I'm a new home owner that happened to get a pool with it. I've very new to pools and this seems like a great forum for advice and such. Been doing a bunch of reading on the site and some of it is even starting to make sense. Here comes a long story....
Recently the main pump for the WhisperFlo failed, luckily I had a home owner insurance with the new purchase and got it replaced for $65. However in the meantime between unpacking and Christmas two weeks went by with little maintenance and a couple of winter storms, a fair bit of leaves stayed in the pool for a couple of weeks (no cover). After Christmas noticed the pool was looking pretty shabby and the replaced pump wasn't getting it cleared up. BTW: The new replacement pump seems to have the same rating as the previous pump BUT it seems to pump a lot less water. This is what got me to clean the filters thinking they just got clogged up. Didn't seem to make a huge difference, but I only did mechanical cleaning, no TSP soaking as I have to get a large plastic garbage pail for this still.
Also noticed there was no chlorine tablets in the floating frog (don't know when it ran out either), but I'd guess a couple of weeks.
Found this forum and at least cleaned my filters (ugh, nasty), cleanup the leaves in the bottom, ran the pump and noticed that it was way less than clear water. Found the floater empty of chlorine tablets and put 3 into with max opening in it. Added a gallon of bleach to get things heading in the right direction. Luckily it's pretty chilly and I don't think it's going to get away from me in any hurry. Now it's been cold enough at night to leave frost, but warms to 60 during the day, so it's not all that warm out. Don't have a pool thermometer yet either.
Not sure if I should get the K-2006 or K-2006c kit but I will pick one of them up. Suggestions welcome as I don't know which to get.
Went in for the first time to Leslie's Pool today to at least get an idea of my water chemistry.
FAC 1.5
TAC 1.5
CH 500 ppm
CYA 100 ppm
TA 100
pH 7.6
TDS 500
Phos 300
Looks like a water change to get CYA under 100 and phosphates down. Don't have a clue on how to drain any water from the pool it does not appear to have any overflow drain. The piping on the side of the house is a maze of pipes of which I'm starting to have a clue on what they may connect to doesn't look like the spa can be separately heated. The ancient water heater is likely a fire hazard and won't be used.
Water is currently clearing (I think) with a slight cloudy appearance and looks much better than 4 days ago. The sides of the pool seem to have a green ting and brushing them has 'stuff' coming off. So I believe I have algae, but the filter wasn't green with slime either.
1. Ideally I'd like to keep the algae from getting a foot hold as we look at the pool from the house when we eat.
2. Get to know my system and get reasonable chlorine levels with bleach
3. Figure out how to make the system quieter so my neighbor is happier with us. The boost pump seems to be the main source, but the WhisperFlow isn't all that quiet either. The spa pump won't be used (certainly not until summer).
The pool calculator (nifty tool) suggests 5.1 bottles of bleach to get to 11 ppm (or should I go for a shock level???).
Thanks in advance.
Here is what it looked like on Dec 31st, currently the bottom is looking much better. Too dark to get another picture tonight.
Mark
Recently the main pump for the WhisperFlo failed, luckily I had a home owner insurance with the new purchase and got it replaced for $65. However in the meantime between unpacking and Christmas two weeks went by with little maintenance and a couple of winter storms, a fair bit of leaves stayed in the pool for a couple of weeks (no cover). After Christmas noticed the pool was looking pretty shabby and the replaced pump wasn't getting it cleared up. BTW: The new replacement pump seems to have the same rating as the previous pump BUT it seems to pump a lot less water. This is what got me to clean the filters thinking they just got clogged up. Didn't seem to make a huge difference, but I only did mechanical cleaning, no TSP soaking as I have to get a large plastic garbage pail for this still.
Also noticed there was no chlorine tablets in the floating frog (don't know when it ran out either), but I'd guess a couple of weeks.
Found this forum and at least cleaned my filters (ugh, nasty), cleanup the leaves in the bottom, ran the pump and noticed that it was way less than clear water. Found the floater empty of chlorine tablets and put 3 into with max opening in it. Added a gallon of bleach to get things heading in the right direction. Luckily it's pretty chilly and I don't think it's going to get away from me in any hurry. Now it's been cold enough at night to leave frost, but warms to 60 during the day, so it's not all that warm out. Don't have a pool thermometer yet either.
Not sure if I should get the K-2006 or K-2006c kit but I will pick one of them up. Suggestions welcome as I don't know which to get.
Went in for the first time to Leslie's Pool today to at least get an idea of my water chemistry.
FAC 1.5
TAC 1.5
CH 500 ppm
CYA 100 ppm
TA 100
pH 7.6
TDS 500
Phos 300
Looks like a water change to get CYA under 100 and phosphates down. Don't have a clue on how to drain any water from the pool it does not appear to have any overflow drain. The piping on the side of the house is a maze of pipes of which I'm starting to have a clue on what they may connect to doesn't look like the spa can be separately heated. The ancient water heater is likely a fire hazard and won't be used.
Water is currently clearing (I think) with a slight cloudy appearance and looks much better than 4 days ago. The sides of the pool seem to have a green ting and brushing them has 'stuff' coming off. So I believe I have algae, but the filter wasn't green with slime either.
1. Ideally I'd like to keep the algae from getting a foot hold as we look at the pool from the house when we eat.
2. Get to know my system and get reasonable chlorine levels with bleach
3. Figure out how to make the system quieter so my neighbor is happier with us. The boost pump seems to be the main source, but the WhisperFlow isn't all that quiet either. The spa pump won't be used (certainly not until summer).
The pool calculator (nifty tool) suggests 5.1 bottles of bleach to get to 11 ppm (or should I go for a shock level???).
Thanks in advance.
Here is what it looked like on Dec 31st, currently the bottom is looking much better. Too dark to get another picture tonight.
Mark