Hit by hurricane Irma

[Sharkygirl]

Hello everyone. I have what I think is a basic question. The eye of hurricane Irma passed over us in the Florida keys and we are not able to get to our house now to check things out. I turned off the pool equipment at the breaker box before we left. I have no idea what the status of my pool is, but would like to know about clearing up the water as I will bring all that is needed with me when I am able to get down there. Aside from getting all the debris out of the pool, netting and brushing, what should I do next to get my water back to normal? How will I know if the pool needs to be drained and it's a lost cause to balance the water? We will not have electricity for a while, there isn't water either. Since I do not know when those things will be available- what should I do with the pool when I get there?

 

[zea3]

Stock up on 8% plain, unscented bleach and a gallon or two of muriatic acid. I would not drain the pool. You will have a very high water table and the pool could pop out of the ground if it is drained.
If conditions at your place are safe, start by netting out all the debris you can. Once you have pulled everything out, test the water. Adjust ph if needed, then add bleach to chlorinate the pool. Brush the pool to mix in the chemicals if the power is out. If the power is out it may be out for some time. In that case if the water is not clear or is dark, the best you can do is add a large jug of bleach daily to keep things in a holding pattern. Brush the pool to mix in the bleach.
Once power is restored you can complete the SLAM Process process if needed.

 

[Nursenini]

Sanitation will be your top priority along with cleaning out the debris. You'll want gallons of regular, unscented bleach and a brush to mix it (until your pump is up and operational) and to be able to brush the pool.

Of course, the safety of you and your family is much more important. So glad you got out safely! I hope the damage isn't overwhelming.

- - - Updated - - -

Stock up on 8% plain, unscented bleach and a gallon or two of muriatic acid. I would not drain the pool. You will have a very high water table and the pool could pop out of the ground if it is drained.
If conditions at your place are safe, start by netting out all the debris you can. Once you have pulled everything out, test the water. Adjust ph if needed, then add bleach to chlorinate the pool. Brush the pool to mix in the chemicals if the power is out. If the power is out it may be out for some time. In that case if the water is not clear or is dark, the best you can do is add a large jug of bleach daily to keep things in a holding pattern. Brush the pool to mix in the bleach.
Once power is restored you can complete the SLAM Process process if needed.

Zea for the win with a much more thorough answer!

 

[Sharkygirl]

Sanitation will be your top priority along with cleaning out the debris. You'll want gallons of regular, unscented bleach and a brush to mix it (until your pump is up and operational) and to be able to brush the pool.

Of course, the safety of you and your family is much more important. So glad you got out safely! I hope the damage isn't overwhelming.

- - - Updated - - -



Zea for the win with a much more thorough answer!

Thank you!! Wouldn't it be better to use 10% pool bleach?

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you for the reply's! As I have said, I'm not able to be there yet. The Monroe county authorities are not letting anyone back into our area yet. We are mm 11. So I have no idea how long it will be before I can get back. We are about a 30 hour drive from there now. Tomorrow morning they ar opening the road as far as Summerland Key. So perhaps by Wed. Or Thurs. they will start letting people go back to our homes. I'm crossing my fingers the water isn't the color of mud!

 

[DMS2014]

i have my fingers crossed for you, too that it's not mud. Here in Houston we had people with mud in their pool and debris and worse! sewer! Of course, this person I cannot get to join TFP so I will not be allowing my boys to swim in her pool this coming weekend as I know she doesn't know anything about chemistry or cleanliness

 

[Sharkygirl]

One more question. Is putting a gallon of bleach a day in the pool till my pumps are running going to really help it? The temps are humid and the sun is shining on the pool for a good part of the day. I'm wondering if the bleach just gets eaten up by sun right away. So my question is: why wouldn't I use a commercial shock treatment instead?

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you!

 

[mknauss]

Did your pool have any CYA in it before the storm? I imagine you got some rain but not enough to dramatically reduce the CYA.
So the bleach/liquid chlorine will keep things relatively static until you get power.

What is a commerical shock treatment? Please do not use any of the pool store potions out there. Many of them have catastrophic detrimental effects on your pool water chemistry.

 

[BasicTek]

One more question. Is putting a gallon of bleach a day in the pool till my pumps are running going to really help it? The temps are humid and the sun is shining on the pool for a good part of the day. I'm wondering if the bleach just gets eaten up by sun right away. So my question is: why wouldn't I use a commercial shock treatment instead?

My power was out a couple days from irma, I increased my FC with SWG prior and then floated pucks, my whole backyard flooded over the pool so it filled with dirt and whatever else. when the level dropped I kept the pucks floating and brushed 2-3 times a day plus used the net to pull our as much loose debris as possible, my pool is now almost as crystal clear as before irma following TFP and I'm about to go swimming!!!

Edit: check out my TFP success story

 

[Sharkygirl]

Oh thank you everyone for your reply's!! It helps me to know I'm not alone in this and I have support. So I looked on the home page for "slamming" the pool. I GET IT NOW- if I use Trichlor, I'm going to eventually add too much cya and make killing all the junk harder. I'm a little concerned about adding the bleach every day and not being able to circulate anything. The last cyanuric test I did was in July. It was 60- I imagine it's much less than that now because of evaporation in the high summer heat and my auto fills constantly adding new water, that combined with a lot of rain plus the hurricane. Fortunately my pool is elevated, so I didn't get any mud in the pool. I was able to see a satellight picture and the pool is a light green right now. I told my pool guy to shock the pool before the hurricane. He probably added a commercial shock I'm guessing- or maybe he didn't get to it- I just don't know. Again, thank you all very much. Sorry I'm starting to ramble here!

 

[dschlic1]

I'm in the same boat. The eye of Irma past us by about 10-15 miles. Monday morning the pool was full to the top of the coping, and a nice milky white color. Added two bottles of bleach and 10 oz of Poly 60, and the pool is now clear. I need to pressure wash the pool deck before proceeding any further. I will be doing that this afternoon. I thank God that no major damage and it appears that no one died in Florida!

 

[Sharkygirl]

Wish I could be there. Officials won't let us back to our homes yet. What is Poly 60? Is that the same as Leslie's Algae control?

 

[Sharkygirl]

i have my fingers crossed for you, too that it's not mud. Here in Houston we had people with mud in their pool and debris and worse! sewer! Of course, this person I cannot get to join TFP so I will not be allowing my boys to swim in her pool this coming weekend as I know she doesn't know anything about chemistry or cleanliness

I don't blame you! Yuck! The pool chemistry is not to be taken lightly, I agree. We swim in that water, our skin is the largest organ in our body and is very absorbent of the chemicals in the water. So happy I found TFP!

 

[mknauss]

Do not add algaecide if you have algae - and rarely do you ever need it.

If you do not have power and can add chlorine use your brush or net to mix the water. The chlorine disperses very rapidly in the body of water.

CYA does NOT reduce due to evaporation. It is only removed by physically removing water, eg drain, overflow, etc. It will also reduce a small amount due to oxidation primarily in the summer time.