Waxahachie, TX Owner Build - A race to beat the baby!

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Good news! I successfully registerd my salt cell and made a claim under warranty. Pentiar will be sending me out a new cell and requiring me to return the defective one at their cost. They want their engineers to look at it to see what may have gone wrong.

So now I'm am waiting on the dummy pass through cell to come (it should be shipping out today) so I can figure out if I have any more pressure loss issues. Here's praying I don't!
 
Wow! I just read through the whole thread. Very interesting reading Jamie! Congratulations on the bun in the oven and Happy Birthday! Lol

This thread has been so informative! I take screen shots of things I learn so I can go through them and add my notes in one place later and I got so much useful information from reading your build! I look forward to seeing how things progress and will say a prayer for you!


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twinkiesmommy2009 said:
Wow! I just read through the whole thread. Very interesting reading Jamie! Congratulations on the bun in the oven and Happy Birthday! Lol

This thread has been so informative! I take screen shots of things I learn so I can go through them and add my notes in one place later and I got so much useful information from reading your build! I look forward to seeing how things progress and will say a prayer for you!


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Thanks, twinkiesmommy! I'm glad my journey has been useful to you, because I've certainly learned a lot! I'm in a holding pattern right now as I wait for my dummy pass though salt cell to arrive. I thought it would come today, but no luck. Hopefully Monday, and then I'm praying that it will solve all my pressure loss problems and I can be done with that.

As an update... I've got drainage/regrading around the pool happening on Tuesday, and the fence being delivered/installed starting on Thursday. Then I need to figure out what do do next... Get moving on the plaster or wait until the blistering deck issue is resolved with the spraydeck. If it weren't for worrying about the junk that could get in the pool from any sanding of the deck they might do, I'd not hesitates to get the pool up and running. But I wonder how much of an issue that will be with the newly surfaced pool? I assume it will just make my filter work harder and then maybe I'd have to clean it sooner. Thoughts on that would be appreciated! Once the fence is up I'll be contacting the plaster guy and seeing what his opinion is too. We're getting closer!
 
Jamie,

Plaster is last. Get everything else out of the way. You're not going to be swimming in the pool anyway due to the cold weather so get everything else that's heavy/dirty work out of the way and then do plaster.

Site prep us important. The plasterer should clean out the pool BUT you may want to confirm what they need in terms of site prep. Also, after all is said and done, your yard will likely still have a fair amount of debris in it. You might also want to set aside some money for a waste container and a clean up crew.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Jamie,

Plaster is last. Get everything else out of the way. You're not going to be swimming in the pool anyway due to the cold weather so get everything else that's heavy/dirty work out of the way and then do plaster.

Site prep us important. The plasterer should clean out the pool BUT you may want to confirm what they need in terms of site prep. Also, after all is said and done, your yard will likely still have a fair amount of debris in it. You might also want to set aside some money for a waste container and a clean up crew.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
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Thanks, Matt. I keep thinking about the 30 days of no swimming after the water goes in, so I'm eager to get the clock ticking on that as soon as possible, especially the closer my due date of May 2nd gets! But all it means is the longer the build goes, the sooner I'll be handing over the testing responsibilities to my husband and boys, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. :) I've always read that plaster is the last thing after all the dirty work, so what you say is not surprising. The decking went in Feb. 5th, so the 28 day curing period ends March 4th. I need to be back in touch with the concrete guys to find out their timeframe for getting the deck squared away.

Good point about the dumpster. We can burn a lot of the stuff already on hand, but some of it should be hauled off. I'll have to look into that.
 
pooldv said:
We were in our pool before it was full and had a big pool party the following weekend.
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We were similar, swimming first day it was filled and we had a party three days later! Never heard the 30 days rule before.
If I rember right the chlorine level was a bit high but no one cared! Pool was filled right before the Fourth of July weekend and we weren't going to miss that!
 
The wait time has much more to do with the type of startup that is being performed on the pool and potential for damage to a heater.

With an acid startup, the pH will be very low and chances are there will be a great deal of plaster dust in the water that will be very irritating to the skin.

In the case of a bicarbonate startup, the water is heavily oversaturated with calcium carbonate which will also be very irritating (in addition to higher pH values). Since the TA levels are intentionally high, splashing will cause excessive aeration which makes the pH rise even quicker (than it already will) and require more acid to lower the pH and sodium bicarbonate to raise the TA (after dropping from the acid addition).

Keep in mind that the whole idea behind waiting 30 days is a best practice type scenario and has little to do with real life. No harm will likely happen to the surface or swimmers (other than minor irritation) but waiting at least a few days is recommended.

I would highly advise to not use the heater until there is no longer any visible plaster dust. In pools where the surface has been acid washed after being applied, this will not be very long at all, maybe as soon as 2 weeks.
 

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Marlahoutex said:
Brian, I thought you had to wait 30 days before using the heater. But does that also depend on your start up?
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Absolutely depends on the start up and the type of surface. The main issue with using a heater too soon after fresh plaster is applied is the excess plaster dust that is in suspension in the water. The heater can easily raise the CSI to a level where scaling is possible, especially inside the heater, since water at high temperatures has less ability to prevent calcium from precipitating out of it. With a bicarb startup, the water at its current temperature is already near scaling potential, raising the temperature from the heater will put it significantly over that threshold and likely begin to form scale.

There is nothing magical that happens to plaster after 30 days that makes it OK to use a heater. It is largely based on situation, the present water parameters and how well the plaster dust has been mitigated. I am not advocating using the heater sooner than 30 days but if a pool has been well maintained during the initial startup period, I don't see why there would be any more danger.

This is very similar to not adding salt within the first 30 days. Not doing so is again considered best practice, but there is little harm that is done if the salt is added prior to one month of cure time. Again, I am not advocating this but it does happen very frequently.

Plain plaster finishes are a lot different than the aggregate finishes. The latter are allowed to cure for 24 hours, get acid washed, pressure washed and then filled. Most of the dust has already been removed and pumped out of the pool prior to filling. So long as the remaining dust is taken care of, I don't see why a heater couldn't be used sooner so long as it is known what higher water temperatures will do to the CSI at the current condition of the water.
 
I'm not advocating this but will point out an observation that I had with my build. When filling the pool, the 4 kiddos were so eager and quite frankly annoyed the heck out of us wanting to get in. We eventually gave in to very careful walking in the pool.

Its been a few weeks since then and my children have not been back in the pool. Turns out that when water temp is in the 50s, it's cold enough to discourage them from getting in after they get that small taste of ice cube water. I'm glad we gave in because those 5 minutes of them in the pool kept them quiet about getting in from then on. :)
 
bdavis466 said:
Absolutely depends on the start up and the type of surface. The main issue with using a heater too soon after fresh plaster is applied is the excess plaster dust that is in suspension in the water. The heater can easily raise the CSI to a level where scaling is possible, especially inside the heater, since water at high temperatures has less ability to prevent calcium from precipitating out of it. With a bicarb startup, the water at its current temperature is already near scaling potential, raising the temperature from the heater will put it significantly over that threshold and likely begin to form scale.

There is nothing magical that happens to plaster after 30 days that makes it OK to use a heater. It is largely based on situation, the present water parameters and how well the plaster dust has been mitigated. I am not advocating using the heater sooner than 30 days but if a pool has been well maintained during the initial startup period, I don't see why there would be any more danger.

This is very similar to not adding salt within the first 30 days. Not doing so is again considered best practice, but there is little harm that is done if the salt is added prior to one month of cure time. Again, I am not advocating this but it does happen very frequently.

Plain plaster finishes are a lot different than the aggregate finishes. The latter are allowed to cure for 24 hours, get acid washed, pressure washed and then filled. Most of the dust has already been removed and pumped out of the pool prior to filling. So long as the remaining dust is taken care of, I don't see why a heater couldn't be used sooner so long as it is known what higher water temperatures will do to the CSI at the current condition of the water.
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That makes sense....we waited 30 days to use the spa heater and add salt. Our PB said it probably didn't matter but be safe. However we were swimming on day one, no irritation or anything. Of course it was July in Texas so water wasn't too cold.
 
JamieP said:
Thanks, Matt. I keep thinking about the 30 days of no swimming after the water goes in, so I'm eager to get the clock ticking on that as soon as possible...
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Jamie,

Question: You know what that 30-day break-in period represents?

Answer: A very good teachable-moment for your children in learning patience, self-control and respecting the wishes of mom & dad. Those are life-lessons that are in very short supply these days.

It's also a very small fraction of the overall lifetime of the pool and the many years of enjoyment you and your family will get from it. A lot like pregnancy, "birthing" a pool is an exercise of patience and long-suffering...but the end-result is well worth it!! I leave you with this picture that is dear to my heart -

0742CD17-A1D0-4F63-A17B-17503EE14AA2_zps5jfempjm.jpg


You'll get one of those pictures soon too, no doubt in my mind!!
 
What Joyful said is so true. We don't homeschool but I use some Homeschool curriculums at home. Choose Your Virtues is my favorite and Patience seems to be one of the hardest for them in a world of instant gratification. I think this would be a great opportunity to reinforce that lesson. Maybe set up a countdown calendar like they do with the Christmas advent calendars. Lol


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Twinkiesmom! How did I forget that!!! That is something I have PO do if they have kids! Add that to the to do list!

Make a count down to the swimming in the pool BUT make sure to add in about 2 or so weeks for some wiggle room.

Kim
 
twinkiesmommy2009 said:
Maybe set up a countdown calendar like they do with the Christmas advent calendars. Lol

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A countdown calendar is a great idea. You can even couple it with a little science lesson for each kiddo giving then the task of measuring pH and TA. The older kids can learn about the science of cement and the younger one can make red cabbage juice pH indicator solutions and learn about acids and bases.

Cabbage Chemistry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk,16k gal SWG pool (All Pentair), QuadDE100 Filter, Taylor K-2006
 

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