Advice needed for water balance of pool under renovation

[Neemer]

My pool has been under renovation since mid-June. The renovation consists in part of cutting out and replacing the concrete coping.

During this period, I have been keeping the water balanced with little challenge. That all changed today with the installation of the new coping. There is a lot of debris in the pool, a combination of grout and mortar. It doesn’t brush up, it has to be scraped off, and there is a lot of it. The contractors finished their work today and, of course, it’s Friday, so nothing is going to happen until Monday at the earliest.

I just tested my FC and pH and was astonished. FC was down to 1.5 and pH is a shade of purple not of this world. The water is so cloudy I cannot see the bottom.

I just dumped a gallon of 8.5% bleach and placed a sub pump in there to stir things up. I don’t want to run the filter system with the pH as high as it is. Maybe I’m overthinking that?

I’m just wondering if I should continue to pour chems into the pool while that debris is in there. I know the renovation company will eventually clean it up, but I have no feel for when that will happen (this was supposed to be a two week job). I could try to remove the debris myself tomorrow, but it’s nearly overwhelming. I could also let it go to swamp, but I am so anal about that pool that would keep me up at night.

Any advice for this poor schmuck?

 

[jblizzle]

Running the pump with the high pH is not a problem.
But, I would certainly get that lowered back into the 7s pronto so that the calcium in the water does not stick to the surface.
Lots of brushing would be good too.

 

[ajw22]

If you have a valve to bypass your heater you should do that.

You might want to out your filter in recirculate initially.

 

[Neemer]

Thanks folks. No heater bypass, so it’s all or nothing. I dumped about .5 gal of MA with no significant impact. Gotta go get some more tonight. FC is back up to 6 which is my target. If I can’t get the pH lower this evening I’ll shut it down and drain the heater.

 

[Neemer]

I’ve dumped over two gallons of MA in the pool and I’m still above 8.2. Crazy. I’m going to put my snorkel gear on and start scraping.

 

[ajw22]

I’ve dumped over two gallons of MA in the pool and I’m still above 8.2. Crazy. I’m going to put my snorkel gear on and start scraping.

That indicates your PH is way high. Adding 128 oz of 31% MA should lower your PH by 2.11

That grout and motar must be very alkaline.

You are using 31% MA?

 

[mknauss]

I hope you are using a current TA test result in PoolMath when you are doing your calculations on how much MA to add.

 

[Neemer]

Thanks all. pH is now at 7.2. I’m using Jasco blue label from Lowes.

I’ve been snorkeling and scraping like crazy. It’s a pretty good workout. About 2/3 of the debris is out of there. I’m having to backwash about every hour or two or so.

A few numbers from early this morning:

FC: 7.5
pH: 8.2+
TA: 80
CH: 250

I haven’t checked CYA today. With all the backwashing, there’s a fairly decent amount of water being exchanged. The water is clearer, but still has a ways to go. I’m in need of some patience.

 

[Neemer]

Since y’all have been sitting on the edge of your seats and biting your nails wondering how this turns out, I’ll provide a little closure.

I was able to remove the remaining stubborn globs of mortar this morning, and the pool is looking really good. My chems are balanced again. The water is ever so slightly cloudy, but I figure that will be remedied by day’s end with continued filtering. There were a LOT of suspended solids in the water, but the end of the tunnel is directly ahead.

 

[ajw22]

Nothing that MA and elbow grease won’t conquer. Good work!