Help me pick out a pool for this summer

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Mdragger88 said:
Is it the kind with the string or with the clips?
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Just a string. which would be fine except there is nothing on the railing that would help to retain the cover. For all the quality with this pool the cover is a hard miss.

Okay I bought the TF-100. It came in while I was out of town, so I tested the pool when I came back. It has a (Crud!) cover on it so it's basically "closed". Here are the results:

12ppm FC
0ppm CC
80 TA

All good. FC is higher than it needs to be I think but it's certainly not too high. 0ppm CC makes sense with a lid on.

Then, PH. I have several methods available to me for testing ph:

8.2 ph using taylor kit
7.5 using hydroponic reagent
7.8 using hannah ph tester
7.0 using test strip

Boy that is QUITE the range isn't it? I trust the hannah ph tester out of all of these.

But all this testing really drives home the idea to me that the test strips are TOTALLY FINE, _if_ you understand how to read them. Do I regret buying the fancy pants chemistry set? No, but it isn't instilling confidence. It's just another data point. Can you have sparkling water with a TF-100? Absolutely! But you can have sparkling water with a test strip too!

Alright, now let's talk CYA. I did the Taylor test and filled the entire vial before hitting the endpoint. Which, according to this taylor kit means I am WELL BELOW 20ppm. Well now how the heck is that possible if I added 1lb to my pool which is 5k gallons?

The test strip is showing zero as well, but I have NEVER registered a CYA reading on a strip, ever, even after dumping 2/3 of a gallon in my old 4k gallon pool.

Interesting...
 
The cya turbidity test can be skewed by cold water- generally reading falsely lower.
get your sample to room temp before performing the cya test. You can just fill the little squeeze bottle & put it in your pocket for a while.

The phenol ph test is skewed at fc levels over 10ppm. Generally reading falsely higher.
Electronic testers aren’t affected by high fc.
The strips can get bleached out at fc levels above 5-10ppm.

While strips are convenient their ranges are quite wide which makes them wonky for several things even if they are “accurate”. Especially cya- the closer numbers (within 10ppm) totally matter for adequately chlorinating & following the appropriate FC/CYA Levels to avoid problems.

It is safe for equipment, surfaces & people for fc to be anywhere between minimum & slam level for your cya.
In your case, with an assumed cya of 30ppm (you added 24ppm which counts as 30 for chlorination purposes) so thats up to 12ppm fc.
 
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Mdragger88 said:
The cya turbidity test can be skewed by cold water- generally reading falsely lower.
get your sample to room temp before performing the cya test. You can just fill the little squeeze bottle & put it in your pocket for a while.

The phenol ph test is skewed at fc levels over 10ppm. Generally reading falsely higher.
Electronic testers aren’t affected by high fc.
The strips can get bleached out at fc levels above 5-10ppm.

While strips are convenient their ranges are quite wide which makes them wonky for several things even if they are “accurate”. Especially cya- the closer numbers (within 10ppm) totally matter for adequately chlorinating & following the appropriate FC/CYA Levels to avoid problems.

It is safe for equipment, surfaces & people for fc to be anywhere between minimum & slam level for your cya.
In your case, with an assumed cya of 30ppm (you added 24ppm which counts as 30 for chlorination purposes) so thats up to 12ppm fc.
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Extremely informative, thx.
 
I had the string cover - it had holes in it which let water pool on it 😩
I used linked ratchet straps to keep it secured to the pool (snug but not crazy tight) - this isn’t really helpful if you wish to take the cover of & on though. I only used mine as the winter cover.
Maybe some well placed tiny bungee cords to loop the cover to the leg t’s would do the trick? Like these- i use them for all kinds of stuff
IMG_9735.jpeg
 
The cover with the straps that hook to the legs I saw is called the intex deluxe cover but they only have an 18’ version which explains why it doesn’t come with your pool. I wonder if it would still work though, you’d just have an extra strap that doesn’t have a corresponding leg I would imagine. You’d also have a little more wiggle room.
I think some knockoffs of that type are also available on Amazon etc.
 
I appreciate the deep dive on the cover situation. I think the bunjees would work great.

That said, I will leave the cover on for 2-4 weeks and then it will stay off the rest of the summer.

At the end of the summer....not sure what I will do. I'm tossing around the idea of winterizing it. If I do so, I'll get a more solid cover I think.
 
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Alright, after some further testing, here are the numbers I think are accurate for my pool:

12ppm FC
0ppm CC
80 ALK
7.8 PH
25ppm CYA

Once I open the pool up I will let the FC slide to 4ppm, and consider boosting my CYA another 15ppm.

Otherwise I think this looks great. Gonna be a great season. Also the intex sand filter seems like a beast so far. No backwashes necessary. I have a hose on the way so hopefully that will get here first.
 
Your 25 ppm cya counts as 30 for chlorination purposes- (always round up if between two marks)
Generally you wanna dose for high target on the chart & replenish before fc falls near minimum.
So for cya of 30 that looks like dosing to 6ppm or even a scootch higher,
then replenishing before falling to near 2ppm (ideally keeping fc in target range or above so you have a buffer).
In the heat of summer fc loss can be up to 4ppm/day (maybe more if a party is involved) so you wanna plan your doses accordingly. Feed the pool before it’s hungry 😊 many people make the mistake of underestimating daily losses & trying to ride minimum.
The idea is to never broach minimum for your cya so you’re covered incase of any adversities that may come your way and don’t have to worry about nasties brewing.
If you increase cya then you must increase your fc accordingly- you may need to go up to 50ppm cya in the peak of summer to help protect your fc from the sun- just make sure you keep following the FC/CYA Levels chart. If you don’t wanna dose everyday that’s fine - so long as you use enough chlorine to get you through to the next dose.
When daily fc consumption increases and you think its time to increase cya do an
Overnight Chlorine Loss Test to rule out algae first. This way you can move forward with confidence that the sun was the only thing eating your fc.
In fact,
If anything ever seems “off” or you slacked on dosing etc. - do an oclt.
It’s much easier when you catch a problem early than it is to wait & struggle wondering what’s going on.
Being able to very accurately test (like when doing an oclt) is really nice & helps you be proactive vs just reacting after the pool looks bad.
Chlorine is king 👑
(always follow the chart)
Ph in the 7’s
The rest is gravy 😊
Have fun with your new pool!
 
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^ good stuff.

Since the water is still too cold swim I decided to fire up the wood chipper and make some cedar mulch to put around the pool:

photo_2024-04-23_16-12-57.jpg

You can also see the totally incompatible intex cover clinging on for dear life with four hardware store clamps. Pathetic.

Got in a spare intex hose and I'm gonna work on digging it into the side of the hill so my waste will run down away from the pool area. Tomorrow's project.
 
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Another round of tasks complete. I put in this walkway with my first pool and I did absolutely nothing right. Literally just cut the sod out and put the pavers down. It's held up surprisingly well but there were a few wobbly pieces and some migration, so I re-leveled what needed done and put down sand. Came out great, at least according to my standards.

Also dug a mini-trench for the power line:

photo_2024-04-25_14-47-47.jpg

Last time I used a shovel but I bought a mini-trencher / edger and I've been putting that thing to work.
 
It looks great but I must warn you- you aren’t supposed to use an extension cord.
If it is too small or too long you can melt the cord & burn up the pump. If the cord is not gfci protected it poses an electrocution risk as well.
The gfci on the end of the intex cord only protects from there back to the pump. Not the people with wet feet walking around the pool near that cord end.
 
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It's been running 24/7 for weeks now. And there is a GFCI on the outlet (since it's an exterior outlet).

This is actually the third year in a row I've buried the cord. No issues. I'm sure a code inspector would have a fit but im fine with it.

I did go ahead and do the math though. The manual lists my pump as pull 1.2 amps. 120 * 1.2 = 144 watts which is about 10% of the rating of a 15 amp circuit and probably 30% of the rating of the cords in use.
 
bkp22 said:
Another quality control issue from intex. Pool pump is leaking:

View attachment 567988

It's coming from directly where you see the water, not from the pump intake.

No idea if this can be fixed or if I need a warranty replacement or what. Troubling...
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File a warranty claim now. They will probably just mail you a new one.
You do need to provide your receipt & conversing with them can be a little rough.
Not sure if the seal inside there is even a replaceable part.
 
bkp22 said:
New question; last couple years I've used one of those $12 vacuums that uses a garden hose water supply.

Is there something similar I can get that will hook into the intex pump return? What does that look like?
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You can just get a regular vac head & hose setup & use a cone to connect the hose after you remove the fitting.
 

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