First year pool owner

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Joe K

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Jul 20, 2015
6
Richboro PA
Hi.
Not sure where to start since this is all new to me. I have been reading as much as I can here and trying to educate myself from the Pool School etc.
I think I'm getting there but still have allot to learn. Our pool has been up and running for about two months and I think my ignorance is catching up to me.

Thanks to all the great posters and the information shared. So far I have learned the local pool store is almost useless. I bought a Taylor K2006 test kit and I'm still trying to gain confidence in my results. They are vastly different from the pool store "free water test" that was anything but. According to my results, here's where I am:

FC 2.8
CC 0
PH 8.0
TA 110-120
CYA - below 30

The PH is too high and the FC and CYA are low. If I want to get my water in balance, which of these should I address first? Bring the PH down? I know there is a relationship between CYA and FC so don't want to haphazardly add chems to correct. I am running my SWCG 12 hours a day at 80% but with the CYA so low the chlorine is probably burning up as fast as it is produced. This pool gets direct sun around 10-12 hours a day.

I appreciate any thoughts you may have.
Thanks
 
For now, get the FC in range with liquid chlorine, AKA bleach. Keep it around 4-5 without fail until you get the CYA increased and the SWG dialed in. Before you do however, are there any signs of Algae or cloudy water?

Lastly and most importantly, Welcome to TFP! :goodjob:
 
Thanks all for the warm welcome.

I can turn the SWCG to 100% and I think that will increase it to around 5 PPM. Would that be overworking the SWCG that could result in decreased lifespan? I'll turn it up and see what results I get over the next few days.

The water is clear throughout the pool and the shallow end looks great. The deep end has some dark staining on the bottom that I thought was algea. I put on some goggles and went down for a closer look. I took a nylon brush that had no effect on whatever it is. The pool probably needs to be slammed but I will be in and out of town over the next four weeks, so right now it doesn't seem practical since I won't be there to closely monitor.
 
Joe K said:
Thanks all for the warm welcome.

I can turn the SWCG to 100% and I think that will increase it to around 5 PPM. Would that be overworking the SWCG that could result in decreased lifespan? I'll turn it up and see what results I get over the next few days.
Click to expand...

what you want to do is raise your FC level manually to 5ppm. then let your SWCG maintain it. is your FC level currently pretty stable? if so, you can keep the setting the same and just use bleach to get to 5. test the next day. if its 4.5 then raise your SWCG output level up. if its higher than 5, you can lower it. you keep doing this until you find that your FC is stable.

also, make sure you are doing to FC test at the same time each day
 
Oh Okay. Thanks. Yes, the Chlorine level is pretty stable day to day but consistently low for the last several weeks. I will add some liquid chlorine tonight after I calculate how much I should add. Will the pool calculator tell me how much bleach to add once I enter the parameters? One other thought, since my chlorine and CYA are low, would Dichlor make sense in this situation? I have never used it and I know it's only recommended in certain circumstances.
 
My thoughts exactly about the SWCG. I even think 80% may be a little high but I know there's no hard and fast rule for the setting.

I'll add liquid chlorine tonight and get the level up to 5ppm. It will take a couple days to get the SWCG dialed in to maintain that level but it's a start.

Thanks for the recomendations! I'll check back in a few days when I have the correct FC level maintained.
 
I prefer to run mine at no more than 65%, but sometimes bump it up. Most of the time it does great, but when it's super hot and we have organics in the pool, it struggles. I'd rather supplement with bleach than make it work too hard.

Knowing what I know now, our next SWCG will be an IC-60 instead of the 40.


[emoji176] Lisa P.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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Yeah, I agree that the IC 60 would proably have been better than the 40. If I have to replace it, I'll keep that in mind. Since it was just installed in March, I hope thats not anytime soon though! Being a newbie, I was victimized by the pool stores recomendation...:cool:
 
Joe K said:
Yeah, I agree that the IC 60 would proably have been better than the 40. If I have to replace it, I'll keep that in mind. Since it was just installed in March, I hope thats not anytime soon though! Being a newbie, I was victimized by the pool stores recomendation...:cool:
Click to expand...

Part of the problem is PBs & pool stores don't always understand the SWCGs either. And then we just trust what they say. I hope mine lasts a while too ;-)


[emoji176] Lisa P.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Pogueld said:
Part of the problem is PBs & pool stores don't always understand the SWCGs either. And then we just trust what they say. I hope mine lasts a while too ;-)


[emoji176] Lisa P.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

the problem is that the SWCG's are sized/rated assuming 24/7 operation. the total lbs of chlorine it produces assumes 100% production for 24/7. For example, the Hayward T-15 is rated for 40,000 gallons. it produces 1.5 lbs of chlorine gas. that means it can add 4.5ppm of FC per day for a 40,000 gallon pool, but that's at 100% and 24 hours.

but we know better than to run our pumps that long and when you cut your pump to run 8 hours...well now you are getting 1/3 of the chlorine production (if still at 100%). if you do that, the cell is no longer large enough to provide the chlorine loss per day. if you assume 2-3ppm loss per day and how many hours you want to run your pump, you can backtrack into what cell you need

that's why we want to oversize your SWCG by at least 2x, preferably 3.
 
That makes sense too. A friend of mine just had a pool built and her PB advised again a SWCG. He told her it's still chlorine (true), so she should just add her own, I didn't even want to ask what he advised and get into chemicals yet as she had that glassy confused look. I personally, am glad we went SW, especially since becoming TFP. A little extra assurance with my crazy life.


[emoji176] Lisa P.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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