18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS!

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

For me the plus with a SWG is ease. I am daily there checking the FC level and adding. With a SWG I know it's good as long as the pump is running. Personally however, I'll take a bit of work over the large upfront cost.

The deck however.....
We've tossed the idea around for the last several years all the kids going together and replacing it. The cost, plus having to take out 100,000,009 screws always kill the idea. It's gonna happen in a few years tops, and I'm not looking forward to it.
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

Yep. I paid $420 which was on the top end of what I was willing to fork out. Since I paid at least that in chemicals last year with the baqua gunk fiasco, it was a bit easier to justify for me. I'm hoping it lasts 6-8 years before I need a new probe. If it does, it will even make $$ sense as well as "ease" sense. With my luck, it will drop out next year. :)
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

So far to date I've only ran into one "issue" this entire year using chlorine. Kids still enjoy fighting even when the pool is clear. Wonder what fixes that?

photo12.JPG
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

I'll take confusion... apparently my job is to be pizzed off 95% of the time.

Anyone else with 3 kids find that if ONE kid is gone (doesn't matter which)... that the dynamics change drastically and those who would normally be at each other's throats do things like play together and say sorry when they accidentally hurt one another?

Baffles me. Why can't they do this when they're all here? ARGH!
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

frogabog said:
I'll take confusion... apparently my job is to be pizzed off 95% of the time.

Anyone else with 3 kids find that if ONE kid is gone (doesn't matter which)... that the dynamics change drastically and those who would normally be at each other's throats do things like play together and say sorry when they accidentally hurt one another?

Baffles me. Why can't they do this when they're all here? ARGH!
Click to expand...
Exactly.
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

Well slowly coming to the end of our first full season with chlorine. So far to date, total price for all the chemicals used as well as DE........$261.93. Still have 1/2 a box of DE plus almost a full bottle of CYA left over as well. Who knows when we're closing however, as the water temperature is still around 85* last I checked. Kids we're loving it just the other day. :D We're gonna have to replace the motor on the pump next year, as we let it run too much this year with a bad seal. Thing WHINES like a little girl who doesn't get her way! Not sure....but we may just skip the work and go an entire new pump. Try and rig this one up somehow to help with our home-built solar heater.

In-Laws are still asking daily.....are you sure we don't need to add something else to the pool?????
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

Leebo said:
Thing WHINES like a little girl who doesn't get her way!
Click to expand...
May just need bearing replaced.

Leebo said:
Only issue so far, all my Brother-in-laws keep wanting now to use tabs because they're soooo much easier. The neighbor behind them uses them, and they see it as soooo much less work. Of coarse he replaced about 75% of his water this year and already has high CYA. I've had to hear every idea from them, from pucks to the Frog how all are easy to use and how much cheaper they are. My answer to them each time..."didn't they tell you the same thing when you used baquacil?"
Click to expand...
Any more of this crazy talk from the BILs?
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

Great thread. I also converted a few years back. DE does not like Baq and neither do I. The first thing that amazed me was how long the DE would last with chlorine. I converted mine when opening so it went much quicker. I now have a cheap SWG and love it. I've added a bit of borax and baking soda but that's it since the initial shocking in May. Good stuff.
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

May just need bearing replaced.
Click to expand...

I'm about 90% sure it's just a bearing that needs replaced, however at this point we've had so many issues with this pump in that past I think this could just be the end. We've ran it dry many of times, warped the housing somewhat (fixed with plumbers glue and alot of teflon tape)....broke the basket, needs a new gasket between the wet and dry parts of the pump, and now the bearings. At this point to fix everything it's just not looking worth it. We had the gasket since last year, but never shut down the pump long enough to replace it. Us allowing the water to leak between the wet and dry parts are what I'm sure caused the bearings to go. I'm also sure once we tear it apart we'll find some rust as well.

Any more of this crazy talk from the BILs?
Click to expand...

Almost monthly. With a family FULL of tinkerer's we're bound to have this talk SEVERAL times. I know that the neighbors we're fighting some algae this last week, as they used our vacuum to help clean up some. Even after they said they only "use only 1 or 2 tabs that they get at a plant in the area that produces them for In The Swim......they spent more than we did for a pool that's 1/2 the size. As I was hooking up our vacuum, I saw their other stash of PH up, algaecide, and all the other fun stuff.

I also converted a few years back. DE does not like Baq and neither do I. The first thing that amazed me was how long the DE would last with chlorine.
Click to expand...

We too were shocked about this...but it makes sense. A Baqua pool is often much dirtier than a BBB pool....thus the DE clogs much quicker. Either way....a change once a month or so is all that we've needed this season. Just over one 20# box is all that we've used. :goodjob:
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

MikeInNH said:
Great thread. I also converted a few years back. DE does not like Baq and neither do I. The first thing that amazed me was how long the DE would last with chlorine. I converted mine when opening so it went much quicker. I now have a cheap SWG and love it. I've added a bit of borax and baking soda but that's it since the initial shocking in May. Good stuff.
Click to expand...

Ditto. Cheap SWG, added baking soda and borax only. Trouble free all summer. Amazing. Last swim was today though. Late in the season here and Leslie is targeting us for Tuesday (The hurricane, not the pool store). Thanks for all the great advice here at TFP.

GC
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

Leebo, if you do replace the pump (not sure what you have now), you may want to consider a multi-speed. We saved bundle on our electric bill when we switched to a 2-speed. We run it 24/7 and it costs maybe $20/mo (we also recently got a lower electric rate).

Congrats on the conversion! The pool looks great! We started out with bleach after just one month of our pool install and have loved it ever since.
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

Well old habits die VERY hard. After a full season of letting me run the pool, my father-in-law called it closing time, as it's mid-Sept. The pool was running on a budget costing maybe $4 a week, but the leaves were driving him crazy. As much as I tried to tell him to let the vacuum and skimmer get them.....he went over my head and called it closing time. As much as I tried to talk him into letting it stay open until the water cools down alot....it's his call. I'll just make sure to toss it up again next year at opening.

End numbers.......
Temp 73*
FC 5.5 (added 546 oz of 6% today after this test)
CC .5 (green was starting to show as nobody listened to me when I was out of town. Told them to added 1/2 a gallon of bleach a day....they added none for the week)
PH 7.6
TA 80
CYA 45

Covered with a dirty tarp that we used last year, that never got cleaned off (I tried to talk them out of this too) but they all went with the old notion of "we're just going to have to clean it next year at opening anyways". Now it's time for me to rack up a bill in parts, as everybody is FULL of idea's on what to do. :D

1. New Pump......I'm debating about a Hayward SuperPump 2 speed....but we've got cheap power (.07cents per KWH) here, and I'm not sure I can justify the added cost. Just depends on the prices I find.

2. Leaf Catcher.....as nobody will let me cut down the darn trees, I'll use the anger towards the leaves to get them to pay for one of these. :D

3. All new eye-balls and the such as the old ones are starting to look a bit dull.
 
Re: 18 years of Baqua..UPDATE! Swapped 8/15 NOW WITH PHOTOS

There's 7 "kids" (youngest is my wife who's 3?) in my in-laws family.......and when we all go in together for a Christmas gifts it makes for a nice budget to spend on stuff. Gotta take advantage when you can.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply