HALP! Poolsitting and Husband is a doofus!

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Based on those instructions .... this pool was a time bomb. I think you just got unlucky being there when you are.

Review the Pool School discussion about the CYA / FC relationship ... this is not understood/accepted by the pool stores, so it is not surprising that the owners do not understand it either.

If all they have been using is tablets, the CYA could be very high, which requires a much high FC than 2ppm. See Chlorine CYA Chart. Although, they have apparently accepted a leak, so that may help keep the CYA level reasonable.

Not sure about the scare tactics regarding the pump ... $8000 will get you an entirely new pool. A motor/pump is closer to $2-300.
 
Ok. They do have stabilizer in the pool shed, whether or not they have been using it is another matter I don't know. Is there anything else I could be using besides bleach in order to help this process along? I've brushed the pool twice, gonna do it later too. Can't go in the water to brush though, it burninates :grrrr:
 
Wow - the water softener part might be related if the color came from minerals. Was the pool cloudy at all before it changed color?

Don't add stabilizer unless you know the CYA level. That's not going to help right now.

You mentioned it burns? That's odd - do you have a PH level for the pool?
 
Since they chlorinate with pucks, they are adding cya (stabilizer). You are caught in a tough position, since the long term solution likely is a drain and refill, but your not in a position to do that since it is not your pool. If you can get a measurement on the cya, we can help you to best deal with the water you have.

Sounds like their water before softening is a mess, and when you overfilled you were dumping that (now un-softened) water into to the pool...though again not likely the cause of the cloudiness you are experiencing.
 
UnderWaterVanya said:
Wow - the water softener part might be related if the color came from minerals. Was the pool cloudy at all before it changed color?

Don't add stabilizer unless you know the CYA level. That's not going to help right now.

You mentioned it burns? That's odd - do you have a PH level for the pool?
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I got the water tested and there was no copper and 0.1 ppm of iron. That's what we initially thought, that it was metal

When the water was tested this morning my CYA was 43ppm. That might have changed now that I shocked the pool, no?

pH is fine, the test results are all on the first page of the thread. It's related to the chlorine levels which I followed the pool calculator so now it should be near 20 ppm. It doesn't burn everywhere, just my more....sensitive area. If you get my drift. I know it's from the chlorine.
 
Here is a picture of the pool today. It's not that cloudy. The pool and it's lonesome, sad ball.

AFxZ2.jpg


ps- if it comes to draining and refilling, maybe we can figure out a way to do that. We know "a pool guy" that has a company and stuff. The problem is getting him over here. He's erm....a bit of a character. But if push came to shove I could probably get him to do something for us.
 
linen said:
That doesn't look too bad, it's looks like iron in the water to me. Keep your filter running 24/7 it may just filter out. I agree, it does not look cloudy! You may have dodged a bullet here.
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It's actually a lot greener than it looks in the picture. Any idea why so little iron would have shown up in the test?

Like I said the pump is broken and we can't turn the filter on till thursday....
 
Have you used anything to "shock" the pool besides liquid chlorine, if not, then the CYA would be unaffected.

Assuming the CYA is 40+ (lets say 50ppm), according to the CYA/FC chart, you should NEVER let the FC below 4ppm ... if you do , then algae has a chance to grow.

So, keep adding liquid chlorine to keep the FC above 4ppm and brush a LOT to keep it circulated.

Seems like a perfect storm of small problems have resulted is a mess.
 

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sparklepants said:
Ok, that might be it. FC on the first day was 2. Ima keep brushing and nuke it. >_<
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Pool store tests are notorious for inaccuracies. Do you have another store you can go to so you have a comparison test result?

As for the metals - if you add chlorine and it gets WORSE then I THINK that's a clue that metals may be involved.
 
FC was 2 when I tested it myself using the kit the first day. It doesn't look like it's gotten worse. Mostly just the same. I can go somewhere else tomorrow. Honestly today im so done with this freaking pool.

I dont know if this makes a difference but they seemed to use a high tech whirlygig machine that was hooked up to a computer, are those still as inaccurate?
 
Was the pump broken before you got there? If so, that takes most of the blame for this mess. I am so frustrated for you ... :grrrr:

Those hi-tech computers need to be calibrated and based on so many reports in the forums ... you just can not trust anything besides your own testing.
 
sparklepants said:
FC was 2 when I tested it myself using the kit the first day. It doesn't look like it's gotten worse. Mostly just the same. I can go somewhere else tomorrow. Honestly today im so done with this freaking pool.

I dont know if this makes a difference but they seemed to use a high tech whirlygig machine that was hooked up to a computer, are those still as inaccurate?
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The place near me has square vials with colored powder and each vial is sealed. They carefully pierce each and drop the water in and a computer connected optical reader with an LCD provides a value for each. But despite being fairly accurate on several items - it's junk on others. Calibration and exact instructions are important - plus the technology is not as accurate as a titration (drop) test.

In the end - you may just have no choice but to work on it using the test results you have. But finding another pool store or hardware store with testing - particularly if they use drops - would help. Call ahead and tell them you want to test for metals and ensure what type of test they can do.
 
jblizzle said:
Was the pump broken before you got there? If so, that takes most of the blame for this mess. I am so frustrated for you ... :grrrr:

Those hi-tech computers need to be calibrated and based on so many reports in the forums ... you just can not trust anything besides your own testing.
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Yes, the pump was broken beforehand. Just talked to my husband and he said it was broken for about a week and a half before we got here. :evil: I mean that can't be good, right!? Water just sitting there hanging out? GAH! There was an obscure show called Pete and Pete on when I was a kid, and there was an episode where they go and punch the ocean. That's what I feel like doing to the pool. Punching it.

Tomorrow ill go and get some readings from a different pool place, though.
 
sparklepants said:
It's actually a lot greener than it looks in the picture. Any idea why so little iron would have shown up in the test?
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When you say greener, do you mean the tinting? The picture as it looks to me shows clear or see-through water with tinting...that is usually metals.
 
sparklepants said:
jblizzle said:
Was the pump broken before you got there? If so, that takes most of the blame for this mess. I am so frustrated for you ... :grrrr:

Those hi-tech computers need to be calibrated and based on so many reports in the forums ... you just can not trust anything besides your own testing.
Click to expand...

Yes, the pump was broken beforehand. Just talked to my husband and he said it was broken for about a week and a half before we got here. :evil: I mean that can't be good, right!? Water just sitting there hanging out? GAH! There was an obscure show called Pete and Pete on when I was a kid, and there was an episode where they go and punch the ocean. That's what I feel like doing to the pool. Punching it.

Tomorrow ill go and get some readings from a different pool place, though.
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You know what that means ... it means that they were adding ZERO chlorine to the pool for a week before you got there (since they only use the tablet feeder right)? The chlorine was probably almost gone in just a couple days. This thing was doomed from the start and I would not feel guilty about it happening while you were there, since they offered no information on how to add chlorine to a pool with no working pump.

I think you should go out and punch the pool water a few times :hammer:
 
linen said:
Oh bummer :cry: I was hoping that it was just metals, but the murkiness suggests more than that. Get us a test value for cya, and we can suggest how to clear it.
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They got a pool store reading of 43ppm ... take from that what you will ;)
 

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