Pool guy now gone and I have to catch up.

[grumpy]

I began to suspect that I was not getting the work that I should expect from my former pool maintenance man so I let him go.

Bought the Taylor K-2006 test kit and some Aquachek test strips. Turns out that I was kind of right.

FC - 3
CC-0
PH 7.2
TA 40
CH 70
CYA 0
Salt 5590 tested this one twice.
Pool temp is 52F
Intellichlor IC40 currently running at 5% 12 hours per day except when freeze guard kicks in.
The pool is in a screened enclosure so only tiny seeds and airborne dirt/dust get into the water.

After reading here, it's obvious that the water is not in balance and that the salt is almost twice the recommended amount for my equipment.

Now to the questions. I hate to do things just because it's the right thing to do, I want to know why.

I think that I know why I need to adjust TA, PH and CYA but for the life of me I can't understand why I should raise CH and have harder water. Would that not increase the possibility of scale?

Help me work out a plan to get this thing in shape before I turn on the heater next month. Here's what I thought that I would do.

1. Replace part of the pool water to reduce salt.
2. Test and add CYA.
3. Test and add other items to bring the water into balance.

Do I have the order right? What am I missing?

Many thanks in advance.

Jim

 

[TizMe]

Hi Jim !

Welcome to TFP. The best thing you could have done is FIRE your PB and do your own water testing. Just think of the $$ you will save now and the peace of mind you will have knowing that you are in control of your pool water.

Getting the Taylor test kit was also a good move !

If you do some reading in our Pool School section you should find some answers to your questions there.

Someone will be along shortly to give you some advice as well on how to tackle your questions !!


Good Luck !

 

[gtm]

Hello Jim,

Welcome! I see you're from "Coastal South Carolina". Grew up in Charleston and still have a large extended family there. Hope all's well in the Lowcountry.

I'm not one of the experts, but someone will chime in soon about your questions. Concerning the CH issue, though, I had a similar question when I first came here. I have a fiberglass pool about the same size as yours, similarly screened in. I keep my CH at about 400 ppm mainly because two of the experts here (waterbear and mbar) who also have fiberglass pools suggested that it seemed to help prevent staining, which fiberglass pools are apparently somewhat susceptible to.

Concerning scaling, have you tried out the Pool Calculator yet? It's a great tool, and if you enter your numbers it will compute the CSI (Calcium Saturation Index, I think) for you. Positive numbers > 0.6 indicate a danger of scaling. With my CH at 400 ppm I am way below any danger of scaling (< 0.1) during the summer, and this time of the year it's actually tending in the opposite direction (-0.2). Be careful to watch your pH, though, because the CSI calculation seems to be pretty sensitive to that. The bottom line, though, is that I've not any scaling problems at all at this CH setting, so in my case practice bears out the theory used in the Pool Calculator.

Again, I'm sure more knowlegeable people will soon arrive to help you, but I just wanted to pass on my own experience with a similar pool and make sure that you'd run across the Pool Calculator.

Cheers, Gary

 

[duraleigh]

Welcome to the forum. The need for calcium in a fibreglass pool is not a hard and fast rule. Someone more familiar than I will check in and confirm that (I think) but I would not make it my first priority.

Secondly, with that screen enclosure, you may not need as much CYA as a typical outdoor pool....perhaps somewhere around 50 would be very effective. Waterbear is probably the most experienced concerning screened pools and I'm sure he'll chime in shortly.

Last, I would not be in a big rush to increase pH or TA. Neither is overly low for your pool and the tendency will be for both to rise due to the SWG.

How does your water look? My bet is it's pretty clear.

 

[JasonLion]

gtm is on the right track. For a fiberglass pool, the recommended CH level is between 220 and 320. There are two reasons for this. First is to help prevent metal stains. Fiberglass pools are very prone to metal stains and CH levels in that range appear to reduce the frequency and severity of staining. Secondly, a couple of fiberglass manufacturers claim that CH helps the gel coat last longer. Their explanations of why CH will help the gel coat are incomplete, but seem plausible. For both of these reasons, it makes sense to use CH at the recommended levels, even though it isn't proven that it is strictly necessary.

By keeping your TA relatively low, say around 60 to 70, you will eliminate any risk of calcium scaling, even with CH at the high end of that range. Following our recommendations, your calcium saturation index will typically still be negative (meaning no chance of scaling).

 

[grumpy]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate everyone taking time to help me learn a little bit about proper pool care. I'm humbled by everyone's generosity.

Jim

PS: Yes, duraleigh, the water is very blue and clear but I do need to run the vacuum soon.