Help!! Help!! Help!! New Pool Owner

Jump to latest Follow Reply
U

UNBalance6504

0
Apr 20, 2015
16
Dallas, TX
Hello Everybody,

My name is Greg and I'm a new pool owner... I neglected my pool for the past two weeks due to school and it has been raining pretty hard. The pool is close to 20 yrs old, and I see some light cracks but the pool shell isn't leaking.

My questions is how do I keep the pool balance without spending so much? I've been reading a few topics, and it still don't make sense to me at all.. I go to Leslie pools to get the water tested. and I always spend a lot

I haven't added any bleach tablet to the pool since we moved in and that was in Dec. I've been keeping it clean and now i notice stain on the pool shell. I even use the leaf cleaner and the vacuum to clean the pool and the shell still looks dirty.

Please help... I cannot afford to pay someone 50.00 a week to clean my pool, and then I still have to clean it. Also, it don't have a booster pump to run a Polaris I bought , so I've been doing everything myself.

View attachment 35505View attachment 35506
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

Well the first thing you need to do is stop letting the pool store test your water and trusting the people who are trying to sell you something to tell you what you need.

A small investment in one of the Recommended Test Kits and a little reading and learning here will save you a LOT of money in the long run.

Is that a current picture? I would be shocked in the water was that clear after not adding chlorine for 4 months. How have you been spending a fortune if you are not adding chlorine?

Please take a look at Pool School starting with these so we can speak the same language:
ABCs of Water Chemistry
Recommended Pool Chemicals
How to Chlorinate Your Pool

Please add your pool details to your signature as described HERE as it will help us help you.
 
That picture is close to a few weeks ago before the rain and after I shock it... I spend a lot of money of the Polaris I was suppose to install but now i have to wait to buy a pump and for the install the plumbing to use a dedicated jet for the polaris... Sorry if I was over dramtic.. Just worried and the weather is getting cooler and the kids would love to jump in it sooner.. Any help will be appericated.

- - - Updated - - -

The pool isn't balance as you can tell from the results I received yesterday from Leslie Pool.. Now is a great time for to learn what to use to balance it without buying all the chemicals Leslie was trying to sell me... Again thanks for reading my post and any advice will be greatly appericated.
 
UNBalance6504 said:
The pool isn't balance as you can tell from the results I received yesterday from Leslie Pool.. Now is a great time for to learn what to use to balance it without buying all the chemicals Leslie was trying to sell me... Again thanks for reading my post and any advice will be greatly appericated.
Click to expand...
OK, Jason has given you the reading list and the most important thing, order one of the recommended test kits. No more Leslie's for you.

If their testing is even close to being right you are in a better position than most who show up here. You are really not out of balance, you just need to learn what the numbers mean - back to Jason's reading list.

The one thng that does concern me is chlorine - They generally don't mess up that test so you have none. You need some, NOW. Go into the house and find a bottle of bleach. Plain old bleach. No scents, no ez-pour nothing fancy - bleach. Bleach is chlorine. Pour some in the pool. You don't have the pool specifics in your signature, so figure a quart. A quart every day until you get the test kit. No bleach in the house, hit WalMart and pick up a few gallons. The suns UV rays break down chlorine (bleach) and it is a consumable product.

Don't panic

Order a test kit.
 
The pool size is close to 13K gallons.. I will head to the store and pick up some bleach. Do I need to add some tablets ? Sorry for all the questions....

Also I just used the Pool caluculator .. is saying

FC add 108oz
Ph add 7.02 oz
TA add 122 OZ
CH 209 oz
CYA 139 oz

I'm not sure if I put the numbers are right but from the looks of I need a few a lot... Still learning and I'm very determine to learn and no defeated by the pool...
 
The numbers from Pool Math are right IF the numbers from Leslie's are right. Take us at our word, pool store testing is bad. If you have read around here much you have probably seen that not much credence is given to pool store testing. While you would think that a "professional" would be the best, unfortunately in most cases it is quite the opposite. Between employees who blindly trust the word of chemical sales representatives and high school kids working in the pool store for the summer you end up with poor results from their testing. Of all testing, Leslie's gets reported as wrong the most.

Don't add anything other than chlorine until YOU test the water with your own test kit and are sure of the numbers. Some of the things you may put in are hard or impossible to undo if you really don't need them.

Oh, I forgot - stay away from the test kits at WalMart. They are not what you need. To effectively practice the TFPC methods, the FAS/DPD chlorine test is essential. All the kits on the list contain that test while very few other kits do. The kits sold at the pool store generally won't won't cut it, but be careful pool store employees are known to say “it's the same thing”. Generally it's not!
 
Tim jumped in with some good advice.

Read "How to Chlorinate your pool" link I gave you. That should explain what the trichlor tablets add to the pool. We prefer bleach to avoid all the side-effects.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Realize that you will not likely find one of the recommended test kits locally. Do no let them sell you a DPD test and say it is the same as the FAS-DPD (which they may not even know what it is)
 
I fixed the pressure on the pump... I lub the oil ring and put it back on and it jump to 13psi which is much better then 10psi.. I feel the JETS and pressure... I even back washed it and added more D.E.. I hope I'm doing things right..

Now I can focus back in cleaning the pool and making sure it stay blue... I'm hoping in opening the pool next week.... I've been living in the house since DEC and I've been cleaning the pool and haven't enjoyed it...
 
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