100% Water Replacement So I'm Starting From Scratch

[PatrickSmith]

Having some work done which required emptying the entire pool. I'll be refilling in the next couple days. During the transition, I'm also moving over to SWG with the Circupool Core-55. I know it is probably more SWG than my 15000 gallon pool needs, but it was available and I figured less % generation would help the cell last longer. In this transition, I want to make sure I'm doing things in the proper order, so I'll share my plan here and ask for a sanity check to make sure I'm doing it right. I'm using Pool Math to get the proper amounts of chemical to add. Once I have the pool filled and pump running, I think my course of action will be:

1. Don't turn on the SWG yet...still have to get my water balanced and then add salt
2. Adjust CYI to 70 by adding 140oz of Stabilizer using the sock method. I'll split the large amount among 2 or 3 separate socks, one in the skimmer and 1 at each of my 2 returns. (takes a couple days to test at 70)
3. Adjust PH to 7.5
4. Adjust Free Chlorine to 3ppm using Liquid Chlorine.
5. Adjust Calcium to 450ppm using 52lbs of Calcium Chloride.
(question: the pool is gunite and plaster built around 1974. We had areas where plaster was coming loose, so the work done was to cut out all areas that were coming loose and patch. The patches are all in and then the entire pool was painted with Epoxy paint. Does this change anything regarding my need for appropriate calcium levels? Does the paint act as a barrier to prevent any leaching?)
6. Adjust borates to 50 by adding 573oz of boric acid.
7. Adjust salt level to 3500ppm by adding 439 lbs of salt.

8. Once water tests out, set the SWG %.
(question: I run my pump around 8 hours per day. Pool Math shows that the Core-55 can produce 2.3lbs of chlorine gas. At what % output should I initially set the Core-55 to run?)

thanks for any input...I appreciate the expertise of the folks here.
Patrick

 

[Cwiggs]

Looks like a good start. Here are my thoughts.

• Getting the pH to 7.5 will be easy so do that first
• Get the CYA socks in and the chlorine in, but the CYA will probably take more than a day to dissolve. I know it takes a while in my pool at least.
• Then put the salt in, but start with less than you think you'll need, say 360 lbs. retest and then increase if needed. You can always put more in, you can't take it out easily so take you time so you don't overshoot.
• Turn on the SWCG, put it to a % that seems correct and you'll adjust over the next couple days/weeks.
• Once the CYA, pH, FC, (what about TA?), is all done, then move on to balancing the calcium.
• Then once the Calcium is balanced and you verified pH/TA is good, you can add the borates, but again, start at a lower dose and move up as needed, 573oz of boric acid is a lot.

question: the pool is gunite and plaster built around 1974. We had areas where plaster was coming loose, so the work done was to cut out all areas that were coming loose and patch. The patches are all in and then the entire pool was painted with Epoxy paint. Does this change anything regarding my need for appropriate

I'm not sure about this, perhaps someone else has some more insight?

(question: I run my pump around 8 hours per day. Pool Math shows that the Core-55 can produce 2.3lbs of chlorine gas. At what % output should I initially set the Core-55 to run?)

It's going to take a while for you to get the feel of your SWCG. The poolmath app has a warning about that 2.3lbs per 8 hours is an estimate and a lot can effect it. So set the % and pump run time at a place you think will work and test 24 hours later and keep adjusting the % and/or pump run time to get it dialed in. You can read more about this method here.

Good luck!

 

[Texas Splash]

@JamesW, in your opinion does paint epoxy cure well enough to bypass the 30 day plaster cure wait period for salt and SWG use, or should the OP chlorinate manually for 30 days?

 

[JamesW]

@JamesW, in your opinion does paint epoxy cure well enough to bypass the 30 day plaster cure wait period for salt and SWG use, or should the OP chlorinate manually for 30 days?

In my opinion, paint is not suitable for pool use.

I would refer the poster to the manufacturer of the paint for their recommendations.

 

[PatrickSmith]

Thanks again for the help and input. I checked in with our contractor and found that the paint is Olympic Zeron Epoxy Pool Coating. I sent Olympic a message asking about the salt and have received a reply that salt will not be an issue for the product. As far as whether the paint will actually work out well, I guess that remains to be seen. Olympic advertises that it's an 8 year product, but what's done is done and there isn't much I can do about it at this point.