lol - don't listen to those fools online.....we know best....

[PoolGate]

My pool for practical purposes is done. My PB has turned over startup and initial maintenance to a pool maintenance company. He has been out twice so far and both times he stuck a test strip in the water and based all of his additions on that. Mostly dumping muriatic at first which I get - it is a new pool and also I get you don't need to really test a new pool right away as you know what it in the water. 2nd time he came out almost 2 weeks later, same story. Barely looks at the strip and throws a couple pucks in the skimmer and launches a few things into the pool. I mentioned to him TFP and he chuckled and said not to listen to any advice that I get on here since you guys are only familiar with your pool and not my pool. He sees hundreds of pools so his opinion is infinitely better. I explained that the TFP advice was advice for all pools but it fell on deaf ears. Also he has yet to set up my very expensive automation system and suggested I just keep my variable speed pump on high all the time. Basically I guess he thinks my automation is so I can turn my waterfalls on and off from the remote. Also seems to be some options on the remote screen that do nothing which he doesn't know how to get rid of. In the 2 visits he has made he has yet to install my diving board even though I remind him each time. He claims to have forgotten it but his car is a total disaster and I think he just cannot fit it with the mess. I honestly think he doesn't know how to program the Aqualink.

I did a full battery of testing this weekend and results are not as bad as I thought. I did upgrade to premium so I can track my pool testing.

FC 0.5 (Added 1 gallon of bleach from the pool calculator and 2 hours later it was close to 5)
CC 0.5
pH 7.3
TA 50
CH 250
CYA 0
Temp 83

So I am going to contact him today and tell him to drop off ALL of my salt that I paid for when he comes to install the diving board. He will put in another puck no doubt which I will toss when he leaves. I'll then call the PB and tell them that I do not need anyone else from that company to ever come back.

I ordered CYA and baking soda from Amazon and picked up some regular bleach (8.25%) from Safeway. I'll go to Walmart this week for a better deal.

TFP way ALL THE WAY!

 

[kimkats]

Well you know we wear our PJs all day long while we sit at a computer and pick random numbers out of the air and find stuff at stores to throw in the pool! LOL

Good job on taking over your pool's care. As you can see you will do it much better than he or the people coming out have!

When you add the salt make sure the kids are there for "diamond day". They LOVE to swim in the pool while the salt is being added and they help mix it up good too!

Did you know you can become a supporter and help us keep the lights on? Here is the link:

CLICK HERE to Become a TroubleFreePool.com Supporter!!

Kim

 

[SpringPool]

I did most of my programming of the filter cycles myself on the iAqua link. It is fairly straightforward. After the fist 2 weeks I did the research on vsp's and figured out the min rpm to get the skimmers to work. I skim twice a day using a schedule for about 2 hours a time at 1400 rpm (this speed enables my spa spill over to be completely covered too).

I then scheduled a clean cycle, 3200 rpm for 2 hours. My PB came back to do a few cleanup items and he was amazed at how clear the pool was. I then told him how often I run my pump and he was amazed. He had told me rinnon high for 8 hrs a day. TFP has been great and I've saved a lot on electricity!

 

[PoolGate]

I just asked the guy to bring all of my salt over. The pool calculator says to go from 0 to 3000 on 29k gallons is 728lbs. He said that is way too much that I only need 480lbs. Says the water always has some salt in it (news to me) anyway. I thought math was math but I guess not. He's going to bring 15 bags for me. Whatever salt is cheap. I just want to get my stuff from him and take over my own pool maintenance.

*Does anyone know how to plumb the Jandy temperature gauge into the pool plumbing? They have no instructions at all other than to "plumb it in". If you know what the gauge looks like you will understand. Looks like it is intended to go into a special fitting but I see nothing else around to put it in.

**HA HA ok I think I just figured it out. Looks like you literally just drill a hole in the PVC pipe, stick the temp sensor through the hole and clamp it down with a ring/worm clamp. How Mickey Mouse can you get!

 

[AftonJeeper]

.

**HA HA ok I think I just figured it out. Looks like you literally just drill a hole in the PVC pipe, stick the temp sensor through the hole and clamp it down with a ring/worm clamp. How Mickey Mouse can you get!

That is correct, just make sure you put it before the heater.

 

[pookiesunshine]

i would definitely check your salt level before adding. I thought mine was low too. not so...

 

[jblizzle]

On a brand new fill, the salt level should be nearly 0. Certainly agree to always test before adding anything.

Remember no salt for 30 days to allow plaster to cure.

No issue with using the pucks for now since you need the CYA and FC and help lowering the pH.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

I have a very aged vinyl pool so maybe I'm missing something about the care and feeding of a new gunite. Shouldn't you be adding CYA to 30-40 and getting the FC in the 4-7 range, minimum of 2.0 ?? I'd be worried with no CYA, low FC and CC at .5 and likely climbing that you're leaving yourself open for it to start to get a little green.

Since you have a SWCG it likely won't be an issue but pucks in the skimmer are really rough on the skimmer and it's plumbing if done long term. That's where a floater comes in handy.

 

[ctrav]

Yes TFP is awesome...TFP members may know about "our pools" which is 100 times better than your PB will know or some pool store. I have never had a pool before and because of TFP I am having no issues maintaining it myself. The savings generated from this site and the ability to reach out for advice on just about any pool issue is priceless! Not to mention the new friends I have made along the way...

Being a supporter is truly a worthwhile choice. I second Kim in suggesting you join us and keep the posts coming PoolGate...

 

[PoolGate]

I just plumbed in the water temp gauge. Super easy took 5 minutes. I lubed the oring with a little food safe lube and no leaks! Already reading the correct temp which means I can now control the heater with the Automation system! Yay!

I ordered CYA from Amazon will be here this week. My levels are slowly getting into balance. FC will be maintained daily with liquid bleach until the CYA dissolves. And yeah I thought the same thing about the pucks at this point I need CYA anyway so doesn't really matter if they are in there. I may as well use the pucks I was given.

 

[jimim]

after 30 days for break-in test ur salt levels before adding. you will possibley build up a little salt. mine did.

regarding ur ph levels. pull the manufacturer break-in recommendations. I know with my diamond brite I had to keep CYA at 30-40 and they would not let me take my FC above 3 for 30 days. It was tough keeping it in balance cause the FC was so low and sunny everyday.

good job getting rid of that guy. goof balls.

here is a good example. I have dip sticks. my builder gave them to me. I don't use them. my buddy was over this weekend cause he is going to be building next season. I showed him our test kits. I showed him the chlorine test 3 ways. ours, safety drop test, and stick.

stick was 3, drops was above 5 but what above 5, powder was 5.5. he said ya getting the test kit.

deff try to find the breakin papers for ur plaster though.

jim

 

[PoolGate]

I did most of my programming of the filter cycles myself on the iAqua link. It is fairly straightforward. After the fist 2 weeks I did the research on vsp's and figured out the min rpm to get the skimmers to work. I skim twice a day using a schedule for about 2 hours a time at 1400 rpm (this speed enables my spa spill over to be completely covered too).

I then scheduled a clean cycle, 3200 rpm for 2 hours. My PB came back to do a few cleanup items and he was amazed at how clear the pool was. I then told him how often I run my pump and he was amazed. He had told me rinnon high for 8 hrs a day. TFP has been great and I've saved a lot on electricity!

My pump uses 670 watts at 2300 rpms but 2367 watts at 3450 rpms. That is a huge difference. It also does not kick down after something that calls for a higher speed is turned on. The heater I know automatically calls for the highest speed so whenever it cycles on, the speed is locked at 3450 until I manually lower it down. Is there some way around this?

What do you have your 8 speeds set at? What are your programs? I can't seem to find any sample programs to get me started.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I suggest you get a Taylor K-1766 salt test kit. Salt test strips are too crude in my opinion and having a salt test kit will give you very accurate results allowing you to diagnose any salt cell issues without a lot of guesswork.

 

[PoolGate]

I suggest you get a Taylor K-1766 salt test kit. Salt test strips are too crude in my opinion and having a salt test kit will give you very accurate results allowing you to diagnose any salt cell issues without a lot of guesswork.

I have saltwater fish tanks. I can test for salt level with those tools. I doubt there is much but I will add salt in small increments all the same.

 

[SpringPool]

My pump uses 670 watts at 2300 rpms but 2367 watts at 3450 rpms. That is a huge difference. It also does not kick down after something that calls for a higher speed is turned on. The heater I know automatically calls for the highest speed so whenever it cycles on, the speed is locked at 3450 until I manually lower it down. Is there some way around this?

What do you have your 8 speeds set at? What are your programs? I can't seem to find any sample programs to get me started.

I picked some random speeds after testing and seeing the flow over my spa wall. I could have gone lower and the skimmers still worked but I wanted to make sure the glass tile was covered fully in water whenever the pump is on for the spa spillover.

I didn't buy the pda so I only have the phone app and website to make changes. Here are a few screen shots. I wanted to make sure my water feature ran each day for a few minutes to get "new water" into the plumbing. Currently I only use schedule A since it's a new pool and it will remain open year round. However I may enable the auto switch and use schedule B in the winter and run everything less (this will be true is I go buy s SWG in the next few months as well).

You basically set everything by times and days and they get listed out. One more thing I did a search for "Vsp schedule" when trying to understand the pump. Since I use liquid chlorine the pump just doesn't need a long run time. There is a white paper in one of the threads that talked about 2 hours a day on high will keep a pool filtered. If I go SWG I'll get the benefit of running longer at 1400 rpm and saving electricity and not having to worry about daily addition of chlorine.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I have saltwater fish tanks. I can test for salt level with those tools. I doubt there is much but I will add salt in small increments all the same.

Hydrometers and refractometers won’t work, the concentrations of salt are not high enough. TDS meters needs to be calibrated against standard solutions and other elements of the pool water (calcium, carbonates, pH, etc) will throw off the numbers.

A K-1766 test kit costs about $25 and the reagents will last a long time. The standard test accuracy is +/-200ppm but can be made as accurate as you want by simply testing a larger volume of water with the same reagents. The test is sensitive to chloride ion (Cl-) only and therefore is immune to interferences from other chemical species or temperature/pH changes.

Up to you, but it’s far better in my opinion to know for sure what your salt levels are rather than guessing at it with proxy methods like TDS or capillarity.

 

[PoolGate]

Hydrometers and refractometers won’t work, the concentrations of salt are not high enough. TDS meters needs to be calibrated against standard solutions and other elements of the pool water (calcium, carbonates, pH, etc) will throw off the numbers.

A K-1766 test kit costs about $25 and the reagents will last a long time. The standard test accuracy is +/-200ppm but can be made as accurate as you want by simply testing a larger volume of water with the same reagents. The test is sensitive to chloride ion (Cl-) only and therefore is immune to interferences from other chemical species or temperature/pH changes.

Up to you, but it’s far better in my opinion to know for sure what your salt levels are rather than guessing at it with proxy methods like TDS or capillarity.

Good advice but I don't think this is that important to get a test kit. The SWG has a salinity probe on it that it uses internally to alert on low salt levels. I think I can get the salt to the proper level without over-complicating things!

 

[jblizzle]

Except, you need to have a 2nd source of salt readings so that you know when the SWG starts to fail.

When it scales up and/or gets old, it will start to read lower than reality. If you just keep adding salt because you think the salt level is really low, you can end up with the salt level being much higher than you think.

Everything we teach here is based on accurate test results.

 

[PoolGate]

Except, you need to have a 2nd source of salt readings so that you know when the SWG starts to fail.

When it scales up and/or gets old, it will start to read lower than reality. If you just keep adding salt because you think the salt level is really low, you can end up with the salt level being much higher than you think.

Everything we teach here is based on accurate test results.

Duly noted.

 

[jimim]

I not want to beat a dead horse but I just had his conversation with a member here today. He just got the salt kit and noticed his reading from the cell was off 400.

Salt is a factor in csi also so knowing a tight number helps to keep that csi in check.