Brand New and a bit nervous!

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A

Ameliamcr

Member
Aug 22, 2023
16
Baytown, Texas
Pool Size
30000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Hello! We just bought a home with a pool and we are very excited. We are located in south east Texas outside the east side of Houston.

I know absolutely nothing about pools except they have water and you can go swimming šŸ˜‚

I have ordered the TF -Pro kit and hopefully it will be here soon. I assume Iā€™m going to need to SLAM it but am waiting until the kit gets here.

My first question is - how do I maintain it until I get the kit? I put a gallon of 12.5% LC in this morning, it cleared up a bit but now went a bit cloudy. I saw a bit of green algae growth on the tile side while swimming.

Next, because of the cost of LC around me, Iā€™m very drawn to converting to an SWG but donā€™t want to buy something that wonā€™t work. So Iā€™m looking for some advice and direction on that.

It seemed there was a box plugged in on the left of the filter that said ā€œmineralizerā€ - it also has two cords/wires connecting to the filter - Iā€™ve unplugged that for now.

Iā€™ve included pictures of our pool, the filter, and the pump in case Iā€™m not understanding what I have!

Thank you all!!
 

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Welcome to TFP! These guys are great.

Iā€™m sure someone will be along shortly to welcome you but start with

Pool Care Basics

And

FC/CYA Levels

Which are cornerstones to get you to

How Clear is TFP Clear?

Good for the pics of the equipment. Critical
Will be to know the volume of the pool. Do you know the size? Gallons?
 
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Thanks for the links! I will continue reading and learning.

Iā€™m estimating the gallons at about 30k - itā€™s about 22ft and the front wide part and about 30ft long - approx 4ft to 10ft
 
Welcome to TFP!

@BDY provided some good links to get you started.

Good move on unplugging the Mineralizer. It adds copper and silver to the pool. Metals can cause stains and copper can result in green hair, which is erroneously blamed on chlorine. Plan on removing the entire gadget in the future. For now, stick with liquid chlorine/bleach. The 12.5% you have is as good as it gets.

We'll talk about SWGs later. For now, you're gonna need to complete the SLAM Process after you get your test kit. Start mentally preparing. The process will take a few days to weeks depending on how bad things are.

I think your estimate in pool volume may be a bit high, but no one's in a better spot than you to estimate. 10' is deep and not that common. This link (Old PoolMath Webpage) has a pool volume estimation tool.

For now, download and familiarize yourself with PoolMath. Enter your pool info and see if you can figure out how to add 5ppm of liquid chlorine daily. Keep this up until your test kit arrives. This is just to stabilize things until you get some good test results.

Best wishes!
 
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Here is some info on the Mineralizer.

In the photo below, the fitting circled in yellow appears to be the plumbing component for the mineral system. You should be able to remove the fitting on the T and replace it with a plug.

The green component is a tablet chlorinator (trichlor tablets). Sustained use of trichlor can lead to excessive CYA levels.


IMG_0713.jpeg
 
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Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
Here is some info on the Mineralizer.

In the photo below, the fitting circled in yellow appears to be the plumbing component for the mineral system. You should be able to remove the fitting on the T and replace it with a plug.

The green component is a tablet chlorinator (trichlor tablets). Sustained use of trichlor can lead to excessive CYA levels.


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Thanks for pointing this out! I've been reading as much as I can and just told my husband earlier this evening that we probably needed to take that feeder off. I really want to get down to a simple and straightforward approach and want to follow TFP way!
 
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Adding an SWG to your system is an outstanding idea! You can probably use some of the space where the chlorinator is for the swg flow switch. The cell itself can mount on the vertical pipe leaving the filter. Having no automation, the CircuPool RJ60 Plus is a great choice. It should be double your pool's volume which is recommended by TFP. Cost for the unit now is around $1,500. If your husband has any DIY experience, he should be able to install it himself. We are here to help.
 
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Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
Adding an SWG to your system is an outstanding idea! You can probably use some of the space where the chlorinator is for the swg flow switch. The cell itself can mount on the vertical pipe leaving the filter. Having no automation, the CircuPool RJ60 Plus is a great choice. It should be double your pool's volume which is recommended by TFP. Cost for the unit now is around $1,500. If your husband has any DIY experience, he should be able to install it himself. We are here to help.
Click to expand...
I had seen that in a few forum posts and was leaning towards it! Thanks for the direction on that.
 
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The pump you have a single-speed 2hp energy monster that probably pulls ~2400 watts. If you plan on staying in house for a few years, consider an upgrade to a VS pump. For the majority of the day, my pump uses about 350 watts running at medium speed. Here's a chart (thanks @PoolGate) that demonstrates energy use of a 3hp pump at varying RPMs...

1690484390541-png.517752
 
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If you install a SWG and a vs pump you can run low rpm 24/7 for a fraction of the cost. Iā€™m running at 1000 rpm 24/7 for the SWG at 74 watts - about 15-20$ a month. At 2400 rpm Iā€™d be at 1200 watts! The larger motors are more efficient at low speed, and the low speed = much less energy (itā€™s not linear it exponentialā€¦.a single stage motor is going to be an energy bill hog as will a VS running at high speed).

+ 1 on get pool under control and then worry about pumping upgrades :)
 
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