Just bought a house with a pool....now what?

[gm32]

Hello there community,

I am very excited to have found you guys and look forward to bugging you with all sorts of questions.

So, I just moved into a house on Monday with a pool and so after doing my research, the first thing I did was order a testing kit (Taylor 2006) and got started looking into things.

Everything seemed fine during the purchase. Here are the results from the pool inspector

4/23/2013
FC - 3.5
Ph - 7.6
TA - 70
CH - 550
CYA - 70-80

Obviously that was a little dated, so I broke the cherry on my kit and did my first ever test. Here is what I got.

6/14/2013
FC - 0.4
Ph - 7.5
TA - 80
CH - 725
CYA - 80


Everything seems fine except the FC and Calcium. This pool has virtually no shade and is getting pounded by the Texas heat, so it doesn't surprise me that the chlorine is low. I have no idea the last time the previous owner had it serviced, but I would guess it has been at least 1-2 weeks.

So here is my first volley of questions. Thanks in advance for the help!

1. What is the best way to go about upping the chlorine?

2. I have attached pictures of the gear and chemicals that were left behind. Anyone have any experience with them? Should I go ahead and use the chemicals that they left me? Anyone know how to load the chlorine ducky?

and most importantly

3. Will it kill me if I get in there now for a quick dip. I have been super busy setting up the house but finally have a minute and what good is a pool if you don't use it



Thanks again!

 

[JasonLion]

1) Bleach, or liquid chlorine. For bleach, use common household bleach without additives or sents
2) The duck is a floating chlorine dispenser. It uses trichlor tablets, that add CYA. Your CYA level is already as high as you should allow it to get. The duck portion unscrews from the bottle portion.
3) Add some chlorine first.

It looks like you have dual filters. That is unusual, and a little extra work, but not a problem.

The jug appears to be muriatic acid, which is good for lowering PH.

CLC3 is cal-hypo. Adds chlorine and calcium.

Silk Tabs are trichlor with some additional additives. Adds chlorine and CYA and lowers PH.

Remedy Banish is a copper based algaecide. I strongly recommend not using that.

 

[zea3]

Since you Calcium is so high you should keep your pH around 7.2 and the TA between 70-90. If you let the pH and TA get too high you may start to see calcium scale develop. Test the CH level of your fill water. If it is below 200 ppm it may be worth a series of drain and re-fills to lower the CH. You don't have to drain and re-fill, as long as you are careful to keep the pH and TA on the low end. Just wanted to let you know.

 

[Isaac-1]

I can't get the pictures to come up here, but if you don't have an SWG (salt water chlorine generator) which I assume you don't have, you may want to lower your CH and CYA a bit through partial water replacement, and stop using that stabilized chlorine (dichlor or trichlor). As it is now your on the upper end of the manageable range.

 

[gm32]

1) Bleach, or liquid chlorine. For bleach, use common household bleach without additives or sents
2) The duck is a floating chlorine dispenser. It uses trichlor tablets, that add CYA. Your CYA level is already as high as you should allow it to get. The duck portion unscrews from the bottle portion.
3) Add some chlorine first.

It looks like you have dual filters. That is unusual, and a little extra work, but not a problem.

The jug appears to be muriatic acid, which is good for lowering PH.

CLC3 is cal-hypo. Adds chlorine and calcium.

Silk Tabs are trichlor with some additional additives. Adds chlorine and CYA and lowers PH.

Remedy Banish is a copper based algaecide. I strongly recommend not using that.

Awesome. Thanks for the breakdown.

So, since the CYA already high, I should not use the trichlor. I will run out and get some liquid chlorine I suppose.

Do I just add it directly to the pool? How do i figure how much to add? I saw in pool school 2-3ppm but I am not sure how to figure that out, and since I am kinda on the low end should I add more than that?

Thanks!

 

[duraleigh]

How do i figure how much to add?

poolcalculator.com

 

[gm32]

Thanks for all the replys guys,

Just a couple more questions. Things seems to be going smoothly so far, want to keep that going.

1. How to I test the fill water? Like, how to I access that? Is that something from the equipment, or are you talking about from the tap?

2. Do I just pour the LQ directly into the pool? Any place in particular?

3. Should I consider draining the pool a little to lower CYA even though my pool is in direct sunlight all the time (Texas in the middle of summer with ZERO shade)?



Thanks!

 

[FamilyGuy]

Fill water =tap water Test it for ch and if it is below 200 ppm u would benefit from a partial drain/ refill. As for adding liquid chlorine just pour it slowly into pool water in front of a return

 

[UnderWaterVanya]

1. How to I test the fill water? Like, how to I access that? Is that something from the equipment, or are you talking about from the tap?

Tap water, unless you have a well that has a separate feed to an outside tap and a separate setup with a softener for the taps in the house.

2. Do I just pour the LQ directly into the pool? Any place in particular?

In front of a return while the pump is on.

3. Should I consider draining the pool a little to lower CYA even though my pool is in direct sunlight all the time (Texas in the middle of summer with ZERO shade)?

I will let others comment from your climate. Typically about a 50 CYA is enough for all non-SWG pools.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2