Draining Pool — Backwash or Pump?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
3 questions oving Forward WIth Newly Filled/Balanced Pool

For your location I would take your CYA to 40 at least. That will also leave some room for puck use like you said. If your losing more than 3 ppm per day of FC from the sun take it to 50. My CYA level is 40 and my pool gets 10-11 hours of full sun. I lose 2-3 ppm of FC a day.
For your current CYA level I would target 5-6 and don't let it fall below 2. CYA level of 40 target 7 and never let it fall below 3. CYA level of 50 target 8 and never let it fall below 4. Add your chlorine, bleach with the pump running in front of a return. Let pump run for 30 mins after addition to mix in the water.
For the pump run time there is an article in pool school on how to determine pump runtime. ?
 
Re: 3 questions oving Forward WIth Newly Filled/Balanced Pool

Thanks, pwrstrk! Let's say I get things going and I'm needing to add 2.5 ppm of FC each day to make up for loss due to our intense sun — with my bleach costs (around .4 gallons of 8.25% a day) that works out to between $450-$500 a year in bleach. Should I factor in that it's going to be less for me in the winter? It's still pretty sunny in the winter, so I'm expecting to have to add some.

Reading about how some people only have to add a couple of cups a day, I was really hoping to cut down on bleach use after my recent refill.
 
Re: 3 questions oving Forward WIth Newly Filled/Balanced Pool

My pool is half your size and I use 3 cups of 8.25 per day on average. I think that is about the price of having a crystal clear pool. On the plus side, that is a fraction of the cost for other types of sanitation that don't work near as well......
 
Re: Drain and Refill Almost Done — Next Step/

MugZona said:
:cool:

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks Nuvene — in terms of finding that CYA/FC balance, how do you map that out? Is it a matter of thinking about FC goals over the course of a day (X in the morning, Y at sunset, Z after nightly addition) and seeing what CYA gets you to that point with the least bleach use?
Click to expand...
Yeah pretty much the az sun is brutal. .. so just get it to the point where you are comfortable with how much its dropping and how much you are adding
 
Re: 3 questions oving Forward WIth Newly Filled/Balanced Pool

In the winter, your chlorine consumption will be much lower, even with the sunny days. You will need to add some, but not nearly the rate you use in summer.

You'll probably want CYA at 50 with the long sunny days you have there. It's ok if you bump up a little above that from puck use when on vacation. I'd still initially bump up to a CYA of 40, and see how much chlorine you're adding each day before deciding whether to go higher.

For the Kreepy Krauly, run it when it is most convenient for you to keep it in line!
 
Re: Drain and Refill Almost Done — Next Step/

I am suspect of your CH result. That seems awfully hard for this area. I am on a semi private well and the CH is ~130ppm. If you have sity water that is mixed with CAP water I can see that being higher, but not that high.

Review this and see if something strange is going on: http://www.troublefreepool.com/thre...Kit-Directions?p=203523&viewfull=1#post203523

BTW, I merged some of your threads to keep the story together.
 
Thanks — just checked the pool again, and CH is 550 (better than the 650 I had been getting and 2100 before the drain). Fill water tested to 225.

I think I know what might have happened. I thought the fill water was 70, not 225. So I should have tested the fill water right before draining, because I got confident (and it was 2 a.m., and we were sick of seeing water wasted) left around 10% to try to target the right CYA and CH. It worked perfectly for CYA.

As for something off during testing, I don't know. The only thing I can think of is that a few times I might have mixed up a couple of the bottle caps. Don't know if that contaminates these solutions. Also, the instructions say the water is supposed to turn red after adding the dark stuff, but it was definitely much more of a pink, if that matters.

Anyway, I kind of figured I'd have to live with a CH. That it was going to climb anyway with evaporation and refill. Was just hoping it wasn't going to be this fast. But form what I can tell, if I keep everything else in check it should be manageable?
 
Yeah, AZ water is terrible for CH. Your only options will be to partially drain & fill every few years or pay for an expensive RO filtration treatment which can cost twice as much as draining your pool entirely and refilling it.

Or go to Costco and buy lots of bottled water ;)
 
You should be adding chlorine to get back to your recommended target every night. If it gets below the minimum by sunset, you might have the wrong target, or you have something going on in your pool. Which it is may take an oclt.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Hi everyone,

SLAM update and question: Last night at 9:30 I tested (40 minutes after last bleach addition) an FC of 16, which was my slam number. Just now, I tested FC of 15 and CC of 0. Is the 7 or so hours between tests enough to say that I passed the OCLC and can stop slamming? Thanks!!!

Matt
 
The vote was 1-1, so I didn't slam anymore. Think I'm OK -- only lost 3 FC all day in the hot sun!

New question -- now I hear a sort if crackling sound from the air release valve on top of the filter, especially when the vacuum is going. I don't remember it before. Filter and vac seems to be operating fine though, and I see no bubbles at all in the pump when I look down. Any ideas?

Thanks again to everyone for helping me restart this pool!
 
You may have a very small leak at the air release valve if it has worn out threads or seal. I would open it slightly while the pump is running to attempt to purge any air that might be trapped on the top of the filter and see if the sound goes away when you close it again. Careful for air/water spray!
 
Interesting. I have opened and closed that valve many times, maybe too much. Read somewhere you should do that when turning the pump on to get all the air out. Mistake?

Anyway, if there is a little leak how do I fix that?
 
Here's a video of what I'm experiencing when I turn the pump on:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1253307/20140804_220627.mp4

Also, if I open the air relief valve a little bit while the pump is getting going, some water gurgles out. Once the pressure is about where it should be, if I open the air relief valve water sort of flows gently out before spurting out. Used to just spurt out.

And the sound really does go away or is reduced to almost zero once whatever air this is is worked out and the pump is full of water.
 
Last edited:
Once the filter is under pressure, water should shoot out of that Pentair valve (I have the same one on top of my DE filter, it's called a High-Flow Manual Air Relief valve).

When you twist the black valve body, do you get a good gush of water?

If not, I suspect something is clogging up your valve. Check out this pic for disassembly -



Check the o-ring seals and the seats for damage.
 
Thanks! I'll try this. OK to leave it running while I'm at work today? When the pressure gets up to where it should be it works fine. In fact there are no air bubbles at all in the pump basket so maybe this is helping things?

To answer your question, when I twist the valve water first flows out some then shoots out.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply