First time opening - does this plan look good?

[NewHouseFirstPool]

I turned the pump on this morning and... LEAKS!

The one leak I fixed by tightening a plug.

This leak around the filter cap shot out pretty hard for a while, but then after about a minute it slowed to a trickle, and now just a very slow drip. The filter pressure gauge is steady at 18 right now.

Anything to worry about?

Other than, the jets are running and the system seems to be working as expected.

 

[sande005]

Looks to be the seal for your multi-port. With the pump off, try to hand tighten the ~6 bolts and nuts around the perimeter, especially where the leaks appear. Do NOT try to use your Superman powers on them, no power tools, nor any kind of tool that gives you leverage. Cracking the plastic would be bad. A screwdriver and something to keep the nut from spinning is all you need. Turn the pump on, and see if the leaks continue. If so, take all the bolts/nuts off and wiggle free the whole top assembly. Inspect the spider gasket that isolates one interior section, and the outside edges, from another. Use a clean rag to wipe off anything that may be caught on the gasket. Replace the gasket if there are rips/tears (pool store). Then lube it with pool lube (Pool Lube - Further Reading). When reassembling, tighten the bolts using a star pattern, rather than going around the circle.

 

[NewHouseFirstPool]

And the chlorine test never changes color, so I guess that means I have no FC?

@Newdude @Texas Splash what do I do? How do I know how much chlorine to add?

 

[Newdude]

Add 5ppm of liquid chlorine per poolmath. Mix for a day and get a CYA reading.

TA and Ph are OK to test now.

 

[NewHouseFirstPool]

If I give it a FC of 0, Pool Math tells me to add 65oz chlorine. Can I just pour that directly from a gallon jug of chlorine into the pool?

 

[NewHouseFirstPool]

If I give it a FC of 0, Pool Math tells me to add 65oz chlorine. Can I just pour that directly from a gallon jug of chlorine into the pool?

Oh actually, if I set the target to 5ppm like you said, Pool Math tells me to add 109oz. I think I'll just eyeball it and pour from my 128oz jug in front of a return.

 

[Newdude]

think I'll just eyeball it and pour from my 128oz jug in front of a return.

Perfect. It's playing hand grenades and not horseshoes dumping 109 oz into 17k gallons. People get way too specific here. I eyeball it then count 4 more good glugs just to be sure.

Put the bottle to the water or even submerge it a little to all but eliminate splashing. I poured waist high like a clown for years too long.

Go slow with a pencil like stream into a running return, and brush the area well after.

if I set the target to 5ppm like you said, Pool Math tells me to add 109oz

That's the one. You have to fill all the fields out or it gets wonky at times.

To add 5 ppm, any combo of +5 from current value to target value is the same. 0 to 5, 2 to 7, 11 to 16, (etc).


Or use the upper left menu 'effects of adding'. You can select every approved chemical there and see what it does.

 

[NewHouseFirstPool]

Perfect. It's playing hand grenades and not horseshoes dumping 109 oz into 17k gallons. People get way too specific here. I eyeball it then count 4 more good glugs just to be sure.

Put the bottle to the water or even submerge it a little to all but eliminate splashing. I poured waist high like a clown for years too long.

Go slow with a pencil like stream into a running return, and brush the area well after.


That's the one. You have to fill all the fields out or it gets wonky at times.

To add 5 ppm, any combo of +5 from current value to target value is the same. 0 to 5, 2 to 7, 11 to 16, (etc).


Or use the upper left menu 'effects of adding'. You can select every approved chemical there and see what it does.

Awesome. Thanks so much for confirming. I feel like I've gotten through some of the hardest parts. There are a few minor issues with equipment, but for the most part everything is working and circulating. It's just a matter of getting that water clean now!

So here's where I'm at now a few hours after adding that initial amount of chlorine...

FC: 2
PH: 7.3
TA: 50

So 2 is better than 0, eh? Should I continue to add more chlorine every couple of hours based on latest test and what Pool Math recommends? For example, still going with 5ppm as target, it would recommend at 65oz more right now based on the 2 FC I just got. How long do I wait between testing/adding chlorine and testing again/adding more?

 

[Newdude]

Should I continue to add more chlorine every couple of hours based on latest test and what Pool Math recommends?

Normally but we don't have a CYA value yet to know what the FC range should be.

Add 5 more PPM just so it doesn't hit 0. It'll be OK until we have a CYA #.




If you don't see obvious algae anywhere, you can Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to see if the testing finds any.

How long do I wait between testing/adding chlorine and testing again/adding more?

Mix for 30 mins and test to ensure you hit target. For regular maintenance you add a dose (and confirm) so that you don't get near minimum at the next test. 5 ppm may last a week in the early/late season or only a day in July. There is little change week to week and you pretty much know what to expect next week. Daily loss starts low, spikes, then slowly falls again like a bell curve.



If we have to SLAM Process for algae, its test and add every 2 hours until the FC is mostly there at 2 hours, then 3 hours, 4 hours, etc, until it holds all day and you complete the process.

 

[NewHouseFirstPool]

I realized l read my first chorine test after adding chlorine above wrong. Instead of 2 it was actually 0.5.

So after two rounds of adding 5ppm chlorine today (109oz 2 times) my pool is still at FC 0.5.

Is that bad news?

I'm doing the overnight test as suggested by @Newdude and will report tomorrow on FC and CYA.

 

[PoolStored]

What is your CYA and CC?

 

[Newdude]

So after two rounds of adding 5ppm chlorine today (109oz 2 times) my pool is still at FC 0.5.

Is that bad news?

I just checked your weather and it's not hot enough yet for the sun to wipe out chlorine if the CYA was low or 0. It's probably alage. We'll know after the OCLT.

Did you confirm 30 min after adding that you hit target FC ? Weak bleach misses and looks like a loss some hours later. It could just as easily be bad bleach.

I realized l read my first chorine test after adding chlorine above wrong. Instead of 2 it was actually 0.5.

Let's recap this to make sure you got it. With 2 options (10ml/25ml) it's easily confused.

Step 1 : forget 25ml exists.
Step 2 : use 10ml instructions and each drop is 0.5 FC.

What is your CYA

Waiting until tomorrow to be mixed after winter.

 

[NewHouseFirstPool]

Did you confirm 30 min after adding that you hit target FC ? Weak bleach misses and looks like a loss some hours later. It could just as easily be bad bleach.

I didn't realize I should have been testing only 30 min after adding. I've been doing more like 1-2 hours after adding. I'll do 30 minutes from now on. The 10% bleach I got from HomeDepot didn't have any date indicators on it that I could find, so I'm not 100% confident it's new stock.

Let's recap this to make sure you got it. With 2 options (10ml/25ml) it's easily confused.

Step 1 : forget 25ml exists.
Step 2 : use 10ml instructions and each drop is 0.5 FC.

Correct. And it's taken 1 drop to get totally clear each time. That first test I reported wrong (as 2) was from doing the color board test for chlorine, and I read the yellows wrong. I realized my mistake by doing both the drop test and color board several times later today and it's always been 0.5.

 

[Newdude]

The 10% bleach I got from HomeDepot

Oh thank goodness. It's weak bleach.

At least, if it's like the early spring supply at pretty much anybody else's HD. The date code is Julian. It'll be 25 060 something something something. 2025 day # 060. It was produced roughly the end of Feb. Just use 30 day months for easy math, if it's 3 days off because we had more short months than long ones, it's way close enough.

Your # probably says 24XXX. You want 3 months or less, dig deep like buying milk and sometimes it's newer in the back of the shelf.

Walmart pool essentials chlorinating liquid is cheaper.

I didn't realize I should have been testing only 30 min after adding

Once this is all second nature, you shouldn't. But if at any time you wonder what happened to your FC, the quickest answer to rule out is weak bleach. Add some more, mix for a bit and test to get your answer. Then OCLT if the bleach did what it was supposed to.

color board test for chlorine,

Skip that one entirely for now. It's vague at best and inaccurate, even by Taylor's say so. I literally had mine on my chop saw with the blade spinning when I realized I needed the yellow side to hold in order to test PH. It remains to this day but was thisclose to being chopped off

 

[sande005]

A few other threads seem to lean in the direction of the current stock at some Home Depots as being leftovers from last year. So perhaps yours was just salt water like theirs. See if another source resolves the problem.

 

[Newdude]

More homework:

Breakdown of Bleach Over Time by Storage Temp - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Chlorine Date Code Decoder - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[NewHouseFirstPool]

Oh thank goodness. It's weak bleach.
Your # probably says 24XXX. You want 3 months or less, dig deep like buying milk and sometimes it's newer in the back of the shelf.

Walmart pool essentials chlorinating liquid is cheaper.

Sure enough! The date on the box of this three pack says 24 227. What a waste of time using this old chlorine all day. Oh well.

I'll head to Walmart tomorrow and look for new stock.

 

[PoolStored]

24 227

 

[Newdude]

What a waste of time using this old chlorine all day.

It cost you $15 to never make that mistake again. Ain't no teacher like a foul up. I'm convinced the facepalm shoves the info in the brain real good.

We're not out of the woods yet. We still need to confirm FC reaches target, and holds overnight. (OCLT).

The CYA level will determine everything forward either way.

 

[NewHouseFirstPool]

FC this morning: 0.5. So it went down from 1.5 last night to 0.5 this morning.
CYA: the dot never obscures, so I guess that means 0 CYA? Or I might be doing the test wrong. The water after adding the R-0013 always remains crystal clear.

Next steps: going to Walmart to find fresh stock of Chlorine this morning.

Still hard to know whether this is an algae/SLAM situation and I'll need double the chlorine, right? Since my low FC could still be due to the bad HD chlorine?