I would not add too much. Use Pool Math to tell you how much it would take to bring it up to 3 since you don't have any CYA just before everyone gets out of the pool at the end of the day.
New pool in Jersey...they're here!
- Thread starter KaiBee
- Start date
Ok. I cant figure out how many gallons is in there even though I calculated using the water meter. So not sure how to use pool math. According to my math theres only about 875 gallons in so far. That cant he right, can it?!
The pb says that the water will be fine for 2 or 3 days until they come back out, which will (hopefully be Monday) and not to do anything to it. HOWEVER, I am not about to tell my kids that after waiting patiently for 8 weeks they can not swim in the pool because the water is nasty while we wait for the (unreliable) pb to finish their part. Just not going to happen. So what exactly should I be doing right now? Am I really only supposed to add 3 oz of 10% bleach to the (almost) half full pool? It will only be halfway up to the light niches until Monday (4 days after I started fill, 3 days at half full).
I tested the water last night since kids have been in twice.
Ph 7.5
Ch 275
Ta 100
They'll probably want to go in later after the rain. I will of course skim. Should I brush too?
The pb says that the water will be fine for 2 or 3 days until they come back out, which will (hopefully be Monday) and not to do anything to it. HOWEVER, I am not about to tell my kids that after waiting patiently for 8 weeks they can not swim in the pool because the water is nasty while we wait for the (unreliable) pb to finish their part. Just not going to happen. So what exactly should I be doing right now? Am I really only supposed to add 3 oz of 10% bleach to the (almost) half full pool? It will only be halfway up to the light niches until Monday (4 days after I started fill, 3 days at half full).
I tested the water last night since kids have been in twice.
Ph 7.5
Ch 275
Ta 100
They'll probably want to go in later after the rain. I will of course skim. Should I brush too?
Btw... I had this same conversation with my husband this morning and he said well how are you going to keep it clean. I told him I would add a little bleach and he said wont that ruin the liner. I told him it wouldn't and that I had tfp to help me out. And he was never to do anything to the pool without clearing it with me first! I told him he might want to read up on it sometimes.
I looked up a calculator and I just averaged my pool to be 2.6 feet in depth right now. That gives me a volume of 12,602. Not sure if that's correct but it's closer than what my meter is reading. I think I should just say I'm at 10k to start. What do you think?
Yes, yes, yes...............to everything you said! Yes let the kids in!! Yes make the hubby stay way for the pool care (ask me how I know 
), yes use that size to get your FC amount. You can brush if you want. If the kids don't want to help mix the chlorine up then you SHOULD brush to help mix it up. You are on the right track!
Kim
), yes use that size to get your FC amount. You can brush if you want. If the kids don't want to help mix the chlorine up then you SHOULD brush to help mix it up. You are on the right track!Kim
Ok I added the 38 oz (based on 10k) and mixed it up. I will test again tonight after we're done playing. Thanks for ALL your help, Kim! I'm sure I'll gave lots more questions soon but for now I have chlorine!!
I got ya!! 
ask any and all questions!! Or just run what you are thinking by me and I will say ya or nay.
Kim
ask any and all questions!! Or just run what you are thinking by me and I will say ya or nay.Kim
Edit: Sorry for the long post. 3 days worth of venting coming.
Not much going on here. Pb still sucks. My pool just finished filling last night at 10 after having liner installed Thursday and being told to turn it off at a certain point. Kids got to play in pool at least for the 4 days it was partially filled. After I called Saturday and got a smart reply, the owner showed up at 4 on Monday to to cut out the returns and skimmers. He was there for maybe 20 minutes and left. I went out and noticed that he missed the deep end return and my light was not cut out in the sundeck! I also notice that one of my hoses is now turned on. He didn't say anything to me while there. Nothing. No telling mer he turned a house on, no telling me he knew he wasn't cutting out everything, no telling me when to turn the water off, not why he only turned on one house when there are two in the pool. Nothing. Like always...unless I asked, in which case they have a smart reply. Mind you, this owner has not been to my build since I signed the contract, the other one has been a few times. So I immediately get on the phone to call and find out what's going on. Its 430, they close at 5. No answer for 5 minutes. I get in my car to go there because I need to know what's going on. The store is only 5 minutes away from my house. There is a sign in the door that they closed early. So now what?! Am I supposed to let the water go above the light niches now? Above the returns? I was under the impression that they needed the water to be below a certain point to install things. Why else did I have to turn it off when it got halfway up the light? I got home, turned on the other hose because why not, and texted the electrician to ask if the water could go higher than the light, because now it's after 5, and they're closed. They got back to me a few hours later saying it was fine. The water was almost to the top of the niche anyway. I decided i would stop the water below the return until I talked to the pb. So before bed I turned off the second hose. The water reached the return just before 9am. I turned off the water. Figured the store opened at 10 and I would call. Of course once I started calling their machine kept coming on. I wasn't sure if they would just come and finish or what so I made the kids wait until 11. I mean, you don't just turn on someone's water host and leave it running... right? My husband and I continued calling until 1245 when the phone finally rang and they answered. He said he knew about the return. He didn't have the screws for the plate and he wanted the water on. He knew what he was doing. So I told him when he comes to someone's house to do work and turns on their water he should let them know. That all he had to do was knock. How was I supposed to know that my kids didn't touch anything or that he wanted the water to fill. I really can't wait to be done with them so I can leave the type of review that wasn't there when I was looking. Of course a few similar reviews popped up after we signed. I will just link then to my thread here and hopefully people will see and at the same time maybe convert to the TFP way! But anywho, I turned the second hose back on after that convo and turned them both off last night. Again, with no instruction from pb about what was considered full. So it's halfway up the skimmer. Oh and I've been testing daily and adding chlorine as needed. I never really got the chlorine right though because I think my first bottle of pool essentials was not good. It smelled a little weak. The second bottle smelled stronger but by that point the water was filling again and I couldn't really pinpoint the volume. I didn't want to over chlorinate so I just kept testing to make sure other numbers weren't moving too much. I finally got the chlorine registered around 6 yesterday and will check it and add more today. I'm pretty sure that had I listened to the pb about not adding anything that water would be disgusting by now or the liner would be slimy.
Not much going on here. Pb still sucks. My pool just finished filling last night at 10 after having liner installed Thursday and being told to turn it off at a certain point. Kids got to play in pool at least for the 4 days it was partially filled. After I called Saturday and got a smart reply, the owner showed up at 4 on Monday to to cut out the returns and skimmers. He was there for maybe 20 minutes and left. I went out and noticed that he missed the deep end return and my light was not cut out in the sundeck! I also notice that one of my hoses is now turned on. He didn't say anything to me while there. Nothing. No telling mer he turned a house on, no telling me he knew he wasn't cutting out everything, no telling me when to turn the water off, not why he only turned on one house when there are two in the pool. Nothing. Like always...unless I asked, in which case they have a smart reply. Mind you, this owner has not been to my build since I signed the contract, the other one has been a few times. So I immediately get on the phone to call and find out what's going on. Its 430, they close at 5. No answer for 5 minutes. I get in my car to go there because I need to know what's going on. The store is only 5 minutes away from my house. There is a sign in the door that they closed early. So now what?! Am I supposed to let the water go above the light niches now? Above the returns? I was under the impression that they needed the water to be below a certain point to install things. Why else did I have to turn it off when it got halfway up the light? I got home, turned on the other hose because why not, and texted the electrician to ask if the water could go higher than the light, because now it's after 5, and they're closed. They got back to me a few hours later saying it was fine. The water was almost to the top of the niche anyway. I decided i would stop the water below the return until I talked to the pb. So before bed I turned off the second hose. The water reached the return just before 9am. I turned off the water. Figured the store opened at 10 and I would call. Of course once I started calling their machine kept coming on. I wasn't sure if they would just come and finish or what so I made the kids wait until 11. I mean, you don't just turn on someone's water host and leave it running... right? My husband and I continued calling until 1245 when the phone finally rang and they answered. He said he knew about the return. He didn't have the screws for the plate and he wanted the water on. He knew what he was doing. So I told him when he comes to someone's house to do work and turns on their water he should let them know. That all he had to do was knock. How was I supposed to know that my kids didn't touch anything or that he wanted the water to fill. I really can't wait to be done with them so I can leave the type of review that wasn't there when I was looking. Of course a few similar reviews popped up after we signed. I will just link then to my thread here and hopefully people will see and at the same time maybe convert to the TFP way! But anywho, I turned the second hose back on after that convo and turned them both off last night. Again, with no instruction from pb about what was considered full. So it's halfway up the skimmer. Oh and I've been testing daily and adding chlorine as needed. I never really got the chlorine right though because I think my first bottle of pool essentials was not good. It smelled a little weak. The second bottle smelled stronger but by that point the water was filling again and I couldn't really pinpoint the volume. I didn't want to over chlorinate so I just kept testing to make sure other numbers weren't moving too much. I finally got the chlorine registered around 6 yesterday and will check it and add more today. I'm pretty sure that had I listened to the pb about not adding anything that water would be disgusting by now or the liner would be slimy.
WHAT??? Turn on your water and walk away without saying a word about it??????? NOPE, NOPE, NOPE!!! gurrrrrrrr
Take a breath. Regain some direction and see this thing through. You are in the homestretch. Put boot to PB behind if need be. You will finish this and one day you will laugh way more about it than you want to cry right now.
I'd also like to refresh your memory of why you are doing this. That pic of you and the boys in the vinyl liner thread. The smiles. Big ole happy smiles. And you only had a foot of water then. Those smiles about to get much bigger soon. On you too.
I'd also like to refresh your memory of why you are doing this. That pic of you and the boys in the vinyl liner thread. The smiles. Big ole happy smiles. And you only had a foot of water then. Those smiles about to get much bigger soon. On you too.
Mayabbot
Active member
We are in the process of getting a pb in south jersey too, who did you use and why,tia.
I'm sorry you have such a bad experience. We're building right now as well (pool basically done, concrete guys working on our deck now, hopefully poured by Friday if not tomorrow). The communication with our PB is good, we can reach him even on Sundays or after-closing hours by text if there is a concern or question, and most of times he answers right away. But it is still very stressful experience (if I only knew... I would probably go with above ground instead...).
Your pool looks awesome and as our PB says... it will be just a bad memory soon. And as I read here at TFP forum... I can't wait to get my backyard back.
Your pool looks awesome and as our PB says... it will be just a bad memory soon. And as I read here at TFP forum... I can't wait to get my backyard back.
Called pb today to ask what the next step was and when they were turning on pumps. He asked me if my pool was filled! Seriously?! Its been filling since last Thursday and completely filled for 2 days. I told him it was slightly over filled and he found that funny. Then said he'd "try" to get someone over today to turn pumps on.
So in the meantime, my chlorine is nonexistent. How long after they turn it on before they put the salt in? Should I still add bleach today or wait patiently for them to do something? Will adding bleach mess up the initial salt?
So in the meantime, my chlorine is nonexistent. How long after they turn it on before they put the salt in? Should I still add bleach today or wait patiently for them to do something? Will adding bleach mess up the initial salt?
Also, we are meeting again with the mason today to discuss concrete because I've changed my mind again. Trying to lower cost a little because we were at 10k for just under 1300 sq ft of decking (which included $1800 to have a darker border around aluminum coping). But my question is should we do sprinklers, concrete or electrical first? I want to put one or two more outlets around the pool and still have to have sprinklers redone. The sprinkler guy actually had the nerve to tell me to do sprinklers first and if a few heads were messed up during concrete then they could just change them out (at my expense of course). Trying not to spend unnecessary money because I went in the wrong order.
It all depends where the sprinklers and new outlets are going. If they are in or under the concrete pad, then they should be done first. Even if its only conduit for now so they can pull the stuff in afterwards. If the sprinklers and electric are outside the footprint then wait. They will still have whatever access they need and nothing will get run over by machines/wheelbarrows during the patio install.
Yes the outlets will be on the perimeter of concrete. And I'm not having any sprinklers run to pool area but they will probably be near concrete facing the yard. As far as the trenches go, I believe electric goes deeper than the sprinklers, so should I do concrete, electric, sprinklers? They all act like it doesn't matter when I ask the contractors.
Electric is deeper and as long as its before the concrete they can just do it after. Same with the sprinklers. I ran new sprinkler lines while it was still all tore up and open under where the patio went so i did it first. I reused all the trenching for the pool plumbing and the space around the pool. Saved a ton of time rerouting everything. I used the heavier sprinkler line figuring if it fails 30 years from now ill need a new patio anyway. It wouldnt matter if sprinklers or electric was done first in your case. Just make sure they flag or paint it all so the second crew knows where not to dig.
Experiences with PB's in NJ is not a pleasant experience. Very few people come back with 100% positive comments. But then again, these are the people that do not wish to open up as they feel embarrassed by picking this pool company. IMHO, they are all the same. The communication of pool builders is really lacking. All consumers want is direct communication. We all understand that time constraints and delay's happen all the time, but not showing up, not returning calls, text messages, e-mails is just bad for business. In the end, they just do not care as the PB's that have been in business for a long time will remain in business for a long time, no matter how many complaints you see on line. Please keep us posted! You did not mention which PB unless I missed something.
Also as somebody who works in a trade, as well as most of my friends who do as well, you are hiring somebody in their busiest time of year. Especially in Jersey. It is a shorter build season and most companies overbook and just cant keep up. Call the HVAC guy when your A/C dies in August, or the furnace guy in January. They'll be spread just as thin. I am in no way shape or form condoning the lack of communication but i deal with the public as well. 99% of my customers do not want to hear we are busy at the moment and the only outcome is to wait. So its hard. Either be honest and get screamed at all the time, or ghost the customer. For the record i choose the honest/yelled at. Its not fun most of the time but at least i respond.
Most people who yell are just angry. Communication is the key. Some people take off work or go to work late and never hear from the PB, and this is the issue, not anything else. Give notice and things will be fine.
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