Bought a house with a neglected pool - please help with cover and lights

[TheZman]

Hi all,

I've been busy for the past couple of weeks draining, cleaning, and now filling a 10.5m x 5m in ground [concrete] vinyl pool. The pool had sat for years near empty with no cover, so the it took a lot of work to clean out the porridge that had accumulated at the bottom of the pool. Ideally I'd get a new liner but this one seems to be in surprisingly decent shape given its age and neglect, so I'm rolling with it for now in hopes that it holds up fine for this season. I'm totally new to pools, but I think I've figured out how all of the piping and equipment are meant to work, though I'm sure I'll have more questions as I actually start using the pool [hopefully] in the next week or so.

The Light
The pool light seems to have literally burned out. I confirmed that the electrics still work as it's receiving 12v AC to the pool side conduit. The problem is I'm struggling to find a replacement light. Drove an hour to the nearest pool shop yesterday to find that the only lights they had had a different clip/attachment system than my one. From the pictures below, can anyone tell me if this light style has a particular name or system that I should be looking for? It seemed to be attached to the light housing in the pool with two screws, which held onto some sort of clip. Unfortunately this clip was already broken and corroded so I can't really tell exactly how it works.

Also - since I'm currently refilling the pool, should I stop below the light recess line? I guess if I keep the water level below there it will make installing the new light easier? I assume all I will have to do is loosen the cable glands that hold the old cable in place (one inside the pool/light recess and one at the pool side conduit), somehow attached the new cable to the old one (duct tape/zip ties?) and pull the new cable through by pulling on the old one. Any tips appreciated.


The Cover
The pool has an automatic cover that rolls up into a hidden section of the pool. Currently the mechanism seems to work but the actual cover got smashed up somehow and is in multiple pieces. (See images) Any tips on how to join the pieces together again? I managed to angle two smaller (15cm) pieces together to clip them (kind of align them perpendicular, then move them straight while pushing together, but the main sections being 5 meters wide (and quite heavy), I'm not sure exactly how I'd go about this. My only idea is that it might be easier to lay out the separated pieces into the pool when the level is high enough to join with the main piece that's still attached to the roller mechanism, but I'm not sure how I'd then join the pieces together...bending those slats together as they float on water (and are 5m wide) seems like an impossible task. Again - any tips appreciated.
Some of the slats seem broken/bent/missing to I'll have to play around a little and remove some and add replacements eventually, but for now I just want to get any sort of covering over the pool so that I can start heating it and keeping it clean.


Images:

https://imgur.com/a/I5esTjW

Bonus
Does anyone recognise this pool robot? The only thing on it says "EverBlue Select"...EverBlue are the people that fitted the pool, but I doubt they created their own robot also. I'm guessing it's a re branded more common robot, especially since EverBlue now seem to be selling re branded Dolphin robots, however I don't think this is one of those. The filter bag was a bit torn so I stitched it up but would be nice to know the model so that I can order a replacement and find a manual. It seems to be working great for the few hours I had it on today though!

I think the pool was constructed around 2009-2010, so I expect the light, robot, etc. to be from around then. Also note that I am in France.

https://imgur.com/a/w5xcfOG

 

[igneous]

Does the pump work? If so, go to store and get 10 or so half gallons of bleach and pour about 3 in pool when you get home.
Look at the pool calculator to find out how much other chems you need to add also. That’s a start, then reply back but every day you’ll need to add more bleach to get rid of the algae. Other alternative is to drain and refill.

 

[TheZman]

Does the pump work? If so, go to store and get 10 or so half gallons of bleach and pour about 3 in pool when you get home.
Look at the pool calculator to find out how much other chems you need to add also. That’s a start, then reply back but every day you’ll need to add more bleach to get rid of the algae. Other alternative is to drain and refill.

Yes the pump works. You can ignore the green water in the background of some of the pictures - I already fully drained the pool and scooped out all the gunk. Trust me, no amount of chemicals or filtration would have fixed that water after 2-3 years of leaf and dead mice buildup with no cover to protect it. The bottom of the deep end was literally porridge consistency. I'm just about to head to another pool shop to see if they have a light that will fit in that hole.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

If you still have concerns about the autocover, please show photos illustrating the problem.

 

[TheZman]

If you still have concerns about the autocover, please show photos illustrating the problem.

Hi, yes the auto cover is causing problems...even more today in fact.

Original issue: Cover is separated into multiple (3 or 4) pieces with some slats being broken. I want to remove the broken slats and then join all of the sections together again. I can't quite figure out which motion/manipulation to use to separate the slats. Pictures attached.

New issue: Perhaps even more pressing. I got the pool water level to proper height so unrolled the cover section that was still attached to the motor mechanism. Discovered that 2 of the 4 bolts connecting the cover to the round motor/mounting point have rusted and sheared off at the bolt head. One had about an inch of bolt exposed, the other sheered flush with the motor/mounting unit. I tried using mole grips to loosen the exposed bolt shaft and bubbles started coming from the hole...meaning water was rushing into the round motor/mounting assembly. Not sure if it was water-free before, (guessing not fully, because no way those rusty bolts kept it water tight, but the motor did seem to work), but there's more water going in now that's for sure. Is that section supposed to remain water tight? Surely that would be a weird design, where you cannot remove the cover unless the pool is drained, but at the same time require water in the pool for the cover to float on...Anyway, I've switched the electricity supply to the motor off until I figure out if that section is supposed to be waterproof or not.

Also, as I was extending the cover over the pool, the motor would only run for 1-2 seconds before cutting off. I'd have to wait a few seconds then go again...over and over. This makes me think there is some existing issue with the motor being stressed or otherwise cutting off automatically. Could be related to the 2 broken bolts (either letting in water previously, or not holding the cover 100% straight, putting more torque on one side of the assembly than the other. Pictures attached.

Thoughts?

On the plus side a very helpful person in a local pool shop found the light model I needed and ordered one from the manufacturer.