Pool company fired me. Time to learn to do on my own.

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M

mdhwoods

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LifeTime Supporter
Apr 18, 2009
143
Sarasota Florida
Well my pool company decided to stop service pools in my area so its time i learn to do it on my own. When i bought my house 7 years ago I attempted to take care of the pool which lasted about a 2 weeks when i turned cloudy to never come back. So i hired a company and as far as i new everything has been good. Their last service day is next week the 23rd so i figured i better learn before it is to late. The problem 7 years ago i came to find out was chlorine lock due to a high cya. Pool guy drained 1/3 of my pool and fixed the problem. Fast forward to today, armed with my new Taylor test kit i have gone and tested all my levels and to my dismay i find i once again may have a cya that is way to high. Pool is slightly cloudy. Below are my levels.

Pool is an in ground plaster kidney shaped, ~15000 gallons.

cya over 100, cant tell exactly as it looks like I can only test up to 100
fc-12
cc-0
tc-12
ph ~7.9
ta-140
ch-600

From what I can tell it looks like the pool company wasn't doing as good as a job as i though and i may need to do a pool drain.


Thanks in advance.

Mike
 
I assume you are using trichlor tabs in a feeder or floater? First advice is to read the Pool School section of the forum. The link is on the upper right corner of every page and also in my Sig. After reading through everything twice you should have a better basic understanding of what you need to do (including what info to include in your posts). Then you can post any questions you have and we are here to help! :goodjob:

BTW, which Taylor kit did you get? If you have the K-2006 your are good to go. If you got the K-2005 then order the FAS-DPD chlorine test from TFTestkits or Taylor, your choice. If you have any other Taylor kit I would strongly suggest getting either a K-2006 or a TF100 from TFTestkits!
 
No floater, but i have a feeder. I will have to pop the cap and see if the pool company has been using it. I will post back in a bit.

Feeder is empty, so I would assume that they are not using it. I appreciate your response and have reviewed the pool school for the last week. But as a new pool caretaker I am a bit apprehensive to do anything without a bit of reassurance. From what i can tell I need to get my cya lowered first. Seeing how changing 25% of the pool water is pretty drastic let alone expensive here in Florida, I am looking for input from the way more experienced members of this board then I. Hopefully i have now given enough to allow some direction.

btw it is the Taylor k-2006 kit which is a very thorough kit and bought on the advise of the Pool School

thanks
 
Chances are if they are a 'once a week or so' kind of company, they were using it, and probably dichlor to weekly shock the pool...With a cartridge filter, it's easy for the CYA to get too high because you don't backwash frequently or have any kind of fresh water replacement. Where are you located? If you have no water table issues, I'd recommend draining about 1/3 again and try to bring it into the 70 range.

Draining is a good idea....considering all of your numbers. Your PH is high, your TA is high and your CH is very high. But.... I would suggest you run a test of your refill/tap water too, and post those results. It could explain why those numbers are off too, and give you a heads up on what to expect when you refill. After you refill, let the water circulate a few hours before you retest.

I'd also agree they were not doing a good job. :grrrr:
 
When is the last time they were there? The tablets could have dissolved....

Edit: I'm wondering if they were using Cal-Hypo which would also explain the high calcium levels...

No worries. I was a newbie 2 years ago and felt very overwhelmed by it all. You've got a good kit and all will be fine....we're here to help! :goodjob:

:End Edit
 
frustratedpoolmom said:
Chances are if they are a 'once a week or so' kind of company, they were using it, and probably dichlor to weekly shock the pool...With a cartridge filter, it's easy for the CYA to get too high because you don't backwash frequently or have any kind of fresh water replacement. Where are you located? If you have no water table issues, I'd recommend draining about 1/3 again and try to bring it into the 70 range.
Click to expand...

Exactally, it was a once a week pool company. I am located in Southwest Florida on the gulf coast.
 
Don't be surprised if you need to do a series of drains and refills. As we are coming into rainy season here in Florida (for all you non Floridians, we have two seasons here--wet and dry! In winter we are actually considered to be high desert!) I would recommend not draining more than perhaps a foot below your skimmer each time you drain. It will take a bit longer to get your CYA down but this way you don't have to worry about hydrostatic pressure.

Anyway, there is no reason to be apprehensive! If everyone else on here can do it so can you! Anyway, that's why the more experienced members and the pool professionals that are active contributors are here. We have all been certified in "Hand-Holding Nervous New Members"! :mrgreen:
 

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I don't have any experience with pool services, but shouldn't they be responsible for any cost to get the pool like it should be? You are still paying them (until at least the 23rd). Maybe they could re-imburse you for the cost of the water to refill? Do you have a contract that states what they were responsible for? Either way, the people of this board have been very nice to me. I am a newbie at all this and they have been great. You are in good hands!
 
numberonenole said:
I don't have any experience with pool services, but shouldn't they be responsible for any cost to get the pool like it should be? You are still paying them (until at least the 23rd). Maybe they could re-imburse you for the cost of the water to refill? Do you have a contract that states what they were responsible for? Either way, the people of this board have been very nice to me. I am a newbie at all this and they have been great. You are in good hands!
Click to expand...

You bring up some great points. Even though most pool companies do not use written contracts there is still an inferred contract for services that I am paying for. I am going to have a 3rd party test the levels tomorrow since i am new at this. If their findings confirm mine I will be sending a nicely worded email to my service provider stating that I expect my pool to be handed over to me with the chemical levels within industry standard ranges. And that any costs associated with bringing the levels in check will be paid by them. I will let you know how it goes.
 
mdhwoods said:
numberonenole said:
I don't have any experience with pool services, but shouldn't they be responsible for any cost to get the pool like it should be? You are still paying them (until at least the 23rd). Maybe they could re-imburse you for the cost of the water to refill? Do you have a contract that states what they were responsible for? Either way, the people of this board have been very nice to me. I am a newbie at all this and they have been great. You are in good hands!
Click to expand...

You bring up some great points. Even though most pool companies do not use written contracts there is still an inferred contract for services that I am paying for. I am going to have a 3rd party test the levels tomorrow since i am new at this. If their findings confirm mine I will be sending a nicely worded email to my service provider stating that I expect my pool to be handed over to me with the chemical levels within industry standard ranges. And that any costs associated with bringing the levels in check will be paid by them. I will let you know how it goes.
Click to expand...

The only problem with "industry standard ranges" is the industry will tell you that CYA of 100-150 is okay.... :shock:

Good luck!
 
mdhwoods said:
If their findings confirm mine I will be sending a nicely worded email to my service provider stating that I expect my pool to be handed over to me with the chemical levels within industry standard ranges. And that any costs associated with bringing the levels in check will be paid by them. I will let you know how it goes.
Click to expand...
I would not hold my breath since you ARE within range for a residential pool and that is probably what they will tell you. IF you were a licensed commercial pool it would be a different story. Good luck.
 
Check with the local water company about rules for draining a pool. Where I am, I can backwash onto the ground but draining has to go into the sewer (not the storm drain on the street). They don't want all those nasty pool chemicals getting into the ground water.
--paulr
 
Ok so you guys make some good points on Industry standards of cya levels and since at the time of posting all i knew is that mine was at least 100, so I retested like this. If this is an inaccurate way of determining high cya levels please correct me.

I took the exact same proportions of pool water and distilled water and mixed them together thoroughly. I then retested strickly following the cya testing directions and came up with 100. Seeing how I diluted the pool water by 50% I then doubled the 100 to get 200. If i did this correct my cya is 200.

If it is 200 does that give me some leeway with my pool company? Is a cya of 200 ever really an acceptable level?

Thanks
 
Regardless of blame, be sure you keep plenty of chlorine in that pool (like 12-14ppm) or go ahead and begin the drain refill process to get your CYA around 40-50 or so.

YOur pool is a prime candidate for an algae bloom.
 

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