Learning about my new to me pool and equipment

[Mdragger88]

Oh okay! Thank you, I was looking at the Pool Math recommendations and my reading was 110 instead of the 50-90 target.

A Higher ta hurts nothing- it just means your ph will rise a little faster.
TA is the last thing to worry about adjusting.
As you use acid to lower your ph (after it eventually rises) the ta will also lower.
Soda Ash increases ph & ta so that is the opposite of what you want to do anyway.

 

[midmodonhillwood]

I think per the Admins I’m just supposed to keep posting all my pool questions in this thread?

I’m the guy with the vintage wall mounted timer that came with our house! It’s the Compool CP-1000. I figured out how to program it when we purchased the house in October and it’s been working great.

I have it set to come on from 7AM-1PM and the sweep 8AM-12PM.

Today I went out at 2:57 and even though the switches are in “AUTO” the pool pump started running! I came inside to see if the lights were on for the pump on the control but they weren’t. I switched it off at the box outside and it turned off.

I then switched it back to auto to see if it would come back on and it did not. This is the second time this has happened.

Does this sound familiar to anyone, have you seen this happen before? Below are photos of our vintage setup!

 

[Mdragger88]

I am not sure about what component might be causing your particular issue but I do see that some of things in there are barely terminated
I am not sure if you can even get any replacement components for this as it is quite obsolete. It is a good idea to financially plan for upgrading in the near future.
What you described kinda sounds like its a timer issue. Do you see anything in the manual about such an instance? I believe We found the manual for you didn’t we?
Let’s see what the braintrust thinks
@ajw22 or @JamesW any ideas?

 

[midmodonhillwood]

I am not sure about what component might be causing your particular issue but I do see that some of things in there are barely terminated
I am not sure if you can even get any replacement components for this as it is quite obsolete. It is a good idea to financially plan for upgrading in the near future.
What you described kinda sounds like its a timer issue. Do you see anything in the manual about such an instance? I believe We found the manual for you didn’t we?
Let’s see what the braintrust thinks
@ajw22 or @JamesW any ideas?

I do remember we found the manual and I saved it on my laptop!

If anything DOES need replacing, I'm betting on my home warranty company! I mean they DID replace my ancient sand filter with the new modern cartridge filter! It also had a lot to do with the pool equipment company they sent out! He told me, "I will get the warranty company to replace it with a cartridge filter!"

If not, it would still be good to learn from TFP what it could be and what I need to replace to fix it!

Thanks in advance to the braintrust!!!

 

[midmodonhillwood]

Is it okay to pour my test results down the kitchen sink drain into our septic system?

 

[kimkats]

I do and have not had any problems. It really is not that much water so no big deal.

 

[midmodonhillwood]

I do and have not had any problems. It really is not that much water so no big deal.

Good! I got the side eye from my wife from the other room this evening as I was pouring everything out!!

“Is it safe for our septic system to have those chemicals in it?!”

 

[Mdragger88]

Its fine. A word of warning if you have a white sink or light countertop or anything white/light colored.
Don’t get the dpd powder on it. If you do wipe it off with a dry paper towel. When it gets wet it will stain black/purple.
& rinse the sink well after dumping your fc sample or she’ll be coming for u!

 

[midmodonhillwood]

Its fine. A word of warning if you have a white sink or light countertop or anything white/light colored.
Don’t get the dpd powder on it. If you do wipe it off with a dry paper towel. When it gets wet it will stain black/purple.
& rinse the sink well after dumping your fc sample or she’ll be coming for u!

Oh Crud! Tonight was just trying to scrub an area in the light colored sink that I thought was mold or something. But it wasn’t there when we bought the house in October!

I didn’t put any of the DPD Powder in the sink, I think it was all dissolved when I poured it out!!

 

[Mdragger88]

Oh Crud! Tonight was just trying to scrub an area in the light colored sink that I thought was mold or something. But it wasn’t there when we bought the house in October!

I didn’t put any of the DPD Powder in the sink, I think it was all dissolved when I poured it out!!

Try some rubbing alcohol (or even windex).
Pro tip- you can & should also clean your beakers with it occasionally as well.

 

[Mdragger88]

Strange & likely unrelated story:
We used to have to give my daughter prevacid as a baby as she had severe reflux.
This involved opening a capsule & mixing its contents with a small amount of baby food/rice cereal etc to ensure she got the entire dose. At that time there was no suspension available for it.
The weird part:
If she later spit up on something (bib/shirt etc) after washing there would be unremovable purple/black dots! The dots weren’t visible until after you washed the garment. This never happened before the prevacid & ceased to occur after switching to a different medication.
Now all these years later I wonder if the chemical makeup of these two unrelated substances are in someway similar
Deep thoughts

 

[midmodonhillwood]

Strange & likely unrelated story:
We used to have to give my daughter prevacid as a baby as she had severe reflux.
This involved opening a capsule & mixing its contents with a small amount of baby food/rice cereal etc to ensure she got the entire dose. At that time there was no suspension available for it.
The weird part:
If she later spit up on something (bib/shirt etc) after washing there would be unremovable purple/black dots! The dots weren’t visible until after you washed the garment. This never happened before the prevacid & ceased to occur after switching to a different medication.
Now all these years later I wonder if the chemical makeup of these two unrelated substances are in someway similar
Deep thoughts

That’s funny! I wonder?!!

 

[Mdragger88]

That’s funny! I wonder?!!

I really hope not but its sure strange! She’s still alive 17 years later so fingers crossed I wasn’t poisoning her!

 

[midmodonhillwood]

Todays post is called 3 days of rain!

We’ve had 3 really heavy days of rain and the water level is almost to the top of the tile.

I asked my dad if I need to drain it off somehow and he said it probably has a drain like your bathroom sink where it will prevent it from overflowing.

When the guy installed our new cartridge filter he showed me the valve he installed on the top to let water out of the pool if I need to. This was after my dad telling me about the drain (that I never saw)!

My test results yesterday show my chlorine is down from when I topped it off from my last test results. I’m thinking this is just because it was diluted with all the fresh rain water?

I want to add 96oz and that will get me up to 6.5 which I’ve learned from you to keep it on the higher side! Before I do this, should I get the water level back down to where it usually is and retest it, OR just get the FC up to my 6.5 and let it be?

 

[Mdragger88]

That doesn’t really look like a valve.
I would get the fc up now & not wait on figuring out the drainage.
Some pools have an overflow pipe - do you see a hole near the waterline anywhere?

 

[Mdragger88]

Potential places for overflow drains:
A pipe or grate in the tile line
A knockout in the skimmer housing
A knockout in the autofill housing

Alternatively-
Look around on your equipment pad - you may see something that looks like a spigot that you can hook a hose to & drain some water off. ** If you manually drain water be sure to set a timer so you don’t forget to stop!
Same applies when adding water - timers are your friend!
Posting pictures of all your plumbing/equipment may be helpful.

 

[midmodonhillwood]

That doesn’t really look like a valve.
I would get the fc up now & not wait on figuring out the drainage.
Some pools have an overflow pipe - do you see a hole near the waterline anywhere?

Okay I will get the FC up!

The drain on top of the cartridge filter, you twist and pull up I think I watched him do and it released water. He said you can attach a hose to it.

There IS a small white pipe close to the top step. I wonder if this is the overflow pipe?

 

[Newdude]

That's your air relief valve for the filter, and water will shoot out once the air is purged, but a straws worth and not a hose's.

For a 40 CYA, 6.5 is in range and not high, although on the shortest day of the year today, you're losing the least daily FC of the whole season so it's probably fine.



In the peak season, you could be losing 4 or 5 ppm a day and a 6.5 won't cut it. The charts don't know what part of the season it is, or that you live in sunny CA with a loooooong season and not Toronto. It's up to you to adjust the daily targets as the season winds up, and then tapers off. Think of a bell curve for daily loss. There may always be a whoopsie week in there that goes sideways, but for the most part you can expect it to follow the plan.

 

[midmodonhillwood]

Ugh…don’t remind me, Winter Solstice.

I have never been a fan of the sun and heat and I prefer the cold and dark shorter days! This may stem from me growing up in Crescent City on the Northern California coast where I’d is usually stormy and gloomy!

My wife and I moved to this area of California 18+ years ago and the summers are so hot, it just makes me miserable.

BUT…now we have a house with a pool so I can jump in whenever I want to and cool off!

The previous owners have solar panels separate from the roof solar to heat the pool but I think, why would you want the water warm? If I’m jumping in the pool I want to feel nice cool water!

The house is all electric but there is a huge propane tank on the property dedicated to just the pool and spa. We finally turned it on for the spa the other night to 104° and it was nice! I run the pool pump 6 hours a day so I think I might just heat the pool one day so I can finally jump in! We haven’t been it it since we moved in October 7th.

That’s the only reason I would see to heat the pool is for the cold months. Otherwise I will probably bypass the solar heating panel array.

 

[Newdude]

BUT…now we have a house with a pool so I can jump in whenever I want to and cool off!

One time it was utterly miserable and humid out and the whole time mowing my acre, I was looking SO forward to jumping in the pool after. When I finally got the payoff, the pool was 1 degree warmer than the air.

As I was floating around in my disappointment, I thought 'this is the kinda thing the other half complains about'

It was my first (and likely last ever) rich guy problem.