New house with pool and first test- Free Chlorine is ~16ppm - sheesh!

[bertschb]

The pool has always been spotless when we've looked at it so either the pool guy the previous owners used did a great job or the IFCS works. I'll find out pretty soon. I brushed the pool today and didn't see any dirt or debris on the bottom. Even if the IFCS doesn't clean the pool, it's a great way to stir the water up

I learned something else. Since I don't seem to have a return, I was wondering where the return water goes when the pump is running. It appears the water returns via the cleaning heads. They (each zone of around 3 heads) are partially up at 1,500rpm and water is flowing from them. My understanding is an IFCS needs at least 2,400rpm or so to operate so I was surprised to see the heads up slightly but I guess the return water has to go somewhere.

OK, more pics. My pool has two of these. One by the skimmer and the other on the opposite side of the pool. No idea what they are.




Here is the pool. Skimmer to the right. The far corner (upper center part of pic) is where the "return" is located.

 

[Newdude]

The pool has always been spotless when we've looked at it so either the pool guy the previous owners used did a great job or the IFCS works. I’ll find out pretty soon.

I am happily rooting for you.


Now, yours was basically free. But if you were building and it was a $3k-$7k option, the $700 robot is a no brainer for most people.

I was wondering where the return water goes when the pump is running. It appears the water returns via the cleaning heads

Exactly. Some pools have returns and IFCS, Others use IFCS *as* the return. Get some more pics when you can of the heater area to see if it T’s off or not.

My understanding is an IFCS needs at least 2,400rpm or so to operate so I was surprised to see the heads up slightly but I guess the return water has to go somewhere.

Yup. They’ll kinda spray, just with not much ooomph.

No idea what they are

I vote for umbrella sleeves. See if the caps come out.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Brian,

Check out this video about Quick-Skim skimmer and how it works.

Quick Skim - Search Videos

www.bing.com

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Another one on your aerator..

Pool school aeriator video - Search Videos

www.bing.com

It does not appear to me that you have any pool "returns" other that your floor pop ups.

Jim R.

 

[bertschb]

Get some more pics when you can of the heater area to see if it T’s off or not.

Here is the heater bypass valve as seen from the opposite view from the last picture of the equipment posted above. Pump and MultiCyclone behind it. Cartridge filter to the right. I have no idea what this valve does. It looks like if I grabbed that valve handle and turned it 1/4 turn clockwise it would bypass the heater? I need to get the company that built the pool to come out and explain the plumbing. I understand most of it but things like this heater bypass valve have me stumped.

I vote for umbrella sleeves. See if the caps come out.

I unscrewed one of the caps. I think you're right - umbrella sleeve. It was maybe a foot deep and half filled with water.

 

[bertschb]

Brian,

Check out this video about Quick-Skim skimmer and how it works.

Quick Skim - Search Videos

www.bing.com

Thanks,

Jim R.

Thanks Jim. I watched that a few days ago - along with the aerator. I actually turned on the aerator just a few minutes ago for the first time. Pretty anti-climatic. Just sprays a little water out. Might come in handy to cool the water next summer.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

The pool maintenance guy that worked on the pool before we bought the house had the valve for Skimmer/Main floor drain set to 100% skimmer (handle pointed down as seen in this photo). I changed it to 50/50 thinking the main drain needs to be open in order for the IFCS to pull stuff into the filter. Is that correct?

You want most of the suction coming from the main drain, for the IFCS to work. I have individual valves on mine but I have my main drain open 100% and the skimmer about 25%.

You will need to increase the pump speed, but you should be able to hang the sock in the water, in front of the quick skim return, that sits below your skimmer. When the pump is running at the IFCS speed, the return on the skimmer will spray a decent stream of water out.

Not sure about any other returns. One of my IFCS zones is 4 wall returns. But if you don't have any other fittings in the wall other than the one you showed earlier, I doubt you have any returns. It is possible that that one is from the IFCS, but you would need to let the system cycle through and see if you ever feel something coming out of it. If it is a vac port, it should have a cover to prevent someone getting stuck on it.

For the heater bypass valve, when facing the valve, as in your photo, if you rotate the handle clockwise and line the handle up with the pipe, that will block the flow out the 'top' port of the valve and force it to go down into the ground, through the heater, back up from the other pipe, and into the rest of your piping (horrible drawing of red arrow). If you rotate the valve counter clockwise, so the handle is pointing up, perpendicular to the pipe, it is blocking the flow to the heater (red arrow) so all flow is through the system (horrible drawing of yellow arrow).

The valve looks like it has stops set, so I don't think you can rotate it in a manner that could dead head the system, but you might try it first with the system off.

The plugs in the deck are umbrella/volleyball net sleeves. I think they are located directly across from each other, so my guess is volleyball net, but you can use them for either.

--Jeff

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Brian, is that return you showed earlier, directly under the skimmer mouth? If so, that is your quick skim return. That is what the ball valve marked quick skim will open/close.

--Jeff

 

[bertschb]

Brian, is that return you showed earlier, directly under the skimmer mouth? If so, that is your quick skim return. That is what the ball valve marked quick skim will open/close.

--Jeff

Hi Jeff

No, that "return" is on the far side of the pool away from the skimmer. It's only maybe 1 1/4" in diameter. Just guessing. If you look at post #61, it's near the lounge chair in the top section of the photo. Wait, now that I think of it - it's near the auto fill thing on the pool deck. I'll check on that tomorrow but I'm 85% sure it's tied into the auto-fill basket thing.

Thank you for the diagram for the heater bypass. That was VERY helpful. I wish I could have seen the plumbing before it was buried.

 

[bertschb]

OK, after my failure with the stabilizer granules in the filter sock I went to the pool store and paid $46 for a gallon of liquid stabilizer. I shook it really good, turned on my IFCS and started pouring it very slowly into the pool near whichever heads were cleaning. Took about 15 minutes pouring it in and shaking between pours. After emptying the bottle, I started sweeping. I probably spent 45 minutes going around the pool repeatedly sweeping. With each sweep, clouds would swirl up from the floor. Stupid me, I thought the liquid would dissolve and it would be fast and easy compared to the granules. I won't make that mistake again. I finally got tired of sweeping and called it a night.

I'll check the water again tomorrow to see if CYA changes. I'm hoping the undissolved "liquid" stabilizer that is still on the bottom of the pool doesn't harm the plaster.

 

[Bperry]

OK, after my failure with the stabilizer granules in the filter sock I went to the pool store and paid $46 for a gallon of liquid stabilizer. I shook it really good, turned on my IFCS and started pouring it very slowly into the pool near whichever heads were cleaning. Took about 15 minutes pouring it in and shaking between pours. After emptying the bottle, I started sweeping. I probably spent 45 minutes going around the pool repeatedly sweeping. With each sweep, clouds would swirl up from the floor. Stupid me, I thought the liquid would dissolve and it would be fast and easy compared to the granules. I won't make that mistake again. I finally got tired of sweeping and called it a night.

I'll check the water again tomorrow to see if CYA changes. I'm hoping the undissolved "liquid" stabilizer that is still on the bottom of the pool doesn't harm the plaster.

$46!!! Oh my.

 

[bertschb]

Well it looks like my mess with stabilizer yesterday caused me to overshoot CYA...Dang! I went from zero to way too much.

My TA is also out of range but at easy pH is down a bit (from 8.0+ to 7.8) and FC is down from 16 to 5.5.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

That's a bummer.

I always approach adding CYA as gingerly and slowly as possible. If it says I need 2# I add a 1/2 # and creep up on it.

Also, ensure that you are allowing the water sample to warm to > 70 degrees before testing CYA. Below 70 causes error with the testing.

--Jeff

 

[bertschb]

I'll run the CYA test again as my water is 52 degrees right now.

 

[mknauss]

You reported 0 CYA to start. Then I recommended you add 40 ppm worth of CYA. You added 7 lbs (60 ppm worth) followed by a gallon of liquid stabilizer (27 ppm worth of CYA)

So you will have at least 90 ppm CYA in your pool water. Too much.

To test the CYA at that level - you need to use a 1:1 mix of pool water and tap water, use that for your pool water sample in the test, and then double the result. The test vial cannot test accurately above 90 ppm CYA.

 

[Bperry]

Well it looks like my mess with stabilizer yesterday caused me to overshoot CYA...Dang! I went from zero to way too much.

My TA is also out of range but at easy pH is down a bit (from 8.0+ to 7.8) and FC is down from 16 to 5.5.

View attachment 386385

I’d there’s still any in the cyclone thing then you might want to remove it as best you can. It’ll keep going up otherwise.

 

[bertschb]

Hi Marty

What happened yesterday was I added 6.5-7lbs of stabilizer granules (PoolMath called for 8+) by adding it to the skimmer net and squeezing over a period of a couple hours. So far so good. I then looked in my MultiCyclone and saw what looked like 5+lbs of Stabilizer granules with more falling into the trap as I watched it. Thinking virtually all of the CYA ended up in the MultiCyclone, I added 1g of liquid stabilizer (PoolMath called for 2+ originally). I thought I was being conservative in adding the stabilizer but obviously that wasn't the case. Clearly more of the granules ended up dissolved in the water than what the MultiCyclone seemed to show.

I'm going to wait for my sample water to reach room temperature and measure CYA again. Since I'm pretty sure I'll still be over 100, how much water do I need to remove roughly? Are we talking like 10%? 30%

So depressing. I have a sump pump but I don't even know where I can dump the water at this house.

 

[bertschb]

I’d there’s still any in the cyclone thing then you might want to remove it as best you can. It’ll keep going up otherwise.

Yeah, I did that right after I saw all of it in the canister.

 

[mknauss]

PoolMath called for 8+

Not for 40 ppm CYA. Do not blindly go by the suggested Goal in Poolmath.

If your CYA is 100, to get to 70 ppm, you need to remove 30% of the water and replace with fresh. You will have to add salt then to raise your salinity back up for your SWCG to work.

 

[bertschb]

If your CYA is 100, to get to 70 ppm, you need to remove 30% of the water and replace with fresh. You will have to add salt then to raise your salinity back up for your SWCG to work.

So can I assume if I remove 30% of the water and refill, all of my numbers will be shot again? What a total mess.

Water temp is 52 right now and may not rise for another week or more so the SWCG won't be producing chlorine. I do have liquid chlorine on hand in case I need it.