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Thank you! We will use the wet-vac to blow the lines and try to locate the pump drains. We will get some antifreeze and dump that in. Covering with an additional tarp was a great tip; thanks!

Due to a family crisis, we need to "close" our hot tub - winterize it. We follow TFP's guidelines when we close our IG pool each fall. Having never winterized or "closed" our hot tub before - how does one do that? Anything we need to keep in mind? We have a 560gal, AG fiberglass tub w/...

Drats! Thanks for the info.

[attachment=1:24fsn7cj]Pool Party 006.JPG[/attachment:24fsn7cj] [attachment=0:24fsn7cj]Pool Party 008.JPG[/attachment:24fsn7cj] Many thanks to Pool School and members of the forum for helping with pool & spa water chemistry! Many guests have enjoyed relaxing here the past 2 summers.

This is our area to unwind... [attachment=2:2ucdmjmz]Pool Party 004.JPG[/attachment:2ucdmjmz] [attachment=1:2ucdmjmz]Pool Party 005.JPG[/attachment:2ucdmjmz] [attachment=0:2ucdmjmz]Pool Party 010.JPG[/attachment:2ucdmjmz]

We have a 20x40 IG pool, 4-8' with a diving well. It came with the house. The vinyl liner needed replaced in 2007 and that was big $. As I watched the men installing the new liner - I asked them how our pool was constructed: gunite shallow end, gunite floor in the diving well, metal walls (I...

No auto-fill feature exists. We've wondered about seeping in of fluid via the pipes or new liner (channel or seams?) but ruled this out; otherwise we would be seeing slow drainage during the swimming season. Right? The pool level stays below the steps for most of the winter and then seems to...

FC in the spa before guests started using it was at 12ppm. The spa was used from 7:30pm-10:30pm with anywhere from 2-6 guests at a time and a few times sat empty. I was concerned that people might not be comfortable swimming/soaking in such high FC, but was going on what I thought to be the...

We drain 18in below the returns. The deck is correctly sloped (away from the pool). It's just such a huge amount of water. Even in heavy winters - where we've gotten 18in of snow - the conversion of snow to water would not equal 18in of water. In recent years we've seen more ice than snow and...

2yrs ago we began using the Closing Tips found here and added draining our IG pool to our winterizing procedure. That year and this past year we drained, as recommended, 18in below the returns. The following spring, for opening, we anticipated filling quite a large amount of water back into...

So, the party is over. We had 18 guests. The pool, spa and fire pit were all brilliant. Testing the spa this morning I found: pH 7.4 (yay!) FC 4 TA 60 Questions: Do I need to lower TA, once again, back down to 50? and why did it rise? I added 2oz of bleach to take FC back to 5ppm but was I...

Cool, thanks!

If I decide to start using borates (other than to adjust pH)...do I need to test for it? If so, what is the test? I don't see one in my TFT-100.

Yes...we did have scaling in the spa previously, which was a PAIN. I'm glad to hear that a negative CSI will work. You bring up a good point. I'm guessing the spa probably isn't vinyl. Our pool is vinyl but the spa is probably fiberglass or something of a hard shell similar to what boats are...

I got there! Most recent set of numbers: pH 7.4 FC 5 TA 50 CSI -0.33 Woohoo! :party: Would really like the CSI to say "balanced" instead of "potential to become corrosive to plaster" - but that is the old perfectionist in me, besides, the spa is vinyl not plaster. Molly

My numbers this morning: pH 7.5 FC 4 TA 90 CYA 30 I'll add the 1/4C acid as you suggest. It's not dry acid, it's muriatic 20 baume - I don't know if that makes a difference in the amt. I would like to see that TA come down to 50. I was surprised that a cup of acid didn't lower the TA by 100 -...

I don't know how fast or slow this process was overall. I retested the spa about 2hrs after the initial chem were added and got these results: FC 1 pH 7.3 TA 250 CYA 20 I then added 4oz of bleach for a goal of 5ppm and 1C of acid to continue to lower TA and put my jets on full bore. I did not...

Awesome, thanks so much!

Ah-ha! That makes total sense (I am learning, slowly but surely) - thank you! Can I aerate for an hour and re-check or is that too long/too short (as a general rule) between acid/aeration cycles to get an accurate test result? Molly

I was under the impression that 50ppm of Borate was a "must have" to act as an additional buffer due to all the aeration the hot tub gets. No? That's why I added it up front. Thank you for the "cycle" tip (raising pH and lowering w/ acid, aerate and repeat several iterations) to get my TA...

Thank you for clarifying about the use of borate and target of TA at 50ppm. I drained the tub last night, just to be on the safe side. Fresh refill numbers are: FC 0 pH 7.2 TA 330 CH 240 CYA 0 It looks like a mess to me. Your info letting me know that it doesn't matter how high my CH is was...

Quick addendum: if I drain and refill, should I use a scale preventive (like, Leisure Time Defender) since my CH is so high? We do have scale and although I realize that is a precipitate formed from the TA and pH being too high - is it recommended to also use a preventive when the CH is...

We do keep water in the hot tub year-round and use 6% bleach as sanitizer. Although, since we haven't been using the spa in recent years, we have only recently begun working to balance the chemistry. Thank you! Our water in the hot tub is clear. Loss of FC is not quite 50%. I added...

I read through the Chlorine Chemistry instructions that Nitro posted - thank you, I've been looking for kind of information. Our hot tub doesn't get much use; I haven't been in it for a year or more. Sad, I know. This Thursday we are hosting a backyard party & I'm certain it will get a lot...

Okay - thanks!