Pump is broken...what to do about pool

[sdescant]

I rent a house in Laredo, Texas with an in-ground pool of approximately 10,000 gal capacity with a sand filter. The pump stopped working yesterday. The landlord is looking for a new pump to replace the non-operating one. What can I do to maintain the pool until the pump is replaced? Or am I just up the creek? Oh, I use the "standard" 3 inch pucks and powdered shock to maintain chlorine levels.

Thanks,

Steven

 

[giulietta1]

Do you have a test kit? If you've been using pucks and powdered "shock," quite likely your CYA (maybe CH too) is too high. I'd suggest you talk to your landlord about providing you with a good test kit, if you don't have one!

My pump quit working a couple of months ago and it was about three weeks before the pool guy made it to my house. In the meantime, I brushed daily to stir up the water so it wasn't completely stagnant. Also, I have a Pool Buster (rechargeable battery-powered vac), so I used that too.

Brushing and vacuuming helped keep my water stirred up enough that I didn't have any significant water chemistry issues during the time when my pump was out. Helped stir in chemicals when I had to add them, too. Had a bit of CC accumulation but not bad. No algae or anything!

Try daily (or even twice-daily) brushing to keep the water stirred up; maybe keep your chlorine a little bit high. Swimming during this time is probably not the greatest idea.

 

[JasonLion]

Do you have a cover pump or a sump pump? Setting one of those up to produce a little circulation can help a great deal.

 

[waste]

Steven, welcome to TFP!!

I realize that the pump is your landlord's issue, but if you can tell us what's going on with it - we may be able to get it operational for now

Adding some bleach and running a pump, as per Jason's suggestion is a good way to keep the pool water good for the nonce.

 

[sdescant]

Thanks for the info...

The landlord did come out yesterday and found that the pump was unoperational. He removed the pump and is going to find a replacement. There is a second pump that, according to the landlord, is for an automatic pool cleaner. When the main pump went out, I did test the second pump. It shot water out of the one jet that is the attachment point of the automatic pump, but the other pool jets were quiet and the pressure in the filter did not increase. It ran for about 30 seconds then shut down by itself. I assume it did this because there was no automatic cleaner attached.

The last water test I performed at the pool supply store (about one week ago) showed all levels well (sorry, I don't have that test with me now) with the exception of CYA at 70. The last I checked my FC (with a basic FC-CC and pH test kit...all I have at this point), which was yesterday, the FC was 5.

Unfortunately I have no seperate pump. Both last night and this morning I skimmed the pool the best I could and then brushed the entire pool. Hopefully the landlord will have the pump replaced today. In the meantime, could I maintain FC by adding bleach without a pump to circulate and dispurse the chemical?

 

[heatmisr]

You should continue to add bleach daily to maintain your FC. Just brush the pool when adding it to stir the water and get the bleach mixed in. If you can brush twice a day, that would be the best thing to do until the pump can be fixed.