I would like to introduce myself by telling you I know very little, probably next to nothing about pool ownership. My husband knows a little more than I do having grown up around pools. Last November we bought a house with a 37' x 17' vinyl lined pool just south of Atlanta, GA. We have very knowledgeable realtors who recommended we get our pool inspected prior to buying the house. Of course the owners said the pool was in excellent condition when they closed it - two years prior to this. Somehow, in those two years the concrete behind the step had eroded away and the step had cracked, equipment had gone unused and of course when you repair the step then a new liner had to be installed, resulting in a $10,000 estimate for repairs. Let this be a lesson to anyone thinking of buying a house with a pool. Your home inspector does not inspect pools. Get a certified pool inspector to check your pool. We could have spent $125 to have a visual inspection or $350 for an in-depth inspection. $350 saved us $7,000 when we negotiated the price of our home!!
Anyway, the repairs were made, the pool opened and we have even been swimming. We're monitoring our chemicals ourselves and intend to do so as we don't want to pay someone else to maintain our pool. We're both savvy enough to do this. Up to this point I've been reading the forum over the past 4 weeks and gathering needed information. I plan to purchase a FAS-DPT testing kit (either online or in store if I find one this weekend). Up to know we've been watching our chlorine #s and adding chlorine and cleaning the pool daily. We thought we had some pump/plumbing issues when we filled the pool and began monitoring after repairs had been made. Whenever we turned on the pump the water level would drop below the level of the skimmers. That seems to have resolved itself, although we're keeping a watch on it.
I'm sure I will have a plethora of questions as we get more involved in this so I wanted to introduce myself and say "hello".
Julie
Anyway, the repairs were made, the pool opened and we have even been swimming. We're monitoring our chemicals ourselves and intend to do so as we don't want to pay someone else to maintain our pool. We're both savvy enough to do this. Up to this point I've been reading the forum over the past 4 weeks and gathering needed information. I plan to purchase a FAS-DPT testing kit (either online or in store if I find one this weekend). Up to know we've been watching our chlorine #s and adding chlorine and cleaning the pool daily. We thought we had some pump/plumbing issues when we filled the pool and began monitoring after repairs had been made. Whenever we turned on the pump the water level would drop below the level of the skimmers. That seems to have resolved itself, although we're keeping a watch on it.
I'm sure I will have a plethora of questions as we get more involved in this so I wanted to introduce myself and say "hello".
Julie
More than likely you'll need to order the FAS-DPD testing portion from 
