Hi Everybody!
This is my first post and I have been on the site for a few hours and could not find exact match. Forgive me if this is discussed elsewhere and I could not find it. Man the articles here are great! So inconsistent when you talk to pool store folks!
I fired the pool guy 4 months ago and just cleaned the filter for the second time, don't know when they cleaned it last.
I have been doing pretty well on water chemistry but your articles are excellent!
I have a 3 year old pool with a finish that is a brand similar to pebblesheen(sp?) The pool comes up to a hill and there is a 3 to 5 foot wall (varies) above the pool surface that goes up to the hot tub and a planter in another area. This surface is covered with natural slate tile. It was my wife's choice and the pool builder did not discourage us from using this natural product. It looks great until...
Well it flakes, it powders, it causes sand/clay/dirt intermittently depending on the weather. It may be decomposing faster now that it is aging.
We considered sealing it but then the calcium deposits that leech out the mortar joints cannot be addressed with mild muriatic and a careful brush, as we do to clean that stuff off now (does that ever stop?).
The polaris (hummer we call it) picks up the flakes and some sand very well but the rest need to be pushed to the drains and well, I just spent 40minutes hosing MUD off the cartridges.
My questions are -
Is the pump or impeller going to suffer from any of this grit processing?
Is water chemistry affected by such material (hard to say? clay is alkaline?)
Is another filter (only DE backflushes?) going to keep me ahead of this?
I do not know how to vacuum a pool! I have a plate that fits on top of the skimmer basket - is this how people connect to vacuum? Since that (fine) dirt goes to the filter anyway, how is this different than sweeping to the returns?
Replacing this material will be oodles of bucks, so want to know my downsides of working with it for now, other than my labor.
Thanks for this empowering site!
Signed,
Not So Trouble Free in North Cal (Bob)
This is my first post and I have been on the site for a few hours and could not find exact match. Forgive me if this is discussed elsewhere and I could not find it. Man the articles here are great! So inconsistent when you talk to pool store folks!
I fired the pool guy 4 months ago and just cleaned the filter for the second time, don't know when they cleaned it last.
I have been doing pretty well on water chemistry but your articles are excellent!
I have a 3 year old pool with a finish that is a brand similar to pebblesheen(sp?) The pool comes up to a hill and there is a 3 to 5 foot wall (varies) above the pool surface that goes up to the hot tub and a planter in another area. This surface is covered with natural slate tile. It was my wife's choice and the pool builder did not discourage us from using this natural product. It looks great until...
Well it flakes, it powders, it causes sand/clay/dirt intermittently depending on the weather. It may be decomposing faster now that it is aging.
We considered sealing it but then the calcium deposits that leech out the mortar joints cannot be addressed with mild muriatic and a careful brush, as we do to clean that stuff off now (does that ever stop?).
The polaris (hummer we call it) picks up the flakes and some sand very well but the rest need to be pushed to the drains and well, I just spent 40minutes hosing MUD off the cartridges.
My questions are -
Is the pump or impeller going to suffer from any of this grit processing?
Is water chemistry affected by such material (hard to say? clay is alkaline?)
Is another filter (only DE backflushes?) going to keep me ahead of this?
I do not know how to vacuum a pool! I have a plate that fits on top of the skimmer basket - is this how people connect to vacuum? Since that (fine) dirt goes to the filter anyway, how is this different than sweeping to the returns?
Replacing this material will be oodles of bucks, so want to know my downsides of working with it for now, other than my labor.
Thanks for this empowering site!
Signed,
Not So Trouble Free in North Cal (Bob)