Filling with a fire hose... Me, not the pool.

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zombiejeep

zombiejeep

0
Jun 17, 2015
39
Nebraska
I'm getting so much info from the pool guy, friends, and this forum, it's like I'm drinking from a fire hose.

After numerous rain delays, a unexpected time at work, etc., we finally got our new AGP installed. I've been lurking around here a few months and I thought I had a handle on things. Yeah right.

So the other day the installer dumped a bottle of stuff in the pool and said don't add anything until tomorrow, and it was beer-thirty.

I believe the stuff was Sequa-Sol, that's the only thing that is missing out of my big box of chems from the pool store that came with the pool. I waited 24 hours, like the guys said and then added a puck to the skimmer basket. Haven't done any testing today yet.

The "cheat sheet" from the pool place is of course very different than the guidelines here on this forum. And don't get me started on my friend with a pool, he swims in anything wet.

I've got 1 pound bags of stuff they want me to add weekly, which would last the rest of the season. Since it is kind of late, is it best to go the BBB/TFPM when you first open a pool up for the year?
 
Stick with us here at TFP - the TFPC (previously BBB) way! Don't put anything else in your pool right now until you know what your true water chemical results are.

Here are your most important links:
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart
Poolmath calculator
Pool School - Recommended Levels
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

New water means 3 very important things right away:
1 - Add stabilizer (via sock method) with a target of 30 ppm to protect your free chlorine (FC)
2 - Add about 1/2 gallon of regular liquid bleach to your water each evening until your kit arrives
3 - If you have any way to check PH, it should be in the mid 7s

Until your kit arrives, that should hold you over for now. Congrats on the new pool.
 
You can go to TFP any time of year. The best time to do it is yesterday.

The biggest problem you have right now is mixing advice from different sources. You need to decide what advice you're going to follow. If you follow TFP methods, you must do it all the way, pedal to the floor and no pumping the brakes based on pool guy, pool store, neighbor, brother, cousin or telemarketer's advice. It works if you follow it to the letter and don't mix advice from other sources. That will only create doubt and poor results. Once you commit to it and it works, you'll be the one telling your friends how it's done.
 
The only other consideration would be if the PB is only going to offer some type of warranty if you do it their way.

- - - Updated - - -

If not then it's TFPC all the way. starting just before he dumped whatever, into the pool. :)
 
Welcome! It took me a few six packs to get through all the reading and learning I needed to do on this site too. ;) But well worth it! I'd start with the BBB/TFPM right off the bat. I found it's one of those "learn by doing" things and when you post a question, you'll get an answer in short order. Now that I understand pool chemistry (no expert, believe me), I can see how the pool store really can mess you up. As for pool warranty, I don't know about since my pool was cheap enough that If it dies on us, we'll get a bigger, better AGP next year.
Good luck feeding and caring for your new baby. And Happy Swimming!!!
 
One thing that the pool guy said that made me think was that the pump and filter have to stay on 24/7. I was under the impression that you only had to run it enough to turnover your pool. Yep, I have more reading to do here. I'm going to need a few beers.
 
24/7 recommendations by pool guys is because they assume you are going to be putting tablets in your skimmer. It's bad to have a tablet sitting in a stagnant skimmer. It builds high chlorine level in the skimmer bucket and can destroy the plastic and piping. Your pool guy isn't paying your electric bill either so he doesn't care if your spending 3 times as much in electricity than for instance, only running 8 hours per day which is more than enough for most people. Turnover is relatively meaningless. You need to run your pump enough to distribute chlorine, either from bleach or a salt water chlorine generator, and enough to maintain your water clarity through skimming action and filtration. I run my filter between 5 and 8 hours a day, depending on how the pool is looking. A pump on a timer is a wonderful thing to have, especially if you can set it to run a few separate sessions of several hours during the day. If your power company charges more or less during certain daily hours, you can take advantage of that as well. This is a good article for reference: Pool School - Determine Pump Run Time
 

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Hey zombie... Congrats on the new pool. Stick with us n disregard your buddy n that pool guy... What's his name... Does it even really matter?! Nope, it does not. :cool: See the ABC's in my signature? That Will get you started once your kit gets here. Just go get some bleach n keep it in a cool dark place like a basement if you have one. If you have any specific question, post it n well get you on your way.

As far as pump run time... I have a 24ft pool n run mine around 3 hrs or so a day. Sometimes I'll let it go all night. If you're getting tree leaves n stuff you run it longer. Play with it, see how it does n make it specific to your needs. Good luck!
 
zombiejeep said:
One thing that the pool guy said that made me think was that the pump and filter have to stay on 24/7. I was under the impression that you only had to run it enough to turnover your pool. Yep, I have more reading to do here. I'm going to need a few beers.
Click to expand...

The only time I see 24/7 here is if you are SLAMming and if you keep on top of everything you should never have to do that! My pool is small, but I run mine about 4 hours at night to make sure the chlorine is well mixed (as well as brushing it), and about 2-4 hours during the day depending on how it looks. If I see a hint of cloudiness, I clean my filter and run for longer. But with regular testing and cleaning, I've never had to SLAM.
 
zombiejeep said:
Wow, thank you all. I appreciate it very much and try to read as much as I can, and use the search function as to not start a lot of repeat threads.

Everyone is so nice, a lot different from other forums!
Click to expand...

Being a newbie myself, I can tell you these people are a Godsend. They are not only nice, but really want to help. They don't call it trouble free pool for nothing!!!
 
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