Above ground low maintenance pool, Season II

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mikey78

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Apr 3, 2017
67
Italy
Link to Season I : Above ground low maintenance pool issues !!

Hello you all :D,
I finally had my small pool up and running by the middle of June.

Targets for this season are :
1) Installing a solar heater
2) Installing a SWG

Because the weather is still quite chilly ( often below 20°C/68°F at night),
I first wanted to install a solar heater ... It took me some extra effort to have the system up and running mainly because I did not have dedicated inlet/outlet for the heating mat . For the Intex solar heater mat (47 inch x 47 inch) I purchased a dedicated 800 gph cartridge pump . Not having dedicated inlet/outlet for the heater I had to go over the pool walls ( a bit less than 3 feet high) with the flex hoses (30 feet), plus there was an additional obstacle because I had to prime (;)) the whole system before operating the pump ... but at the end it did work !!!
Having done that I would suggest to any other forum member to use a pump only for the heating mat
because the Intex mat is very restrictive for the water flow (I took off the cartridge too).
Next week I will let you know, with numbers, how restrictive it is, and of course,
I will also post some other pictures of my set-up.

This are my last testing results :
FC = 5, CC = 0/0,5,
PH = 7,6/7,8 *
TA = 160/170 ppm
CH = 140 ppm
CYA = 50 ppm**

* I suspect that this year because of the return of the heating mat (behaving as a fountain) It will slowly go up
** As soon as it reaches a level of 70 I will switch on the SWG

Do you see anything I should work on ?
 
Your numbers are looking pretty good. :goodjob: If in the future you find the pH trying to climb too fast, especially after starting the SWG, you can always lower the TA. Perhaps down to about 80-100 or so? You could even go lower if you had to. It might help slow the rise of pH.
Pool School - Lower Total Alkalinity
Pool School - Recommended Levels
 
Texas splash :
Thankyou for the advice, as long as I see to lower TA I just need to lower PH to 7,0-7,2 and aerate,
when PH rises again to 7,6 if TA is still high I need repeating the procedure ... by doing this x-times I should slowly lower TA !!!
Plus the lower TA is, the slower should rise PH, am I correct ?

Pv2:
This is the test I've bought for the purpose ...
 
as long as I see to lower TA I just need to lower PH to 7,0-7,2 and aerate,
when PH rises again to 7,6 if TA is still high I need repeating the procedure ... by doing this x-times I should slowly lower TA !!!
Plus the lower TA is, the slower should rise PH, am I correct ?
Click to expand...
You've got it. :goodjob: Actually, you could let the aeration take the pH up to 7.8 before knocking it back down to help give you move movement. But overall that's correct.
 
"Next week I will let you know, with numbers, how restrictive it is, and of course,
I will also post some other pictures of my set-up."

Here we go :


Intex solar heater, I cover it with the blu tarp when I don't use it during the week (I hope it will last longer )


Intex 800 gph pump (no cartridge inside )
 
With this set-up by using a 800gph pump I can get 100 gph at the outlet :(:(:( ...
Water temperature at the outlet is noticeably warmer which is defenetly a pros :) ...
Considerations : Solar heater plus additional hoses ask for a dedicated pump,
if you need to go over the walls like I did expect to have a further reduction of the water flow !!!
Does the heater work ? Yes, technically it does, but ...........
My opinion is that if you need to warm your pool a little bit up during the sunny season and if the process as the opportunity to spread over a few days you are ok with 1 mat every 1000/1200 gallons.
If you want to extend the swimming season and have a swimmable water during the early spring you need at least 2 mats every 1000/1200 gallons . . . .
P.S. The black hose is for electricians, a lot cheaper and actually also a lot better because is double walled ringet at the outside and smooth inside, thus allowing a better water flow, plus it is black :cool: !!!
 

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Goodmorning guys :D,
Finally I had the chance to get everything ready for the SWG installation :



Here you can see a 12Kg bag full of salt next to the SWG



This is the digital scale ;) I used to weigh the salt ( Actually I was very surprised by his accuracy)

With this amount of salt (poured in 4400 litres) I managed to get to 2600 ppm,
So I still need to add some more salt, poolmath says a total 13,2 kg for a target of 3000 ppm.
SWG manual says unit will operate anywhere in this interval : 2500/3500 ppm,
this is why I set my target to 3000 ppm am I correct ? Should I go higher ?
 
Last but not least, one big concern :
After one year and half I'm running short of reagents in my Taylor K-2006-C kit,
especially the one for chlorine test :( ...
I tryed to make some less crucial tests with some strips from the pool store,
but they are pretty useless :mad: ...
Being italian can you suggest a source (shipping overseas) for buying some extra reagents ?
Please help me !!!
 
mikey78 said:
With this set-up by using a 800gph pump I can get 100 gph at the outlet :(:(:( ...
Click to expand...

I would expect better than that. You probably still have air in the line somewhere. Most likely where the hoses go over the wall. What is the temperature increase? If it is around 1°C the flow is about optimum for the panel and not worth fixing.

Standard recommendation for solar panel surface area is 50%-100% of the pools surface area for a worthwhile gain. Yours is much smaller so your comments that the effect is somewhat limited sound about right.

Are you using a solar cover on the pool?
 
Do an internet search there for "FAS/DPD chlorine test" or "Taylor K-1515-A" (Drop Test Kit FAS-DPD Pool Chlorine)

I tried to do by adding "Italy" to the search but the results didn't seem right.

Where did you get your original test? That might be the place to look first.

Otherwise, for your small pool I bet you can get by with the regular color match test that comes with the pH test.
 
OTPirate : Thankyou anyway !!!
Poolzzz : Yes probably there is still some air in the line, but is difficult to get rid of it without proper inlet/outlet valves, water temperature increase is around 1°C , often more, sometimes less ...
In a typical sunny summer day my pool wakes-up in the morning around 25/26°C (no solar cover at night, just a tarp for keeping debris out of the pool ), in the late afternoon normally the water touches 30°C, during last week-end I even measured 33°C (at 6:00 p.m.) and I suspect that a couple of degrees were attributable to the solar panel !!!
Lately I managed to get some free bubble wrap I will see If this way I can keep a couple of degrees inside the pool at night instead of loosing them and starting every morning all over again .

 
Pv2 : Here I can find some fas-dpd test but the problem is they do not read chlorine concentrations above 5 ppm, which is very limitating ... I don't know how people can get by with such an approssimative measurement :confused:, how can I slam a pool with this kind of test ? I just don't know !!!
There are some sellers on ebay.com shipping refills overseas but It's going to be expensive (something like 30$ for a 2 oz. bottle of 0871 refill, shipping included ) and time consuming (at least 3 to 6 weeks unless I pay top money for a usps priority mail )...
I think I will try to get by with a cheap fas-dpd test for the daily routine trying to use taylor test sparingly untill the end of the season :(.
 
mikey78 said:
Pv2 : Here I can find some fas-dpd test but the problem is they do not read chlorine concentrations above 5 ppm, which is very limitating ... I don't know how people can get by with such an approssimative measurement :confused:, how can I slam a pool with this kind of test ? I just don't know !!!
There are some sellers on ebay.com shipping refills overseas but It's going to be expensive (something like 30$ for a 2 oz. bottle of 0871 refill, shipping included ) and time consuming (at least 3 to 6 weeks unless I pay top money for a usps priority mail )...
I think I will try to get by with a cheap fas-dpd test for the daily routine trying to use taylor test sparingly untill the end of the season :(.
Click to expand...

I think you are mixing up the names. FAS/DPD (also known as the chlorine drop test) is the test with powder that you mix with sample water - it turns pink if there is chlorine present then you add and count drops of a clear reagent until sample turns clear again (and you can also use another reagent to test for combined chlorine, which turns the sample back to pink). The other test is OTO and it turns sample yellow (with only 5 drops every time) that you match to a color chart block (it is the one that only really goes to 5). If you can find FAS/DPD there - with the powder - that is the one you want. It measures from low to very high levels of chlorine (or until you run out of the clear reagent!).

I hear you on international shipping! I wanted to send a funny bottle of wine to my friend in Germany, but forget that! Easier and almost cheaper to buy a plane ticket and just carry it over! It cost me over US$20 to send some Mexican food snacks and a small package of pecans (nuts) to her. That was way more than they cost. :eek:
 

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