Assuming you're using the same pump then make sure the installer checks the impeller for debris. Seems like your pressure dropped from 'normal'.
Serious help needed
- Thread starter richardc
- Start date
Been away for a few days, sorry to hear of all the problems but it looks like you are doing well in spite of all the problems. Looking forward to seeing blue clear water.
+1 - Yak covered any SW suggestionsMind meld!
If he's coming we'd, ask him to bring the external vac anyway. I think with still water you'll be able to see well enough by then actually...and I think sand in this case is a good choice given the well situation and the fact that the pool guy s both accessible for support and was headed the right direction on his initial advice
I would rather vacuum myself to keep costs down. If I can get the new filter up and running by Wednesday, and assuming it works better than my old sand filter, then I foresee the day in the not too distant future when clarity will be achieved to the extent that I can see all the debris. Right now, the mid-deep-end is visible and I can see the now all too familiar drifts of silt in various spots. One specific area, aproximately 1 1/2 'x 1 1/2' looks like it is a few inches deep. It is located right at a point where the side wall slope meets the floor.
I manually leaf skimmed the pool so there are no floating organics. I will re-test the FC in a bit. Pictures to come later on.
Thanks to all who have helped !
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Will do.
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My pool guy is also installing a new multi port valve. I am glad as turning my old valve is a chore. He is also installing a top mount valve rather than a side valve. He believes that it is easier to operate and people won't lean on it.
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I have lithium hypochlorite sitting on my shelf. It is old, but the box has never been opened. What do you think about me using it up?
No problem. It was just another option to potentially speed it up, but as you point out, you being able to do a proper vac after he leaves is great too. Great job on the skimming.
As long as their are no other active ingredients, way better and safer in your pool than sitting on your shelf.
Make sure the installer uses unions on all the pipes connected to the valve. Otherwise you would have to cut them if it comes time to work in the filter.
You mean so that the pvc pipes can be screwed off so one can have access inside the filter....yes? No question about it...thanks for pointing that out.
My filter is a side mount, but my guy thinks that a top mount is better. But yes, one must have easy access for maintenance work. Interesting that you mentioned that because, I had a conversation the other day with a friend about my skimmer and drain valves having to be cut out if a valve needs replacing.
Great to hear from you.
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Active ingredients in the lithium hypochlorite itself?
In the case of the unions, Personal experience is a great and terrible teacher!!
On the Lithium Hypochlorite, the reason for the concern is that sometimes different companies like to sneak in things like copper or other stuff. Just know that the lithium will stay in the water for a long time just like calcium or CYA does.
On the Lithium Hypochlorite, the reason for the concern is that sometimes different companies like to sneak in things like copper or other stuff. Just know that the lithium will stay in the water for a long time just like calcium or CYA does.
Yep! Thanks for clarifying that for me. All I meant was it is important to check the active ingredients in what you put in your pool.
Lithhypo should say something like "29% Lithium hypochlorite" and "71% other." I was just noting that if it says anything like "2,4,6 Trihydroxy-s-triazine" or "cyanuric acid" or "isocyanuric acid" that it would also add stabilizer/conditioner/cya. Today, I realize it is unlikely anyone would necessarily put cya in it though, so no point in checking. Sorry for the extra confusion/delay/reading.
Lithhypo should say something like "29% Lithium hypochlorite" and "71% other." I was just noting that if it says anything like "2,4,6 Trihydroxy-s-triazine" or "cyanuric acid" or "isocyanuric acid" that it would also add stabilizer/conditioner/cya. Today, I realize it is unlikely anyone would necessarily put cya in it though, so no point in checking. Sorry for the extra confusion/delay/reading.
On the bright side, according to one of our TFP expert's:
And technically, while it (thankfully) doesn't have CYA or CH, it isn't pure sanitizer as Joyful explains:
But for the odd packet to use up, no worries. It should dissolve easily as well, but you may want to add in the shallowest place so you can brush the bottom right under where you pour, or wait for pump to be up. A search of the forum didn't find anyone mentioning anything for or against pre-dissolving in a bucket with water, so perhaps that would be good if you want to do it before pump is up.
I opened the box. They are individual packets of shock, with only lithium hypochlorite as the active ingredient. The other ingredients are marked as "inert". As I stated, these have been sitting on my shelf for years unopened.
Test today at 745 AM CST July 25th
FC 13
added one gallon of 12.5%
Visualization of the deep end has improved. One can now visualize about 99.9 % of all areas of the pool. It's a bit harder to see some areas as the reflections from the trees, and the sunlight from the water obstruct. However, one can clearly see the debris drifts which are more heavily located on the near side of the pool, and congreated about the crevice(s) where the sloped sides meet the pool bottom.
My best guess is that a couple of days of thorough filtration, and then a settling will enable me to vacuum slowly to waste.
Suggestions?
My best guess is that a couple of days of thorough filtration, and then a settling will enable me to vacuum slowly to waste.
Suggestions?
This is an entire small box of individual shock packets. There is likely a dozen or more packets in the box. The product is branded under a well known name of a pool retailer in my area. I will wait for the pump to be up and running before I attempt to use.
Sounds great! It will be good to use them up! Any other questions about what you're going to be doing after you're back up and running?
I think the plan is to continue the SLAM, and work towards clearing the water so that a thorough vacuuming may be undertaken.
It seems that the SLAM has taken so long given the volume of silt on the bottom floor. My guess and hope is that once the observable silt organics are removed to waste that the process will be hastened. What was so deceiving was that I was certain that all contaminants had been removed. Don't forget that I went around the pool with my leaf net and raked and raked the pool bottom, and came up with nothing. Apparently, these particles were floating in the water and settled ? I would have thought that if they were lying on the pool floor that I would have stirred them to the point that some of the debris would have risen to the surface? Who Knows, but its a lesson learned.
Onward !
Actually, Richard, in seriously swampy waters that have had years to break down organics like leaves, your experience is not uncommon...yes, it settles out in essence. And in those conditions its impossible to get it vacuuming blind.
The reason I'd suggested asking the pool guy to bring his external vac was so that YOU could do the slow vac and yet keep it out of the filtration system to avoid clogs -- while he was installing the filter I didn't thnk he'd necessarily charge you more if you were doing the vacuuming. the only snag with that idea is you'd need to overfill the pool a bit so that there was enough water to test the filter despite vacuuming.
If you can see where the drifts begin and end so that you can slowly work inward (eg keeping a bit of clean liner under the vac with the edges of the drift to minimize clogging) then there is no reason not to vac tomorrow if the guy has the vac on his truck.
When you vac with YOUR system, clots or stones or bark/twigs if there are any in the sediment might clog your pump basket or get hung up in your impeller, meaning you'll have to stop, clean it out, restart and then get the suction again. Its a bit of a pain in the butt. That was the only advantage to the external vac idea.
Either way, get the debris out now that you can see where it is, then once the risk of clogging is gone, open up that main drain and get full filtration going to finish up the slam
The reason I'd suggested asking the pool guy to bring his external vac was so that YOU could do the slow vac and yet keep it out of the filtration system to avoid clogs -- while he was installing the filter
I didn't thnk he'd necessarily charge you more if you were doing the vacuuming. the only snag with that idea is you'd need to overfill the pool a bit so that there was enough water to test the filter despite vacuuming.If you can see where the drifts begin and end so that you can slowly work inward (eg keeping a bit of clean liner under the vac with the edges of the drift to minimize clogging) then there is no reason not to vac tomorrow if the guy has the vac on his truck.
When you vac with YOUR system, clots or stones or bark/twigs if there are any in the sediment might clog your pump basket or get hung up in your impeller, meaning you'll have to stop, clean it out, restart and then get the suction again. Its a bit of a pain in the butt. That was the only advantage to the external vac idea.
Either way, get the debris out now that you can see where it is, then once the risk of clogging is gone, open up that main drain and get full filtration going to finish up the slam
Actually, Richard, in seriously swampy waters that have had years to break down organics like leaves, your experience is not uncommon...yes, it settles out in essence. And in those conditions its impossible to get it vacuuming blind.
The reason I'd suggested asking the pool guy to bring his external vac was so that YOU could do the slow vac and yet keep it out of the filtration system to avoid clogs -- while he was installing the filter
If you can see where the drifts begin and end so that you can slowly work inward (eg keeping a bit of clean liner under the vac with the edges of the drift to minimize clogging) then there is no reason not to vac tomorrow if the guy has the vac on his truck.
When you vac with YOUR system, clots or stones or bark/twigs if there are any in the sediment might clog your pump basket or get hung up in your impeller, meaning you'll have to stop, clean it out, restart and then get the suction again. Its a bit of a pain in the butt. That was the only advantage to the external vac idea.
Either way, get the debris out now that you can see where it is, then once the risk of clogging is gone, open up that main drain and get full filtration going to finish up the slam
I see what you mean. My sense is that the debris are small particles/dirt/algae that are small enough not to be catchable with a leaf rake. In my earlier vacuuming, I was able to sucessfully remove the material. I am assuming that the remaining contaminants are more of the same. They should vacuum up and discharge nicely to waste as the earlier stuff.
Once the new filter is installed I will run the system for a short while to see if clarity improves. Since, I have come this far, I am willing to wait a day or two to improve visualization. Does that make sense ?
Did filter get installed? Is it a nice one? Of course we will want pics
The filter is a standard sand filter, Pentair, likely an ugraded model of my old Tritan. Seems to work fine, however, I believe I am having trouble with the shut-off valve on my shallow end skimmer. I noticed this a few weeks ago, wherein, the draw from the shallow side was weak. A Youtube video suggested rapidly opening and closing the valve to see if that would help, and it did. So I left the valve open until the disaster a few days ago. Now it seems like the problem has returned. I suspect the valve assembly is not fully opening. My pool guy thinks I might have a clog in the line. But I don't think so. We are checking.
Visibility is reduced when the pump is running, so I am not ready to vacuum just yet. I'm going to give it a few days.
BTW, my pool guy thinks that adding the DE to my filter likely caused the blow out?
Not saying the pool guy is wrong, but reading through the thread, you might have had a faulty gauge. Since you were not seeing a pressure rise after adding DE, a reading of 6 - in hindsight these might be signs the gauge was bad. And a faulty gauge while adding DE to the filter, sounds like that could be a recipe for possible disaster on a 30 year old filter.