Closing Pool in Knoxville, TN

[schultzjen13]

Hi! We recently bought our house, and inherited an inground pool with it. We had an above-ground pool at our old home, so I do have some pool experience. But, I'm dealing with a few issues now and I'd like to see if anyone can offer some advice. First of all, the prior owner used a chlorinator, and therefore my CYA level is extremely high at 100. I know through reading some posts here that the only way to deal with this is to drain some of the water. That leads to my next issue. I'm not sure how to drain the pool. One of the plumbing lines says "Drain Pool," so I'm assuming that I can use this. But, does anyone know how to do this? Our plumbing is up by the house, while the drain at the bottom of the pool is near the back of our yard. The pool also has a hight alkalinity of 200. Another issue is that there's algae in the pool. According to the prior owner, they got mustard algae often. I've shocked it here and there, but obviously not as high as required due to the high CYA.

I'd like to deal with these issues prior to closing (I understand that in Knoxville, about 50% of people close their pool). I'd prefer to close it.

Here's my info:
Pool is 13' x 15', approx. 3 1/2 ft deep in shallow end and about 5 ft deep in deep end.
FC 5
pH 7.5
T/A 200
CH 170
CYA 100
Temp. 62 deg.

I'm going to try to post some pictures.

Thanks for any advice!

Jennifer

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello and welcome to TFP! Most pools with cartridge filters are not able to drain to waste because we don't have multiport valves. But looking at your plumbing, it appears the installers placed that drain line "after" the pump but before the filter which does allow you to drain. You should be able to open that drain line where it "T"s-off from the line before going to the filter. That's what it looks like from the pics anyways. Draining should help with your CYA as well. Speaking of high CYA, make sure there are no tabs in that chlorinator since they increase CYA as well. Just stick to regular bleach.

How are you testing Jennifer? If you don't have TF-100 (link below) or Taylor K-2006C, that's what you need. Don't settle for anything less. I use the TF-100 and it's great. You'll want to chemically take care of that algae before closing or else spring opening will be a pain. So the test kit (XL option with speed stir) is a must. From there, it's all about the proper mixture of bleach based on your CYA then performing a "SLAM" to kill the algae (link below).

Let all that settle-in for a moment and let us know if you have any questions. We can help. Nice to have you with us.