Well, we have final pool inspection tomorrow. Glad the heavy lifting is over but the pool still isn't 100%. One of the waterfalls isn't working and the stone masons weren't able to make it out today to tear into it and look into why.
The startup guys came Monday (yesterday) and said the pool would be good to go between 3-4pm, so when we all got home from work about 6pm we all raced to the pool for a first swim. Within a couple minutes my 6 year olds eyes were basically swollen shut and he was crying. I got everyone out and the pH was somewhere in the range of 6.2 and the FC was over 10. I was LIVID but with no one to call at 6pm, so we rinsed out his eyes as best we could and had to assure him that the pool wouldn't hurt his eyes like that every time.
We finally got the boys to bed and I tried the spa setting. The spa was drawing so much air when I switched it over it shut the pump down. So I bled the air myself since it wasn't done and got that corrected. Then I hit the blower motor switch and it immediately spun around in a circle on the pvc pole until the electrical conduit stopped it (which scared the heck out of me by the way). I shut it down and fastened the union that was never attached and tightened it up and even though the pipe rocks when it's working or the spa is on (supervisor says this is acceptable and they never strap them down - they just let them flex). That SEEMS to have fixed that.
I also noticed the black fitting they screwed into the sidewall fitting for the pool sweep was sticking WAY out, and I thought they were supposed to be flush or close to it. I added this to a very unhappy text to the supervisor hoping he would address it, too, since I hadn't seen him (even though he could have come by without me knowing and maybe just missed everything I guess.)
Today (the next morning) the startup guys came to address things while I was at the store buying chemicals to do it myself and the tech manager apologized for the incident and assured me everything was now right. I am waiting on my TF-100 because I thought my "premium pool cleaning and maintenance tools" would be more than a ten pack of test strips and a bottom of the line brush and skimmer net, so I have to take their word for it.
They also hadn't remembered to hook up the gas to the heater, so that was addressed today while I was out. I turned it on to make sure it was capable of producing hot water and it was, but I shut it right down because I didn't want to harm the new plaster.
Since I was assured all was well I figured, heck, I've got almost 3 hours before the startup techs said they'd be back to double check the levels (they pretty much said the test strips I was given from them weren't reliable and that the levels were good). I had just sat down to see how the jets feel when they pulled in the driveway again. No testing, just started squirting a blue bottle of something into the pool he said was a chlorine killer since the levels had been so high. They then tested again and they told me everything was perfect and shouldn't need a thing for a few days. Fantastic.
The kids got home and it was time to hit the pool. We had just gotten in and something told me to check the levels anyway. PH and Alk were within range. BUT ZERO, 0, FC. I mean what the heck? So out of the pool came all my little clan, upset and thinking they did something wrong, and I explained that the pool company messed up the water again and it wasn't safe to swim with zero FC.
I went back to the auto chlorinator which still had 2 or 3 tablets in it from the startup day I guess and it was set to 1. So I put it up to 5 to at least HOPEFULLY get some FC in before it blooms algae or worse. Luckily, though, the auto chlorine dispenser fittings were leaking at the top AND bottom now, not just the bottom like I told the plumber, the supervisor , and the startup guys about as recently as yesterday and more than two weeks prior on the day of plumbing install.
So I took what little granulated chlorine I had left and added some of it hoping to at least register until tomorrow when someone can be reached. I knew I shouldn't have trusted them to have fixed it the second time and just bought my own chemicals. But hey, they assured me it was good to go. Lesson learned, again. (it's been a couple hours, so I went out and checked it and I've got it up to 3 FC, according to the cheapo strips they told me don't work they gave me in my deluxe supplies, so I guess it's okay for tonight at least.
Same thing goes for the Waterway drain covers which aren't the same as the brochure I was given or the mini color logic lights that weren't the brochure I was given. Do they work? Yep. Were they what I was told I would receive? Nope. Do they cost less to the company to provide me? Yep. Was any of that savings passed on to me? Nope.
But they are doing me the solid of charging me only $200 for the concrete guys to cut out and repour the extra strip of my 18x18 driveway that they crushed with the trackhoe when they had to dig the pool back out after the storm collapsed it on day 2.
So, lots of little things, not even hitting them all in this build log. I'm jealous of my neighbors pool that's almost done a couple doors down because they appear genuinely happy and taken care of. Maybe getting what I paid for was a high expectation on my part.
