New Pool Owner - Previous owner only used Leslie's

[Kirbynp]

Two weeks ago we purchased a house with a pool (21000 gal), not having been responsible for one before, we are a little overwhelmed. The person who we bought the house from used a pool guy from Leslie's to come and take care of the chemicals and everything else with the pool. Based on reading posts on this forum, and the condition the pool was in when we moved in, Leslie's seems like a very bad company to use. Even though the pool guy was on site the day before we closed, the day we arrived the pool was green and had no chlorine levels in it and the filter was running at high pressure suggesting it hasnt been cleaned in a while, I shocked the pool and the green went away pretty quickly and backflushed the filter which restored the pressure to a normal level and gave the pump outlet nozzles more flow.

Currently the water looks crystal clear but I am just trying to get a handle on things so that I am not spending 2+ hours a day trying to figure out what is going on with the chemicals. The previous owner had 3 different kinds of test strips and I purchased a test kit to check levels (Blue Devil B7550). (The most recent thing that I did was add baking soda to increase the alkalinity, which I probably over shot)

The results of those 4 tests averaged as follows:
- CC and FC = 0 or close to 0
- pH = 7.7-7.8
- Alkalinity = 180 - 200 ppm
- Cya = "High" on test strips, 90 on black dot test

I also had the water tested at Leslies which gave a nonsense result where it recommended hundreds of dollars in chemicals and another local pool store that just said my cya was high (119) and I just need to drain some water out of the pool.

The way that pool is configured, there is only a skimmer close to the water level as the inlet to the pump, so I can only drain about 1400 gallons out of the pool at a time. The filter unit by the pump is hard piped into the main drain to my house, so the water would drain out that way. I have two submersible pumps, but no where to direct the water (no nearby storm drain). I was planning on just draining out the 1400 gallons this weekend and refilling and re-testing again and just repeating until a better cya level is reached.

I am fairly overwhelmed here so any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! While I don't doubt your CYA is high, I would be careful about doing too much until you have your own TF-100 (link below) or Taylor K2006C test kit. See Test Kits Compared That's a must! No guesswork. Guesswork is what the pool store and test strips do. The other kit simply isn't one of our reliable ones, but I will say this. If you see no indication of FC, get some chlorine or regular bleach in there ASAP. Try to maintain an FC level of at least 5 ppm for now. Get one of those kits (I recommend the TF-100) and post a full set of results. Then you will have no doubt as to what to do next.

 

[Kirbynp]

Ok thank you, I tried ordering the kit from the link on the site, however it continues to deny my card stating that my address isnt correct. Which is weird because its the card I use all the time, even after we moved. Is there another site that sells the kit?

The chlorine that the previous owner has are the 3" "Hockey Pucks" that are stabilized chlorine. Is that okay to put into the floater basket for the time being?

 

[Kirbynp]

I went ahead and got the K2006C from Amazon, not sure what the issue was with the other site. It should be here Monday.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
The "Hockey Pucks" are adding more CYA. So not the best to use right now. See Pats' post, he says liquid chlorine or bleach.
I would say the little Blue Devil kit is OK for CYA, TA, pH. And low levels of FC. I would still suggest you get the TF100 (@OTPirate - this Member is having issues ordering).
You should start planning on how you are going to do a drain/refill or water exchange. You will need to rent a sump pump or buy one. Read Draining - Further Reading
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[wireform]

The site is the best place to get it as it'll be fresh with a 2 year expiration date. Amazon may have it too except we've seen stuff from them that has been around for too long to say the least

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I also had the water tested at Leslies which gave a nonsense result where it recommended hundreds of dollars in chemicals

If you figured this out on your first trip there, consider yourself lucky. You saved a lot of cash!

Welcome and good luck.

 

[Kirbynp]

mknauss

Thank you, I will read those articles. The CYA addition from the stabilized chlorine is what I assumed (through a lot of Google-ing). I will look into getting liquid chlorine or bleach. I will hold off on the Amazon order for now as it looks like you have a moderator with connections to the website that sells the test kit. The drain/refill is what is giving me trouble at the moment, I have a submersible pump, but have no where to direct the water (no storm drains on the street). The only thing I could think of is to slowly drain and refill through the skimmer which would only do about 1400 gallons per instance, however the benefit is that I would be able to direct the water through the main drain in the house that the filter is hard piped to.

Rancho Cost-a-Lotta

Fortunately the only thing that saved me is knowing that the previous owner had a lot of Leslie chemicals back at the house, so I assumed I should check to see what was there before spending any money. I stopped by another pool store before going back and they told me something completely different (at least they didnt try to sell me anything).

 

[wireform]

They are experts at "pick pocketing" with one difference, it's with your permission.

 

[mknauss]

Does your home have a sewer cleanout?

 

[Kirbynp]

Not to my knowledge (107 year old house in a 1910 developed neighborhood), however ill go outside and look.

 

[Kirbynp]

So there is a capped pipe (~3" in diameter), about 1-2 feet away from the main drain in the basement. Both lines go through the foundation of the house which is below ground level. Both pipes are PVC. Thats my closest assumption to being the sewer cleanout line.

 

[mknauss]

That is typically what they look like. Can you take the cap off?

 

[Kirbynp]

Yes, it is just held together with a wing nut.

 

[mknauss]

Can you get a garden hose from the pool to there? How far is it?

 

[Kirbynp]

Not easily. To try to describe it in text:

The pool is on the east side of the house. The pump and filter are in the concrete unfinished basement on the east side. The only physical entrances to the basement are a painted shut window on the south side, painted shut window on the west side, and door on the west side. Without messing with the windows, I would estimate over 100 feet of hose length at least to get to where I would need to be. If I was able to get one of the windows open, I would likely need at least 40 feet of hose.

 

[mknauss]

OK -- well. If you decide to do just the skimmer level, it will take many times more water to reduce the CYA. From your Blue Devil kit, you need to drain/refill or exchange about 1/2 of your pool volume, or 10000 gallons. At 1400 gallons at a time, it becomes a math problem.
You are taking out ~7% of your pool volume each time. So the first 1400 gallon drain gets you to about 84 ppm CYA. The next one down to 78, etc. My count says that it will take 12 - 1400 gallon drains to get there. Or ~17000 gallons of water.

If your water is really cheap, go that way.

 

[Kirbynp]

Your math is coming up with the same as mine. Should I wait for the TF100 before doing anything?

 

[mknauss]

Up to you. The Blue Devil is fine for what tests you have. Is it the sliding scale thing for testing CYA?

 

[mknauss]

Do remember that after every drain, you will need to give the pool several hours to a day to remix. Unless you have a pool vac that plugs into the skimmer.