We just purchased this home over the winter with a vinyl lined inground pool & as we are approaching spring in New Hampshire I’m starting to worry what’s under the cover. I spoke with the pool store that closed it up & they told me that the previous owner left the pool filled with leaves when they closed it, their exact words to me were good luck! They also informed me that the pool was a Baquacil pool & when I asked about converting to salt they just said it would cost way too much? I found you fine folks a number of years ago when I set up an Intex pool in the backyard that I ran as a salt pool thanks to all the excellent advice. So here I am again hoping to get this new pool humming along. Any help is always appreciated, thanks, it’s good to be back!
New pool owner, how to convert to salt from Baquacil?
- Thread starter fishwater
- Start date
Hey FW !!! Many many threads to peruse. Search results for query: Baquacil conversion
There is also a sticky in the Baqua forum showing the official ‘company line’.
Is there any way you can just drain and start over ? It certainly can be converted but it is a slow (can be roughly 3 weeks ?) process that requires a lot of babysitting. Drain/refill is by far the easiest way.
There is also a sticky in the Baqua forum showing the official ‘company line’.
Is there any way you can just drain and start over ? It certainly can be converted but it is a slow (can be roughly 3 weeks ?) process that requires a lot of babysitting. Drain/refill is by far the easiest way.
I was just reading that & as short as the season is up here I can’t see wasting 3 weeks of non pool use for the conversion. I also don’t know if draining & refilling would work even though it’s the easiest, I’m not sure the effects of pumping 15,000 gallons or so of water into the woods behind my house would be especially if it were to travel into a neighbors yard. There’s a sewer drain in the front of my house but again I’m not sure it’s designed to take all that water & where it ends up.
Well we have plenty of time until you feel like swimming so get a jump on it and it won’t cut into our precious swim season. Or figure out the draining possibilities for a weekend swap. Keep us posted.
The sticky :
www.troublefreepool.com
How to convert a Baquacil pool to chlorine
If you have decided to convert to chlorine, there is a great article in Pool School on Converting Your Baqua Pool to Chlorine.
www.troublefreepool.com
Option 3. (Lol). Pump to the woods with an eye on the neighbors and switch to the street once the woods are overflowing. Watch the street until that is saturated. Only have to battle the 1/3 (?) that’s left.
Or if the woods ends up being able to handle it, you’re done and can fill immediately with clean water.
Or if the woods ends up being able to handle it, you’re done and can fill immediately with clean water.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,412
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
You really don’t want to fully drain a pool with an old vinyl liner. There is lots of risks involved with the liner shifting or ground water around the pool bulging the liner. The water supports the walls and you can have a wall cave in if you have a storm while the pool is empty.
What shape is the liner? If you are going to need a new liner soon anyway then get it now and the drain comes for free.
What shape is the liner? If you are going to need a new liner soon anyway then get it now and the drain comes for free.
Complete drain is a bad idea with liner shifting, but draining most of the water should make the baqua conversion that.much easier. Once it's refilled, there's so much less baqua in the water.
There's still the concerns about draining a buried pool. It's mud season right now, or will be as soon as the ground thaws - not a good idea.
There's still the concerns about draining a buried pool. It's mud season right now, or will be as soon as the ground thaws - not a good idea.
Thanks for all the insight, I really appreciate it but feeling a little overwhelmed. What I know is that the previous owners only lived here for less than 2 years & their child had serious allergies so that is probably when they converted to Baqua. I have no idea what’s lurking under the cover since we bought the house with the pool closed & there was no inspection available in the winter. That means unfortunately I have no idea about the liner, it’s probably a safe assumption that it’s old & will need replacement soon based on everything else that I’ve seen around the house. Thinking about having to drain, replace the liner, add a SWG & robot is overwhelming on a money stand point after just buying a house so I need to figure out a plan.
I haven’t even touched the cover, the snow has finally completely melted in the yard & on the cover so I can probably at least peel it back to see what I’m up against, I just don’t know where to go from there.
I haven’t even touched the cover, the snow has finally completely melted in the yard & on the cover so I can probably at least peel it back to see what I’m up against, I just don’t know where to go from there.
Most everybody came here in a similar situation. We all had to be overwhelmed enough to seek out different answers. Recently purchasing a house adds a whole ‘nother level of letting the dust settle. And rest assured, we’ve had tons of those too. We got you Fish !! Take a breathe and a minute and fire questions when you get them.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,412
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Fish, you can run your pool for a while as a Baqua pool. It takes more time and expense then a salt pool but it may the best thing for you right now as you get settled. Then you can pick the time that works for you to convert.
Read threads in the Baqua section about how folks manage their Baqua pools. The prior homeowner did it with some success. So start there and enjoy your new house and pool this summer.
Open your pool with help from the local pool store and see what you have.
Read threads in the Baqua section about how folks manage their Baqua pools. The prior homeowner did it with some success. So start there and enjoy your new house and pool this summer.
Open your pool with help from the local pool store and see what you have.