Hello hello! My mom sent me to you all and sent me a TFP Pool Testing Kit when we moved into a house and inherited an old vinyl pool that had major issues. I have a few questions for those who know things about pool filters and pool chemistries with this kind of pool.
Background: When we moved into this house in NW Georgia, USA in February, the pool had been lightly drained, the vinyl had ripped, and the Hayward DE4820 filter system (pre-2008 version) had been sitting unused for an undetermined amount of time. We got the vinyl fixed and the pool filled in July. Thinking all was good and the filter was on a timer (it was not, apparently it was just kicking off when the pressure got too high) we went on a 10-day trip. We returned to a very green pool and a filter that wouldn't allow water to push water through the system.
This Week: After looking around some, I think I made a mistake with this kind of filter by taking it apart and rinsing the filters like a cartridge system... Whoops. I added some bags (6 in total I think over the course of 3 days) of powdered "4-in-1 Shock Stabilizer" and am still dealing with a cloudy pool. At this point, after determining the type of filter system we have, the age of said system, and that they don't make one of the parts that broke when we took apart the system (the little nut/spring combo that holds the filter clamp [double whoops]) I'm on the fence of whether this system is worth fixing or not. So the first question is, to go the route of finding a replacement nut/spring piece somewhere, replacement filters, and replacement top collector manifold (cracked that too [triple whoops]), or should I just replace the whole system given its age and the fact we have no idea how long it's been sitting? I've attached a photo of how the system looked when we opened it up for the first time earlier this week and it does not do justice to just how green everything was inside the housing.
Chemistry: Thankfully, my mom got me a test kit and it took me back to winemaking titrations. So here are the numbers I got:
Free Chlorine: 2 ppm
CC: 2 ppm
Total Chlorine: 4 ppm
Calcium Hardness: 50 ppm
Total Alkalinity: 10
CYA: 40 ppm
pH: Less than 6.8
Salt level 400 ppm
So the second question is, what are the typical numbers you look for in a vinyl pool with a DE filter system? Thirdly, what products do you think are necessary to get to that point?
Thank you all so much in advance!
Background: When we moved into this house in NW Georgia, USA in February, the pool had been lightly drained, the vinyl had ripped, and the Hayward DE4820 filter system (pre-2008 version) had been sitting unused for an undetermined amount of time. We got the vinyl fixed and the pool filled in July. Thinking all was good and the filter was on a timer (it was not, apparently it was just kicking off when the pressure got too high) we went on a 10-day trip. We returned to a very green pool and a filter that wouldn't allow water to push water through the system.
This Week: After looking around some, I think I made a mistake with this kind of filter by taking it apart and rinsing the filters like a cartridge system... Whoops. I added some bags (6 in total I think over the course of 3 days) of powdered "4-in-1 Shock Stabilizer" and am still dealing with a cloudy pool. At this point, after determining the type of filter system we have, the age of said system, and that they don't make one of the parts that broke when we took apart the system (the little nut/spring combo that holds the filter clamp [double whoops]) I'm on the fence of whether this system is worth fixing or not. So the first question is, to go the route of finding a replacement nut/spring piece somewhere, replacement filters, and replacement top collector manifold (cracked that too [triple whoops]), or should I just replace the whole system given its age and the fact we have no idea how long it's been sitting? I've attached a photo of how the system looked when we opened it up for the first time earlier this week and it does not do justice to just how green everything was inside the housing.
Chemistry: Thankfully, my mom got me a test kit and it took me back to winemaking titrations. So here are the numbers I got:
Free Chlorine: 2 ppm
CC: 2 ppm
Total Chlorine: 4 ppm
Calcium Hardness: 50 ppm
Total Alkalinity: 10
CYA: 40 ppm
pH: Less than 6.8
Salt level 400 ppm
So the second question is, what are the typical numbers you look for in a vinyl pool with a DE filter system? Thirdly, what products do you think are necessary to get to that point?
Thank you all so much in advance!
First, let's give a big shout-out to Mom for getting you a proper test kit. 
Mom knows best.
