Hello! I'm a new pool owner. I acquired a property with an in ground pool a few months ago as my primary residence. I've been lurking here since that time.
About my pool: It's approximately 18K gallons, in ground vinyl liner pool with a deep end and diving board. I think the deep end is about 8.5 feet, which IMO is a little shallow for a diving board (though the board is about 8" from the dock and is short and stiff).
When I acquired the property, the pool had below 6 PH according to the pool inspection during the home buying process. After moving in, I hired a local pool company to install a SWG system, fix some broken valves, add a pump timer, and get the chemicals right.
I quickly learned that the pool company is completely inept at adjusting the pool chemicals. After paying for like 80lbs of sodium bicarbonate, the PH was still off the charts low. I decided to take matters into my own hands and take some water down to the local Leslie's. There, they suggested adding more sodium bicarbonate. I felt this was wrong, as it was making 0 bit of difference. I started looking at the chemicals themselves on the shelf and formulating my own plan. The Alkalinity raiser (sodium bicarbonate) advised to raise PH with soda ash if PH was below 7.0 IIRC. So bought some of that. The pool shop also advised me that my CYA was over 100, and I'd need to drain some water out of the pool, thanks to the pool jockeys adding way too much.
Simple, enough. I started draining water out of the pool with plans to refill a little with my garden hose. Anyway, my friend came over, I shut off the pump. I awoke the next morning to find my pool completely empty. I forgot I just had the timer installed and the multiport was still in backwash mode. My liner was pulling away from the walls and there was no way I'm filling 18K off of my well pump. Long story short, I was able to get a pool contractor out to suck the liner back to the walls and have a filling service re-fill my pool. That was in November, so I've been holding great water since, no leaks or any other problems that I know of. Fortunately I was waiting until spring to add the salt, so at least I didn't have to buy that twice.
I'm hoping to get a heat pump installed any day now, any day... electricians and pool installers are sort of on island time around here, but I found a couple people that seem to be reputable. I have a solar cover in the mail with reel as well.
Anyway, that's a little about my pool. I have some basic questions.
I see that TFP recommend brushing, is this recommended for vinyl? If so, what type of brush and how often?
Paperwork that came with liner (it's about 3 years old now) says maintain calcium hardness. This seems to be at odds with information here and elsewhere. I decided to split the difference and added 100ppm of calcium hardness. Thoughts?
My pool doesn't seem to have an overflow drain. Is this normal for vinyl pools?
I started to get a little algae before I covered it for the winter. I get the FC to about 10PPM for a few days, and I added a half bottle of Leslie's algae control, and that seemed to knock it out. That was in November. In the past week or so, I've done the same. I didn't see any algae since removing the cover, but until my SWG comes online, I wanted to keep the chlorine nice and high and start off on the right foot.
About my pool: It's approximately 18K gallons, in ground vinyl liner pool with a deep end and diving board. I think the deep end is about 8.5 feet, which IMO is a little shallow for a diving board (though the board is about 8" from the dock and is short and stiff).
When I acquired the property, the pool had below 6 PH according to the pool inspection during the home buying process. After moving in, I hired a local pool company to install a SWG system, fix some broken valves, add a pump timer, and get the chemicals right.
I quickly learned that the pool company is completely inept at adjusting the pool chemicals. After paying for like 80lbs of sodium bicarbonate, the PH was still off the charts low. I decided to take matters into my own hands and take some water down to the local Leslie's. There, they suggested adding more sodium bicarbonate. I felt this was wrong, as it was making 0 bit of difference. I started looking at the chemicals themselves on the shelf and formulating my own plan. The Alkalinity raiser (sodium bicarbonate) advised to raise PH with soda ash if PH was below 7.0 IIRC. So bought some of that. The pool shop also advised me that my CYA was over 100, and I'd need to drain some water out of the pool, thanks to the pool jockeys adding way too much.
Simple, enough. I started draining water out of the pool with plans to refill a little with my garden hose. Anyway, my friend came over, I shut off the pump. I awoke the next morning to find my pool completely empty. I forgot I just had the timer installed and the multiport was still in backwash mode. My liner was pulling away from the walls and there was no way I'm filling 18K off of my well pump. Long story short, I was able to get a pool contractor out to suck the liner back to the walls and have a filling service re-fill my pool. That was in November, so I've been holding great water since, no leaks or any other problems that I know of. Fortunately I was waiting until spring to add the salt, so at least I didn't have to buy that twice.
I'm hoping to get a heat pump installed any day now, any day... electricians and pool installers are sort of on island time around here, but I found a couple people that seem to be reputable. I have a solar cover in the mail with reel as well.
Anyway, that's a little about my pool. I have some basic questions.
I see that TFP recommend brushing, is this recommended for vinyl? If so, what type of brush and how often?
Paperwork that came with liner (it's about 3 years old now) says maintain calcium hardness. This seems to be at odds with information here and elsewhere. I decided to split the difference and added 100ppm of calcium hardness. Thoughts?
My pool doesn't seem to have an overflow drain. Is this normal for vinyl pools?
I started to get a little algae before I covered it for the winter. I get the FC to about 10PPM for a few days, and I added a half bottle of Leslie's algae control, and that seemed to knock it out. That was in November. In the past week or so, I've done the same. I didn't see any algae since removing the cover, but until my SWG comes online, I wanted to keep the chlorine nice and high and start off on the right foot.
Well, you've had some fun times already. 
No worries, we'll help. Here are some starters:
