I just discovered this wonderful place

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Fleck

Fleck

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LifeTime Supporter
Mar 31, 2015
37
Jacksonville, FL
I just discovered this wonderful place a couple of days ago and I've got the K-2006 kit in the mail. I had the local pool store test my levels yesterday after my dinky $10 test kit was testing 4 ppm of TC after 3 weeks of not being shocked. This was unusual as before the 2 lbs of chlorine/shock would be gone after a week or the slightest rain.

ANYWAY, I don't have all the numbers on hand, but the one that stuck out (more so after even more reading) was the CYA at 100ppm. I will promptly be pulling the chlorine tab floater (it was the previous owners please don't stone me) when I get home, and was wondering if rain alone would be enough to bring that back down. We get enough rain here in Florida to require me draining the pool a few inches (~2-3k gallons?) every couple of weeks.

Am in too deep to not be draining the pool, or can I recover? And when we're discussing bleach on this forum, are we talking about the jugs one would find on the laundry isle in the grocery store?

Thanks!
 
Welcome! :wave:

Don't do anything until you have your own reliable test results. Odds are, your CYA level is well above 100. How to read it? Extended Testing Post 8, step 9 in particular.

You can slowly lower your CYA a few inches at a time, as long as you maintain the proper FC level for your CYA level. Be aware that if FC is above 10, your pH reading will always be suspect. Best bet is to run all the tests and post here and get advice.

Yes, the bleach is the stuff you buy at the grocery store. Plain stuff. No scents, no anti-splash, nothing extra. And if they won't give the strength, you don't want it. You're just buying a lot of water. Pools are common in Florida, so you should be able to find stronger bleach sold as pool chlorine. It may work out cheaper per actual chlorine. But you'll have enough on your plate at the beginning, so don't stress on that yet.
 
Welcome to TFP JP!

You can't recover from high Cya except with a drain/refill. You can do it a bit at a time however, no worries with that. Once you have the kit, you'll know better what you can do with it. Glad you found the site, and hope you enjoy the forum.
 
Sorry about the hijack from my original post, mods. I probably should have read the rules first. :S I've also made a new handle after realizing how impossible that name is to reply to. TAKE TWO!

Richard, I saw the FC/CYA chart and that's a ridiculous amount of chlorine! My little kit only tests up to 5ppm, so I'm not even sure how I will check that before the real-deal kit comes in. I'm expecting to use the pool this weekend between four people. Am I at any sanitary risks without adjusting anything?

Thanks for the warm welcome. :)
 
Welcome aboard! You will find a ton of great advice and helpful members who will get you going in the right direction. Once you get your test kit and start relying on good chemistry data from it you will be surprised at how easy pool maintenance really is.

On lowering your CYA you may get some benefit from the dilution through rain water but it will take a lot of time. Small drains (anything less than 10-12 inches) will drag out the process and cost you more in time and water in the long run. Removal of the greatest amount of "offending" water, with quick replacement of good water, is what you want here. Stated in another way, replacing 2% of the bad water is still going to leave you 100% of water that is above the CYA level you want. The biggest impact will come from the largest drains you can do each time. Do some searches here for safely draining based on your pool surface type and you will get a good idea of the recommendations to leave some volume in the shallow end depending on your local water table.

You can use the pool volume calculator at the bottom of the pool calc page http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html to determine how much and how many drains you should do to lower your CYA (i.e., in a 16x32 rectangular pool 1 foot of water is 3800 gallons. If said pool is an average of 5 feet deep it holds 19200 gallons total. Draining and replacing one foot (3800 gallons) would lower the CYA 'approximately' 20%.)

I suggest you wait until you get your test kit and get a reliable CYA result prior to doing any draining. You may even want to do a dilution test the first time - as noted already you may be well above 100 and that is the upper limit of the test.
 
I see. And with that, I can't find a solid answer on where I should be draining my pool, should I have to do it. My back yard fence backs up to a 'wetland' area, but it's closer to a ditch. The filter is hooked up to the sewage drain, but even the slightest amount of draining that way adds cost to my water bill.
 
I would be very surprised if there was a meter on your sewage line. Usually the sewage charges are a function of your fresh water usage (often calculated based on only a portion of the year). For example, in Tucson, I think they look at your usage for Dec-Jan timeframe and base the sewage rates on that applied over the entire year. Reason being in the summer when the water usage goes up for irrigation, you do not get charged for waste when the extra is not actually going into the sewer.

Also, many water companies will adjust your sewage bill if you call them and tell them you are going to be filling a pool (which will not go into the sewer).

Might be worth calling and finding out what you would really be charged.

I have a dry wash (creek) on my property that I drain my pool into ... but you would need to check if you were allowed to drain behind your house.
 
Interesting! I'll have to double-check, then. It just seemed like whenever I drained, the 'sewer usage' spiked. If that's the case, would a method of setting the filter to backwash and sticking a hose in the skimmer be alright for draining?
 

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IMO, it is not a good idea to drain a lot of water through the backwash in the filter, that is not what it is designed for and you could end up with debris on the wrong side of the filter.

If you do not have a "waste" function, then I would suggest renting or buying a submersible pump.
 
I think I've failed on the term. This is what I've got on my valve: http://www.qcapoolsandspas.com/Data/Sites/1/filtervalve.jpg

I'm guessing now that waste doesn't mean backwash. ...I should probably learn how to operate my filter.

ejJObrT.jpg
 

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