Green swamp at opening

[WhitB08]

Pool Owner Patience...and maybe because the SWCG added chlorine more consistently than you did...

Oh no, I constantly stayed on it and actually, (although I know I shouldn’t have) I kept my FC too high out of an abundance of caution, due to the cloudy pool that just would not clear. I have cut my filter run time down from what I routinely have it at because I now realize I’ve been running it excessively over the past seven years from all my extensive reading on the forum and I’m still fine-tuning the SWG percentage and each time I test, the FC is within the acceptable range for my CYA, but much lower than where I kept it.

 

[WhitB08]

Have you gotten any resolve yet? I sincerely hope that since you haven't posted in a bit, you got it worked out. I struggle with fine dust/dirt too from all the farming around me. But that just settles to the bottom, I never get algae. That said, winter is a challenge as far as keeping algae from growing. You are in a warmer climate, so the water likely stays warm enough to favor algae growth. Where I live my pool water freezes almost completely. But even with the early warmth this year, no cover on my pool and the filter not even hooked up, my water remains crystal clear just from me pouring liquid chlorine it it and using my robot to circulate it.

I don't have all that dead algae to deal with, just dirt at the bottom to vacuum, but my dog's pool does. It looked like your pool at opening, and I just threw a ton of shock in it. In 2 days it was crystal clear, with all the dead algae settled at the bottom. It doesn't have it's pump up and running yet either. So it appears your slamming and water balancing has killed all the algae and the water is cloudy from the pump stirring up all the debris but not filtering it out, as if it were set on recirculate. I'm certainly not an expert, so don't anyone jump on me, this is just my thinking.

I asked about the pool guy's "inspection" because I wondered if he took anything apart, like your MPV. Or maybe the previous homeowner messed with it, not knowing how to do it properly. So the only way to figure it out is to take the MPV apart and pay attention to how the key assembly is configured compared to the handle settings, to determine if it was opened and not put back together properly.

At this point if it were me, I would just assume the MPV is bad in some way after 13 years of use, and replace it. I saw a new one like yours for $203 on Ebay when I was shopping around for mine. I know you replaced the gasket, but there may be something else worn out, perhaps the spring. You also can't rely on your pressure gauge being accurate. My pressure gauge has been bad from day one. It's pegged all the way around from it's 0 point, and my neighbor's is the same way.

I'm only beginning my 5th year with my filter and have an entire new MPV sitting here ready to install when I actually get my pump and filter up and running. Then I will rebuild my old one with new parts, and keep it on the shelf for future service. Mine was very hard to turn, made that screeching sound when turning, and it was sucking air. Even though we had real early warmth, we still got nights below freezing, which is why I haven't done it yet. We are over the hump now with the temps, so this week I will be redoing the whole thing. Some may think that's excessive, but I'm not as excessive as my neighbor who breaks down his whole system and stores it in the garage every winter, replacing all the sand every year.

I’m just seeing this reply and I definitely agree that something is still off and needs to be addressed. When life calms down a little and my husband has time to work with me on it, then I’ll probably consider changing the sand and or putting on a new MPV. Thanks for your thoughts on it!

 

[Orion7319]

Oh no, I constantly stayed on it and actually, (although I know I shouldn’t have) I kept my FC too high out of an abundance of caution, due to the cloudy pool that just would not clear. I have cut my filter run time down from what I routinely have it at because I now realize I’ve been running it excessively over the past seven years from all my extensive reading on the forum and I’m still fine-tuning the SWG percentage and each time I test, the FC is within the acceptable range for my CYA, but much lower than where I kept it.

That’s weird. Perhaps some DE got past the bad valve? I actually run my pump and SWG 24/7. If you have a variable speed pump then you can just run it very low most of the time. I actually kept getting algae in my pool despite my numbers looking good until I started doing this and haven’t had any problems since. We get a lot of rain and dirt in the pool, the chlorine can’t ever dip too low by running it non stop.

 

[Shapshftr]

Just wanted to update everyone…I came outside on Sunday to a Mother’s Day miracle! The pool had cleared up quite a bit from the day before and has continued to improve daily! How does that make sense?!?! we never had time to change the sand because there were just several various things going on with our family and my husband has been constantly traveling. The only difference was that I was sick of adding liquid chlorine so I added the salt and switched on the SWG about three days before it started clearing up at a much faster rate. I’ve also been running the heater just a little bit every day since Mother’s Day. Today I can barely make out the bottom drains on the deep ends, so if the progress I’ve been having over the past few days continues, it might be completely clear in the next few days. Any possible explanation?

View attachment 492739View attachment 492740

WOW, that's great progress. That tells me your filter is working, just very slow. Maybe it was just too much dead algae for it to remove quickly, or something wrong with the filter that made it take longer than it should. I would suspect either the sand needs a deep cleaning with the hose like others have suggested, or the MPV is worn out and needs replacing. Does your MPV handle have good strong spring tension to keep the key diverter tightly pressed down? If not it will let water get past it which would recirculate instead of go through the filter. That would make it take forever to clear. My dog's pool filter started not filtering like it used to, so I have a new MPV on the way for it too. And I plan to open the motor and clean out the impeller which is probably clogged, causing low return pressure.

Initially I thought maybe your pool guy took the top ring off the MPV and put it back on in the wrong position, so it wasn't actually on filter when the handle was in that position. But with the amount of clearing you have achieved, that obviously isn't the case. So the only other explanation I can imagine, since you already replaced the gasket, is that the spring is worn so it's not putting enough downward pressure/tension on the diverter. I believe you said your pool is 13 years old, so if that's the original MPV, it may be quite worn as mine is after only 5 years. This video gives you a great understanding of it all. In any case, keep up the good work! You have really done an outstanding job.

 

[Shapshftr]

P.S. If you do decide to replace your sand, you may need to replace the drain cap filter. I think yours is the older model that didn't have that but figured I'd give you a heads up. There's a small white plastic filter inside the drain opening on some filters which unscrews to allow the sand to flow out easily with just running a hose in it. That cross shape on the top of the cap is supposed to turn it to unscrew it. I went to empty mine due to a filtering issue that I believe was caused by using some 4 in 1 chlorine during the great chlorine shortage two years ago. I think there was Floc in it that should have been vacuumed to waste but wasn't. So this dirt just keeps recirculating. I figured the only way to fix that would be to replace the sand, since it should have never gone through it. When I went to remove that filter screen/plug, I discovered it was essentially rotted away from chlorine. So it just crumbled to pieces and I had to use my Dremel tool to carefully grind it down enough to break it out. Then I had to find a replacement one, and it seems you can only buy it along with a new cap. If yours doesn't have that screen or you don't want to deal with that situation, use a shop vac to get the sand out.