HELP! Foreclosure home, pool sat for 2 years

[TizMe]

When your draining the pool watch you dont completely empty it. If your not sure of your water table you could cause more trouble.
As FPM says I would do about a 75% drain and go from there you can always add more CYA in smaller amounts to reach your goal.

Good Luck !!

 

[TizMe]

Wow I think we all posted at once !!

 

[reebok]

good catch fpm. I went back and re-read the post where he said that and I still didn't really get it.

 

[X1088LoD]

Alright, drained out, cleaned out, should be pool full of clear water (from hoses) in the morning, will continue to read up on Pool School, and get working again tomorrow afternoon after work.

Appreciate all the help so far from everyone!

 

[X1088LoD]

FYI, still a ways to go, but at least it looks alot better (for piece of mind) and should be easier with a fresh start:

Will be ready to start working on it this afternoon.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Is your liner all wrinkled?

 

[gman]

FYI, still a ways to go, but at least it looks alot better (for piece of mind) and should be easier with a fresh start:

Will be ready to start working on it this afternoon.

Dont mean to be a party pooper here but that liner cant stay like that. it will rip. Im not sure if it can be smoothed out while full of water so you may have to drain again. But also an FYI, when I had my liner done last year they pool builder said if I ever drain the pull fully it will void my warranty as the liner will not stretch back in to place right and possibly rip or wrinkle. Which has happened here I hate to say. Water looks good though.

edit- looking closer at your pictures. You either have really dirty walls. OR NO LINER AT ALL on the walls.

 

[X1088LoD]

It's really dirty walls/stained liner. It comes off to some extent with serious scrubbing and cleaning materials.

The wrinkles smoothed out good with the exception of a few places, but its not pulling on the liner anywhere and it looks pretty good to me.

I think it will hold me over for a little while. I dont really have the means if you will to fully replace the liner at the moment.

But I will be replacing the liner probably next summer.

 

[tedinelkgrove]

The water looks good for now, but you need a good test kit to keep it that way. Otherwise your water will be green again. The folks here have taught me a lot. Testing is the #1 step in having a nice pool. You need to know what your CYA level is to determine the minimum FC level you will need to maintain to avoid algae problems. After you get your kit, you need to determine how much FC you lose over night. It should be zero. If you lose FC over night you have organics consuming your FC. In that case you will need to mintain shock level of chlorine for a period of time.

 

[reebok]

to expound a little, your cya is basically 0 at this point and is one of the main things you need to be adding right away. if you decide to do the overnight test, which won't be necessary imo if you are dosing with bleach/chlorine daily until the kit comes and your cya dissolves, you can lose up to 1ppm and it's ok.

 

[X1088LoD]

Ok, I am ready to start treating the pool I believe.

I have a kit in the meantime I got from a local pool supply (not same company as before!!). All pool equipment is running, based on tests I have:

CYA is near 0
Alkalinity is around 40ppm
pH is around 7.2
FCl is basically 0
Total Cl is basically 0
Total Hardness is basically 0

If my understanding is correct,

1. I need to start by upping my Alkalinity to around 80 ppm.
2. Then wait about 2 hours
3. Check ph and Alkalinity levels
4. If good, start adding stabilizer to get by CYA up
5. Check ph and Alkalinity levels, adjust as needed
6. Begin to chlorinate (I have 25 lb bucket of Dichlor or I have a 4lb container of Aquachem 1" chlorinating tabs + dispenser)
7. Let chlorinate overnight
8. Test in morning and adjust
9. Then algaecide as needed (i have aquachem 20% algecide)

Am I on the right track?

 

[TizMe]

I personally wouldnt use either the tablets or the 25 lb bucket. They will raise your CYA and eventually you will be right back where you started from because the amount of chlorine will eventually NOT be enough to fight off organics and presto GREEN AGAIN ! If you want to use them to add the CYA to the water you need to watch you dont over shoot your goal number. So keep an eye on it

You need to get some CYA in the water so the sun doesnt eat your chlorine during the daytime. Right now your CYA is basically zero (0) so I would add a couple of small jugs of bleach until you get your CYA up. Read the articles in pool school on balancing your pool water.
Get your self a good reliable test kit soon !

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

CYA is near 0
Alkalinity is around 40ppm
pH is around 7.2
FCl is basically 0
Total Cl is basically 0
Total Hardness is basically 0

If my understanding is correct,

1. I need to start by upping my Alkalinity to around 80 ppm.
2. Then wait about 2 hours
3. Check ph and Alkalinity levels
4. If good, start adding stabilizer to get by CYA up
5. Check ph and Alkalinity levels, adjust as needed
6. Begin to chlorinate (I have 25 lb bucket of Dichlor or I have a 4lb container of Aquachem 1" chlorinating tabs + dispenser)
7. Let chlorinate overnight
8. Test in morning and adjust
9. Then algaecide as needed (i have aquachem 20% algecide)

Am I on the right track?

Well, I disagree with Tiz a little bit - since you have the Dichlor, you can use some of it to raise your CYA too. Here's what I suggest:

1. Use Baking Soda to raise the TA to 80. This will move your PH up a little bit.
2. Wait about 30-60 minutes
3. They should be ok, but adjust with Baking Soda and Borax if necessary, wait 30 minutes test again. No reason to wait longer than that.
4. Dichlor can raise your CYA level, killing two birds with one stone.
Add 36 oz (4 1/2 cups) of Dichlor, this will raise your FC to 10 and your CYA by 8.

Test again after one hour, and use the Pool Calculator to determine how much Dichlor to raise your FC back up to 10. Keep track of Dichlor additions. This will determine how much the CYA level is going up with each addition of Dichlor. The "effects of adding chemicals" section of the pool calc. can help you determine how much CYA is going up (or we can help-just record the amounts used).

168 oz of Dichlor, or about 10 lbs, should get your CYA to 40ish range. I would stop using the Dichlor at that point, and hopefully by then you will have a way to accurately test FC and CYA.

5., 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Test chlorine every hour until the FC begins to hold (using the 'dilution method' to read chlorine up to 10.) Until you get a better kit. (Add Dichlor hourly to keep the FC at 10, until you have reached a CYA of 40. Then switch to bleach.) Start the testing/dosing process again in the morning, and raise it back up to shock level, testing as often as possible while maintaing shock level with dichlor/chlorine (depending on CYA level). Remember to track how much Dichlor you are adding, so you can determine your CYA level and stop using the Dichlor when CYA is 40 - do NOT use more than 10 lbs.

You must continue testing frequently, brushing the pool daily, holding shock level, until the FC holds overnight. Remember, as your CYA goes up, so does your shock level, so adjust it accordingly as you go.

FC of 10 or higher will make the PH read false high. Do not attempt to adjust PH when FC is above 10.

Lastly, you don't need algaecide, its unneccesary. Do not use the tabs, save them for vacation use.

If you need clarification on any of this, just holler!