Just bought a house and inherited a pool - need some help!

Jump to latest Follow Reply
R

rgmarple

0
Aug 9, 2013
16
Rochester, NY
Hi all,

I have done my best to do some upfront research on some of the issues I'm encountering, but am still unsure of the appropriate steps to take. Here are the details of my pool:

In ground / Vinyl
16 x 32 / approx 20,000 gallons
Sand filter
Filter psi currently around 13
Water color is clear and slightly blue

I did an at home test and confirmed the results by having the local pool store test as well:

FC: .1
CC: 0
TC: .1
PH: 7.3
Alk: 88
CYA: 52

My problem is that I cannot seem to get the FC up at all, much less maintain at a level of 3. All I have done since I moved in (3 days ago) is give it some heavy doses of leslies chloro brite by broadcasting it into the pool. I've left the filter on pretty much 24/7. The woman at the pool store told me to put 3 of the 3" tabs in a floater and that should solve my problem. The pool gets plenty of sun, but we've also had some rain.

It would be really nice to have it balanced for a house warming party we are having this Sunday. Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance!
 
Re: Just bought a house and inherited a pool - need some hel

I would bet you have algae that is eating all of your chlorine. First, you should buy one of the recommended test kits, linked in my signature. Then do some reading in pool school, especially the SLAM process, which is also linked in my signature. Once you get your kit, post a full set of results and we will go from there.
 
Re: Just bought a house and inherited a pool - need some hel

Welcome! What is the normal method to chlorinate your pool? SWG or in line chlorinator? Between now and Sunday you should see the chlorine/cya chart in pool school and order a test kit. You should add bleach to the shock level of your cya there and order a test kit. Id' hit it twice more after starting to SLAM that pool at sundown before I went to bed with 2 more gallons of bleach at least 2 more times a couple hours apart before I ordered a test kit and went to bed. I'd run that pump filter 24/7 through the party and Monday until maybe your test kit comes in. We don't normally recomend adding anything blindly without good test results but that's what I'D do to be able to enjoy an openhouse on Sunday. Brush it a lot and watch your filter pressure.
 
Re: Just bought a house and inherited a pool - need some hel

Thanks for the quick reply, both of you. I guess its bad, but I don't know for certain if it is SWG or in-line. I did not think it was either as the only chlorine the previous owner had was granular chloro brite and 3" tabs. Is there additional information that a better testing kit can supply than the data posted in my original post? The pool store analysis gave me readings for copper, iron, phosphates, etc. but it was all 0. I have a test kit that came with the pool (drop test) that measures PH, fc, cc, cya, bromine, etc. This should be sufficient, right? I realize these are general, beginner questions... thanks again.

P.S. I have read through the slam method and can try that tonight at sundown... was hoping to avoid that in the chance that it would make the pool unswimmable for Sunday.
 
Re: Just bought a house and inherited a pool - need some hel

If you want it to be swim-able by Sunday the best you can hope to do is brush your pool and follow the SLAM process.

You and your guests can swim up to the shock level for your pools CYA level.

The problem is you can't accurately measure FC levels above 10 PPM without a good test kit, and you most likely can't go find it in a store, they probably won't have it. The reason you need to be able to measure above 10 PPM is because your shock target is 20PPM according to the chart pool-school/chlorine_cya_chart_shock

Regardless you are going to need a bunch of plain old unscented bleach. You can use http://www.poolcalculator.com/ to figure out how much bleach to add to your pool to raise it X PPM. For instance right now just to have the bare minimum of chlorine in your pool for your CYA level you need to go pour 90 ounces of 8.25% bleach slowly in front of one of your returns. The problem is you likely have something in your pool consuming your chlorine (other than sunlight eating it), so you would need to keep checking throughout the day to make sure you haven't dropped below your recommend FC level of 4PPM.

Basically without a good quality test kit you are flying blind, and you could do one of many different things until you get a test kit. If it were me i start with say 200 ounces of 8.25% each day until i got a kit, but you could need 300,400,500 no way to know.
 
Re: Just bought a house and inherited a pool - need some hel

Welcome, to TFP.

You will need to decide if you want to join the thousands of pool owners who use the tools and methods recommended here, and learn how to manage your own pool. That means accurate testing with a good test kit learning that you only add what the pool needs, and rejecting any advice from pool stores. It starts with ordering a good test kit (the TF-100 is highly recommended), and reading the info contained in "Pool School". That's the button on the upper right of this page.
 
Re: Just bought a house and inherited a pool - need some hel

If your test kit uses a comparator with the various chlorine levels marked in yellow then its an OTO test and you might can use that as a rough guide for dosing. Shock level for your CYA, as stated, is about 20ppm which *should* result in an orange color with the OTO test.

If you dose with the recommended amount of bleach, let it mix a while, perform a test and you've got orange then you've got some frame of reference for future dosing. If its not orange add some more bleach, let it mix, test, repeat, until it is.

Once its at an orange color don't add any more bleach until a test shows it dropping to a more yellow color. If your OTO color changes to brown you've overdosed some to around 30 pppm. Don't add any more bleach until its back to orange and go at it again with a smaller dose of bleach.

This is NOT a very accurate nor easy way to SLAM your pool but until you get a good test kit its about the best you can do in the meantime IF you want to give it a shot.

Just adding the recommended dose of bleach once a day until you get a good test kit would definitely be a much easier way to go.

Good luck.
 
Re: Just bought a house and inherited a pool - need some hel

Thanks for all of the input and suggestions guys. My kit is on order. Friday night I hit it hard with 8.25% bleach after sundown and then periodically before I went to sleep late. It held at over 10ppm all though Friday night and through the incredibly hot Saturday just had. Just went out to get a reading and it is still at 9ppm (had already gotten some sun this morning). I know it is inaccurate and difficult to judge without a proper test kit whether or not I actually killed whatever was living in my pool, but I think it will be swimmable by this afternoon. Thanks all for the helpful links and for taking the time!
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply