General "condition check" / What to expect

[stevenfex]

meant to post a pic of the pool earlier. early morning maybe not the best time to see clarity in a photograph but it's very clear to the bottom

also my gallon estimate is likely wrong, the deep end is pretty deep - I'll update when I measure it

 

[DeanP66]

Hard to tell with the shade, but it looks pretty clear. To be sure nothing has started growing in the water, you could do an overnight chlorine loss test (OCLT) tonight to confirm you are not losing more than 1 ppm when the sun is off the pool.

 

[Bperry]

Same equipment. I figured I'd test first and then see about contacting home warranty company for the leaking pump. I'll figure out which one (drain or skimmer) is off. No spa.

My previous murky comment was wrong... I think I was just worried the whole thing had been shut down and I was seeing things.

As long as the R-0012 drops for the CH test SHOULD be "normal" sized, I'm almost certain that test is wrong. When the first drop came out tiny I was already expecting the test to require more than normal. Just now I grabbed the bottle and squeezed/bent the tip around and sure enough a normal drop came out. Will retest later and expect a more accurate result.

You'll likely be disappointed with the warranty companies response. I also got the extra pool coverage and they denied almost every problem as preexisting.

 

[stevenfex]

You'll likely be disappointed with the warranty companies response. I also got the extra pool coverage and they denied almost every problem as preexisting.

Yeah I have low/zero expectations but I figure it's worth a try.

Just retested CH with the bottle functioning - 400ppm

And a picture of the pool in some sunlight. I have a feeling the skimmer pipe is off because there's quite a bit of sediment floating around on top

 

[DeanP66]

That's good news on the CH. 400 will work perfectly for you. So, no need for any water exchange. Your water looks pretty good in the picture. To be sure, you could do an OCLT to verify that nothing is eating your FC at night.
Definitely get your pH down in range (7.2-7.6) and I guess you can add your new SWG.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Isn't that "slop bucket" looking thing for DE reclamation? Should it have a lid on it?

Maddie

 

[stevenfex]

Isn't that "slop bucket" looking thing for DE reclamation? Should it have a lid on it?

Maddie

Interesting, I'll look into that.

I've been testing quite a bit today. Not sure how I originally managed to test salt level at 2800ppm but it was consistently 2000-2200 today so I added 160lb and now am at 3200.

Also added 60oz MA (14.5%) and managed to drop pH to about 7.8. I'll likely add enough to drop to 7.6 tomorrow night.

I noticed today that my pump was running but not priming (could've been a couple days of this). I mentioned yesterday my water level seemed low, only about an inch up the skimmer. So I added a couple inches of water and ended up getting it to prime and flow again.

I turned on the Swcg panel (why would it be off?) and it is still giving two red lights. My CL level was down to 1.5-2 today and the problem is I don't know if that's because:

1. SWG cell needs replacing
2. SWG needed more salt (but why would it still be showing low sodium level?)

I ended up adding 60oz liquid 10% just to maintain CL at 5 and I am running the pump now to see if the lights turn green (so far still red).

Maybe I'll have some luck with the warranty company and telling them my cell is not producing chlorine.

Edit to add: Forgot when I saw that there was a white puck in a plastic floater and checked today and it was gone. Maybe pool service people had just transitioned to that... dunno. ALSO SWG panel now showing one green one red and 2% production. I'm thinking great chance the cell is shot and my 5 CL levels previously were the last of whatever puck was floating around.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Isn't that "slop bucket" looking thing for DE reclamation? Should it have a lid on it?

Maddie

Interesting, I'll look into that.

I'll admit I've never seen one before..... thinking its a Calfornia thang, y'know? But I've read about them.

 

[stevenfex]

(weird) update:

About three nights ago I looked at the pump and decided to manually flip the timer on. When I clicked it on, the breaker tripped. I reset the breaker and it immediately tripped again.

So, last three days - no pump. I have kept FC around 5 and manually mixed the chlorine in each time I add. I added some MA last night to drop pH from 7.8 to 7.6 and mixed that in as well. Should I get FC higher? Put my solar cover on?

I have not been able to get the home warranty company out yet because - of course - somehow they did not get the full $$$ amount from the escrow company.

I have an electrician coming out tonight to give me a quote on running a new 230v line over to pool equipment so I can get a new pump installed. I am thinking in the next day or two I'll go ahead and order the Circupool 2.0hp VS pump + Edge 40 SWG package for ~$2100 to get the ball rolling. In a perfect world, the home warranty company will have been out by then to see that everything is toast.

 

[Bperry]

(weird) update:

About three nights ago I looked at the pump and decided to manually flip the timer on. When I clicked it on, the breaker tripped. I reset the breaker and it immediately tripped again.

So, last three days - no pump. I have kept FC around 5 and manually mixed the chlorine in each time I add. I added some MA last night to drop pH from 7.8 to 7.6 and mixed that in as well. Should I get FC higher? Put my solar cover on?

I have not been able to get the home warranty company out yet because - of course - somehow they did not get the full $$$ amount from the escrow company.

I have an electrician coming out tonight to give me a quote on running a new 230v line over to pool equipment so I can get a new pump installed. I am thinking in the next day or two I'll go ahead and order the Circupool 2.0hp VS pump + Edge 40 SWG package for ~$2100 to get the ball rolling. In a perfect world, the home warranty company will have been out by then to see that everything is toast.

Maybe see if the escrow company will refund the warranty fee. Then use the $~700 towards new equipment. That’ll also save you having to pay $65 for the warranty guy to come out and tell you it’s not covered.

 

[stevenfex]

Maybe see if the escrow company will refund the warranty fee. Then use the $~700 towards new equipment. That’ll also save you having to pay $65 for the warranty guy to come out and tell you it’s not covered.

Lol, maybe I end up there. Also it'll be $75 for them to tell me that.

 

[stevenfex]

Update: I finally got the warranty company to send someone out. He observed the broken pump. Still waiting to hear back from them on whether they think it's covered or not and how it plays out if I can actually take a $$ equivalent to any covered repair which is my hope.

In the meantime, I had ordered the Circupool combo 2.0hp pump and Edge 40 SWG and took the weekend installing it all (minus the wiring because I am thinking I'll need to run a 240v circuit over unless the electrician Tuesday gives me amazing news).

The old pump had leaked so long that the water had penetrated and caused lots of rust on rebar, and concrete spalling. Instead of trying to fix that area (and also because inlet on new pump was higher than old pump) I decided to install pump on the lower concrete, shimmed up with 1.25" bricks epoxied to the slab. That way I could make the height work.

Skimmer/main drain feeds 1.5in pipe but everything after that is now 2in. I put the SWG right in front of the flow switch just so I could get that last 90 down to existing pipe and leave some room to maneuver in there.

I made the decision to just completely disconnect the old heater (metal 1.5in plumbing) and not try to build in a future bypass. I think with a solar cover we will get plenty of use out of the pool and if we ever add a hot tub we can deal with it then.

So now it's just a wait until Tuesday and see what we have to do to get electrical run over to it.

I'm guessing my decisions on the plumbing may cause some head scratches but I'm hoping no one sees anything that is really brutal. Kind o annoying to have to step over plumbing to get to the timer/SWG panel. Maybe I'll build a platform in there to make it a little easier.

First time working with PVC so I'm hoping all my joints don't leak!

 

[stevenfex]

Electrician came by, installed new 20A breaker, hooked up the wires that were already run over to the pool shed, and we are now officially up and running. No leaks in the PVC I did and the filter is showing about 13psi at max pump speed.

I forget when I started manually adding chlorine to SLAM level (24ppm with 60 CYA) but I now have the SWG on max and just added a half gallon that should get me back up to 24ppm.

I'm running the Triton PS currently and have the pump set at 2500rpm. Return jets look pretty solid but should I be running at max 3450rpm until this clears?

Should I not be running the SWG?

I know as the filter clears the dead algae I'll need to backwash and will pick up a bag of DE tonight.

Any great instructional video or link for backwashing a DE filter. I know the basics but wouldn't mind another recommendation.

 

[ajw22]

It is better if you do NOT run the SWG during the SLAM Process. Knowing how much liquid chlorine you are adding let’s you judge your progress. Using the SWG confuses your real chlorine consumption.

 

[stevenfex]

I planned on shutting it off once the pool clears up a bit and I need do an OCLT, thinking that I may as well use it to help keep my FC up.

 

[stevenfex]

Morning update, looking noticeably better which surprised me a bit.

SWG had added about 3ppm overnight so I was at 27 FC this morning. Will check again when home from work and maybe plan OCLT overnight tonight