Recent content by jreiser

  1. J

    Playing 'find the leak'

    Replying to myself in case anyone is following this... So today I topped by the local pool supply store and they suggested replacing the o-ring gasket on the pump. Another store had it in stock, so being a pretty simple DIY job and an inexpensive part, I gave it a shot. Naturally when I came...
  2. J

    Playing 'find the leak'

    Sadly there's nothing trouble-free about our pool except the chemistry method I wish to use. Otherwise, it's a hole in the ground that swallows our hopes of swimming. :( So I have a 3-way valve at the pad that controls the skimmers (A, Both, B). Since the "B" skimmer line leaks at a rate of...
  3. J

    Playing 'find the leak'

    Thanks for the advice! Since the water level had already dropped below the skimmers and returns, I turned off the skimmer valves at the pad and tried filling the lines from the skimmer boxes from a garden hose. Sure enough - once filled, one of them holds water consistently, and one leaks at...
  4. J

    Playing 'find the leak'

    I'd love to treat this as a game, but thus-far locating the source of our pool leak has been anything but fun. We're renting a house with an in-ground vinyl pool about 30k gallons (105,000 square inches, average 5.5' depth) and just opened the pool about a week ago. The pool guy who opened it...
  5. J

    Is it dead algae, sand from the filter, or something else?

    Thanks! Great to have confirmation of this. It certainly makes sense intuitively but what I know about pools is what I've learned here in the last couple weeks. So it's accurate but somewhat incomplete. More reading to do! Not a lot of dirt to blow after we powerwashed the patio. Certainly...
  6. J

    Is it dead algae, sand from the filter, or something else?

    Thanks for such a seemingly obvious idea! I wouldn't have thought of that. - Jason
  7. J

    Is it dead algae, sand from the filter, or something else?

    We just opened the pool 12 days ago and the pool has been in swimming condition for the past few days. I've been keeping the pool at shock levels on a daily basis and find what I believe is dead algae at the bottom each day, but less and less. An overnight FC loss test will happen soon but I'm...
  8. J

    Recently opened - When to stop daily shock?

    I think it was more of an artifact from the crappy iPhone camera, but I've been keeping chlorine levels up just to be safe until I can perform an overnight loss test. In the mean time, we swam last night and today and the pool water is great! My wife even remarked that the pool water doesn't...
  9. J

    A big thanks!

    Absolutely! Save this photo. It will go perfectly with a tagline like, "Vote for a leader who's not afraid to jump into any situation with both feet!"
  10. J

    Post Alage confusion, questions.

    I'm far from a pro, but a couple things come to mind... - How did you add the stabilizer? Recommendations here are generally to do so slowly by sticking it into socks or stockings over the water returns. When stabilizer is being added the water nearby can get slightly milky looking but this...
  11. J

    More Braggin' - This time on you

    As a newbie to both this forum and pool maintenance, I can say this forum is unusually newbie-friendly. Information is spelled out so clearly that I've quickly become the pool expert among my friends and family. I think just about every trip to Walmart for bleach has resulted in at least a...
  12. J

    Need Help...Kids getting rashes...

    Teach the kids the phrase, "Wow, grandpop - the pool is MUCH less acidic now! Thank you! We love you!" Good job dealing with the pool and the father-in-law. I can't imagine trying to convince mine of something that ran counter to his opinion.
  13. J

    20 Mule Team Borax Store Locator

    ^ That's where I found mine, too.
  14. J

    Recently opened - When to stop daily shock?

    Thanks - I had a feeling that was the advice I'd get. The pool store was no help obviously... they said my FC is too high at 5 and I should stop shocking the pool unless it's a green pool (lots of algae). :roll: I may drop the FC levels to less than shock (10 on the pool calculator) but...
  15. J

    Recently opened - When to stop daily shock?

    Thank you - that's very nice of you! We're actually just renting the house, but I can still take pride in it. :-D After we power-wash the patio it should look great. It's already a huge improvement. Here's a better angle... [attachment=0:3emp3pk1]day-8-pool-and-house.jpg[/attachment:3emp3pk1]