Long story... back again lol

clambert1273

Gold Supporter
Jun 13, 2013
1,493
Gilbert, AZ
Pool Size
12000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
CircuPool Edge-40
Hey there :) So it has been 2 years since I needed help lol a lot is different now - we moved back to sunny California and are currently in the LA vicinity. We rented a wonderful house with a beautiful pool. With our rent came a pool guy included.. little did I know how clueless and worthless he was. I still had my TFT test kit but refrained from using it until today. After 2 months of watching the pool guy, I realized that he spent maybe 5 minutes each week and did nothing that was really maintaining the pool. He kept throwing those pucks into skimmer area.. grrrrrrrr

The pool we have is 16x32 in ground vinyl - it truly is a beautiful pool and from my calculations is 20-21K gallons. It has a spa as well but we don't use it because it needs refinished or you get fiberglass on your butt :D.. don't ask lol It also has a heater (yay for me!) and a huge filter... but I am lost on the equipment piece :confused:

Last week, I ordered refills for the kit and today conducted my first test. This morning (early) I tested and got this:

FC - 0 .... yup 0
PH - ~7.8
TA - 120
CH - 480 *choke*
CYA - NADA .. zip.. zilch

Needless to say I was floored... unfortunately, think about where we live so draining any water isn't happening. So I made a quick trip to Home depot and came out with 10 jugs of 8.25% bleach and 2 containers of stabilizer. I figured my first bet was to get some CYA in the water. It is hot and sunny here and the pool stays in the sun. Around 6:30pm this evening, I poured bleach to bring it up to at least 7 and added stabilizer for 20ppm (starting low) to the sock at the return which has almost fully dissolved now. I waited about 30 minutes (filter running) and retested the chlorine.

FC - 7.5
CC - 1 :(

Hubby and I walked around the pool and noticed algae on some of the sides - that aggravated me more. I guess my next course is a quick round of SLAM. I am going to test again around 9:30pm (8:45 now) then bring the chlorine up to 14 and see how much disappears overnight. My brushes won't be here til Saturday so I will crawl in the pool if I have with a rag and start wiping down lol I ran the vacuum tonight for a bit and will run it more tomorrow. I have the heater off on the pool now while doing all of this.

Any other advice and am I doing OK so far? Good news is that I contacted my landlord and told her what was up - I have now taken over the pool responsibilities and no pool guy..woohoo... now if I could figure out all the equipment, I would be golden lol
 
Get the owner to fire the pool guy and pay you to do it instead ;)

Pretty strange the CYA is zero. I do not recommended you try to maintain the pool and the same time the pool guy is trying to?

You need to follow the SLAM process, just like you are doing.

Post pictures of the equipment and we can help with that.
 
Oh he is fired after today :) She couldn't believe algae growing in the pool then I sent her pics of it, and pics of the tests... Literally no chlorine .. Ugh

I told her I am more than happy to take care of it because we use it daily and it is a small price to pay for my happiness lol He won't be touching this pool any more.. I threw the puck away that was in the skimmer..

I will get pics of the equipment up for you.. It is a lot and huge lol
 
Ok... here goes the pics for the equipment... sorry if it gets too many and large :)

Picture of the pool
fullview.jpg

Pic of the spa - the brown color on the seats is the fiberglass lol
spa.jpg

The pool heater
poolheater.jpg

This is what is attached on the right side of the pool heater
heaterconn.jpg
 
Timer with connections
setupwithtimer.jpg

Filter
filter.jpg


Filter Label
filterlabel.jpg


Filter Connections
filterconnections.jpg


Filter gauge - it never moves from this position on or off :\
gauge.jpg
 
Thanks Jason.. Will get that ordered tomorrow. I just realized I have no idea how to even backwash on this pump... Time to find me a manual :)

Hopefully that is easy to install..
 
great job on taking over the pool :) find out how much they were paying "the pool guy" and have them take supplies and half the cost off your rent :)
 

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Unintentional but I will be assuming 20 cya at the moment since it all dissolved in the sock yesterday..

Definitely being used up at night..

This morning:
FC - 9
CC - .5
 
Last edited:
One small puck once a week didn't make a difference and that is when he even showed up. I did the CYA test twice yesterday just to confirm and I could always fill it completely and always see the dot like it was clear water.
 
If the pool guy was adding 1 puck a week, it might take a while to see anything with the CYA test. The tube sells at 20. :)

Anyway, I think you are off to a good start. Check the CYA in a couple of days and I bet you'll finally see something.
 

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