New Owner - Couple Questions

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Rona0423

Active member
Oct 11, 2020
29
Olive Branch, MS
New owner - PB hasn’t done pool school yet but he’s old school so I don’t know how technical he will get. My pool is a 18x36 Vinyl, 5 Returns (2 on deep end, 2 on shallow, 1 in steps in shallow), 2 Skimmers (One deep One shallow across from returns), Pentair IC40 SWG, Pump is just single speed Pentair WhisperFlo 011512 (3/4hp). I felt like this is small but he builds all the time with great references, etc. pump will run 24/7 unless you guys tell me I shouldnt.

My questions are as follows:

- It just got finished. Initially the SWG was blinking high salt but that’s since stopped and shows all normal. PB left SWG @ 60% That a good spot?

- I don’t plan to close the pool. We obviously won’t be using it but I don’t have a tree around anywhere. I understand eventually the SWG is going to shut down to due to temperature. What should I do then, straight chlorine?

- How closely should I monitor chemicals if it’s left open all winter but no one swimming?

I am sure along this journey I’ll have a million more questions but I hope to learn a lot and become an active member to help others some day also.

Thanks you in advance!
 
Old school indeed. Did you mean this is a brand new pool? No way he should have used a single speed pump. I'm surprised that is even legal, code-wise (it won't be for much longer). How's your relationship with him? Would he allow a swap to a two-speed or variable speed pump? Either will pay for itself in terms of energy savings.

You definitely don't want a SS pump running 24-7.

You test the FC in the water daily and adjust your pump's runtime and the SWG setting to achieve the desired FC level. Once dialed in, you can test less often. I would set the SWG at 80% and keep lowering the runtime until you get the FC right. That way, you'll be running that SS pump as little as possible, but still have 20% wiggle room to adjust your FC for the seasons.

Your SWG will stop running at about 52° or so, then yes, you maintain FC manually with liquid chlorine or bleach (without any additives).

You test and adjust your pool's chemistry all year 'round. Test often until you learn your pool, then you'll be able to test less often once you get to know your pool's chemistry cycles (which will change based on the seasons).

If you want to maintain your pool yourself, you'll need a good test kit. If you decide to use the TFP method of pool care then we can point you to the right kit and the articles to start boning up on.

Welcome to TFP! Congrat's on the new pool!
 
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guinness said:
Can you Create Your Signature so we can help you further? What automation do you have, just a timer? You don't want to be running your single speed pump 24/7. Are you maintaining the pool or getting pool service?
Click to expand...

I have updated it.

I wondered about running it 24/7, but the PB advocated for it and several neighbors do the same - I went along. There is no automation, nor timer. I plan to install a timer myself once I can figure out the run time it needs daily. Right now, it's running 24/7 and has been since it was turned on this past Monday.

I plan to maintain the pool myself. With what we spent, the wife isn't trying to let me spend more to have someone maintain it lol
 
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Dirk said:
Old school indeed. Did you mean this is a brand new pool? No way he should have used a single speed pump. I'm surprise that is even legal, code-wise (it won't be for much longer). How's your relationship with him? Would he allow a swap to a two-speed or variable speed pump? Either will pay for itself in terms of energy savings.

You definitely don't want a SS pump running 24-7.

You test the FC in the water daily and adjust your pump's runtime and the SWG setting to achieve the desired FC level. Once dialed in, you can test less often. I would set the SWG at 80% and keep lowering the runtime until you get the FC right. That way, you'll be running that SS pump as little as possible, but still have 20% wiggle room to adjust your FC for the seasons.

Your SWG will stop running at about 52° or so, then yes, you maintain FC manually with liquid chlorine or bleach (without any additives).

You test and adjust your pool's chemistry all year 'round. Test often until you learn your pool, then you'll be able to test less often once you get to know your pool's chemistry cycles (which will change based on the seasons).

If you want to maintain your pool yourself, you'll need a good test kit. If you decide to use the TFP method of pool care then we can point you to the right kit and the articles to start boning up on.

Welcome to TFP! Congrat's on the new pool!
Click to expand...


The relationship is decent. That said, what he would charge me to change it out with another pump (especially since this one has already been put in operation), I could probably just buy said pump and do it myself. Truthfully, that's been mostly my plan all along. I am handy enough to figure that out, so my hope was to get it dialed in where I can run the pump on a timer (I can install that myself as well), and when she dies - I will replace it. I do know in many places it's not legal for SS anymore, but it certainly isn't illegal here in MS/TN area. Neighbor across the street just had his built this summer from a different builder, SS pump as well. He said he just lets it run 24/7, about $50 in cost per month electric. That's basically what my PB said I should expect running this pump 24/7, $50/mo - That didn't seem that bad to me?

I feel like there are a lot of smart folks and resources here, so I would be a fool to try to maintain my pool with another method - if this works. I was going to purchase the TF100 or the K2006. TF100 is cheaper than the K2006 complete, but do I need anything extra outside of the TF100? I'd love all the help I can get and I appreciate you replying, so please do point me to the articles in case I haven't read them yet. I will apologize for the mound of questions to follow in the future.

I guess I need to try to grab a few things of needed chemicals as well. The kit that was left had 8 lb of stabilizer and the test kit left with it was much to be desired. Measured FC and PH. I took a reading today and FC looked good (or high?) and PH looked high also, but from my reading seems to be normal considering SWG. Also, that hurricane deumped 4-5" of rain on us, think that affects PH? For now, kids are getting a couple days left in the freezing new pool but those days will end in the next week, then I can try to focus on chemicals since I pretty much have nothing right now...

Thank you for taking the time!
 
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guinness said:
Based on your equipment, instead of getting a timer you could look at the Pentair IntelliConnect for around $300 if you self install. Then you can control both your pump and SWG schedule on your phone.

Click to expand...

Awesome - I will look into that. I had the equipment put next to my shed basically as far away from the house as possible (still not far from the pool because we didn't want the pool up against the house - have a newborn), but I ran network cabling out to that shed when the trench for power was dug, so that could certainly work!
 
Great job on planning to buy the kit. Either one is fine (they use the same chemicals, the TF is considered to be the better deal). You'll also need a Taylor K-1766 to measure the salt. Spring for a SpeedStir when you make the order. You'll question the expense. Don't. You'll thank me later.

We start people off here:

www.troublefreepool.com

ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry

There are several items things every pool owner should know about swimming pool water. We share details on the basics of Pool Water Chemistry.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

And then send them to Pool School. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll see an eBook version, which I much prefer. It's the same articles, but the eBook is a quick read, start to finish, with the articles mostly arranged in order. With the online version, you have to hop around and keep track of which articles you read and which is next, etc.

Pool School

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Don't think twice about asking questions. Don't be shy. We all did, and still do. That's what TFP and this forum are all about!

By the way, you will save a lot of money by taking care of the pool yourself. That's a given. What's not so obvious is that weekly pool care service is unsustainable, and very often leaves your water unbalanced, and possibly downright unsafe, for some number of days of any given week. TFPC (Trouble Free Pool Care) is not only the most cost effective way of taking care of a pool, it is by far the most superior.
 
Welcome to the forum.
That pump has a 1.25THP motor. So you are using 1 kW per hour at least. That would be 720 kW hours per month. If that only costs $50, your electricity cost is much lower than most of the nation.
 
mknauss said:
Welcome to the forum.
That pump has a 1.25THP motor. So you are using 1 kW per hour at least. That would be 720 kW hours per month. If that only costs $50, your electricity cost is much lower than most of the nation.
Click to expand...

You are correct. Running math on 720 kW, it would be around $70/mo.

My current electric bill was $224.27 for 2275 kW. That makes it roughly $0.10/kW, so around $70-$80 is what we would be looking at. Definitely will be investing in a timer or even better the Intelliconnect.
 

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mknauss said:
Welcome to the forum.
That pump has a 1.25THP motor. So you are using 1 kW per hour at least. That would be 720 kW hours per month. If that only costs $50, your electricity cost is much lower than most of the nation.
Click to expand...

Harder math puts it @ around $90/mo.

6A x 220V = 1,320W / 1,000 = 1.32kWh x 24 = 31.68 x 30 = 950.4 x .10 = $95.40 to run the pump 24/7.

Will definitely be finding a way to make a schedule to not run her 24/7 as soon as I am educated on getting the chemicals right and finding that balance.

Thanks for making my electrical brain venture out and do the math and confirming I have to find a way in the near future to not run it 24/7 if possible!
 
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About that high a bill drove me to PV solar. I haven’t paid for electricity for a couple years now. Pools and solar go hand-in-hand...
 
17K-ish, then the gov'mnt tax credit brought it down to about 12K.

Cost of system / cost of electricity per month / 12 = Years to break even
So for me that's: 12000 / 250 / 12 = 4 years

Just this month I'm halfway through the break-even period. I make enough surplus electricity to pay for PG&E's minimum/hookup-to-grid charge (about $10/month), so I really am paying nothing (jf fact, I "make" about $20 a year come true-up time, if I go seek the leftover credit I earn).

I fully expect PG&E to get California's PUC to bend over (even further) and allow PG&E to renege on its grandfathered-in-forever promises. It will be no coincidence that this will occur right about the same time our population completes building PG&E's solar grid (which we are now paying for, instead of them). I'm guessing it'll come in the form of increased monthly hookup-to-grid charges. But by then my bills would likely have been $300-400 anyway, so I expect I'll still get a great ROI. Or maybe Tesla will figure out how to make a shoe-box-sized battery that'll run my house off my solar and cost a few hundred bucks, and I'll be able to just "cut the cord."

Solar doesn't make sense for some that don't use enough electricity. But for a pool owner it should be a serious consideration. Between TFP and solar, my pool costs about $150 a year to run (mostly just chlorine and acid), not counting equipment repair/replacement. That's as good as it gets. With no solar and a pool guy, I was paying about $3K a year (it was much more expensive, but at least the pool was green and unsanitary a lot of the time)! 🤢
 
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