Hello from MD

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pizaul

Member
Jul 6, 2022
16
Maryland
Pool Size
22700
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Good day everyone! Close on a house tomorrow with a gorgeous 30k in ground concrete free form pool that looks to have been taken care of real well. After educating myself on pool chemistry, I discovered how disgusting many public pools can be, and we have always loved our friends private pools. So my wife and I earlier in the year, the worst time possible to buy a house but an excellent time to sell, set out to find a house with a pool instead of building. We were able to sell our current house for top dollar and get a nice house upgrade with a pool of our own!

I am nervous and excited on this new adventure of pool ownership, but once I found this forum and all resources within, my confidence sky rocketed. I've read through pool school, have my Taylor 2006c kit on the way, and plan on stock piling enough liquid chlorine to hold me over until closing. I believe the PO was using trichlor tablets in the skimmer as main source of sanitization (they will share their whole process tomorrow during final walk through), so first order of business will be to test the water and see what the CYA is at (along with all other parameters).
 

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Thank you all! Walk through went great, but here is what I learned. The current owner and owner before has been using trichlor tablets for the last 15 years and testing with strips. Now the pool was pristine clear and owner said they have never had a cloudy or algae outbreak for 5 years and was following what the original owner of house advised. I asked what was their maintenance plan. So they put 4-6 trichlor tabs once a week in skimmer, and keep PH and alkalinity in-line, and have pump on timer (shuts off at night). Now in my mind, knowing everything I know here from pool school and how folks dislike the tabs here as main source of sanitation, my mind was blown. I informed them of the TFP methods and it was deer in headlights and they asked if I really wanted to be going to the store, inspecting every liquid chlorine bottle for dates, lugging 15 jugs and barely fitting in car, then storing and dumping every single day, all meanwhile you could have been floating in the pool all morning instead. They also run a robot 3 times a week or when needed, scrub tile and walls when shocking, and take a sample to pool store once every now and then, but they informed me to not go there as they will try to upswell, which they are correct and they have never really bought any of the uncessary things talked about here (Algaecides, phosphate remover, etc etc).

I’ll admit, it’s hard to switch methods when what they are doing seems to work and I rather have more family time in pool and bbq time. They say 4-6 tabs a week and keep eye on just the 3 parameters. I suspect maybe the CYA is through the roof (or maybe not.. lol. I’ll find out when I test with my kit), but how is this pool so pristine? Of the 6 houses we saw, 3 of which were salt pools, this was the cleanest and most brilliant water I’ve seen. Are they lucky and found the rare balance of a chlorine tab pool because of splash out, rain dilution (she said they do drain a few inches after heavy rain which we get often in MD), and not enough organics to cause an issue (there are no trees that drop leaves)? On top of our pool season here is 5 months or so and then it’s a partial drain to top of returns and close. My other buddies that have pools have about the same maintenance with tabs and looked at me like I was crazy when I said was going to dose my pool with liquid chrlorine everyday, and test FC and PH everyday. I’m hesitant to switch anything mid season as we take owner ship, and I won’t lie and say their methods sound way more convenient.

With all this said, previous owner did say their goal was to switch to SWG and I think that may be my plan for next season.
 
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Hey good luck, when the test kit arrives it'll be pure fact and you'll take it from there. One mention is if you continue their process please discontinue the pucks in the skimmer thing and at minimum get a floater.
 
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wireform said:
Hey good luck, when the test kit arrives it'll be pure fact and you'll take it from there. One mention is if you continue their process please discontinue the pucks in the skimmer thing and at minimum get a floater.
Click to expand...
Yeah I think I may do that as I’ve read that the super chlorinated water, especially after sitting over night with pump off can damage the equipment on start up. But sounds like it’s been ok last 15 years this way. Either way, better safe than sorry. I am considering adding an inline chlorinator if a tab pool ends up working out for me until I go salt.
 

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pizaul said:
but once I found this forum and all resources within, my confidence sky rocketed
Click to expand...
Congratulations on the new pool, @pizaul ! :wave: KEEP the confidence ! Once you do (and trust) your own water testing, you'll KNOW the condition of your pool instead of accepting what is probably the previous owner's acceptance, of "Industry" (pool store) guidance on how to treat the water. It may appear hunky-dory now, but in many cases, first appearances can be deceiving. This is my 3rd full year of Trouble Free Pool Care (TFPC), my first with a Salt Water Chlorine Generator. First year I did daily testing. I log all testing in the PoolMath app & on paper. Last year the testing was spaced out because I became familiar with the amount of chlorine demand and just added that amount on the days I skipped testing.

Bottom line - You'll have Plenty of time to enjoy the pool if you deep-six the tablets in favor of TFPC! (FWIW) :lovetfp: - George
 
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pizaul said:
Thank you all! Walk through went great, but here is what I learned. The current owner and owner before has been using trichlor tablets for the last 15 years and testing with strips. Now the pool was pristine clear and owner said they have never had a cloudy or algae outbreak for 5 years and was following what the original owner of house advised. I asked what was their maintenance plan. So they put 4-6 trichlor tabs once a week in skimmer, and keep PH and alkalinity in-line, and have pump on timer (shuts off at night). Now in my mind, knowing everything I know here from pool school and how folks dislike the tabs here as main source of sanitation, my mind was blown. I informed them of the TFP methods and it was deer in headlights and they asked if I really wanted to be going to the store, inspecting every liquid chlorine bottle for dates, lugging 15 jugs and barely fitting in car, then storing and dumping every single day, all meanwhile you could have been floating in the pool all morning instead. They also run a robot 3 times a week or when needed, scrub tile and walls when shocking, and take a sample to pool store once every now and then, but they informed me to not go there as they will try to upswell, which they are correct and they have never really bought any of the uncessary things talked about here (Algaecides, phosphate remover, etc etc).

I’ll admit, it’s hard to switch methods when what they are doing seems to work and I rather have more family time in pool and bbq time. They say 4-6 tabs a week and keep eye on just the 3 parameters. I suspect maybe the CYA is through the roof (or maybe not.. lol. I’ll find out when I test with my kit), but how is this pool so pristine? Of the 6 houses we saw, 3 of which were salt pools, this was the cleanest and most brilliant water I’ve seen. Are they lucky and found the rare balance of a chlorine tab pool because of splash out, rain dilution (she said they do drain a few inches after heavy rain which we get often in MD), and not enough organics to cause an issue (there are no trees that drop leaves)? On top of our pool season here is 5 months or so and then it’s a partial drain to top of returns and close. My other buddies that have pools have about the same maintenance with tabs and looked at me like I was crazy when I said was going to dose my pool with liquid chrlorine everyday, and test FC and PH everyday. I’m hesitant to switch anything mid season as we take owner ship, and I won’t lie and say their methods sound way more convenient.

With all this said, previous owner did say their goal was to switch to SWG and I think that may be my plan for next season.
Click to expand...
I have a much smaller above ground pool, but from what I have learned making the switch to a tfp is that once you get it setup maintenance is relatively quick and definitely won’t cut into much of your swimming / bbq time. I sped about 10 minutes a day doing a quick test for fc and ph then adding what is needed. Though it may sound complicated and long it’s not. Once you have an idea of your pool and daily usage it’s a breeze
 

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