My Pool... What to do? What to add?

[DannyLang]

Hello!

I just moved into a house with a pool and things seemed to be going fine till earlier today. The pool guy comes once a week and does his thing and leaves but I feel like paying him is a waste of money cause im pretty much cleaning it every day. 1st questions I have is if a pool guy is worth the money or not? What do you guys think? 2nd and the most important of all I got my water tested at Leslie's today and they told me some things and got me kinda worried. They went over some of the levels with me and told me I needed to either drain my pool partially or completely. Not sure if thats the best idea so I figured I would post up the results and see what you guys can tell me. S

Free Available Chlorine 1.5
Total Available Chlorine 2
Calcium Hardness 760
Cyanuric Acid 110
Total Alkalinity 80
pH 7.4
Copper 0
Iron 0
Total Dissolved Solids 3900
Phosphates 500

He also recommended that I shock my pool with 2 pounds of Free N Clear which I went ahead and did.
He estimated my pool to be 18000 gallons but I think it may be about 20000. It is an bellow ground pool I believe plastered and chlorine has been used thus far.

Any comments/help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

 

[MikeInNH]

Sounds like you need to get rid of the pool guy. You also need to read pool school on the top right and get yourself a good testkit like mentioned in the link. I wouldn't trust the pool stores numbers especially for CYA. They seem to often be way off on that one. If their numbers are correct then you'll need to replace approximately half your water to get to a normal level. You may be able to get away with less but that CYA number really needs to be verified, it could be double that. Shocking is tough at high levels and you should use liquid chlorine, it does not have the added stuff. Please fill out your profile so we know your region and pool details. BTW, welcome to TFP, there's tons of knowledge on this board.

 

[kimkats]

Spend the money you used to spend on the pool guy and buy a good test kit. You will have a better pool for it!

Once you get the test kit you will be able to KNOW what is happening to your pool.

Let us know what your levels are when you test with your kit.

Kim

 

[Suziqzer]

Welcome to TFP!

Order yourself a good test kit. In the pool school section you can find the two recommended test kits. The TF100 offers a larger quantity of reagents for the price. You won't find the necessary tests for purchase at the pool store. Most want you to bring the water to them so they can sell you products... many of which you can buy for much less at the grocery or hardware store!

Once you have received your test kit, post a list or your results here as you did the Leslie's test and we can help you from there. Pool stores tests are generally unreliable at best.... especially the CYA which is one of the more important tests.

While you are waiting for your test kit be sure and read through pool school a few times. You may find it a bit overwhelming but it will all make sense very quickly as soon as your start your testing.

If your cya is really 110 you will need to drain some of your water to make it manageable. You pool guy is likely adding to that problem every time he comes. Most "shock" products will do the same.

You will find that with a good test kit and a little time, you will be spending much less than you were on the pool guy and you will have a sparkling pool very easily.