WWYD in my shoes

[whodat?2]

ok guys, i have a general question here. what would you do (in order) in my shoes?
background

-I inherited this pool last summer. The previous owner basically knew 1 thing about the pool: put salt in it untill the digital reader reads 3000 and if there are any problems, call the pool guy.
- my pool cleaner has never worked more than a few days at a time. its a Hayward phantom and the pipes are always springing leaks. when i fix one, another would pop up else where

- The summer started off great, i would add salt and keep it around 3000. We have long summers down here and somewhere along the way the SWG digital display started giving me some strange symbols and no longer gave me a reading. I don't remember the details but i did not find it to be an error message.
- I have a TF-100 kit but no salt test. I noticed the chlorine dropping no matter how much salt i put in
- chlorine reached 0 . I took it to the pool store for a free test and they read 0 as well. Their tests had me around the 3000 ppm range for salt however.
- I can't remember all of the details but i kept the CYA basically in trarget range (around 80 i think) and chlorine was not present.
- I shocked the pool a couple times, getting my chlorine to 28 and keeping it there for a couple days. Following that my chlorine would still drop until it eventually reached 0
- I basically decided *** the salt and started just added bleach for the remainder of the summber which was prob 2 months or so
- I also vacuumed the pool without the strainer basket
- I pretty much ignored the pool all winter, except for scooping leaves when it got really bad, dumping the skimmer every now and again and back washing a few times
- i eventually noticed that i wasn't getting any movement to speak of in the water. with the help of this site, i removed blockage from the impeller and have the water moving again

the current state of the pool
- water is cloudy but not green
- there is a good bit of leaves and pieces of leaves and stuff in the pool and settled on the bottom
- my pool cleaner is a pos and basically doesnt move, though it still collects some trash just sitting there filtering water
- i know my pool chem must be way off as it's been ignored for 6 months
- I feel like i should removed the SWG cell and clean it but i'm a little intimidated by this. I will attempt it probably this weekend or next however.

Should i vacum the pool first? it seems that i'll be dumping a lot of water so i should do this before i worry about chem right?
i guess replenishing the water and attacking the cya would be next?
what about cleaning the cell? which step should this be?

what do y'all do about re-agent refills? I bought the test kit and was disappointed that i was out of the chlorine test re-agent very quickly and resorted to going to the pool store every time but this is an issue with shocking of course. If i tell them i am shocking they want to sell me things and they cleverly have a bunch of cute girls working there.

 

[Charlie_R]

You can get refills on your reagents from the same place you bought the TF-100. Dave will ship quite fast, and if you are willing to pay the extra, will ship overnight express.

It looks like your SWG cell has bit the dust, but may come back somewhat from cleaning. In the meantime, keep up with the FC needs with liquid chlorine, AKA bleach.

If you decide not to replace the SWG, it really isn't a problem to maintain with just bleach. If you decide to go this way, you will be better off to reduce your CYA to more normal levels. For where you live, I'd say around 40-50 due to the amount of sun and heat you have there. Others may suggest lower, and they'd probably be right.

Get yourself a pool leaf rake, that will work better than using your vacuum and filling the strainer baskets repeatedly.

 

[Richard320]

1) Take pictures. We like pictures.
2) Order refills. Get it placed quick, and you could possibly have it shipped today and in your mitts by Saturday.
3) Circulation. If the pump's running and the filter's filtering, yank the problematic cleaner and accept that you'll be vacuuming by hand a while.
4) Test results.
5) Decide if you need water replacement for CYA or CH buildup.
6) Remove as much crud as possible.
7) Follow the SLAM instructions.
8) When the pool is clear and balaced and the SLAM is complete - that means all three tests have passed - then worry about cleaning the SWG cell. Maybe you'll want to keep using liquid bleach rather than cough up the $$ for a new cell?

 

[whodat?2]

I have a pool leaf rake, the problem isn't the big stuff it's all the tiny particles floating around.
Can i just replace the cell and feel pretty certain that it's going to work or is it more complicated than that? in other words, is that the only part of the system which makes it a 'SWG'.
Also to put enough salt in my pool from 0 i' think i'd have to put like 700 lbs. I'm sure i shoudln't dump it in at once, what would be the approach here?

 

[Richard320]

Do not add salt yet. Not if the pool is cloudy. Get it clean and balanced using the SLAM process. Once you have a nice clean, balanced, chlorine pool, it's easy to convert it to using salt. But for now, you might be replacing water, and losing some to backwashing, so why add salt only to pump it out again?

Even if you replace the SWG, it won't be able to generate enough chlorine fast enough to clear the pool. Don't waste time fussing with the SWG and the salt. Get that pool cleared up first. You can go from cloudy to green in a couple days if conditions are right, so don't delay!

 

[RobbieH]

1. You should not have to add salt on a routine basis unless you are doing a LOT of backwashing. The SWG does not use up the salt.
2. If I understand correctly, you had a blockage that was preventing water flow. If this is the case there's no way the SWG would work. The SWG requires a certain amount of flow or will not produce any chlorine at all. I wouldn't get the opinion that the SWG has a fault until I have everything else corrected.
3. We need a full set of test results. We need to know the current CYA especially.

Beyond that, follow what the others are telling you, you've got to get the SLAM process completed before bringing the SWG back online.

 

[whodat?2]

2. If I understand correctly, you had a blockage that was preventing water flow. If this is the case there's no way the SWG would work

Great! that's really encouraging. I'll get some testing done this weekend.