water looks gift him his own test kit!!!

Kim

 

[DaddioStL]

Thanks for the help and suggestions! I have explained the gist of the process and I can tell he is very reluctant. I get it, though. He's been taking care of his pools for almost as long as I've been alive, so it's going to be a hard sell

However, he did make a comment on how good my pool looks! So hopefully I can get him to come around. If I can get him through this inning I think we are home free and he'll make the switch. I just have to convince him on the partial drain and refill. To complicate matters, we live almost an hour apart. So it's not easy for me to be there every step of the way and I can't leave my test kit with him. I think an early Father's Day gift is in order!

On a side note, @kimkats GO NOLES!

 

[kimkats]

Yep I see an early present for sure! You two can do side by side tests. Does he know how to work a computer? That way he can watch the videos after you leave if he needs to. Maybe you can book mark them for him.

I love watching some Noles football!!!

Kim