Greetings from Arizona

[davisdavid1]

New to pools, but enjoying the "chemical" education. I have an 18 month old - 11,250 gallon pool, but had to drain it this past weekend due to extremely high TDS (3,700) level . Unfortunately, I had weekly chemical pool service, but after draining the pool (and no longer trusting the techs were doing the right thing other than dropping a chlorine tab), I decided to venture into maintaining my own pool.

Anyway, I welcome the education and reading other posts in hopes of learning how to take care of my pool.

D2

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!

Post your questions in the appropriate forums! Go to the Pool School link at the top of the page. Start reading - lots of info there!

Take care.

 

[kimkats]

HI! Since you are new to TFP and pool care here is a set of links I put together for new pool owners. It is a lot of info but will all start to sink in as you start to use it:

Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule

Pool School - Recommended Levels

Bookmark these:

Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals

PoolMath

Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Make sure to ask any and all questions you might have no matter how small! We have all been where you are at one point.

Kim

 

[davisdavid1]

Thanks much. Great info!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Be sure to get a good test kit, either a TF-100 from TFTestKits.net OR a Taylor K-2006 from various vendors on Amazon. A SpeedStir makes testing a lot easier.

TDS really tells you nothing useful about your pool water which is why you want a professional test kit. My pool, being a salt-water pool, will always have a TDS much higher than 3000ppm, typically greater than 5,000ppm. What's important are the components that go into the overall TDS level - calcium hardness, stabilizer concentration (CYA), salt levels (yes, all chlorine pools have high salt levels), etc.

You will be much better off learning to take care of your pool yourself and ditching the expensive "service" company. Pool service in Arizona costs more than $1,000 per year (around here in Tucson, it's more like $1,200/year) which is far, far in excess of what I spend doing it myself (~$200 per year, give or take). And, it goes without saying, no one will care for your pool better than you will.

Welcome