HELP - Ready to give up on new pool!

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ddesousa323

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Aug 11, 2013
10
I AM GOING TO LOSE MY MIND!:eek::eek::eek:

Brand new pool, put up about 3 weeks ago now.

Day 1:
Followed instructions of Hayward Aqua Trol and pool installer that said pour salt in pool run for 24 hours, then check salt level and run an additional 24 hours. Salt level is perfect 3200 (and still is today). Water is crystal clear!

Two Weeks Later
Water is crystal clear
Ran Pool 6 hours a day on low.
Took a water sample to pool store (local large store not a big retailer or anything, they seem to know what they are saying). The water read Alkaline low, PH low, Salt perfect, Absolutly no free chlorine in the pool. They have me put in a bottle of shock and run the pump for 8 hours daily now.

A week later:
Everytime i check the pool the free chlorine is low still.

This past Saturday:
I am so annoyed really regretting getting a pool. I decide to take the water again for a sample. All levels are good but again no free chlorine. The owner comes over again and sits with me to help try and figure out the problem. He concludes that since its a new pool and not a reopened pool he comes up with this plan
1- Should be running pool on High as Low is not giving enough flow for the salt system to produce chlorine
2- That since the water is clear, the chlorine is eating any bacteria but not leaving enough in the pool
3 - i don't have enough chlorine so tells me to run pool for 8 hours on high
3- Has me use liquid chlorine (2 Cups) morning and night to get the level up
4- When i get the level where it should be and sustain it for two days, he says to stop the liquid chlorine and just use the salt system
5 - When i sustain for another two days add 1 gallon of chlorine stabilizer in the pool

I followed his instructions:
So I put in 2 cups saturday night, ran the pool overnight.

Sunday:
Sunday morning levels were wonderful, put the 2 cups in, in the afternoon the levels were great (went swimming :p ) put two cups at night

Monday
two cups monday morning, two cups monday night

Tuesday
two cups tuesday morning, tuesday night check the levels and again no free chlorine.

WHAT THE **** am i doing wrong??? I am going to lose it, feeling very defeated

Here is what i have.. can someone help!


24' Round - 52" Pool, 14,500 Gallons
Above Ground
Hayward 1.5hp Two Speed Pump
21" Sand Filter
1 1/2" PVC out of the filter straight to the Hayward AquaTrol chlorinator Increases to 2" right at the chlorinator
Chlorinator is attached to a Pentair light return jet
 
Hello,
Your pool has a daily chlorine requirement. If it's always low your not adding enough, you need to add more. So manually add chlorine.

Have you read pool school? http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/165-getting-started

You need to get a good test kit. http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/124-pool-test-kits-comparison

Also you need to find out what your CYA (Stablilizer) level is. If it's 0 or very low, sunlight will destroy chlorine. Think of CYA as sunscreen for chlorine.

It will take a bit of time, but you'll get the hang of it. We're here to help, and will point you to the right resources.

Then we need to figure out why your Hayward AquaTrol chlorinator isn't working.
Power lights/indicators? Have you spoken with the installer and what has he said?
 
My stabilizer is 0, they told me not to add any because it was too warm right now and to wait till i get the level up before adding any.

So you think i should add more than 2 cups in the morning and 2 cups at night plus running the salt water chlorinator 8 hours at 85%?
 
OK with no stabilizer the chlorine won't last. The sun eats it up. You need to get stabilizer in the water. Use the granular and an old sock. They sell it at Walmart/Homedepot/Lowes. I think it comes in a 4lb container.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_86401-1772-...er&pl=1&currentURL=?Ntt=stabilizer&facetInfo=
You'll need 3lbs to go from 0 to 30.
Pour the stabilizer into the sock, tie it off and hang the sock in front of the return. DO NOT POUR it into the basket! Warmer water is better the CYA will dissolve quicker. Don't bother with the liquid form of stabilizer unless you've got money to burn.

Pool math can help you here: http://www.troublefreepool.com/calc.html

The salt water chlorinator is great for maintaining not for bringing it up. Use bleach to bring it up I'd use at least 4 cups all at once.
 
Did you turn off the SWCG after you added the salt and ran your pump for 24 hours? Adding salt without turning off the SWCG can damage the unit. What is your SWCG sized for? If you have a 14.5 gallon pool you need a SWCG sized at the very least for twice that volume and it is recommended to have one that is sized for a 40k gallon pool. Otherwise you will need to run it 24/7 to keep up. Get a good test kit and take control of your chemistry. Read pool school a LOT and you will not believe how easy it is to maintain once you know what is needed.
 
ddesousa323 said:
My stabilizer is 0, they told me not to add any because it was too warm right now and to wait till i get the level up before adding any.
Click to expand...
You'll never get it up, you're not adding enough, and the sun will burn it off. Their reasoning doesn't make sense. Would you want to be in the sun all day without sunscreen? It's really the same for the chlorine. You need some CYA in an outdoor pool (recommended level Goal: 70 to 80 for a SWCG)

ddesousa323 said:
So you think i should add more than 2 cups in the morning and 2 cups at night plus running the salt water chlorinator 8 hours at 85%?
Click to expand...

If you look at pool school, with your FC at 0 it takes 68 oz of 8% Bleach to raise it to 3. The sun will burn that off pretty quick. At night it's got a fighting chance, but once the sun comes up....

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/128-chlorine-cya-chart-slam-shock
 
Yes I did shut it off like it said on the sticker.

Its rated for a 20k galloon pool. From what i am told it was the best option for a chlorinator its a Hayward Aqua Trol.

ComputerGuyInNOLA said:
Did you turn off the SWCG after you added the salt and ran your pump for 24 hours? Adding salt without turning off the SWCG can damage the unit. What is your SWCG sized for? If you have a 14.5 gallon pool you need a SWCG sized at the very least for twice that volume and it is recommended to have one that is sized for a 40k gallon pool. Otherwise you will need to run it 24/7 to keep up. Get a good test kit and take control of your chemistry. Read pool school a LOT and you will not believe how easy it is to maintain once you know what is needed.
Click to expand...
 
The water's not green yet, right? Then no problem! Have you fixed up before the weekend. Well, only if you get a test kit ordered up tonight. Skip all the reading, cut to the bottom line: http://tftestkits.net/TF-100-Test-Kit-p4.html

For a pool your size, to go from zero to 70 CYA, you need a bit over 8 lbs of Stabilizer. I believe Walmart sells it in 4 lb. containers. That makes it easy, huh? ;) If there's no Walmart, then a hardware store with pool stuff or a pool store will have it. Look for Cyanuric acid on the ingredients. They may call it stabilizer or conditioner, who knows what all.

You pour the stuff in an old sock and set it in the skimmer. You might need more than one. And if it won't fit in the skimmer, hang it over the edge of the pool somehow like this.

attachment.php


As that starts to dissolve, the chlorine your SWG produces will start sticking around better. But it can take a couple days, so keep supplementing it with the bleach the way you've been doing. If you let it turn green, you won't be measuring out cups, you be adding it by the jug!
 

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ddesousa323 said:
WHAT THE **** am i doing wrong??? I am going to lose it, feeling very defeated
Click to expand...

You are getting bad advice and letting someone else test your water. Pool stores are notoriously bad at testing water, oddly enough.

Did you order your TF-100 test kit yet? You NEED that, it's not really optional. Without it you are relying on adjusting your chemical levels based on readings you can't trust and will be frustrated, wondering why it's not working.

Like the others said, your salt water generator is rated to tell you how big a pool it can chlorinate based on being run for 24 hours, 7 days a week. If you have a 15k gallon pool and a generator that is rated for 40k, then you need to run it for a minimum of 9 hours a day. You started with 6 hours a day and that's obviously not enough, hence the free chlorine of 0. For the time being, I'd run it 12-18 hours a day, maybe even 24 - until you get everything in check.

Again, as the others said, you should still have some chlorine in your pool while running the SWG 6 hours a day. The reason you have none is you have no stabilizer/conditioner which is Cyanuric Acid. Here's part of the pool store's bad advice... You should definitely add CYA (Cyanuric Acid) now. Without it I don't think even running the SWG 24 hours a day is enough. This is why you've started adding liquid chlorine. On sunny days the chlorine is burned off by the sun very quick, on cloudy days it will stick around longer due to lack of sunlight. It sticks around at night, again, because of lack of sunlight.

So go add CYA, but you need a test kit that can measure CYA. So, did you order your TF-100 test kit yet? :)

Don't be discouraged. You were just getting bad advice is all. Listen to the people here and you'll be fine.

For now, add the CYA and keep the SWG running. Keep checking the levels a couple times a day to make sure the chlorine level stays at at least 3 or so. Once your test kit arrives we can help you dial it in perfectly and your pool will be one of the least annoying chores you'll have to take care of. :goodjob:
 
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