New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr old

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M

mmdhar

Well-known member
Jul 26, 2013
59
Chandler, AZ
Pool Size
16000
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hi,

Bought a 1 yr old house with a pool 3 months back in Gilbert, AZ. Direct sun light all day.

Got the pool serviced by someone paying 85 per month.

After coming across this site got the confidence to maintain on my own. So, discontinued the pool service. It has been week since the pool guys last visit.

Bought Taylor K-2006 kit. Tested and got these results..

FC - 4
PH - 7.7
TA - 110
CH - 450
CYA - 120

Added 62 oz Clorox bleach... now FC is at 7.5

water is very clear. Should I be worried because of high TA, CH and CYA values? Do I need to replace water. Not sure how to drain it.

Also, pressure on the filter is 2psi.

Planning to jump in the pool with kids this afternoon. Is it safe?

Appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

The CH and TA are not a problem. The CYA is definitely a problem that will require water replacement. Since pool companies only come weekly, they often run the CYA up much higher than we recommend.

I would suggest doing the CYA again with a 50/50 mix of pool and tap water, then add the reagent, and double to reading to find out how high the CYA really is ... and tell you how much water you should replace ... or at least that will tell you how high you need to keep the FC.

For examply, using 120ppm in poolcalculator.com, the minimum FC you should be maintaining is 9ppm to be safe. Of course there is a chance the CYA is really even higher.
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

Thanks jblizzle! That's a great idea to mix with 50% tap water to get the accurate measure of cya. Will do that.
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

Realize too that you can pour the mixture back and forth a few times to see if you consistantly get the same reading. Also, lighting is very important for that test. It should be done outside with your back to the sun and the tube at waist level.
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

Thanks! I tested 50/50 pool water and tap water mixture for cya. I got 70. So, assuming cya is 140. Do you suggest replacing water or bumping FC up? Tested FC and PH today. Got 6.5 and 7.7 Respectively.
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

We suggest anything with CYA of 100 or more to be close to unmanageable. The best approach by far would be to lower your CYA
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

In your photo I think I see an open pipe with a 2-way valve next to it...if you open that while the pump is running, you will drain the pool. Probably rather quickly. If you have a backwash hose laying around, you could just attach it there and dump the water in your sewer cleanout, or into the street drains if that's allowed where you live.
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

Thanks for all the suggestions. I just wanted to update. After googling a lot about these, I found it is not easy to drain my pool into the street drains or sewer cleanouts. Looks like I need HOA and city's permission. Also, I don't have backwash hose. So, I am draining little bit of water everyday into my back yard and letting it dry all day. with Arizona heat, it is not taking that long for it to dry out. I think I would replace 40% within a week. I will test my cya again then.
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

I think I am able to drain approx. 3 inches at a time. I had cya of 140 before I started this. To bring it down to cya 90, Pool Calculator suggests to drain 36%. Is that what you mean?
 

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Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

7 days draining 7.5 inches followed by refill to original water level will lower your cya from 140 to ~ 50 ppm cya (assuming an average depth of 4.5 feet in the pool). If you can only do 3 inches per day, it will take ~ 18 days (and a lot more water than a single partial drain/refill).
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

I didn't realize I am also draining the fresh water. I'll look into options to single drain. I'll buy a backwash hose and findout about the HOA and city.

What should be my target cya? 90 or 50? can I follow these steps? turn off the inlet valve. Keep pump running while draining out water. drain probably 2 ft or so (depending on my target cya and what pool calculator suggests to achieve that target cya). Then, turn on the inlet valve. when I am done refilling, test the water and proceed from there?
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

You are not backwashing DE into the sewers, so I am surprised that you can not just pump the water into the street ... although I know that all kinds of places have various regulations, whether they make sense or not.

Or just get a hose and spray it around your yard ... or do a VERY VERY thorough job rinsing off your cars in the driveway ;)
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

Since your in Arizona, you might be able to get away with/benefit from slightly higher cya levels...maybe shoot for 70 and see how that works?
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

Appreciate all the suggestions. I like the idea of thorough rinsing off cars. May be I can wash my patio, garage too and spray the rest around the yard.

This may be a dumb question... Is there a way to connect a regular hose? may take longer... but, would be much easier to handle during all those washes. May be backwash hose is easier to handle? I never used one before.
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

Not with the way it is currently plumbed. You would have to add some fittings/adapters to connect a hose bib and then a hose. Realize that you do not have to open the 2-way valve all the way and can control the amount of water coming out that way.
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

Here is a closeup picture... there is a valve towards the bottom left labeled with 'Drain' on one side and 'Skimmer' on the other side. I am assuming I have to shut it off during the draining so that it won't try to get water through Skimmer, correct? Otherwise, it may suck air when the water level is below skimmer?

Any idea on which way I should turn that valve to shut it off. May be I can try different positions and run the pump on full speed (that's the only time I can visually notice water being sucked through skimmer) to figure it out. But, I am not sure if I can run pump on full speed while the skimmer is closed.

Also, any idea on what does that DRAIN label/option for? is there an option to drain it through the plumbing that is already connected to somewhere? Or am I too greedy to expect something like that :)
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

Kind of a weird plumbing setup, but yeah, you need to close off the skimmer side. The tab opposite the handle says CLOSED ... that tab should be on the skimmer side. This is the suction side. The DRAIN is the floor drain.
 
Re: New Pool owner - bought a pool and house that are 1 yr o

Just an update... got the backwash hose and drained 2 ft of water... took about 8 hrs at the least speed. Sprayed it around the back yard. Now, refilling it.
 

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