Murphy's Law 101

[johntafshar]

A whole pile of mishaps happened and I could use some advice on how to make the best of a bad situation.

Pool is being 'opened' in the sense that it finally got warm enough for algae to come back and the pool needs a good SLAM. My robot died over the winter and a bunch of muck built up on the bottom. Got a new robot a couple weeks ago.
Pre-slam, I had the sand filter and pump running 24/7 trying to get what I could out, and the top burst. Nothing catastrophic, damage wise, but there was some water loss and the filter is not usable.
Sand filter is old, and parts are not available. Also couldn't get anyone to come check it. That's fine, I'll replace it.
Ordered a shiny new Hayward 4030 cartridge filter, to be delivered yesterday. Ran a full set of tests to see what I was looking at. Gross.

FC 0
PH 8.2
TA 130
CH 925
CYA 20

With the CH that high, I decided to drain and refill the pool. I did that a few years ago and it's ongoing currently. Also got a lot of chlorine to start the SLAM, and plumbing equipment to install the new filter.
Which ... was damaged during shipping and didn't come. I assume they'll send another, but I probably won't have it for a week or so.

So, now I have muck in a pool with relatively fresh water, effectively no CYA, no main filter, and a week of 85-90 degree weather coming. And I'm not sure what the best plan is.

1) I could do nothing, chemical wise, except make sure the PH is ok. Replacing about 80% of the water should have it in a decent place, but I can monitor it. I could probably add MA as needed and stir it up with my robot.
2) I could add chlorine to the pool with my robot. It will do ... something overnight, but probably burn off during the day with no CYA. Any filtering will have to be what my pool robot can manage for now.
3) My filter does have a multiport valve. If recirculate means that the water just bypasses the main filter entirely, I could at least get some circulation going (or more circulation than running the robot would provide.) That would allow me to add CYA and, in turn, chlorine. Filtering wouldn't be ideal, but I could at least get the pool chemically balanced.

Pic of the filter situation attached. Advice is much appreciated

 

[ajw22]

Pour at least 5 ppm of liquid chlorine into the pool daily. Stir it in with your pool brush.

Put some CYA in a sock and suspend it in the water. Squeeze the sock every hour or two. Whatever CYA you get to dissolve will help.

If the RECIRCCULATE setting lets you get your pump running then get come circulation in the pool for the CYA to dissolve and chlorine. If you get the pump running you can begin the SLAM Process.

That should hold you until you get the filter going.

 

[johntafshar]

Pour at least 5 ppm of liquid chlorine into the pool daily. Stir it in with your pool brush.

Put some CYA in a sock and suspend it in the water. Squeeze the sock every hour or two. Whatever CYA you get to dissolve will help.

If the RECIRCCULATE setting lets you get your pump running then get come circulation in the pool for the CYA to dissolve and chlorine. If you get the pump running you can begin the SLAM Process.

That should hold you until you get the filter going.

Thanks so much, @ajw22

Oddly, UPS ended up delivering the new filter anyway, which had a hole in the box but not a scratch on the filter itself. I just installed it. I'll find out if I installed it correctly in the morning.