Definitely Need Help

[BRISKET]

I made a new user post and things have gone from ok to not good at all. I bought this house 6 weeks ago and figured I could somewhat keep the pool clean until I could get a handle on it because work and school has been tough, but I have not been able to. I'm just going to list out the problems and go from there:

-I honestly can't tell that my pump or filter is working well. I see bubbling from one of the return jets but that is it. (And when I say bubbling I mean blurps of water for lack of better phrasing)
-My Polaris stopped roaming whereas before when I ran the pump system it would go through a cycle
-The pool is now green and I think there are black spots on the bottom
-I have no idea how to change the filtering for the DE or if it should.
-On top of that I also do not know where to dump the back was as it is currently only able to exit in my yard and makes quite the mess.
-I did a test for FC and it was way over 8.0 (SUPER pink). I stopped doing drips of 0871 when I hit 28, so that didn't seem good.
-One of my baskets never has any leaves so I don't believe much water is flowing through it.
-There is a singular suction at the bottom in the middle of the pool and I'm pretty sure that isn't safe anymore but honestly have no clue on that one.
-Oh and the timer and flip on switch look pretty sketchy
-I don't think the gauge on the filter has yet to change.
-My Golden Retriever is LOVING the new pool but I am worried about when I put Chlorine in and the current algaeic state for when he is getting in and of course drinking the water despite my best efforts to keep him away, but this might need it's own post.

Ok I feel a little better now that it is listed out. I have a Taylor K2000C as of Thursday, 6 gallons of bleach (made sure it was the right kind), and a couple extra gallons of the 10% stuff that was all they had in stock at Wal-Mart. I have no idea what I am doing and I 100% need help. Save me TFP. I will comment with my CYA level after this.

 

[BRISKET]

Cc .4
Fc 8.4
Ta 90
Cya 59
Ch 440
Ph 7.6
Psi

 

[Chuck N]

I made a new user post and things have gone from ok to not good at all. I bought this house 6 weeks ago and figured I could somewhat keep the pool clean until I could get a handle on it because work and school has been tough, but I have not been able to. I'm just going to list out the problems and go from there:

-I honestly can't tell that my pump or filter is working well. I see bubbling from one of the return jets but that is it. (And when I say bubbling I mean blurps of water for lack of better phrasing)
-My Polaris stopped roaming whereas before when I ran the pump system it would go through a cycle
-The pool is now green and I think there are black spots on the bottom
-I have no idea how to change the filtering for the DE or if it should.
-On top of that I also do not know where to dump the back was as it is currently only able to exit in my yard and makes quite the mess.
-I did a test for FC and it was way over 8.0 (SUPER pink). I stopped doing drips of 0871 when I hit 28, so that didn't seem good.
-One of my baskets never has any leaves so I don't believe much water is flowing through it.
-There is a singular suction at the bottom in the middle of the pool and I'm pretty sure that isn't safe anymore but honestly have no clue on that one.
-Oh and the timer and flip on switch look pretty sketchy

Ok I feel a little better now that it is listed out. I have a Taylor K2000C as of Thursday, 6 gallons of bleach (made sure it was the right kind), and a couple extra gallons of the 10% stuff that was all they had in stock at Wal-Mart. I have no idea what I am doing and I 100% need help. Save me TFP. I will comment with my CYA level after this.

I don't know enough to advise you, but the things I would want to know in order to help would be the results of your testing and a pic of your filter/pump/valves.

 

[Poolbreh]

The timer on the left is for the filter, the timer on the right is the booster pump. The pump pot appears to me empty if it’s running dry you should turn it off (left timer)open the lid fill with water and align the lid and lubricate oring if you have any. Make sure basket opening is aligned with intake. Start it back up and release air out of air relief on filter(pot should be full with circulating water. The timers don’t have tags so the pump will run continuously.(one tag is on top of box)
You will have to post all water test readings
Cc
Fc
Ta
Cya
Ch
Ph
Psi
Someone will be by shortly to help with that when you post.
Your filter looks new so after you get it cleaned up we can walk you through cleaning. Don’t stress you are in good hands with tfp.

 

[BRISKET]

The timer on the left is for the filter, the timer on the right is the booster pump. The pump pot appears to me empty if it’s running dry you should turn it off (left timer)open the lid fill with water and align the lid and lubricate oring if you have any. Make sure basket opening is aligned with intake. Start it back up and release air out of air relief on filter(pot should be full with circulating water. The timers don’t have tags so the pump will run continuously.(one tag is on top of box)
You will have to post all water test readings
Cc
Fc
Ta
Cya
Ch
Ph
Psi
Someone will be by shortly to help with that when you post.
Your filter looks new so after you get it cleaned up we can walk you through cleaning. Don’t stress you are in good hands with tfp.

Ok I will get those test results. Admittedly that is an old picture of the pump. There is water in it currently. Do I need to put water in every time I turn it on? Same question for the air release as well as if you could possibly tell me how to do the air release. There is a valve on the exit side of the pump but I can’t tell what it does.

Thank y’all so much and I have definitely been stressed.

 

[Poolbreh]

Only when you empty the basket or the pump runs dry. There is an orange lever on the top of the filter that you turn counter clockwise, air will come out and than water when the air is purged. What’s the psi on the pressure gauge? Blurps of air can be a stuck weir gate, or the pump is pulling in air from somewhere(lid, intake union, valve) or Venturi effect. You want to make sure that lid oring is clean and lubricated so it has a good seal.

 

[BRISKET]

Ok, above are my posted levels. I will have to admit that I am yellow/green and ~blue/red color blind so I have a tough time with the color matching but I can usually tell when it changes because it is fairly dramatic.

I was using the app to follow the SLAM method on Thursday, however it suggested 6 gallons of 10% and I only added 2 due to stock and I was buying at 9pm so there was limited options.

So far I added 2 gallons of 10% on Thursday
2 gallons of 7.5% last night but I didn't have time to test yesterday with friends over so I just ran the pump and added the 2 gallons I had available.

I went and bought 2-3 more gallons of 10% and 4 gallons of 7.5% but decided to wait to post and hear back from someone before doing anything further as it has just gotten slightly greener.

 

[Newdude]

Hey Brisket !!!!

Ph is invalid at 10+ FC
Cya rounds up so call it 60.

SLAM is a process and takes effort. It didn't go green in a day, and it won't clear that way either. Life gets in the way and we get it. We do, i promise. But once every other day just won't cut it as you've seen. Testing and adding is preferred every 2-3 hours the first 2 days. Usually by the second day it holds for 4-6 hours with each dose. By day 3 it holds 8+ hours and you can go back to work. Many people wait for a weekend, or 'their' weekend if they are on a different schedule.

Have a read again at SLAM Process. If your schedule isn't friendly at the moment, add 5ppm daily to limp along until it is

 

[Newdude]

#2. My phone couldnt pull up the pics before but on 2nd look now, its looking alot better than i thought. Lets try some things when you get some time :

-I honestly can't tell that my pump or filter is working well. I see bubbling from one of the return jets but that is it. (And when I say bubbling I mean blurps of water for lack of better phrasing)

Air in the system, and likely lots of it. Get the pump on and once the water is flowing, open the red bleeder valve on top of the PSI gauge. It will hiss air until water shoots out, then close the valve. If that doesn't stop the burping returns, make sure the water height is half way up the skimmer face, and verify by hand that the skimmer flap/door (weir) is freely opening. Gently wiggle the snot out of it open and shut until you are convinced it is moving freely. Report back.

-I have no idea how to change the filtering for the DE or if it should.

We will get there but have bigger fish to fry at the moment.

On top of that I also do not know where to dump the back was as it is currently only able to exit in my yard and makes quite the mess

You can add a (large enough) hose or pipe to that backwash outlet to redirect it.

-I don't think the gauge on the filter has yet to change.

It could be broken. They are cheap and break accordingly. It should rise to 15-20 with the pump on and fall to 0 when off.

I did a test for FC and it was way over 8.0 (SUPER pink). I stopped doing drips of 0871 when I hit 28, so that didn't seem good.

Its ok. Take your time and get repeatable results. Just enough powder so the sample goes crazy pink and one or two grains dont dissolve. Gentle, gravity made drops. SLAM is 40% of your CYA so 24 FC, 48 drops. you might want to switch to 5ml water sample and each drop is 1 FC. Its not as accurate but 23/24 FC is plenty close enough for the test supplies it saves.

One of my baskets never has any leaves so I don't believe much water is flowing through it.

Take the basket out and see if there is a flap that slides to cover/block the pipe. Or maybe the wind just pushes the leaves to the one side.

 

[BRISKET]

My current FC is at 18 with my target of 24. Is this normal? I’ve gone through the slam process and have had my pump running

 

[BRISKET]

#2. My phone couldnt pull up the pics before but on 2nd look now, its looking alot better than i thought. Lets try some things when you get some time :

Air in the system, and likely lots of it. Get the pump on and once the water is flowing, open the red bleeder valve on top of the PSI gauge. It will hiss air until water shoots out, then close the valve. If that doesn't stop the burping returns, make sure the water height is half way up the skimmer face, and verify by hand that the skimmer flap/door (weir) is freely opening. Gently wiggle the snot out of it open and shut until you are convinced it is moving freely. Report back.

We will get there but have bigger fish to fry at the moment.

You can add a (large enough) hose or pipe to that backwash outlet to redirect it.

It could be broken. They are cheap and break accordingly. It should rise to 15-20 with the pump on and fall to 0 when off.


Its ok. Take your time and get repeatable results. Just enough powder so the sample goes crazy pink and one or two grains dont dissolve. Gentle, gravity made drops. SLAM is 40% of your CYA so 24 FC, 48 drops. you might want to switch to 5ml water sample and each drop is 1 FC. Its not as accurate but 23/24 FC is plenty close enough for the test supplies it saves.


Take the basket out and see if there is a flap that slides to cover/block the pipe. Or maybe the wind just pushes the leaves to the one side.

Thank you so much. The air was totally the issue, my neighbor who had been taking care of the pool for the 80 year old previous owner of the home told me that it didn’t matter if there wasn’t water in the pump pot, but it seemed that if I let it run dry it never quite came back from having that much air and the return valves wouldn’t function correctly nor would the robot run.

 

[BRISKET]

We will get there but have bigger fish to fry at the moment.

You can add a (large enough) hose or pipe to that backwash outlet to redirect it.

as far as these two, I haven’t backwashed or cleaned the filter. I had tried to look at the how-to process but do you know how often this needs to be done?

Additionally the backwash seems to really dirty up the soil in my yard from where my neighbor had dumped it, do most people simply dump it in grass in their backyard?

 

[dfwnoob]

Hello fellow new-old pool owner. I'm a lot more comfortable with pool equipment vs chemistry, so I'll add my two pennies. For what it's worth, both those Jandy pumps and valves love to develop dry and failing o-rings, which will cause the system to suck in air as well as lose prime, which could possibly be why you have lots of air in the system. Get a new o-ring for the lid (or a whole new lid) and rebuild kits for the Jandy valves that look suspect. Both are very easy to replace. Be sure to buy a tube of Magic Lube (the red "Magic Lube II" silicone version; the blue PTFE version works, but it gets sticky and gummy after a while) and use that on all of the sealing surfaces.

Is the Polaris working now that the system is purged?

As far as backwashing goes, yeah, a lot of people do the backyard dumping method, others repurpose it for whatever. Quite a few houses have backwash valves plumbed into the sewer. A lot of municipalities around DFW actually explicitly require a backwash valve plumbed into the sanitary sewer. That's what we have here, which is very convenient.

 

[Newdude]

haven’t backwashed or cleaned the filter. I had tried to look at the how-to process but do you know how often this needs to be done?

It's a good idea to start fresh with a deep clean / tear down. It's likely not been done in ages.

the backwash seems to really dirty up the soil in my yard from where my neighbor had dumped it,

You can extend that pipe to wherever you want, if it's downhill. But where ever it ends will look similar.

My current FC is at 18 with my target of 24

Algae will burn up some FC and at higher levels, FC burns off faster from the sun. It's why you need to really stay on top of the begging of the SLAM to speed things along. It still works if you dip below SLAM level, but it takes longer depending on how far you dipped below SLAM level, and for how long.

 

[BRISKET]

Ok folks

Hello fellow new-old pool owner. I'm a lot more comfortable with pool equipment vs chemistry, so I'll add my two pennies. For what it's worth, both those Jandy pumps and valves love to develop dry and failing o-rings, which will cause the system to suck in air as well as lose prime, which could possibly be why you have lots of air in the system. Get a new o-ring for the lid (or a whole new lid) and rebuild kits for the Jandy valves that look suspect. Both are very easy to replace. Be sure to buy a tube of Magic Lube (the red "Magic Lube II" silicone version; the blue PTFE version works, but it gets sticky and gummy after a while) and use that on all of the sealing surfaces.

Is the Polaris working now that the system is purged?

As far as backwashing goes, yeah, a lot of people do the backyard dumping method, others repurpose it for whatever. Quite a few houses have backwash valves plumbed into the sewer. A lot of municipalities around DFW actually explicitly require a backwash valve plumbed into the sanitary sewer. That's what we have here, which is very convenient.

thanks for the input, I will definitely have to check all of the valves as there is always water (think we’re ground not pooling water) around my pump and filter.

I’ll have to look up my municipality, but would that mean I would also need a DE remover system before sending it back to the sewer?

 

[BRISKET]

It's a good idea to start fresh with a deep clean / tear down. It's likely not been done in ages.

You can extend that pipe to wherever you want, if it's downhill. But where ever it ends will look similar.

Algae will burn up some FC and at higher levels, FC burns off faster from the sun. It's why you need to really stay on top of the begging of the SLAM to speed things along. It still works if you dip below SLAM level, but it takes longer depending on how far you dipped below SLAM level, and for how long.

I have officially passed all 3 points of the SLAM process and maintained from 24 to 23.5 FC overnight.

At this point is it just letting the FC go back down to normal? And how often should I now run my pump? I’ll probably be able to do a full tear down of my filter this weekend, but is there anything else to do coming off of a slam?

 

[Texas Splash]

I have officially passed all 3 points of the SLAM process and maintained from 24 to 23.5 FC overnight.

 

[Newdude]

At this point is it just letting the FC go back down to normal

Exactly that. Take it off the heat, and let it sit to absorb all its juices.

Pay close attention when it gets closer to target range. You will be well served as you learn to add daily to fall into target range with the loss, not below it.

And how often should I now run my pump

Your pump needs to run 15 mins a day to mix the chems.

It also needs to run as long as you need to filter.

It will skim as you run to filter and it won't skim when you don't. While you aren't skimming, anything that lands in the pool will have alot more time to become watetlogged and sink.

The filtering and skimming needs vary greatly throughout the season. More now and in the fall, and less mid season with less crud falling. If you have stupid clear water with no floaties swimming around, you can likely lower your filter time. If you have stuff floating around or loose some sparkle, you need more time. The start point is completely arbitrary. I would go with 12 hours a day and go from there.

Filtering will cover the mixing requirements many times over.

 

[BRISKET]

Ok I am thinking I will do a full up chem test tonight to see where I am at and get a plan forward from there if I need to adjust TA or CYA etc.

Thank y’all

 

[dfwnoob]

I’ll have to look up my municipality, but would that mean I would also need a DE remover system before sending it back to the sewer?

This seems to be more of a California thing, as most places around here just tell you to drain pools right into a sewer cleanout. I'd call the local code office and ask, though.