Fresh fill, steps to balance new water

[jusbechillin]

I’ve decided to drain and refill my pool. Had an issue with a few water bugs last summer, calcium is creeping high, and the prior owner had the CYA levels too high.

I’ve searched the forums for a step by step on getting water quality back after refilling the pool and am not having any luck. It seems like all of the articles are geared towards a new pool initial startup. Do I follow the same procedures or are there different steps for some reason?

 

[mknauss]

Pretty straight forward. You have a SWCG. So first add 3 ppm FC worth of liquid chlorine. Get 40 ppm of CYA granules dissolving, adjust the pH if necessary, and start dissolving the salt. Do it in a couple stages testing in between. Continue to add liquid chlorine to keep the FC level up.

Once things are well mixed and the SWCG is working, raise your CYA to 70-80 ppm. Adjust your SWCG generation to keep FC in target range.

Do be aware, it is a risk to drain a pool in Arizona at this time of year. Your plaster can fail as it will dry out and get very hot.
You can follow a No Drain water exchange if you like. Read Draining - Further Reading

 

[jusbechillin]

Thanks for the quick response. I did read that you shouldn’t drain above 95 degrees... Tuesday through Thursday are supposed to stay below 90 this week. So I planned on draining Monday night (rent a gas powered pump or two to get it drained quickly) and then filling it up over the following day or so.

If you think 90 degrees is still a risky temperature then I can sit tight until winter...

 

[mknauss]

If you are going to do a quick drain in the afternoon and fill it after you should be OK. Try to keep the plaster wet as you fill it once it turns to daylight.

Home Depot rents electric sump pumps that should drain your pool in about 4 hours. You will need a place to send the water.