Hello from Pleasanton, CA (SF Bay area) - New to us Pool

[Kansas Corey]

Hello everyone!! Figured this was a great place to introduce myself and honestly, for my own sanity, start collecting some details about my pool as I start the process of upgrading, replacing, and improving!!

Best guess is that the pool was built in about 1984 but we've got records to substantiate it. What I do know is that it was resurfaced with the current PebbleTec around 2006. Unfortunately, although the PebbleTec isn't perfect these days, we're going to have to live with it as most of our budget is going into the house remodel as opposed to where I'd like it... the pool. It has a built in spa as well.

Approx. a 25,000 gallon in-ground pool although honestly I'm not sure how to get a better measurement. I understand the basics, but getting average depth and then trying to measure L x W x H of a free-form pool seems a bit difficult. I have used Google maps to measure the surface area at 574 sq ft.

So far I've repaired the spa so that it gets water jets & bubbles plus can get it hot (104 degrees F). Wife was very happy with me on this one plus youngest son loves it when he can't swim in the pool due to water temps. I've also rebuilt the entire circuitry for the pool light and spa light. I'm not sure where the issue originally started, but it seemed to infect most of the circuit: there was rusted conduit, broken wires (same area), and a dud GFCI circuit breaker. Took quite a bit of trouble shooting and wire tracing, but over the course of several weekends I was able to figure it all out and repair/rebuild it. Wife and kids weren't half as excited as I was about this one though.

That's about it for now. My short term plans are:

1. Exploring solar heating but I'm being told there isn't enough room on the roof unless we put it out front which I'm not interested in.
2. I'd also like to do is some re-plumbing and automation within the pump house area (pad & all equipment have their own little building).
3. Also, hoping to upgrade the underwater pool light and spa light to LED this summer.
4. Final project is the larger one - I'd like to drain the pool and power wash it once the rain stops and it's safe to do so. My reasoning - the pool has lived on chlorine tablets/pucks most likely for the last 15 years as well as having a regular dosing of algicide weekly during the summer. My CYA levels are down from 221 to 155 since I removed the tabs, but I do know that previous owner used to float approx. 5 tabs at a time consistently. When the homemade floater came to the surface, he add more until it would sink. Beyond that, TDS is around 1,300 and Calcium is 448. Figured I'd drain the pool, power wash it to deep clean the PebbleTec, and then start refilling with fresh water. Prior to draining I need to get the vertical expansion joint under the pool deck edge replaced. While draining, figured it would be a great time to scrub and clean the tile coping. Then I've got a clean and sound pool to put nice clean fresh water into. Is it sad that thinking about this just makes me giddy - can't wait to get started.
5. Need to find a solution to repair / improve / even out current (very old) Kool Deck which has chipped, flaked, and been partially painted over...

Okay - enough about me and my pool. Thanks in advance for having me! Corey

 

[kellyfair]

Hello, and welcome! First, we need pics! (I just like them)!

Second, you lost me with all your circuit talk, but hey, great job!

Third, how are you testing your pool water? Those numbers sound very pool store-ish, so don’t hang your hat on them. You really need a great test kit so you can test the water yourself and know exactly what you are dealing with. We recommend the TF-100, link in my signature. It has plenty of the reagents you will need to last you all season.

Others will be here to chime in soon!

 

[Newdude]

Hey Corey and Welcome !! Where is your CA water table ? I ask because without a hydrostatic valve in your shell, your entire pool can float like a boat if drained deeper than the current ground water depth. Something to think about before doing.

+1 to reliable test kit. The speed stir/ smart stir makes is super easy for a mere $30. Grab one of those also.

I'll shorten the usual pool store tirade and just focus on TDS because its such a load of bullfeathers. TDS tells you *zero* but sounds like a great reason to spend $300 on a magic potion. Chlorine is a dissolved solid. So is salt, calcium and cyanuric acid to name a few. All good things. There are also many bad things that can be part of the TDS. But all they can tell you is the total. Not the good/bad proportion, or even if its good *or* bad things in there.

Get yourself a good test kit. We will send you to Walmart or the grocery store instead of the pool store. You will save 3X the cost of the TF-100 the first time you dont go to the pool store. Then the kit will last you about 2 years and save you literal thousands.

 

[Kansas Corey]

kellyfair and Newdude - sorry should have mentioned that yes, I do take water to the local pool store from time to time. There really isn't anyone else local who I can ask questions of verbally so sometimes it's just nice to have a sounding board. Don't worry, I take their words about 20% real value and so far have only bought muratic acid there because my pH was climbing right about the time we moved in (it was convenient at the time). Beyond that, I have Aquacheck 7-way strips and the Taylor K-2006 test kit (with DPD powder). I've been keeping a log of all tests that I run (Taylor, not test strips) as well as pool store numbers just to have some visibility going forward.

Newdude - thank goodness it wasn't me, but I've actually seen a neighborhood swimming pool (picture fairly large gunite pool) come out of the ground between 12" - 18" when I was more youthful. That was 20+ years ago in the midwest and was a $50,000 mistake by the home owner's association... I'm not sure where the water table is, but we're about to dry out (April) and then we won't see a drop of rain until probably November. I've talked with a few local pool companies to ask what they would charge to drain the pool and, in the process, asked them when. Standard answer seems to be at least 2 weeks after last rain and no early than mi-April. Being very cautious with this one and not 100% entirely sure that I'm going to do it. Having said that, my neighbors apparently sat empty for months before they collapsed & removed it during February of this year... I asked - it didn't move - go figure...

Really appreciate the comments & thoughts from you both! Will get some pictures together to share as well.

 

[BenB]

Hi! San Jose pool here. I did a 75% drain and refill a couple weeks ago. No issues with the water table but obviously there's some distance between us.

Definitely post some full test results from your Taylor kit so we can chime in on the state of your water. CYA above 100 is bad news bears - at 155 (if accurate - that's not a result that you could have achieved by testing yourself) and not running a SWG you really need to drain and replace probably 75% of your water. It can be done quickly over a weekend, and while it's nice and cool still you won't be risking damaging your plaster as much for the few hours it's exposed. Best start off the swim season with good water! Until you do, you should keep your FC in the water really high - like 10 high especially as any day now we're going to start getting consistently warm weather and then BOOM all of a sudden it'll eat up all the FC.

To measure volume, it can be rough. I took depth readings at 4 places along the length of the pool, then broke up the pool into a set of pretend cubes, calculated the volume of those (based on average depth, width, length) and just added it all together. Close enough.