New Member from MN

[JVTrain]

After another cold and SNOWY week, hope things start to warm up around here. Getting real antsy to start my maiden voyage on the pool. Getting the spa in order has been a good primer course of sorts.

There's still about 2 inches of ice under the safety cover but I couldn't wait any longer to check out the chemistry, even though the water is stagnant and frigid. Let a sample come up to room temperature and tested:

FC: 0
pH: 7.5
CH: 175
TA: 100
CYA: 0

Water and ICE on top of it looks mostly clear with some particles. Maybe some yellow/green patches on the liner but very hard to tell by just peeking under the cover. Pleasantly surprised that I won't have a CYA problem based on previous owners trichlor puck stash (unless it jumps when I start circulation). Also good that my CH is moderately low and when I refill with ~350 CH city water it won't be out of hand. Should I preemptively put some chlorine in the pool now? Likely would put partial amounts in different spots around the pool... Just anxious to do SOMETHING! Season hasn't started and I'm running out of POP.

 

[JVTrain]

Well some sand filter fun time today. Took the lid off to this:



Plugged the drain hole and flushed with water... for a long time. Water seemed to help small particles and cloudy water to float and over flow lots of stuff. However, the stuff that looked like lint in the first picture tended to just sit on top of the sand. I resorted to scooping this stuff out with a slotted spoon. Yummy! Here's a pick mid agitation:



I gently plunged to hose up and down in the sand and periodically went to work with the slotted spoon. Got quite a bit of the lint material out while the smaller particles gushed over the outer rim. I think this process would be more efficient if the top of the filter were narrower to help force particles up and out.

While I'm doing this... around the corner my wife starts removing the cover on the pool! I hadn't planned on doing so for another week or two as the water temp is about 38 degrees and it's not going to be warming up real soon. Anyway, decided to just take the cover off as she had gotten tons of water on top of it already... so here's some pics:
Steps. Gross. Previous owner closed in August last year, looks like plenty of activity after close... You can just see the top of the "V" I made with my finger through the gunk on the second step.

There's a pretty liner under that stuff. Not too bad, small patches of visible liner

Deep end. Main drain area

And the wide angle of the deep end, including the slide I'm planning on taking to local body shop for refinishing... if the price is right.

 

[JVTrain]

So at this point since the water is so cold, should I just fill the pool, get the pump running and scrub as much as possible to stir and filter as much of the presumed dead/dormant algae as possible without balancing pH/CYA/FC?

 

[jblizzle]

If you get the pump running, then there is no reason not to chemically balance the pool ... FC consumption should be pretty low.

 

[ship of fools]

So at this point since the water is so cold, should I just fill the pool, get the pump running and scrub as much as possible to stir and filter as much of the presumed dead/dormant algae as possible without balancing pH/CYA/FC?

If it were me i would get stabilizer in there and SLAM it. Your water is a little cloudy so will need to SLAM it and then maintain the proper FC level or you will get algae. With the cold temps you won't use a ton of chlorine but it doesn't take a whole lot of sun and warmth to get you above 50.

I am in Upstate NY and opened mine two weeks ago due to a floating liner but as soon as that was resolved i went to town on the water which had a tint of green and visible algae in spots. I am already into the mid 50's and have the water nice and clear after three or four days.

My new solar cover arrived yesterday and i expect to have 70 degree water in about 10 days!

 

[JVTrain]

If you get the pump running, then there is no reason not to chemically balance the pool ... FC consumption should be pretty low.

If it were me i would get stabilizer in there and SLAM it. Your water is a little cloudy so will need to SLAM it and then maintain the proper FC level or you will get algae. With the cold temps you won't use a ton of chlorine but it doesn't take a whole lot of sun and warmth to get you above 50.

I am in Upstate NY and opened mine two weeks ago due to a floating liner but as soon as that was resolved i went to town on the water which had a tint of green and visible algae in spots. I am already into the mid 50's and have the water nice and clear after three or four days.

My new solar cover arrived yesterday and i expect to have 70 degree water in about 10 days!

Sounds like a much more proactive solution and that's what I'll go with, provided there are no equipment issues... :???:

I'm also decided on getting a solar cover. Pool has a heater but it's vintage and appearance scare me. Hoping to maximize sun heat... Did you get it from solarcovers.com or ???

 

[jblizzle]

Please realize that solar covers (horrible name BTW) really are best at reducing heat loss to evaporation. If there is no wind and not very low humidity, your pool will actually gain more heat with the sun shining on it without a cover.

They help a lot with retaining the heat over night, but may not be ideal during the day.

 

[ship of fools]

Please realize that solar covers (horrible name BTW) really are best at reducing heat loss to evaporation. If there is no wind and not very low humidity, your pool will actually gain more heat with the sun shining on it without a cover.

They help a lot with retaining the heat over night, but may not be ideal during the day.

I agree 100 percent ..... based on all of the input here i bought the cheapest one i could find (16 x 32 for $51 shipped off of ebay - 5 mil) and plan on getting two years out of it.

I normally take it off in the morning and then put it on once it has lost the sun. We are able to get it into the mid 80's and keep it there through the summer. I don't have a heater and can't see spending the money on one.

 

[JVTrain]

Please realize that solar covers (horrible name BTW) really are best at reducing heat loss to evaporation. If there is no wind and not very low humidity, your pool will actually gain more heat with the sun shining on it without a cover.

They help a lot with retaining the heat over night, but may not be ideal during the day.

I agree 100 percent ..... based on all of the input here i bought the cheapest one i could find (16 x 32 for $51 shipped off of ebay - 5 mil) and plan on getting two years out of it.

I normally take it off in the morning and then put it on once it has lost the sun. We are able to get it into the mid 80's and keep it there through the summer. I don't have a heater and can't see spending the money on one.

Yeah. I had read about solar covers a bit on here as well and realize that they should maybe be called... heat retention covers? night covers? insulating covers? They are good at retaining heat that you get from the sun during the day when on at night, but do little actually improve (maybe impede?) heat you get from sun during the day.

 

[JVTrain]

A couple questions about my pumping station:


1 - Do I need to prime my pump sight glass basket by filling it with water before firing it up?

2 - Why would the booster pump (front left) have only one (1") water line coming out of it? Not sure where it goes, maybe to a line that feeds water, somehow, to the pool slide?

I also have a question about a gate valve and the heater (how to bypass if possible) but likely will need another pic for a good answer.

Note: Tons of iron stains in the pumping area are residual from when the house used to be on well water. Now on city water. Debating about doing part of my pool fill with the still functioning well water, pending upcoming metals test results.

 

[jblizzle]

1. Does not hurt, but usually not necessary unless you pump is many feet above the pool water level.
2. Depends what the booster is for. Could be for a pressure side cleaner.

 

[JVTrain]

1. Does not hurt, but usually not necessary unless you pump is many feet above the pool water level.
2. Depends what the booster is for. Could be for a pressure side cleaner.

There is no pressure side cleaner with equipment that was left by owner. Just robot in my sig. Perhaps in the past here was a pressure side cleaner but my pool has 3 returns all with (currently uninstalled) eyeballs.

Supply line to slide water is broken (above grade only I hope) and in disrepair at the slide, maybe it got and was left that way because the booster pump doesn't work. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Thanks for all the feedback and support so far! Makes it much more easy to have confidence in my new toys.

 

[JVTrain]

Started removing plugs, installing returns and ladders today before filling. When trying to take out one of the plugs in the skimmer bucket, this happened:

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Plug broke off just below top flange, leaving the threaded portion of the plug in the bottom of the bucket, in the lower hole of second picture. This hole is farther away from the pool than the top hole. Gotta find a way to get that out of there, preferably sooner rather than later.

Also in the hole where this plug broke off and in the same hole of the other skimmer there is ALOT of sand. Should I be concerned? Didn't think there should be sand there.

 

[JVTrain]

So did some more looking and found this thread: http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/9366-Why-are-there-two-holes-at-the-bottom-of-my-skimmer

Could it be that my 2 distal (further from pool center) skimmer holes are unused and the only reason I see lots of dirt is that they have always been capped and that's just soil/backfill underneath the skimmer bucket and they were never attached to anything?

If that's the case I better get the plug fixed ASAP.

 

[JVTrain]

Anyone able to confirm or agree with the likelyhood of that plug never being used and I only removed a plug that I never needed to? I do have a main drain on the pool that that could be linked to skimmers through this port, but seems unlikely with the sand/dirt below both of them.

If that's the case, I'm inclined to buy a small expandable plug to fit into the hole or other method to just leave broken threads in place and seal it up.

Thoughts anyone?

 

[jblizzle]

If the hole is capped below the skimmer, then no need for the plug.

You need to figure out how the floor is plumbed somehow.

 

[JVTrain]

I could run the pump with only drawing from the main drain and not from skimmers and see what happens. Water level is still below skimmers, just below returns as well. If I only knew which valve went to skimmers and which went to floor drain...

 

[jblizzle]

Huh? If you can select between the floor and the skimmer at the pump, then the floor is not tired into the skimmer.

It should take you a few seconds to figure this out. Just turn one suction line on and see if is flow in the skimmer.

Oh nevermind, your pool is not full yet.

 

[JVTrain]

Yeah. There are three valves in-line before the main pump. There's a picture up in the thread. I could turn the pump on and cycle through each valve one at a time to figure out which goes to the main drain. Since I have 3 valves prior to main pump, would I be correct in assuming that a valve goes to each skimmer and a valve goes to main drain? (I have 2 skimmers and 1 floor drain, if I haven't metioned earlier) Maybe if I assume that, then there is no need to test at all and that plug I removed has always been unused.

The problems of being new to pools and no help from previous owner because they were entirely pool stored: opening, closing, chemicals.

 

[JVTrain]

Well more updates and request for thoughts/reassurance.

Well I got the threads/pipe out of the unused skimmer bucket port and replaced with a plug. :-D Amazing what you can do with a set of hedge clippers... yes hedge clippers.

After pouring water through pump basket isolate to each line, I've determined which valves go to each skimmer and floor drain. Great right? Not so great. I open only the valve to the floor drain after filling up the line to help the pump along and the only results I get are water spurting out of my defunct heater that's still in-line with my pumping system. Water slowly (think pencil thickness stream) comes out of what I believe is a temperature check fitting on the heater. After a turning off pump, air comes out of same fitting for about 30 seconds. See pic (sorry for the glare) little fitting to right of inlet/outlet with wingnut on stem:


Heater doesn't work... well it might but it doesn't look good and is in disrepair inside cabinet. To top it off, I wiggle the outlet pipe coming out of the heater (left black line on heater) and it easily comes free. Looks like I need to bypass the heater with a new setup, perhaps leaving room and proper fittings to install new heater at a later date.

OH JOY.