Hello and thanks to all of you for this amazing resource!
I am a new pool owner living in a long-term (3-4 years) temporary home after my family's home burned down earlier this year in the Eaton Fire in Altadena, CA. I am eager to learn and have read through the Pool School materials which are really great! I intend to order a tf-100 or tf-Pro kit to help me take care of our new pool. We always thought of putting in a pool in Altadena, so having one now will give us something to enjoy as a family and give me some experience with what it takes (time and money) to properly care for a pool.
First my current numbers (as measured by my local pool store which is 1 mile away):
FC: 1.31
TC: 1.45
PH: 7.7
TA: 112
CH: 220
CYA: 48
Iron: 0.1
Copper: 0.2
Phosphates: 326
I realize the pool store is not the way to go and I will be ordering the tf-100 or tf-Pro shortly.
Some history on this pool:
The person who lived here before me installed the pool and cared for it himself for 26 years. He said he always used 3" pucks year round and 1lb of weekly powdered shock during the swim season. The only other chemicals he added was some muriatic acid about 3 times a year to keep the PH down. He said he kept 4 pucks in the floater and added 1-2 per week max during the winter and 2-3 per week in the summer on top of the partially dissolved pucks.
He brushed the pool 1-2 times a week and used a Zodiac G3 automatic pool cleaner which he left behind for me. He ran the pump on high for 3 hours in the morning (during which the G3 did its thing) followed by 6 hours on low (not sufficient pressure to move the G3). I have maintained this schedule since moving in about a month ago.
When I asked him rabout CYA increases he said in the 26 years he only ever replaced about 1,000 gallons of water twice. The pool was replastered this past October, and he used LC until January and then switched back to pucks.
So the question is does it really make sense for me to switch to LC since it seems like he had success with this particular pool using pucks without significant need for water exchange. I have been reviewing the forums and it looks like I will need to add approximately 1 gallon of 10% LC a day to my 20,000 gallon pool (at CYA of 50). (see How much liquid chlorine is normal?)
The cheepest chlorene I have found is $0.437/oz ($6.99 for a gallon of 12.5%). Assuming an approximate .8 conversion rate for 10% to 12.5%, this would mean $5.59 of 12.5 LC needs to be added every day, $167/month during the swim season. Does my math seem about right or am I missing something here? If this number is correct it would far exceed the cost to continuing to use pucks.
Thank you for your thoughts and thanks again for creating this community!
I am a new pool owner living in a long-term (3-4 years) temporary home after my family's home burned down earlier this year in the Eaton Fire in Altadena, CA. I am eager to learn and have read through the Pool School materials which are really great! I intend to order a tf-100 or tf-Pro kit to help me take care of our new pool. We always thought of putting in a pool in Altadena, so having one now will give us something to enjoy as a family and give me some experience with what it takes (time and money) to properly care for a pool.
First my current numbers (as measured by my local pool store which is 1 mile away):
FC: 1.31
TC: 1.45
PH: 7.7
TA: 112
CH: 220
CYA: 48
Iron: 0.1
Copper: 0.2
Phosphates: 326
I realize the pool store is not the way to go and I will be ordering the tf-100 or tf-Pro shortly.
Some history on this pool:
The person who lived here before me installed the pool and cared for it himself for 26 years. He said he always used 3" pucks year round and 1lb of weekly powdered shock during the swim season. The only other chemicals he added was some muriatic acid about 3 times a year to keep the PH down. He said he kept 4 pucks in the floater and added 1-2 per week max during the winter and 2-3 per week in the summer on top of the partially dissolved pucks.
He brushed the pool 1-2 times a week and used a Zodiac G3 automatic pool cleaner which he left behind for me. He ran the pump on high for 3 hours in the morning (during which the G3 did its thing) followed by 6 hours on low (not sufficient pressure to move the G3). I have maintained this schedule since moving in about a month ago.
When I asked him rabout CYA increases he said in the 26 years he only ever replaced about 1,000 gallons of water twice. The pool was replastered this past October, and he used LC until January and then switched back to pucks.
So the question is does it really make sense for me to switch to LC since it seems like he had success with this particular pool using pucks without significant need for water exchange. I have been reviewing the forums and it looks like I will need to add approximately 1 gallon of 10% LC a day to my 20,000 gallon pool (at CYA of 50). (see How much liquid chlorine is normal?)
The cheepest chlorene I have found is $0.437/oz ($6.99 for a gallon of 12.5%). Assuming an approximate .8 conversion rate for 10% to 12.5%, this would mean $5.59 of 12.5 LC needs to be added every day, $167/month during the swim season. Does my math seem about right or am I missing something here? If this number is correct it would far exceed the cost to continuing to use pucks.
Thank you for your thoughts and thanks again for creating this community!
