The husband finally let me take over and I don't want to blow it!!

[pabeader]

Go back to pool school. Remind yourself what the different numbers mean. TA is really only relevant in relation to pH if I remember correctly. The rule of thumb is higher causes pH to go up. Lower causes pH to go down. But higher and lower are relevant only to YOUR pool and how it reacts. Your pool might like 50. Until you let it ride for a while you won't know.

Remember, only you know for sure what your pool looks like and needs. The rest of us are just along for moral support and suggestions. Some good, some not so good.

 

[AprilsZoo]

i know I tend to be a number chaser, but the original reason for me getting onto TFP was to get rid of the stains in the pool.
<<<snip>>>
The fun part for me is making progress toward the original goal.

I get it, I do.

My comment was only meant to try to help you not stress so much about the chlorine level (which is holding) since you got through your slam (successfully, )... I was hoping to give you some reassurance that keeping your pool clear and beautiful doesn't have to be overly complicated... Or require a full FAS-DPD test everyday.

I remember what it was like when I had first taken control of my pool and I was testing every parameter every day.... And even though I was keeping my FC higher than I was supposed to, and had a SWG to boot, I still was getting CC randomly showing up, for no apparent reason.... And I didn't understand how my CYA could be "bouncing" up and down by 20 points or so every week.
What I learned was that every one has a little CC now and then, but they don't know because they aren't looking for it-- besides nothing bad was gonna happen because I had the correct FC/CYA ratio.
As for the CYA swing that seemed to be going on-- it turned out that I wasn't being consistent with my testing conditions... I wasn't always testing in the same light or looking at the dot from the same angle/distance... Once I learned that differences in testing procedures could skew the results, and began to pay attention to doing it the exact same way every time-- the yo-yo-ing stopped...
And my frustration level went way down.... However it took a long time before I was able to stop feeling so nervous about what I was doing and trust the process.

Pools are fun for some, but not for me?.

I know what that's like, too. Our pool wasn't as much fun for me, as I thought it would be.... Especially when my kids were younger. :?
For one thing, I absolutely *hate* getting splashed, or sprayed, or dunked, etc. And I hate getting my head wet even more. My family laughs at me, because I dog-paddle... It's the only way I swim well (and I had to teach myself @ 12.5 years old! ... otherwise, I wouldn't know how to swim *at all* !)

I can swim other ways, besides dog-paddle, but I always look like >>

More than anything, I would love to feel "comfortable" or "natural" in my pool....
I don't know if that will ever happen... Even just getting in and out of it has been a chore...? just this year, I finally convinced DH that we needed a decent ladder if I was ever getting in the pool again (actually I wanted stairs, but we compromised ?... at least for now, anyway.)

If your pool ever gets warm enough to get into it without risking hypothermia, perhaps you & TH can get a two-person "raft" for the pool and enjoy some private time... {:slidehalo:}

We then took some pumice stone and worked it on the areas a bit and got it much smoother. Since then and following TFP, they've not come back...
<<<snip>>>
Had to realize it wasn't going to be that way and getting rid of the nodules and following TFP made it 1000x better. I don't even "see" them anymore.

I've seen these "tight-grained" pumice blocks that are attached to a handle that fits into your normal pole, like you attach to your leaf net, etc.: PumiceStoneonEZClipHandle
I'm not sure how much pressure they are designed to withstand during use... But I would hope that whoever came up with the idea, took into account the fact that it would be used at the end of a pole, presumably to reach the bottom of the pool.

I don't know if you've ever used something like this... Maybe to clean the scale or hard-water-ring in your toilet? It's the same concept.

I've been known to be an OCD perfectionist, but the stain, or scale occupies 75% of the pool, sides and bottom. So I really want to minimize it....besides, I have an honor bet with TH...

I think that with your water clear, blue, and sparkly... with balanced chemistry to show TH.... You have won your bet.

I mean, his original contention was that algae was living in the plaster, staining it.... You can now prove that it is not...
He can't even say that it's dead algae staining the pool... Because dead algae isn't the same color as live algae...
Sooo... If it had been algae staining the pool, the stain would have changed color, just like tha algae in the water did....

Certainly, you now have the evidence you need to prove that when he let the pool chemistry get so wonky for so long, he created the "Perfect Storm" and that resulted in Calcium Scale (which isn't a stain, per se).... In the best case scenario, it will take a lot of elbow grease to remove.
The final result is that the plaster has probably been permanently damaged, but not by algae.
For now, :super: you've rescued your pool

I hope this made sense.... It's really late--- or early.....

 

[Defgufman]

The pool is safe to swim in, that is a reward already. You now have the knowledge to keep it that way. You now are not relying on strangers with a vested profit motive to drive your purchases. The stain got there with bad chemistry and that hopefully won't be an issue ever again. Great job....now give that pool some love by swimming, that's what they are for

 

[dakemi]

Yes, and thanks to all of you our.......my pool looks FANTASTIC!! TH refuses to accept the science and says the stains are from the leaves, but thats ok, I know different. Today I even sat on the wall in the kiddie pool with our precious 2yr old grandson. He only trusts grandma and he wanted to try the pool (for the first time) so I went in with him, and thanks to you all I felt confident that the water was clean enough for him. He loved it!

So after retesting the CSI is now -.38 but the TA is still at 50 and the CH is 700. Please tell me that is ok.
But FC is steady at 7 and CC is .5.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

If they were leaf stains then they would be organic in nature and likely tannin stains. Those stains would have lightened with the SLAM and the trichlor puck test would have definitely made them lighter.

Time to tell TH to try a new theory.....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dakemi]

Haha, when you know where freezes over!

 

[AprilsZoo]

dakemi,

I saw this in another thread, and thought of you...Leslie's Stain Erasers.

TFP Expert mas985 gives them a ...

Here's another video by the same person that made the one about the stain erasers. ID'ing Stains
<My biggest reason for even mentioning it is that one of the pools he shows looks a lot like the pics you posted of your stains earlier.>

I haven't watched the whole thing, but what I did see, seems to use methods that are "TFP-suggested"... if he shows anything that you are unsure about, you know where to ask...
(And you might even wanna start a new thread-- maybe in the Chemistry-201 sub-forum-- but give a link to this one... that way more new people will look at it.)

{BTW.....Don't believe everything you read in the YouTube comments section.... a lot of it is ; some of it is downright }

 

[AprilsZoo]

TH refuses to accept the science and says the stains are from the leaves, but that's ok, I know different.

Didn't TH originally say that the pool store told him that the stains were caused by algae, and were permanent because it had been left for too long?

If I were you I would go ahead and start a new topic over in the Chem 201 sub-forum that I linked to in my last post.
Include several things:

• the most recent pics that you have
• the history of how your pool got into the problem that made you look for help here.
• a link to this thread
• a full set of current test results
• the results of tests for metals.
• what you have already tried (vit. c tablet, or puck on the stain... sandpaper... anything else.)

You can also ask that any suggestions come with step-by-step instructions, if you want to. That way if you get a lot of people making the same sort of suggestion, but with slightly different terminology, it will be easier to keep it all straight and figure out a plan you want to follow.

You can get to the bottom of this.
In the end, it might be that the plaster is damaged, and that there isn't an easy fix that will eradicate the stains...
But at least you will know.

 

[dakemi]

dakemi,

I saw this in another thread, and thought of you...Leslie's Stain Erasers.

TFP Expert mas985 gives them a ...

Here's another video by the same person that made the one about the stain erasers. ID'ing Stains
<My biggest reason for even mentioning it is that one of the pools he shows looks a lot like the pics you posted of your stains earlier.>

I haven't watched the whole thing, but what I did see, seems to use methods that are "TFP-suggested"... if he shows anything that you are unsure about, you know where to ask...
(And you might even wanna start a new thread-- maybe in the Chemistry-201 sub-forum-- but give a link to this one... that way more new people will look at it.)

{BTW.....Don't believe everything you read in the YouTube comments section.... a lot of it is ; some of it is downright }

Wow! Thank you. I work til 7:30 but as soon as I get home I'll take a look.

 

[n240sxguy]

Sorry, don't know what an electric induction heater is, neither does TH. Actually let me amend that post, the bill went up $810, from $300 to $1100 with nothing really changing except turning on the pool heater. We were in shock so I called NV Energy and asked if there was a meter error. She said it was probably the pool heater after we went thru a few QandA's. TH was leaving the pool open during the day to use the sun, then covering it and heating at night. Reno is not great "pool country". Its high desert with more cool or cold months than hot, and even during the summer nighttime temps still get pretty cool (50's). I looked back at Accuweather and our temps on April were 50's and 60's in the daytime but the nighttime temps dipped down to 30's and 40's, with some nights into freezing temps.....with no humidity.

Sorry, I used the wrong word. I meant electric resistance heater. Same principle as an electric water heater or portable space heater. It uses electricity to make a coil hot to heat the water. The only other type of electric heater is a heat pump, and I've never heard of a heat pump using that much electricity. Take a picture of the heater to verify what it is. Either way, I'd buy a wetsuit before I'd spend that kind of money on pool heat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dakemi]

Sorry, I used the wrong word. I meant electric resistance heater. Same principle as an electric water heater or portable space heater. It uses electricity to make a coil hot to heat the water. The only other type of electric heater is a heat pump, and I've never heard of a heat pump using that much electricity. Take a picture of the heater to verify what it is. Either way, I'd buy a wetsuit before I'd spend that kind of money on pool heat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nope, just a regular heat pump. Maybe cuz it was very cold, below freezing some nights, don't know. Maybe, too cuz he had the heater on in the house and that contributed to the increase. At any rate, it went down to "normal" after we turned the heat pump off.
He has it back on this week, but it is much warmer so we'll see........

 

[dakemi]

Didn't TH originally say that the pool store told him that the stains were caused by algae, and were permanent because it had been left for too long?

If I were you I would go ahead and start a new topic over in the Chem 201 sub-forum that I linked to in my last post.
Include several things:

• the most recent pics that you have
• the history of how your pool got into the problem that made you look for help here.
• a link to this thread
• a full set of current test results
• the results of tests for metals.
• what you have already tried (vit. c tablet, or puck on the stain... sandpaper... anything else.)

You can also ask that any suggestions come with step-by-step instructions, if you want to. That way if you get a lot of people making the same sort of suggestion, but with slightly different terminology, it will be easier to keep it all straight and figure out a plan you want to follow.

You can get to the bottom of this.
In the end, it might be that the plaster is damaged, and that there isn't an easy fix that will eradicate the stains...
But at least you will know.

No, it TH's theory that the stains are from the leaves, and there's no changing his mind. Its not worth beating that dead horse (not TH). The pool store told him the water was "just fine, just a little low on chlorine." (That was when the pool was green and had FC of 1ppm no matter how much chlorine I added due to ammonia.)
Thank you for the link to the Leslie's stain eraser but from what I saw it was for mild scale. I don't think it will make a dent in our case.
I think I'm just stuck will the scale. I'll just make peace with it.......and listen to TH tell me "I told you so." Haha it gives him great joy! (Doesn't bother me, he's a great guy in so, so many ways, I'll give him that "victory")

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Nope, just a regular heat pump. Maybe cuz it was very cold, below freezing some nights, don't know. Maybe, too cuz he had the heater on in the house and that contributed to the increase. At any rate, it went down to "normal" after we turned the heat pump off.
He has it back on this week, but it is much warmer so we'll see........

You cant/shouldn't use a heat pump below 50F ambient air temperature. An HPs efficiency depends a lot on the outside temperature. At freezing or near-freezing temperatures you'll just waste electricity running the fan and compressor with little or no heat output.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dakemi]

You cant/shouldn't use a heat pump below 50F ambient air temperature. An HPs efficiency depends a lot on the outside temperature. At freezing or near-freezing temperatures you'll just waste electricity running the fan and compressor with little or no heat output.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup, found that out! Can you tell we are pool neophytes?? Talkl about a negative baseline Lol!
But neophyte no longer.......at least not TW.......thanks to TFP

 

[n240sxguy]

You cant/shouldn't use a heat pump below 50F ambient air temperature. An HPs efficiency depends a lot on the outside temperature. At freezing or near-freezing temperatures you'll just waste electricity running the fan and compressor with little or no heat output.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wonder if their heat pump uses heat strips as a backup if the ambient temp is too low? That would explain crazy electricity usage. Is the house heat electric?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dakemi]

I wonder if their heat pump uses heat strips as a backup if the ambient temp is too low? That would explain crazy electricity usage. Is the house heat electric?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The heat pump uses gas. The house uses steam powered by electricity (TH thinks).

 

[dakemi]

Thank you TFP!

Do I dare post a pic of the grandson and me actually in the pool?

 

[n240sxguy]

The heat pump uses gas. The house uses steam powered by electricity (TH thinks).

Never heard of a heat pump that used gas, and if it did have a gas backup, that wouldn't explain the electricity usage. Definitely something strange going on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dakemi]

Never heard of a heat pump that used gas, and if it did have a gas backup, that wouldn't explain the electricity usage. Definitely something strange going on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Our NV Energy bill includes both gas and electricity usage.

 

[Mike1162]

Looks like a gas fired heater not a heat pump. Either way, not many of us want to see a $900 utility bill.