Disabled Newbie, needing help quick!

[skyblu41]

Hi all, I am a newbie with, like everyone else, a pool problem. I live In Louisiana where we have been having some days in the range of 103-105 with a heat index of 115, with rain 2-3 days a week. Needless to say it makes for some tough times trying to keep the pool adjusted out with those temps and fresh water to boot!
To top all that off, I have an Intex AGP 16x32x52" with a SWG that went out about a week or so ago. This pool is only about 4 months old. Now I am being told it might be as long as another 2 weeks before they can ship me another pump/filter SWG. My pool is getting real yucky, thus bringing me to this site looking for some quick help before I have to drain all 15000 gallons of water.
I've been reading on this site for a few days, I now know how much Borax and acid to use for this amount of water but I still need to know how much bleach to use? I really like this BBB method, but am unsure how to go about starting this as I have chemicals and salt from using the SWG. I'm not seeing any algae, but the water is really cloudy.
Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I am disabled and have no help with the pool, so the easiest method for me is the best one. Thanks again, sky

 

[Richard320]

Hopefully, you have water test results. If you know the CYA aka stabilizer aka conditioner level you can get the suggested chlorine level from Pool Calculator. Enter that number into the target window and let it do the math.

Liquid bleach or the stronger pool chlorine (same stuff) is the simplest way to get chlorine in the pool with the least adverse side effects.

 

[anonapersona]

I'll bet you can get a hold of a canoe paddle to use that to stir the pool after you add bleach. Get it going in a circle and that will mix it well. Brushing also will mix the bleach in.

Test, add bleach and stir.

Do both at least daily until the pump is in. Twice or more a day would be better of course.

 

[geekgranny]

Welcome to TFP.

If you can purchase a small submersible pump, < $100 at Lowes or Home Depot, you can keep the water moving enough to keep the chemicals all mixed in. Be sure to plug it and extension cord into a GFI protected outlet. Over the years I've gone weeks at a time using one or two submercibles and kept the water balanced and no algae outbreaks. It won't be filtered, of course, but once you get your main pump going you can filter that all out, over time. These little pumps are very tough. The first two I purchased, for my flooding garage (and half the house during a deluge of 9" of rain in an hour and much more in following days) cost about $65 at HD. I don't think the prices have gone up much over the years. This past winter I purchased a floor model at HD, last one they had, with $40 knocked off the price; orginally $140 so I got it for $100.

I would figure a lot of people in LA (with your wet, high water table, low lying terrain) might have small subercible pumps sitting around, rarely used, but oh so vital for emergencies. If you don't want to invest the money, or can't, make some calls to people you know, to see if they can help you locate one to borrow. There are a lot of people who like to assist people but are too timid to offer. You might be able to locate one quickly. My closest neighbor appeared in my front fenced yard yesterday a.m. to mow and weed eat a big part of the yard. He can't see it from his house so it is not an eyesore for him. He just did it out of good will. How lucky I am to have a neighbor like that. :-D

Using a canoe paddle to move the water around would destroy my shoulder (partial rotator tear when I fell acid washing the pool) and probably bring on a bout of paralysis from an ancient back/neck injury. I have infrequent, thank goodness, bouts where I wake up unable to walk. I'm still recovering from the last bout that occured a few weeks ago and have to be careful because of weakness and one leg that just collapses out from under me. This time both the neck injury and back injury flared up together; whole right side affected. I have to do all the heavy work around here so it is vital for me to keep as well as possible. So I use any measure I can to lessen the burden on my old, beat up body. (My young Jake Mastiff is on his way to being certified as a balance assist dog.)

For those of you in dry areas, prone to wild fires, it's nice to have the pumps and backup batteries or small generator to wet down the house and surrounding areas, using water from the pool. It certainly keeps me a little less stressed when we have droughts and high winds. We have only one way out and could potentially get caught back here if fire breaks out. I've heard that our "hill" burns about evey 100 years and we are long overdue for Mother Nature's cleanup.

gg=alice

 

[skyblu41]

I appreciate everyones suggestions, could someone tell me how much bleach to use with my 15000 gal ABG pool? at least I would have a starting place. Some one told me to use half a gallon of bleach for 15000 gallons to start, is this a correct amount? Sorry if my questions sound stupid, but I am still learning and reading about these things.

Thanks to all, Sky...lost in Louisiana :?

 

[anonapersona]

You need to get familiar with the Pool Calculator http://www.poolcalculator.com/

Put your pool volume in at the top, then select Goals at the bottom and add your pool surface.

You will need some sort of test data to put in as the Now values. If you have test strips -- I like to call them "guess strips" since it is so hard to determine an actual number on them -- you can try to use that. Or you can take a water sample to a pool store that is not too busy and hope that they can do tests correctly.

The amount of bleach you will need will depend on the CYA level and what FC is at the moment, so testing is important. All I can say for now without test data is that each big jug (182 oz) will add 6 ppm FC to your pool. How many jugs you might need, and how often to add bleach, is a total guess. Test data is needed to be sure.

When you get test data, enter that and select the Goals. For FC your goal is either the upper end of the range shown, or the shock level you will see at the bottom.

 

[geekgranny]

Once you get the test data our good members will be here to guide you through using the calculator and adding the chems. As you use the calculator more you will become more comfortable using it. Ask all the questions you need to ask.

gg=alice

 

[Isaac-1]

What part of Louisiana are you located in?

Ike

 

[chem geek]

Assuming you've got some Cyanuric Acid (aka stabilizer or conditioner) in the pool already, and I'll bet you do or else you wouldn't have been able to easily maintain a chlorine level with the pool in direct sunlight, I would start off adding enough bleach to get to 10 ppm Free Chlorine (FC) right away. That should be at least something to start with.

The cloudiness is likely algae starting to grow. It often makes the water dull, then cloudy, before it turns green. So when you add chlorine, it will likely get used up quickly trying to kill the algae and clear the pool, so check the FC after an hour and add more chlorine as needed to MAINTAIN the 10 ppm FC level. Once you know your true CYA level, you can target a likely higher FC level for shocking the pool.

 

[skyblu41]

Hi Ilke
I live in Northeast Louisiana in the very NE corner.