Recent content by outbacktommy

Our pool was built in 2007- 17 years old. The liner has a 20 year warranty but it has faded a fair amount below the water line (probably due to over-chlorination a few times) and is showing some mild brown staining above the water line (reasons unknown, various remediation attempts had little...

After 15 years of use, some of my major pool equipment is getting a little tired and could use replacement soon. All of the existing equipment has 2 inch connectors, yet all of it is reduced to 1-1/2" and all of the suction, returns and equipment are all 1-1/2 with 90 sharp elbows. It would seem...

Past years, $225 to close including chems and antifreeze (2 returns, no features). I think it's cheaper because of the autocover. They don't touch the heater, SWG or filter except to drain. All mechanicals stay connected, just blown out, available drain plugs removed then antifreeze added...

I'm getting ready to schedule my pool closing for Oct 31 here in MN. I don't trust myself to do this correctly, so I always have used the pool company that built the pool, but they were purchased by a competitor this year and now the price nearly doubled. While I was looking at previous closing...

Sounds like I might have struck a nerve with some- sorry about that. To be specific, I had CYA last season of 60 in my Minnesota in-ground pool. I do not drain anything for winter (to preserve the integrity of the auto-cover). This spring, I had issues that required some more intensive care...

Pool School is perfect, almost. It would be helpful if, along with the recommended chems and levels, there were some basic guidelines as to HOW to add each of the various chemicals. One sentence is enough. Disperse directly into the pool? Pour in front of return? Should it go in the skimmer...

Sorry, I abbreviated my post. Borax has nothing to do with TA. It does raise pH and so does aeration. In such small quantities, borax doesn't raise it much. I'll pursue the borax addition in small quantities during pool season. As for aeration, now that you mention it, TFP posts recommend it in...

7/21, 8am: FC=8.5, CC=0. Did not add anything due to imminent swimming. Nice to see that the FC is almost holding steady. Pool looks great. 10pm: FC=9, CC=0.5. pH=7.2. FC went up slightly- could be testing variability, could be that I was wrong about the SWG not working. Either way, SLAM is done...

Pool is always covered w/ autocover, not exposed to the sun- it might as well be an indoor pool except for a few hours on weekends. We didn't swim today until 6pm due to rain. 10pm: FC=7.5, CC=0.5. Added 10 more oz of dichlor to target FC=10. Also added 4 lb of borax- this has always been a goal...

4:00pm. FC=5.0, CC=0.5. added 2.5qt 12.5% bleach to target CC=10. I didn't want too much chlorine so we could swim in a couple of hours. CYA reagent came today. it was barely cloudy but below any detectable level, so let's say it was <10 due to the pound or two of the old dichlor I tossed in at...

6am. FC=6.5, CC=0.5, water is clear. We're almost there. Added 3qt 12.5% bleach to target FC=12. Weekend guests arrive at 4pm. We will probably wait until tomorrow to swim.

11pm. CYA reagents did not arrive today :( but FC=5.5, CC=0.5, everything else is the same, so it is definitely slowing down. Optimistic with a very hot weekend starting tomorrow ;) Added 3qt 12.5% bleach to target FC=11 for overnight. And yes, I started using the 10ml samples- thanks for...

48 hours since first bleach addition. Note that yesterday's pH test was done when FC was 0.4. It was just out of curiosity, I know it didn't really mean anything. Today, 6:30a, FC=2.4, CC=0.4, Temp=85, SWG still at 90% to reduce need for bleach (theoretically). Added another 5 quarts of 12.5%...

6pm after work: FC=0.4, CC=0.6, pH dropped from 7.6 to 7.2. Temp=86. Added another 6 quarts of 12.5% bleach (PoolMath) to target 10-12 FC. Put the robot in the pool to pick up debris and stir the crud on the bottom- yeah, I know they say not to abuse the robot like that, but it was too hot...

Added bleach last night based on an estimated CYA of 30 and target FC of 10. Test showed FC of .6 and CC of 4+ before adding bleach. This morning, FC was 3.8 and CC was .4 so I'm happy that the response was rapid. Since it was so fast and CC still exists, I added more bleach raise to a...