New build in NRH, TX
- Thread starter Luke Alverson
- Start date
Thanks everyone for the compliments. And yes, no cannonballs this weekend...DFW is expected to get a 50 degree drop from Saturday to Sunday. Late fall in Texas, I suppose. I'm sure we'll be back up to the high 60s/low 70s at some point in the next couple of weeks!
Start up went well this week, no issues with the equipment. Pump has been running 24/7, big help with cleaning! The plaster looks fantastic...the acid bath and my diligent brushing over the last few days really helped out. I was a bit concerned with some of the streaking, but it cleared right up after 3 days or so. PB said they can tell when an owner doesn't follow the brushing advice...
The tech neutralized the acid bath with baking soda and balanced the water yesterday (I got a run down of the chemicals used). But I haven't yet gotten the target levels from them, so I'm going to test it tonight to see how it looks. I'll post results when I have them. Tomorrow morning will be my "pool school" orientation, after which they'll officially hand off chemicals management to me. Two months ago, I would have been absolutely lost, but thanks to TFP, I'm looking forward to it!
Also went through initial punch list items with the PB, thankfully not much to do. Mastic is still curing, but they'll pressure wash and do final clean up in the next couple of days. They still have to put in a couple more brass deck drain covers (plain white plastic for now), and they haven't put in my brass skimmer lids. Both will likely be after Christmas. I'm replacing that ratty section of back fence you can see in the pictures this weekend, along with trying to finish up the flagstone pad by the equipment and putting in my drip lines on the irrigation. Sod is supposed to be tomorrow, but who knows...lots of projects!
One question for those of you with an ozone system (yes, I'm aware that many on this site don't endorse/think they are a waste of money, but I have one so I'm going to try and use it). Is it common to have air/ozone bubbles coming out of the returns? I tried doing some research last night, and couldn't get a hold of the PB for an answer. I noticed a decent amount of air coming out of two of my returns last night that didn't stop. I'm a pool newbie, so my first thought was that I have an air leak somewhere in the intake side. There's a small amount of air in the valve filter cover, not getting bigger or smaller. Checked the skimmers and water level, pump valve cover, unions, etc., nothing looked wrong. But then I thought, it could be the ozone coming into the pump (it connects to the pump via the bottom pump plug, rather than the Venturi inline method) and then heading out into the pool. Looked at manufacturer's website, manual shows "no bubbles coming out of returns" as a troubleshooting topic, so I'm guessing that's what it is. I suppose I could turn the ozone off to see if the bubbles stop, but I need orientation before I do that. Any thoughts would be appreciated...
Thanks, bones. Tanning ledge is about 9 inches deep to mid tile line, 9 feet wide and 8 feet long. Wife wanted it big enough to comfortably put two loungers in, not that I see it getting used for that.
Here's tonight's test results
FC 8
CC .5
CYA 40
pH 6.8
TA 230
CH 325
CSI per pool calculator=-0.28
im understanding everything but the interaction of the pH and TA at this point. I'm sure TA was raised significantly when the acid bath was neutralized, but not sure what to do to bring it back down, given the pH is still low. I'll talk to the tech tomorrow morning to see what he's thinking, but I'd appreciate any feedback before I talk to him.
FC 8
CC .5
CYA 40
pH 6.8
TA 230
CH 325
CSI per pool calculator=-0.28
im understanding everything but the interaction of the pH and TA at this point. I'm sure TA was raised significantly when the acid bath was neutralized, but not sure what to do to bring it back down, given the pH is still low. I'll talk to the tech tomorrow morning to see what he's thinking, but I'd appreciate any feedback before I talk to him.
Luke, I am going to share a link with you BUT do NOT do anything until you talk to your PB tech. We do not want to mess anything up they are trying to do. This is how we raise and lower any levels. You will see there is another link in the TA part for working on the TA:
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Kim
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Kim
Thanks, Kim. I spoke to the PB this morning, he showed me the test results from the tech, but he didn't do the tests himself. Their results were showing FC of 5, pH of 7.2 and TA of 140--everything else was spot on with my results. Also, their "recommended" levels were pretty much in line with the TFP method.
They tried to get me to literally sign off on the results to acknowledge I'm responsible for the chemicals going forward. Given the differences in their results and mine, I told him I'm not signing anything until I retest tonight and validate. I'll do it twice from two different areas of the pool and see where it's at. Then and only then will I let them off the hook
They tried to get me to literally sign off on the results to acknowledge I'm responsible for the chemicals going forward. Given the differences in their results and mine, I told him I'm not signing anything until I retest tonight and validate. I'll do it twice from two different areas of the pool and see where it's at. Then and only then will I let them off the hook
Update:
Two test results from last night (from different parts of the pool):
FC: 7.5-8
pH: 7.2-7.2
CYA: 40-40
CH: 300-275
TA: 200-210
Tech admitted misreading the FC levels first go round. Their retest was closer to mine, but still not accurate. They now say TA is 80 (after being 140 two days ago and pH going up in that time--riiiiight...). The CSI they were showing me was also wrong--I plugged their numbers into the calculator and got a very different number. Either not taking water temp into account, or monkeying with the numbers to get things at "target" range. Had a talk with the tech's supervisor and showed him my work. Good news is the PB is listening and responding well. They're running everything on chemistry past me at this point for verification. I told them they were rushing things and we should wait until next week and retest to see where things are. Either way, it's really for their benefit, because I know what to do from here on out. Thank you TFP!!!
Two test results from last night (from different parts of the pool):
FC: 7.5-8
pH: 7.2-7.2
CYA: 40-40
CH: 300-275
TA: 200-210
Tech admitted misreading the FC levels first go round. Their retest was closer to mine, but still not accurate. They now say TA is 80 (after being 140 two days ago and pH going up in that time--riiiiight...). The CSI they were showing me was also wrong--I plugged their numbers into the calculator and got a very different number. Either not taking water temp into account, or monkeying with the numbers to get things at "target" range. Had a talk with the tech's supervisor and showed him my work. Good news is the PB is listening and responding well. They're running everything on chemistry past me at this point for verification. I told them they were rushing things and we should wait until next week and retest to see where things are. Either way, it's really for their benefit, because I know what to do from here on out. Thank you TFP!!!
Don't you just love it!!!!!!!
I feel SO sorry for people who do not know about TFP
Kim
I feel SO sorry for people who do not know about TFP
Kim
- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,392
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
The challenges are giving you a great understanding of your water chemistry!
Their poolie may be using the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) which is commonly used by the pool industry, giving rise to the difference. It's an index that is used in other water handling such as distribution systems and boilers. When associated with pools (e.g. the Taylor Watergram), it's a modified version intended for pools. The index in PoolMath is the Calcite Saturation Index (CSI) which is intended entirely for pools and is the better index for our purposes.
Their poolie may be using the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) which is commonly used by the pool industry, giving rise to the difference. It's an index that is used in other water handling such as distribution systems and boilers. When associated with pools (e.g. the Taylor Watergram), it's a modified version intended for pools. The index in PoolMath is the Calcite Saturation Index (CSI) which is intended entirely for pools and is the better index for our purposes.
correct, and I mistyped before--they were using an LSI, and I used an LSI calculator for comparison, not pool math. It was apples to apples.
Saturday was a big day for work. Fence replacement started (finished this afternoon), sod was laid (at least some of it to get us past final city inspection), and I did more landscaping than one middle-aged guy should do in a day. My back isn't 25 anymore, even though my spirit still is, and it let me know it. Everybody worked hard until the 40 degree temperature drop--literally 71 to 30 in two hours. Here's a couple of pics of the equipment's flagstone pad and the fence complete. A few punch list items to finish up, but we're 98% done. I'll take some more pics of the near finished product when the single digit wind chill goes away and the mass of leaves and dirt is cleaned up...
All looks so nice. We had the opposite issue, they made the bench too deep, not leaving enough leg room in the spa. They had to patch around where they chipped it back and they don't expect any issues.
- Jan 4, 2016
- 5,392
- Pool Size
- 44000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
NICE! What a great job you did with it all and you say it is not done?? I can't wait to see it done if it looks this good now!
LOL on the back and spirit! Funny how they do not get along any more
Kim
LOL on the back and spirit! Funny how they do not get along any more
Kim
NICE! What a great job you did with it all and you say it is not done?? I can't wait to see it done if it looks this good now!
LOL on the back and spirit! Funny how they do not get along any more
Kim, thanks so much! I'm a perfectionist, so "done" to me doesn't always mean "done" to most. It took me two days (and a lot of Alleve) to work the soreness out of my back. But it was worth it. I spent a good amount of time deep cleaning the covered patio and furniture last night. It thankfully was only about 29 deg., so I lit the fire and had MNF on tv, wasn't too bad. The leaf and dirt onslaught also ended for the time being, so the pool is cleaned up finally. Have a family Christmas event at the house this week, so we can use the patio now.
I'll be transparent and say the last couple of days have been no fun. The amount of leaves and dirt that blew into the pool over the weekend was unbelievable, and even hourly emptying of skimmers and pump strainer, and brushing dirt off the plaster, wasn't enough to keep up. Doing that in nice weather is no fun, but it's miserable in 15 degree weather. My main pump lost suction 3 or 4 times, once with a leaf clog that took longer to clear than my rookie comfort level allowed. I was worried about a frozen pipe, but thankfully that wasn't the issue. The weather broke here Monday, and thankfully my spirits lifted. Looking at the bright side, it was an excellent crash course on my equipment, so I know it well now...
I also did my first chemical adjustment last night after testing. FC had dropped to about 2, and pH got up to about 7.8, so I added bleach and acid per pool math. TA had come down to 170 (headed in the right direction), CH got up to 325 and CYA was at 50, both a little bit higher, I'm guessing due to testing variance and partly owing to concentration from the water level dropping a couple of inches in the last week from evaporation (no chemicals were added to cause the change). Added some water and will retest everything tonight. My pumps have been working overtime since Saturday with the freeze protection keeping them on. The constant aeration from the water features (about 72 hours straight now) should keep bringing the pH up. A few more acid adds and the TA should be in target range in a few more days. Meeting the PB tech tomorrow afternoon to retest and do final sign off on chemicals.
If you don't see me post in a few days, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
I am SO sure the last two days have NOT been fun BUT oh so worth it! Just think of the smiles and ohhhhhhhh and awwwww when everyone sees your pool and area! You will be able to pride in what you have done! 
Kim
Kim
Well, it's been several months since I posted anything, but there wasn't much to show. But, as of last weekend, we're DONE! The pool has been finished since December, but there was all the fun stuff to get done, like patio furniture, flower pots, flower beds, sodding the rest of the yard once freeze risk was gone (details, details...). Here are a few pics of the now fully finished product, and my son having a swim a couple of weeks ago.
We couldn't be much happier with how everything has turned out. Zero issues with the pool and equipment over the winter, so that's been a big plus. Again, thanks to TFP, I've had no issues with water chemistry. DIY maintenance is cheap and easy if you know what you're doing. Bleach, acid and a couple of doses of baking soda when my TA got a little low--that's it. I know I haven't hit full season yet to see how it goes, but I feel ready.
Wouldn't have done anything different with the pool construction. We put in lots of benches, and after only 3-4 swims so far, we're really glad we did. Depth is perfect for the family's use, and overall size is just right. I might feel different in another year or so, but I don't miss the spa and don't miss the heater. I didn't want to swim in March (even though we had a couple of warm days). When April got here, the pool temp was up to 75-76, and with good sun and warm temps, the family doesn't mind a cool swim. I got to jump in after doing yard work all day on Good Friday, and that made it all worth it!
After many years of dreading hot Texas summers, I say bring it on...
We couldn't be much happier with how everything has turned out. Zero issues with the pool and equipment over the winter, so that's been a big plus. Again, thanks to TFP, I've had no issues with water chemistry. DIY maintenance is cheap and easy if you know what you're doing. Bleach, acid and a couple of doses of baking soda when my TA got a little low--that's it. I know I haven't hit full season yet to see how it goes, but I feel ready.
Wouldn't have done anything different with the pool construction. We put in lots of benches, and after only 3-4 swims so far, we're really glad we did. Depth is perfect for the family's use, and overall size is just right. I might feel different in another year or so, but I don't miss the spa and don't miss the heater. I didn't want to swim in March (even though we had a couple of warm days). When April got here, the pool temp was up to 75-76, and with good sun and warm temps, the family doesn't mind a cool swim. I got to jump in after doing yard work all day on Good Friday, and that made it all worth it!
After many years of dreading hot Texas summers, I say bring it on...
- Jun 8, 2015
- 182
- Pool Size
- 19200
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
OH so pretty and RIGHT! That whole thing-house,yard, pool go together so well. It all looks so classy and beautiful!!! Those pics could be in a magazine!
Look at he having a great time! I bet the water did feel good after working on the yard! Your summer is going to be great now!
Kim
Look at he having a great time! I bet the water did feel good after working on the yard! Your summer is going to be great now!
Kim
