Hello,
I am very excited to find this site and I wanted to share what I have and am working on with my first home and first pool purchase. The first night in our new house my wife turns to me and exclaims "what the heck is that noise?" The "pool" in the backyard was unmaintained for several years and pretty had converted into a leaf filed frog and worm infested swamp. The singing frogs were so loud it was difficult to sleep. I had plenty of chores with higher priority in our new home but I eventually got around to cleaning out the swamp. I pressure washed the pool and used bleach and muriatic acid to rid myself of the thick green stains. Word around the neighborhood is the pool leaks. Horrified I frantically searched however I was unable to find any cracks in the plaster but I did find hidden in the thick sludge inside the drain a hydrostatic relief valve. The o-ring was a deep shade of blue and was in terrible shape. Water was obviously leaking through the damaged o-ring gap. Many google searches later I found out what the valve was for and how to replace it. The Haywood valve is very reasonably priced @ $10 however the wrench to extract it is unbelievably expensive @ $35. I did my best to engineer a substitute but gave up in frustration. I purchased the wrench which is just a tooled out piece of 2 1/2 inch PVC pipe with notches cut to fit the ears. It's beyond flimsy but with care and by holding my breath I was able to turn the old valve out and replace. Note: The o-ring had swelled and expanded to the point I was almost unable to seat the wrench on the valve and still get the ears in the notches. If you design one consider making the depth deeper on the thin part of the tool. I am unsure of any other leaks but I sealed up around the drain and the skimmer. The stains were still terrible and since I had no clue what type of paint was on my older concrete pool I opted to go with a water emulsion acrylic paint from INSL-X. The paint came individually boxed and was packaged well! I followed the directions and the paint went on great with the recommended 3/8s nap roller. It covered well and two coats seem to do a great job. I chose white because that was the color last applied to the pool... my wife admonished me because she said I should have chosen blue - pools are blue Kevin... blue. The only reason I won that argument is I had already purchased the white paint. I did over estimate the amount of paint as 2 gallons covered my estimated 4500 gallon kidney shaped pool 15 x 9 x 5 1/2 well. I have a couple of gallons left over that i may eBay along with my over expensive hydrostatic valve tool. My sand filter is a Haywood and when I removed the sand (which smelled like something died in it) the standpipe (thin piece of Crud) broke off. Well that unit is about $ 60 but I was able to replace with a nice piece of 1 1/2 schedule 40 PVC pipe cut to spec and glue securely into the filter assembly. 200 lbs of sand and a few new 1 1/2 unions and I'm ready to filter. I have a timer coming to replace the current non gfci outlet and switch system installed. The old fashioned pool coping on the edge is proving to be a problem. I have about 18inches missing for some reason and I have had a terrible time finding a replacement. I plan on something more decorative like tile next year but I wanted a pool season behind me to find out about any unforeseen issues. I guess I will just have to live with the eyesore or perhaps camouflage it with a glued on pool noodle. I bought based on this boards recommendation the Taylor K-2006 test kit. Today is Saturday and the weather is nice so I just started to fill the pool. I'll post my results as they happen - wish me luck!
I am very excited to find this site and I wanted to share what I have and am working on with my first home and first pool purchase. The first night in our new house my wife turns to me and exclaims "what the heck is that noise?" The "pool" in the backyard was unmaintained for several years and pretty had converted into a leaf filed frog and worm infested swamp. The singing frogs were so loud it was difficult to sleep. I had plenty of chores with higher priority in our new home but I eventually got around to cleaning out the swamp. I pressure washed the pool and used bleach and muriatic acid to rid myself of the thick green stains. Word around the neighborhood is the pool leaks. Horrified I frantically searched however I was unable to find any cracks in the plaster but I did find hidden in the thick sludge inside the drain a hydrostatic relief valve. The o-ring was a deep shade of blue and was in terrible shape. Water was obviously leaking through the damaged o-ring gap. Many google searches later I found out what the valve was for and how to replace it. The Haywood valve is very reasonably priced @ $10 however the wrench to extract it is unbelievably expensive @ $35. I did my best to engineer a substitute but gave up in frustration. I purchased the wrench which is just a tooled out piece of 2 1/2 inch PVC pipe with notches cut to fit the ears. It's beyond flimsy but with care and by holding my breath I was able to turn the old valve out and replace. Note: The o-ring had swelled and expanded to the point I was almost unable to seat the wrench on the valve and still get the ears in the notches. If you design one consider making the depth deeper on the thin part of the tool. I am unsure of any other leaks but I sealed up around the drain and the skimmer. The stains were still terrible and since I had no clue what type of paint was on my older concrete pool I opted to go with a water emulsion acrylic paint from INSL-X. The paint came individually boxed and was packaged well! I followed the directions and the paint went on great with the recommended 3/8s nap roller. It covered well and two coats seem to do a great job. I chose white because that was the color last applied to the pool... my wife admonished me because she said I should have chosen blue - pools are blue Kevin... blue. The only reason I won that argument is I had already purchased the white paint. I did over estimate the amount of paint as 2 gallons covered my estimated 4500 gallon kidney shaped pool 15 x 9 x 5 1/2 well. I have a couple of gallons left over that i may eBay along with my over expensive hydrostatic valve tool. My sand filter is a Haywood and when I removed the sand (which smelled like something died in it) the standpipe (thin piece of Crud) broke off. Well that unit is about $ 60 but I was able to replace with a nice piece of 1 1/2 schedule 40 PVC pipe cut to spec and glue securely into the filter assembly. 200 lbs of sand and a few new 1 1/2 unions and I'm ready to filter. I have a timer coming to replace the current non gfci outlet and switch system installed. The old fashioned pool coping on the edge is proving to be a problem. I have about 18inches missing for some reason and I have had a terrible time finding a replacement. I plan on something more decorative like tile next year but I wanted a pool season behind me to find out about any unforeseen issues. I guess I will just have to live with the eyesore or perhaps camouflage it with a glued on pool noodle. I bought based on this boards recommendation the Taylor K-2006 test kit. Today is Saturday and the weather is nice so I just started to fill the pool. I'll post my results as they happen - wish me luck!
