First time testing pool, doesn't look good

[ChrisL75]

Hello everyone, I just purchased a house with a pool. Water looks clear. I tested the water for the first time today and it looks like I have super high chlorine numbers among other abnormal results. Some of these results seem so bad I have doubts that I did them right now. I can retest tomorrow. Previous owners had Pinch a Penny take care of their pool. The SWG was set to 70 and the timer for the pump was set to run for 8 hrs a day.

FC 65
CC ?
pH 7.5
CH 1050?
TA 100
CYA >100
Salt 2600

I somehow forgot to test the CC after I checked FC.

For the CH test, after I added the 3 drops of R-0011L, the color was more of a light pink. After adding drops of R-0012 the color didn't really change to blue, it went to clear. So I'm not sure if that counts or maybe the light pink indicates I have no calcium.

There was a floating thing with tablets inside that I assume is chlorine tablets. Not sure why this would be needed with SWG. I removed it after I moved in this weekend since the tablets have all dissolved now.

Thank you all for your help.

 

[ajw22]

Actually not that surprising given the history.

How did you test the salt? You have the K-1766 Taylor Salt Test

Retest the CYA and follow step 8 in...

CYA - Cyanuric Acid Test

Cyanuric Acid (CYA) is the chemical name for what is commonly referred to as Stabilizer … Read more…

www.troublefreepool.com

If your CYA level is 90 or higher, repeat the test adjusting the procedure as follows:

1. Fill the mixing bottle to the lower mark with pool water.
2. Continue filling the mixing bottle to the upper mark with tap water.
3. Shake briefly to mix.
4. Pour off half of the contents of the mixing bottle, so it is again filled to the lower mark.
5. Continue the test normally from step 2, but multiply the final result by two.

Chances are you are looking at a significant drain of your pool to lower CH and CA.

What is the pH, TA, CH of your fill water you would use to refill the pool?

 

[Brett S]

With a FC level of 65 the pH test is definitely invalid and I question the results of the TA and the CH tests as well. I know those two are less sensitive to high chlorine levels, but 65 is way up there.

If you haven’t yet, definitely turn off the SWG until the FC level comes down quite a bit and redo the other tests at that time. It does look like you’re probably going to need to do a water exchange due to the CYA level.

 

[ChrisL75]

For the salt I used the K-1766 test kit.

I turned off the SWG tonight after I took the tests. I will re-test everything just because that was my first time testing pool water and I want to see if I have different results. I will re-test the CYA using the above mentioned procedure.

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[ajw22]

What salt level does your Blue Essence SWG require?

 

[ChrisL75]

What salt level does your Blue Essence SWG require?

Hmm I'm not sure how to tell, but the alarm is on at 2600 and I noticed it off at 2700 on the display. There is a sticker that says it is factory set at 2800. But I really don't know.

 

[ChrisL75]

I retested the cya using the above mentioned method mixing tap water with pool water. I barely made it to the 100 line before I couldn’t see the black dot anymore. So this means my cya is 200?
Looks like I need to drain this pool and refill.
How do I determine how much salt I need to add after refilling?

 

[mknauss]

Be very careful draining a pool. It entails risk. Do you have a shallow water table? There is an exchange method that is safer if your water table is high. You do not want the pool shell to pop out of the ground.

For the salt, once you have refilled the pool, you let it mix well and then use a salt test kit (K1766) to see what your salt level is. Then add about 2/3 of the amount of salt called for using PoolMath. Let that mix for a day and then test the salt level again to see what you need to get to your target salinity. During that time, you can add CYA if necessary and maintain your FC using liquid chlorine.

 

[ajw22]

Yup, your CYA is 200+. You can do a further dilution to get an idea.

See the No_Drain_Water_Exchange for a safer method to exchange water.

For CYA > 90ppm, repeat the test adjusting the procedure as follows:

1. Fill the mixing bottle to the lower mark with pool water.
2. Continue filling the mixing bottle to the upper mark with tap water.
3. Shake briefly to mix.
4. Pour off half of the contents of the mixing bottle, so it is again filled to the lower mark.
5. Continue the test normally from step 3, but multiply the final result by two.

If you need to dilute the pool water further then apply these ratios:

Pool water	Tap or distilled water	Multiply result by
1	1	2
1	2	3
1	4	5

Note that when doing a diluted test not only do you multiply the range of the test you multiply the error rate of the test, so results are a ballpark - not an absolute.

 

[ChrisL75]

Hello everyone, I started this thread back in April when I first moved in but didn't have a chance to do the water exchange until this week. (I left a few days after I started this thread to go back to work in Texas.)

Pool stayed the same without any kind of maintenance. I did a water exchange a couple of days ago and my numbers now are:

FC 4
pH 7.8
TA 100
CH 525
CYA 70
Salt 3200

I was messing around with the swcg to get more familiar with it and found these numbers:
Default salt 2800
Pool temp 87
Cell Volt 28.4
Cell Current 2.67
Desired output 79
Instant salinity 2800
Product AL-0
Software revision r.1.59
Cell Type t-3

Inspected the cell yesterday and was full of crud so I did an acid wash which worked surprisingly fast.

Pretty happy with my numbers and I will keep my eye on them to see if they are stable. What I want to take care of next are some stains that are near the main drain. They have grown in size since April and not sure what is causing them or how to treat them. Thoughts?

 

[ChrisL75]

First photo is from April, second is from today.

 

[ajw22]

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[ChrisL75]

Stains in Your Pool

The stained pool is beyond embarrassing. Our in-depth Guide to remove stains in your pool will help you to remove the stains and prevent them in the future.

www.troublefreepool.com

thanks for your reply, was just looking at that article.