Just fired the pool guy

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DomFoster

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Jul 27, 2018
34
Clovis,Ca
Just recently started taking care of our pool since we fired the pool guy. One week the pool guy only put 4 tablets in the floater, I tested the water then took it to Leslie’s pools to test and confirm. Zero chlorine level, so he was let go.
I am in need of help with where to start. Keeping up on the chlorine seems to be relatively easy, I am having issues with the pH and Alkalinity. Here are the most recent results:
July 31(tested the morning before I went to work)
-Total Hardness (500) been this way since we bought the house a couple months ago
-Total chlorine (3)
-Free chlorine (3)
-pH (6.8)
-TA (240)
-Stabilizer (100)

I had my wife check the levels and add chemicals that night since I am at work for a few days straight.
-Total Hardness (500)
-TC (0)
-FC (0)
-pH (6.8)
-TA (180)
-Stabilizer (100)

I had her shock the pool using the amount given from the Pool Math App.
Here is where things get funny and obviously the reason I decided to order the Taylor 2006 test kit after reading the post about it. This were the results within a couple minutes of each other.
-Total hardness (1000) then (500) then (1000)
-TC (10) then (10) then (5)
-FC (5) then (10) then (5)
-pH (7.8) then (7.8) then (6.8)
-TA (240) then (240) then (240)
-Stabilizer (150) then (150) then (100)

I know the strips aren’t accurate as given, but what is the best course of action to get my pH and TA in balance?
 
Marty wrote "Also start to determine your ability to exchange some water."

How much does your water cost? Can you afford to exchange 1/4 of your pool? 1/2? 3/4?

Can you get rid of the water that will be coming out of the pool? Your local government might have a say about it. Can you run it into a field? Or down a sewer drain? Or into the street? Not everybody can.

Do you have a drain and a valve at your pad that would facilitate removing water with the main pool pump?

Or will you need a portable pump to put into the pool? Can you rent one at Home Depot? Or will you have to order it from Amazon?

Can you safely remove water from your pool? Removing a lot of water from an aging plaster pool can cause damage. If your water table is high, you can float a pool right out of the ground by removing water. Liners can shift when you remove water. Some combat these issues by filling and draining at the same time: like pumping fill water into the deep end while siphoning off "old" water off the surface, never lowering the water level. But your fill water has to be colder than the pool.

Do a complete suite of tests on your fill water (but not CYA). That'll help you strategize how much water you might need to exchange. You might not need all the results, but you need to practice with your new kit anyway. There is no CYA in fill water, so that would just be a waste of reagents.

Stuff like that. I'm probably forgetting some, but that'll get you started on the "determining!" ;)
 
Hey there I'm in Clovis too, and I also just quit my pool guy for similar reasons. I can answer some of these questions about water exchange. Just filled our pool in April, and our water bill was not noticeably higher. Maybe like $20, but within the range of how it fluctuates normally. Maybe it's because I'm no longer watering a lawn back there.

As for draining, I look into that because apparently they used Cal hypo or something in my startup that caused my CH to get too high, so I need to exchange water. City says you need a permit, and need to dechlorinate if dumping to the street gutters, otherwise need to drain to sewer... Though I have my own thoughts about how to go about this.

I've tested out tap water and CH is like 50. Though I think right now we are on surface water, and at some points in the year we are on groundwater and it's higher. Maybe that's why my CH is high.

What part of town are you in?
 
DomFoster said:
What do you mean by test your ability to exchange water? And how do I go about it?
Click to expand...

Once you receive your test kit - You will be able to accurately measure your current CYA (stabiliser) level.

If the CYA level is too high then the only way to reduce that level is by dumping some of the pool water and replacing it with tap water etc.

CYA affects how chlorine works as a sanitiser - too much and it can be a problem.

CYA consists part of the makeup of tablets - so if Mr/Mrs Poolguy has been using tablets for some time then it may indicate that the CYA level is high - but you need to measure first to confirm.
 
I am in the Buchanan area. I talked to a guy at work who lives in Clovis about filling the pool and getting a meter to fill from the hydrant. He was told by an unknown city source that they don’t monitor that closely. They would only come out if there was a noticeable increase in water loss to an area or hydrant without having a fire in the direct area. He was told that filling the pool wouldn’t even trip an alert.
 
DomFoster said:
I am in the Buchanan area. I talked to a guy at work who lives in Clovis about filling the pool and getting a meter to fill from the hydrant. He was told by an unknown city source that they don’t monitor that closely. They would only come out if there was a noticeable increase in water loss to an area or hydrant without having a fire in the direct area. He was told that filling the pool wouldn’t even trip an alert.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much what I figured.
 

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Plan how you might refill some of that pool water, but until you get a proper set of testing equipment and run the tests, I'd just keep things at the planning stage.

You might find out after all that your CYA is much lower, and you might only need to drain a little bit of water or maybe even none at all.


You are in good hands here!
 
Finally got off work after 8 days straight and opened up the Taylor 2600 to get to work. Here are my results:
FC-5
CC-0
pH-8.0
TA-220
CH-500
CYA-100

I thought this was pretty good for having my wife maintain the pool and using the Clorox Smart Strips. She did very well in my opinion since we were totally just guessing. What are the recommendations?

What are your thoughts on my wife using the test strips cause she can scan it into the app and I am able to see the results when I am at work days at a time? It would be to just give a rough estimate on how much chlorine to add. Here are the results with the strips taken right after I used the Taylor kit:

FC-3
Total Chlorine-5
pH-7.8
TA-240
Total Hardness-1000
Stabilizer-100
 
CYA 100 is a problem. You need a FC target of 11-13 and always keeping it above 8. See [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]

The strips are not reliable enough at high CL levels for you to know how much FC you need to add.
 
Maintaining that high of chlorine is it safe for the kids to swim in it? Would the best course be to drain the pool partially?

- - - Updated - - -

Also can I add chlorine and then acid? What’s the minimum wait time on swimming after adding?
 
DomFoster said:
Maintaining that high of chlorine is it safe for the kids to swim in it? Would the best course be to drain the pool partially?
Click to expand...

Yes, most of the chlorine is bound to the CYA. Levels up to shock on the [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA] are safe to swim in. CYA buffers the harshness of chlorine.

At some point you should plan to drain at least 50% of your pool which would fix your CYA and CH problems. Or consider installing a SWG which has CYA levels of 60-80.

Wait 15 minutes between addng chlorine and acid. Wait 30 minutes before swimming.
 
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