Help on new (well) water start up

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westc

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May 27, 2011
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Abilene, KS
My liner will be replaced with a Merlin 28 mil in about 2 -3 weeks. I will be doing a new water start up. Water will be from a well; have no municipal water available and haven't found anyone to fill via other means. I assume I will need to complete the shock process right off the bat?? I realize ya'll are going to want the test results of the well water and I will get those and get them posted here. I also want to add borates, but will make sure everything else is done and balanced before that process is started.

Do I need to add an algeacide right up front? My educated guess is no. I have the CYA on order so it can be added. Pool company will also be installing a new DE filter and 2 speed pump to replace my sand filter and older 1 hp pump while here. I will post those models and sizes in my sig when they get here. Just want to make sure I am not missing anything upfront before I get started. If I remember correctly, my well water is very high in phosphates.
 
Don't worry about the phosphates but do take a sample and have it tested for metals. Mostly Iron and copper.

If you have a significant amount of either you'll have to start with sequestrant and maintain dosing it every couple of weeks.

Don't worry about shocking it just start putting chlorine in it as soon as it's filled and you can run the pump. If the filling is going to take several days I'd suggest you add 2 ppm FC each evening and manually stir it up until it's full.
 
Not sure filling from your well is a good idea. My well water is full of iron and I wouldn't want to fight that. It also is hard on your pump. If you can't find a pool water supplier in your area to haul in water, try calling the local fire department or crop service. They may help you out.My brother owned a crop service and did pool water on the side. Anybody with a tanker truck could help out.
 
westc said:
If I remember correctly, my well water is very high in phosphates.
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If you have the ability to test phosphates, I would recommend it. In order for algae to grow, it requires sun, water, air, nitrates, and phosphates. Of these five, phosphates is the easiest to control.

If you can keep you phosphates below 125-150ppb (yes, parts per billion), then algae simply won't be able to grow in the first place!

PS: you will love your new 2-speed pump and its effect on energy consumption! :goodjob:
 
As I said above, don't worry about the phosphates. You're going to have to keep enough FC in the pool keeping it sanitary, that it's going to kill any algae before it ever gets started. Adding phosphate remover is a completely unnecessary expense and maintenance headache that you don't need.

Concentrate on things you really need to worry about. Like whether your well water has metals in high enough concentrations to be a concern.
 
Thanks all! I will post the test results on the well water when I get them. I may still have the copy of the results from when I bought the house a couple years ago.

I did contact the local township fire departments...the largest tanker in the county is only 3,000 gallons. Would take 9 loads to fill. They were skeptical about trying it, since they would be a ways out of their township should an emergency arise. I know a guy with a crop spraying service...I will talk to him and see what he says.
 
I do realize it's going to be hard on my well pump...I made sure I budgeted for a new pump just in case. I don't think the water will be any problem as its the same water we top off with and I've had to do about 3 half drain and refills for CYA before I found this site and started using BBB.
 
Finlly got my well water results back. Let me know what you think.

Analysis Result Unit MCL SMCL
E. coli ABSENT 0 N/A
Total Coliform ABSENT 0 N/A
Nitrate Nitrogen, NO3-N 26.1 ppm
Fluoride, F 0.14 ppm
Sulfate, SO4 36 ppm
Sulfate-Sulfur, SO4-S 12 ppm
Hardness (CaCO3) 180 ppm
Hardness (CaCO3) 11 grains/gal
Total Calcium, Ca 56 ppm
Total Magnesium, Mg 10 ppm
Total Sodium, Na 11 ppm
Total Copper, Cu <0.01 ppm
Total Iron, Fe <0.05 ppm
Total Manganese, Mn <0.005 ppm
Electrical Conductivity, EC 468 μmho/cm
Total Dissolved Solids (Calc), TDS 300 ppm
1 pH 6.8 units N/A 6.5-8.5
 
The phosphates don't matter if you will keep your chlorine at the proper levels.

Using well water is one of the biggest problem issues we see on the forum. Rather than budget for a new pump, have you inquired to get the cost of trucked in water?

That said, the three primary issues with well water in pools would seem to be absolutely no factor and you have good water.

The CH of 180 is just fine

The iron content is equally good as it seems you need to be much, much higher before any problems show up in a pool.

The same for the copper content although that is normally not a problem with well water anyway.

So, your water really is good and I don't think you will have a problem.

My well (which also has good water) would have taken 10 days running 24/day to fill the pool so it was really never an option for me. If you pump out faster than your well can replenish, you will have a muddy mess to deal with.
 

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Duraleigh,

I've inquired with all the local fire departments and a crop spraying service...No one wants to mess with hauling water in. The last time I did a 50% refill (CYA...before I started BBB), it took about 16 hours to fill it back up. I am anticipating that it will take a day and a half at the most. I am concerned about pumping the well faster than it can keep up; we are in pure sand, but we also have an ungodly amount of water.

So, looking at those numbers, you see no need for any metal sequestrant?
 
So, looking at those numbers, you see no need for any metal sequestrant?
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No, I don't. I am not the best expert on troublesome levels but I think iron starts to be an issue @ .3ppm and copper @ .03ppm so you are well below that in both cases. Normal CH in a pool is 250-400 and you are at 180.

I hope someone else will concur on those "limitations" for copper and iron....I can't remember for sure
 
That's some good water you have there. :)
The iron and copper levels are well below anything you need to be concerned with.
If you're sure you're not going to pump the well down you should be fine using it to fill the pool.
 
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