Ok. Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep doing what I'm doing.
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New pool startup questions
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This is where POP comes in. Pool Owner Patience. It's a tough one. lol
How's your water looking?
How's your water looking?
The water itself looks great when I pull out a sample. It has a very clean and pleasant smell to it. When I look at it from my deck, I can see that sparkle on the surface that I have read about. But when i look in from the edge of the pool, I can see the bottom of the shallow end, although I can't make out the design on the liner clearly. I can't see anything in the 8ft end of the pool. It gets too dark, almost murky, a few feet down.
I don't want to be impatient, its just this is the first time I've done this and i wasn't sure if I was doing it incorrectly and wanted to make sure I wasn't throwing away all this bleach.
As far as an update on my testing/dosing, I tested the water at about 8:30 last night and added 2.5 cups of bleach as recommended in pool math. I then backwashed at about 9:30 and went to bed. The pressure wasn't up all that much, but I wanted to backwash so the pressure didn't build up over night while I was sleeping. I got up this morning and tested the water again at 5am and my FC was down to 14.5, so backwashed before I left for work and then added the recommended amount of chlorine calculated in pool math.
I won't be home from work today until about 3. I may try to walk my wife through the testing at some point this morning, but she also has to leave for work around 10am so I won't be able to get any results from 10am to 3pm. I'm hoping my FC won't drop all that much during that 5 hour window.
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My POP is not helped by my wife, who keeps telling me to just pay the pool guy to get it clean because she doen't think I know what I'm doing since I've never had to care for a pool before. This makes me even more determined to get it crystal clear so I can prove that I can get it clear and rub it in.:grin:
I don't want to be impatient, its just this is the first time I've done this and i wasn't sure if I was doing it incorrectly and wanted to make sure I wasn't throwing away all this bleach.
As far as an update on my testing/dosing, I tested the water at about 8:30 last night and added 2.5 cups of bleach as recommended in pool math. I then backwashed at about 9:30 and went to bed. The pressure wasn't up all that much, but I wanted to backwash so the pressure didn't build up over night while I was sleeping. I got up this morning and tested the water again at 5am and my FC was down to 14.5, so backwashed before I left for work and then added the recommended amount of chlorine calculated in pool math.
I won't be home from work today until about 3. I may try to walk my wife through the testing at some point this morning, but she also has to leave for work around 10am so I won't be able to get any results from 10am to 3pm. I'm hoping my FC won't drop all that much during that 5 hour window.
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My POP is not helped by my wife, who keeps telling me to just pay the pool guy to get it clean because she doen't think I know what I'm doing since I've never had to care for a pool before. This makes me even more determined to get it crystal clear so I can prove that I can get it clear and rub it in.:grin:
Your doing fine. The next time you have to be away for awhile, everybody has jobs, lives, take the FC level 3 ppm over SLAM level. ?
Ok, I'll keep that in mind for when I head to work tomorrow morning.
On another note, I had what I thought was a nice stockpile of bleach (9 gallons), which I ran out of yesterday. I was paying $3 per gallon ($8.50 plus tax for a box of 3) at Sam's club for 8.25% concentrate. Called my pool installer yesterday when I was running out of bleach and they sell 5 gallon jugs of 12.5% liquid chlorine for $14.79 so I picked up 3 of them to replenish my supply.
Once I'm finished SLAMMING, I'm assuming I won't be going through nearly as much bleach as I've been going through the past couple days right?
On another note, I had what I thought was a nice stockpile of bleach (9 gallons), which I ran out of yesterday. I was paying $3 per gallon ($8.50 plus tax for a box of 3) at Sam's club for 8.25% concentrate. Called my pool installer yesterday when I was running out of bleach and they sell 5 gallon jugs of 12.5% liquid chlorine for $14.79 so I picked up 3 of them to replenish my supply.
Once I'm finished SLAMMING, I'm assuming I won't be going through nearly as much bleach as I've been going through the past couple days right?
ok thats good to know. I was beginning to get a little worried at my bleach consumption and was considering buying stock in bleach
Brush that deep end when you get home! Bleach consumption drops way down once the SLAM is over! I can't wait to hear how your wife loves the pool water when it's done! It's NOTHING like pool store water!
Ok, its now 9:43am here, I last tested my water at 5:00am and added the recommended amount of bleach from pool math to target 16ppm. I just called my wife and had her test the chlorine levels. 5 hours later, my FC is still holding at 16ppm.
That makes me feel much better that the FC levels are holding for that long. Now if the water would just start clearing up, I'll be ready to jump in for the first time, 60 degree water temps and all.
There is an article in pool school about adding a little DE to a sand filter to help the clearing process and the end of a SLAM. http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/133-add-de-to-a-sand-filter.
It's an option but I've never done it myself. ?
It's an option but I've never done it myself. ?
Ok. I'll read over that. She says the pressure is a 14 psi. Which brings me to another question:
I've noticed that last week, I turned the pump on for the very first time. My pressure was running at about 10-11psi. Since that time, I've noticed a slight increase what I thought was my clean operating pressure. Yesterday, after I was backwashing, my "clean" operating pressure was at about 12psi. And this morning when I left for work, I backwashed and the pressure was running at about 12-13psi after backwashing. Is this normal? I guess my question is, is there a "break in period" or a slight increase in clean operating pressure when you first start using a brand new pump/filter?
I've noticed that last week, I turned the pump on for the very first time. My pressure was running at about 10-11psi. Since that time, I've noticed a slight increase what I thought was my clean operating pressure. Yesterday, after I was backwashing, my "clean" operating pressure was at about 12psi. And this morning when I left for work, I backwashed and the pressure was running at about 12-13psi after backwashing. Is this normal? I guess my question is, is there a "break in period" or a slight increase in clean operating pressure when you first start using a brand new pump/filter?
I think that seems normal. You may not be getting every little bit of dirt out when you back wash as compared to when you first started using the filter. If that makes sense. ?
Makes perfect sense to me. I would think that a small portion of dirt might become permanantly embedded in that filter once you start using it.
Another thing is that a sand filter will actually filter better when it gets dirty. ?
I've never thought about it that way, but I think you might be right. After a full season of use, and backwashing only a few times, I still do a deep cleaning of the sand filter and a ridiculous amount of junk still comes out.
smykowski, you recommend opening the filter up and doing a thorough cleaning at the end of each season? not really sure whats involved with doing that, but I guess I'll be finding out after this summer. lol
One step at at time for me. Got to get my water clear first
One step at at time for me. Got to get my water clear first
Don't get too attached to the "clean" bleach smell. That's actually the smell of used chlorine. Once you're properly sanitized you shouldn't smell anything.
Right, one step at a time. Get the water clear and enjoy the swim season. We can visit the deep cleaning of the filter at the end of the season.