I am a fairly new member to the TFP community, although I have been a lurker for three years. I found this forum two summers ago when I was having trouble keeping our seasonal above ground pool clean. Once I found this site, got a TF100 and studied Pool School, I have not had a single water chemistry issue.
We bought an above ground pool as a "warm up" pool to prove to ourselves two things. First, that it would actually get used. Well that was proven out pretty quickly as our kids suddenly found friends that even they didn't know that they had. Second, that we could take care of a pool and maintain it ourselves. While the first summer was a failure, it has been a breeze ever since. I have learned so much about how to maintain a pool that I get constant questions from several of our neighbors who have seasonal pools. Each one of them gets a lesson on my TF100 and a raving review about this forum.
So, the decision has been made that we are going to put in a pool! We have begun the process of selecting a builder and will be meeting with the first one this weekend. In our first phone conversation with him, he recommended some websites for the pools that he likes to use and asked us to get familiar with their offering to make his quoting process a little easier. We downloaded their brochures and read everything on their website and have decided on a basic shape and size. One thing that jumped out at me was their section on pool maintenance. In particular their site recommends a CYA level of 35-60 while maintaining a FC level of 1-2. Now, we all know that a test reading of 35 CYA should be rounded up to 40 and we also know that with a CYA of 40 the minimum FC is 3 and the target FC is 5-7. I understand that pool manufacturer companies are not necessarily the go-to people for water chemistry maintenance, but I would like some feedback from TFPers as to how I can/should trust the manufacturer to build me a quality pool when they give bad information for one of the most basic maintenance items. Let alone their recommended weekly use of algaecide and Majestic Blue.
I plan to meet with this builder this weekend and will line up meetings with at least 2 more. I live in Central Nebraska, so the options for builders seem to be fairly limited. I am worried that all of the builders in my immediate area all use the exact same manufacturers which will obviously limit my options. Although, it might make a negotiation go in my favor.
We bought an above ground pool as a "warm up" pool to prove to ourselves two things. First, that it would actually get used. Well that was proven out pretty quickly as our kids suddenly found friends that even they didn't know that they had. Second, that we could take care of a pool and maintain it ourselves. While the first summer was a failure, it has been a breeze ever since. I have learned so much about how to maintain a pool that I get constant questions from several of our neighbors who have seasonal pools. Each one of them gets a lesson on my TF100 and a raving review about this forum.
So, the decision has been made that we are going to put in a pool! We have begun the process of selecting a builder and will be meeting with the first one this weekend. In our first phone conversation with him, he recommended some websites for the pools that he likes to use and asked us to get familiar with their offering to make his quoting process a little easier. We downloaded their brochures and read everything on their website and have decided on a basic shape and size. One thing that jumped out at me was their section on pool maintenance. In particular their site recommends a CYA level of 35-60 while maintaining a FC level of 1-2. Now, we all know that a test reading of 35 CYA should be rounded up to 40 and we also know that with a CYA of 40 the minimum FC is 3 and the target FC is 5-7. I understand that pool manufacturer companies are not necessarily the go-to people for water chemistry maintenance, but I would like some feedback from TFPers as to how I can/should trust the manufacturer to build me a quality pool when they give bad information for one of the most basic maintenance items. Let alone their recommended weekly use of algaecide and Majestic Blue.
I plan to meet with this builder this weekend and will line up meetings with at least 2 more. I live in Central Nebraska, so the options for builders seem to be fairly limited. I am worried that all of the builders in my immediate area all use the exact same manufacturers which will obviously limit my options. Although, it might make a negotiation go in my favor.
