New Pool Owner with a Few Questions With PICS

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No, the pump sounds very smooth and pretty quiet for a 2 HP single speed. I backwashed the filter again and will see if I can get anymore extended time out of the pump now.

I also just quickly tested the water and I believe the results I got were:
PH - 7.5
FC - somewhere between 2-4. It was hard to tell on the Taylor test so I may retry with the TF kits more accurate test.
CYA - first time testing so may be a bit off, but appeared to be between 75-90 ish.

I am thinking this means I will need to SLAM the pool once I can get the filter running continuously?
 
I will be ordering a new gauge ASAP, and in the mean time have done some quick testing of the water.
FC appears to be approx. 3 ppm
PH - 7.5
CYA - As expected, high at approx 80 with my inexperienced testing, but I know it is somewhere up around there, perhaps between 75-90
Any suggestions from here? I am going to see now if backwashing the filter again may have helped to keep pump running longer.
 
On the chemistry side, your FC is half the minimum for your CYA. Get that up asap unless you want algae. When you get the pump running, feel the breaker after a few minutes and see if it is getting hot. That will at least hopefully eliminate/confirm it as a culprit.


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What all is on that breaker? Just the one pump? Another pump? Lights? Make sure all connections are tight. Ask the previous owner if they ever had it trip. Grasping at straws here.


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Okay, got the problem figured out. After feeling the pump breaker in comparison to the pool light breaker, it was much warmer. I took the panel off, and low and behold was a very loose wire not even in the "cavity" for where the wire was supposed to go, but on the other side. Ill attach a picture of the wire, it was pretty badly melted and looks like a dangerous situation waiting to happen. I clipped the wire, reinstalled it properly and the pump has been running for 2 hours now without any issues.

My next question is this: I would like to lower the CYA level to the recommended 40 or so, so I will need to partially drain the pool and refill. Is it okay to drain the pool by backwashing the filter until the pool level drops to where I want it? Also, I am located in Norman,OK and we have had a LOT of rain in the last few weeks. There isnt any standing water, but I am sure the ground is pretty saturated and am scared to drain too much and float the pool. I am not sure if this is a valid concern in my area?



I used pool math and it said to add approx 120 oz of 10% to bring FC levels up to 8, so I went ahead and did that tonight to hopefully avoid algae growth if it hasnt already started.
 
That'll do it! Good job!
If you need to drain water from the pool, just use the waste setting instead of backwash. You can do it in smaller increments if you need to. You'll just end up using more water. You're looking at swapping nearly half the water. Maybe 4-5 dump-refill cycles of a foot or so would do it without worrying about draining it too low.
Also, if there is nothing that's supposed to be attached to the bottom of the breaker box, they make knockout plugs (aka push pennies) that you can put there to keep critters out.


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Thanks again for the replies. It is a gunite pool, with two shallower ends and a deeper depth in the middle of the pool. I think this is considered a "sport pool?" Anyways, I have been maintaining my FC around 9 for the time being. I am trying to decide the best way to drain significant amounts of water from the pool without flooding the front lawn, as the tube only goes to there. Is there any trick for this other than getting a longer tube and sending it to the street? Also, when the water level gets below the skimmers, will it continue pulling water from the main drain, and will I need to plug skimmer holes so as not to suck in a ton of air? Thanks, I will update signature now with what all I believe I have, haha!
 

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just a quick comment on the groundwater. I could send you a link to determine the rough groundwater elevation, but the best thing to do is to dig a hole adjacent to your pool. if you have a post hole digger, that would be great, if not a shovel will do. just need to dig a vertical hole to see if it fills with water. if you want to drain your pool 2 feet, then make sure you dig the hole to what the final water level will be. if you dig the hole and its pretty wet, wait a few hours and see if it fills up. if so, that's your water level. if you dig it and its pretty dry, you are good to go. just try and dig it as close to the pool as you can.
 
Thank you Danin. I would appreciate the link for reference, but for right now each time I drain I am only draining until the skimmer level, as I don't have a submersible pump and am unsure of any other way to drain lower than this anyways. I figure it will just take a few more rounds to get my levels where I want them. LAst night I drained to bottom of skimmer level and refilled to normal level, then took tests this morning. Here are my results, I would appreciate all of your help, particularly with the CH levels which are sky high. Any thoughts or reasons for this?
Water Temp : 75 degrees F
FC - 8.0
pH - 7.7
CC - 0 unless I am testing incorrectly? I think this should be right as pool doesn't seem to be using abnormal amounts of chlorine
TA - 65 - Will need to raise this some?
CH - Hard to tell with the test, but I am guessing a minimum of 800, possibly closer to 900? Crazy high from my understanding
CYA - After last nights small drain and refill, dropped a bit to 75

Anything else I am missing? I am going to test my fill water just to make sure we dont have insanely hard water here and will post results. Thanks!

Just tested my tap water, and it seems it is around 325 CH. Is this pretty normal, or high? Does this mean I am going to have to replace all of my pool water eventually to get CH down to good levels?
 
you are better off doing one larger water change, its more efficient. if you drain 10% and refill, then drain 10% and refill...you do not end up with 20% reduction. not saying to do 50% drain and refill, but it will be quicker and easier to do bigger chunks. if your CYA is at 75 and you want to get that in half, I would be doing bigger water changes. you should be able to isolate the skimmer from your system with a valve? that way you pull from main drain fully and can go lower than the skimmer. if you don't have a valve to isolate, you can also possibly put a cap into the skimmer drain.

CH of 325 is not unheard of, lots of places have hard water...if that's the case, unfortunately you are going to have to learn to deal with it. Keeping pH lower and your TA lower will help avoid leaching issues. There are lots of threads on here about dealing with high CH. honestly 800 is high but manageable. put all your info into the pool calculator and see what your index is. that will let you know how much of a risk you are.

I would keep your TA where it is.
 
I would like to do a bigger water swap, but I am a bit concerned about all of the rain we have had as well and don't want to risk floating the pool. I don't mind in the mean time of having a higher CYA level to use more chlorine to keep levels correct, and will continue to adjust lower as the CYA level drops. My bigger concern was the CH level as it seemed crazy high, but I will look into dealing with high levels until it becomes more offset as well.
 
dig a hole next to the pool to check actual water level. you aren't going to float the pool unless you empty it and water table is high. you can lower you water level below groundwater table a little bit with no risk of floating it. if you are worried, just make sure to not lower it any lower than the water in the hole that you did.
 
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