renting a house with pool...water is blue, but..

[my2kidsmom]

We are renting a house and moved in in mid-Sept. I've been doing alot of reading to figure out how to take care of the pool. The house was on the market for about 8-12 months and the pool guy, who came once each week, apparently was told by the owner to keep the pool looking good (blue) and not to spend alot of money. So, the pool guy said that he just kept the chlorine very high by putting in lots of skimmer stickes and didn't fool with the pH or alkalinity or anything else. So, now, the CYA is off the chart as is the free chlorine. I haven't done anything except increase the pH and alkalinity. (I've backwashed and kept the pool free of dirt and leaves.)

The water still looks great. My kids got in and swam a few times, but now, I'm a little scared after studying about the chemicals. I'm going to take some water to the pool store to find out the exact levels, and see what they have to say, but I guess my question is this: If the water is pretty and blue, chemicals are staying in balance with a very high CYA (the strips only read up to 150) and a high free chlorine (strips only read up to 10), should I worry too much about it? Is the water unsafe to swim in? (we live in the south and with the cool nights lately, swimming is pretty much over, but I'm hoping to have it all figured out by the spring and really don't want to have to drain the pool--22K gallons of water has got to be EXPENSIVE)-

A couple of other questions:
--I live in the deep south -- I've started running my pump 6 hours at night....is that what I need to do all winter? Should I be running it more or less this time of year?

--Do I just keep checking the water every few days and adjust the chemicals as needed (once I get the CYA stuff figured out)? There is no cover for the pool and I was told that the owner has always kept is "open" during the winter.

TIA

Pam

Renting a house with a vinyl liner pool that is about 22K gallons

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

Very high FC levels are safe when the CYA level is also very high. CYA reduces the effective strength of the chlorine, so it is as if you had a normal FC level at a reasonable CYA level.

Very high CYA levels can be a real problem if algae ever gets started. Long term you are going to need to bring the CYA level down.

By far the best thing you can do is to get a top quality test kit. I recommend a kit from TF Test Kits, see the link in my signature. The Taylor K-2006 is also good. A really good test kit is essential when trying to deal with high CYA levels.

Depending on just how high the FC level really is, the PH reading might not be valid. With FC over 10 the PH reading can be a little off, but with FC in the high 20s, or higher, the PH reading can be completely wrong. Hopefully you don't have that problem.

As the water gets colder you can run the pump less and less. When the water temperature gets below 50 degrees you can cut your pump run time down to perhaps 1 hour a day.