Need pool info for dummies... me!

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I suspect the one on the far left by itself is for your Polaris. The one to the far right is maybe for the water feature. But you can experiment with those (moving 3-way valves) and label them for future reference once all of this water exchange is done.
 
Texas Splash said:
Did you manage to get the water exchange started okay by draining water from that black (round) handle gate valve?
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Will begin fresh tomorrow morning after hubby leaves for work, and hope to avoid heat stroke since I’ve been out here brushing the pool and flirting with an early grave.
And to anyone else reading this who’s also been burned by Leslie’s, you’ll be glad to know I sent the most strongly worded email of rebuke I could compose without foul language to their corporate. It helped me refrain from going into my local store personally to unload.
 
TexasRed77 said:
I’m sorry I need so much hand holding!
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We'll get you through it all. Water chemistry or equipment. It may take some back & forth, but that's what we are here for. Lots of members watching and happy to reply.
 
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Mike1162 said:
You'll love the TFP method & save money while doing it.
I opened the pool mid-May & so far have spent spent less than $100 on chemicals.
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That’s fantastic! I guess we don’t “open” and “close” our pools down here in southeast Texas. For the three years we’ve had our pool, we just maintain it all year. It’s only been recently that our CYA has gone through the roof.
 

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For now, let's focus on the CYA. Do your water exchange, then confirm the CYA. Use info below. Once the CYA is back to around 70 or below, we'll walk you through the next steps. Easy peasy.

CYA Testing:
Proper lighting is critical for the CYA test, so you want to test for CYA outside on a bright sunny day. Taylor recommends standing outside with your back to the sun and the view tube in the shade of your body. Use the mixing bottle to combine/gently mix the required amounts of pool water and R-0013 reagent, let sit for 30 seconds, then gently mix again. Then, while holding the skinny tube with the black dot at waist level, begin squirting the mixed solution into the skinny tube. Watch the black dot until it completely disappears. If it helps, pour a little, look away, then look back and pour some more. Some people like to squirt enough solution to go line-by-line for a better feel. Once it disappears, record the CYA reading. After the first test, you can pour the mixed solution from the skinny view tube back to the mixing bottle, shake, and do the same test a second, third, or fourth time to instill consistency in your technique, become more comfortable with the testing, and validate the CYA reading. If you are still questioning your own results, have a friend or two do the same test 2-3 times. Share your results only after everyone is done to see if you came up with the same average results.
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Texas Splash said:
For now, let's focus on the CYA. Do your water exchange, then confirm the CYA. Use info below. Once the CYA is back to around 70 or below, we'll walk you through the next steps. Easy peasy.
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Of course today is cloudy, making cya test feel impossible to this newbie. Would up-lighting the small test tube with a phone light underneath accomplish the same? Or is that counterproductive? After 10 hours of simultaneous drain/fill yesterday, initial cya test doesn’t look improved at all. Still looks over 100. 😩 Am I just doing something wrong? Or expecting results too soon?
 
TexasRed77 said:
initial cya test doesn’t look improved at all. Still looks over 100.
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While the cloudiness may be impacting the test a bit, I'm not surprised your CYA is still high. It was probably much higher than you expected. The water exchange method you are using is slow and tedious, and not the most efficient. But it's all you have to work with at the moment. I would just continue to let the water flow in & out to continue the exchange. Maybe check again tomorrow. Make sure to keep an eye on the FC though. Don't let it fall too low. While it stinks to put chlorine into water that may go out to the drain, you also don't want algae if you can help it. Hang in there. Once you get the CYA under control, you'll never go through this again now that you know and are in charge.
 
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Texas Splash said:
While the cloudiness may be impacting the test a bit, I'm not surprised your CYA is still high. It was probably much higher than you expected. The water exchange method you are using is slow and tedious, and not the most efficient. But it's all you have to work with at the moment. I would just continue to let the water flow in & out to continue the exchange. Maybe check again tomorrow. Make sure to keep an eye on the FC though. Don't let it fall too low. While it stinks to put chlorine into water that may go out to the drain, you also don't want algae if you can help it. Hang in there. Once you get the CYA under control, you'll never go through this again now that you know and are in charge.
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For some reason it is hard to find plain bleach without additives in my town. If I drive further to get bleach (7.5%) for $4/gallon, is it still better than getting the liquid chlorine (12%?) from Leslie’s at $5/gallon? I hate the idea of spending any more money with them, but they are literally in my neighborhood.
 
Is the filter set so the water is just coming from the skimmer? I believe the idea is to have the new cooler water stay on the bottom & drain the old warmer water from the top. You also wouldn't want the returns pointed towards the bottom.
 
Home Depot, Lowes, Menards, Wal-Mart all carry liquid pool shock (10% - 12%) bleach. You can Google search for pool shock. This may take awhile. The CYA test tops out at 100. You can mix tap water and pool water 50/50 and test that for CYA. Double the result. In my case my actual CYA level was well over 200 so I ended up doing multiple water exchanges. It is a pain but patience is the only cure.

You can "play" with your valves if you feel up to it. The idea is to isolate the main drain on the bottom from the skimmers on the top. In my case there is a valve for each. Not sure in your case. If you close a valve you should be able to put your hand near the skimmer and see if it is pulling water. If you can isolate where the water is coming from the idea is to pump out the "bad" water separate from the new good water.

This is where renting a pump can help. Hot water rises. Cold water sinks. Assuming your tap water is colder you can run a garden hose to the bottom of the pool. The good cold water will stay in the deep end. You use your rented pump to remove the bad warmer water from the shallow end. In my case my well water is about 50 degrees from the outside tap. My pool water is 84 degrees. Do as I described the cold water will separate from the warm water. Just add it slow enough that it doesn't mix. This may or may not work for you.
 
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