New House - Old Pool, trying to get in order

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You are correct, your target FC should be 6-8 and never below 4 with a CYA of 50. I wasn't sure what your CYA was when I made my earlier post so I didn't want you to overshoot it in case you had very little CYA. Bringing it up to FC 8 should be fine then. Just be sure to check often. You'll be surprised how quickly it disappears while it neutralizes the remaining AA. With only 3 Lbs. of AA though, it may not take as long as I first thought. I used 6 Lbs of AA and it took me over 10 gallons of 10% liquid chlorine until I started to see the FC start holding, probably due to the high amount of AA in the pool.

That really is a "phenomenal" transformation from the beginning. I'm sure it seemed overwhelming at first, but armed with the right tools and knowledge, it's amazing what can be done!

If you lowered your pH to 7.2 before you started the AA, you probably won't need any muriatic acid for a while. The sequestrant is acidic and will definitely drop your pH some, so you may have to aerate to bring it back up when your done.

I just noticed that you don't have tile above the water line, which is unusual for a plaster pool. As far as those stains, I would try one of those washing scrubbers that you use in the kitchen where you can put the liquid inside the handle. Fill the handle with two thirds AA powder and one third water and start scrubbing lightly by hand so you don't tear up the sponge. You just need to agitate the surface a little with the AA to get it to work. Hopefully the stains will disappear or at least lighten a bit. This is what we call a spot treatment. It might be more comfortable to wait until the water is warm enough to swim so you can get in the pool so you're not leaning over the side. I did this very thing last summer when I was working on my calcium deposits on my tile at the water line. Much more enjoyable.

As for all that small stuff floating on your surface, you might want to try a leaf rake with an ultra fine netting (silt model). I have one and I love it. It picks up all the little stuff that would go right through my other net. All the little fine hairs and pine needles as well as pollen and anything tiny. It leaves my pool surface sparkling. This is the one I got.

Amazon.com : Purity Pool PCSLT Pelican Featherweight 16-Inch Residential Leaf Rake, Silt Model : Swimming Pool Rakes : Garden Outdoor

Just be careful when using it. You don't want to get any rips or holes in it. If there are a lot of leaves or heavy stuff in the pool, use a regular net first to save the wear and tear on the silt model. It's not cheap.

If you have trees or a lot of debris near your pool, you could get an occasional organic stain or two from things falling in the pool and sinking to the bottom if left there for too long. I always have one or two chlorine tablets on hand for this. It's the only time I ever put in any chlorine in my pool that isn't liquid. I put on a rubber glove and either swim down to where the stain is and rub the tablet back and forth on the stain until it starts to lighten. It will be gone within a couple of hours. If it's too cold, I use my pool pole with a brush attached on the end of it and drag the tablet back and forth on the surface. This way is a little more crude, but it gets the job done without the need of a wet suit.:D
 
Whoops, I missed that.:cool:

One other thing I forgot to mention is it's best to keep you pH on the low end (7.2 - 7.4) when battling stains. Higher pH makes you more vulnerable to the stains returning. I usually dose mine down to 7.2 when it reaches 7.6. If you feel like it tends to climb rather quickly, you can always try lowering your TA down to around 60 with muriatic acid and by aerating your pool.
 
Okay, I have been swamped lately, so I haven't had a chance to make the full test or to post, but the pool looks fabulous. On a daily basis, I have been vacuuming and skimming, and testing chlorine and adding as necessary - a quart to half a gallon every day or two - seem reasonable (it has rained multiple times)??

I have still been running the pump non-stop. My plan is to run all of the tests and assuming everything checks out to reduce the pump to only running enough to turn the water once per day,which by my calcs works out to about 7 hours/day.

So, my questions are --

How much impact does running the pump less, have? Does it make it harder to maintain?
When should I run the pump? Day? Night? Doesn't matter?

My electric bill was less than I expected at $163 for 34 days (with the pump running at least 30 of those full-time). I estimated that the pump alone would take around $100/mo in energy. Does this seem like a reasonable estimate for what the pump costs to run? Energy cost is $0.085/kwH. 1.5HP Hayward pump.

Anything else I should be thinking of?
 
Congratulations on your fabulous water. Could we get a couple pics?

Regarding your pump and electricity bill, it just so happens that you have the exact same pump that I had before I replaced it with a VSP last year. That baby burns 2.139 kilowatts per hour. If you run it 24/7 @ $0.085/kWh for 30 days, you are looking at $130.90 in electricity just for the pump.

If you cut it down to 7 hours a day, you're looking at just a shade over $38 for 30 days. You probably would be fine running it even less, possibly 4 or 5 hours. It shouldn't affect your ability to keep your pool clean at all, unless you possibly get a lot of leaves and organic matter in your pool daily. The chemicals (chlorine, pH) are what will keep your pool clean. Circulation will just mix all the chemicals up and filter out anything organic. Try it at 4 hours and see how the water looks. Increase it a little if you're not satisfied with the results.

You really have a good rate for electricity. Here in San Jose, CA, we get charged in tiers. $0.165/kWh for first 320 kWh, $0.24 for the next tier and $.40 for anything over that. It was costing me over $125 with my old pump just to run the pump for 5 hours a day. The VSP paid for itself in slightly over 6 months and now my pump runs for 18 hours/day at 1000 rpm and only costs me around $20 month. I couldn't turn it down, even with my older pump being only 3 years old.
 

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Yes. Stain treatment worked like magic. Still some staining above the water line but I will spot treat that.

Thanks for all of the guidance.
 
Happy heart here! That looks SO good!

CYA-we call it 30 or 40 as it is not linear. I over come this thinking by just pouring from line to line. Once it is at a line where I cannot see the dot at a GLANCE I call it there.

Kim:kim:
 
Hello all. The pool is doing great, and the weather is finally allowing some use. I am testing FC daily and adding as necessary (typically about 1/2 gallon of 10% bleach daily). Have reduced pump to 4 hours per day (just for a couple days now), with no observed ill effects. I am vacuuming any visible debris daily, and skimming as necessary. Have not been brushing since I got the pool under control.

I have a few questions -
Do I need to brush daily (or at all?)? Why?
Besides chlorine, what should I be testing regularly, if everything seems okay? Ph? How frequently?

I am going to be away for about 9 days. I have a Pentair auto-chlorinator, but I have never used it. I am thinking about doing so, while I am gone, given that my CYA has drifted down to around 30, and I will likely have to add water as the summer warms up, so I am not overly concerned with using trichlor and having the CYA increase. Are these things accurate enough to set without testing, or should I go ahead and start using it before and testing the output, so I know how much FC I am adding? Is there any difference in the different brands/kinds of Trichlor tablets or are they all essentially equivalent (i.e. which should I get?).

Again thank you all for all of the help. Without this site, i definitely would have fallen victim to the pool store. Of course, sometimes I wonder if all of you aren't just covert salespeople for the bleach industry;)
 
You don't have to brush every day. Twice a week is fine or even at least once and you should be good. Brushing helps in case there are any dead spots in your pool that the circulation doesn't quite hit.

Now that you have everything in line, you should test for FC and pH daily to see how your pool reacts. Once people switch from pucks to liquid chlorine, their pH tends to climb because pucks are acidic and help keep pH down more than normal. If you find your pH tends to climb rather quickly, you can try lowering TA to around 60 by using muriatic acid and aerating your pool. This should help slow down the pH climb a bit and save you some money on muriatic acid in the long run.

You could definitely use that chlorinator during your vacation since your CYA is on the low end. I run mine at 50 to keep the sun from burning off my FC too quickly. If your weather is hot during the summer, you might want to consider doing the same. You can see how much adding pucks will raise your CYA by using pool math. Near the bottom there is a section that says "effects of adding chemicals." Those tablets are usually 8 oz so just check to see how many pucks it will take to raise your CYA from 30 to 50 and don't put in any more than that.
 
Yep DeanP,

Interesting twist is that other than Algaecide, Floc, Phos-X and others I have missed. Many of us have used pucks. Many of us have used them at a Pre-TFP era of our Pool lives as our main or only sanitation. It did not work out well, but that does not mean that Pucks can not help out or serve a purpose.

Over time, you will learn more about the chemicals and what they do, some do multiple things, like Tri-Chlor pucks, Raise CYA (can be great if that is needed) and add Chlorine (can be great if that is needed).

This TFP method is so helpful because of what you do learn about what to do and when. Similar to any strategy game, you have stronger pieces and weaker pieces.. knowing when to use them is what leads to victory. Your arsenal of products and deployment of them is all that we are all learning to do at a Senior Level vs Junior Associate.

The standard "Throw a bag of shock in it Jimmy" or run a test, assess the needs, adjust, filter and retest.
 
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