Not Sure Where to Start - Or What We Are Doing Wrong

[carlp]

Does your spa have a drain at the bottom? It will only pull water through when you go to Spa mode on the Easytouch. Your automatic valves will divert away from the pool skimmer and pool returns, to spa drain and jets. If you set the filter to "Filter" and run it in Spa mode, maybe you can brush the dirt into the drain.

On the IntelliChlor menu, there is a separate SWG percentage for Spa Mode, which you'll also want to set to 0% if you are still doing OFCLT.

 

[kris77]

All I have to say is WOW. You posted your "frustration" post 5 days ago. Now look at you. If you go back and think where you were 5 days ago, did you ever think you would be here now? You have everything under control and are almost finished with your SLAM. And it seems like you have a MUCH better understanding of how your complete filter system works now.

I think some of the members here kinda took you under their wing and adopted you....lol

Kudos to all the members that contributed to this thread. THIS is what makes this site so special. I feel like i should invite all you guys over for a BBQ and a swim once my pool is opened fully.

Keep it up Po.

 

[Pogueld]

I was able to test the chlorine last night before bed because my husband came home and the reagents were in the mailbox. I guess once the SWG turned off completely, the chlorine was getting used up so FC was down to 18.5 nI added bleach and it brought it 25. This morning it was 25 as well so that's good news. I will run spa and waterfall this afternoon.

I guess I have a little pool owner common sense ;-)

 

[Patrick_B]

I was able to test the chlorine last night before bed because my husband came home and the reagents were in the mailbox. I guess once the SWG turned off completely, the chlorine was getting used up so FC was down to 18.5 nI added bleach and it brought it 25. This morning it was 25 as well so that's good news. I will run spa and waterfall this afternoon.

I guess I have a little pool owner common sense ;-)

And some POP
(Pool Owner Patience)

Excellent work!

 

[Divin Dave]

What?
Really?

No chlorine loss overnight?
And yesterday it only took 1 drop for the CC test to go clear?

Lets do that again today (and in the a.m.) just to be 100% sure.
Test FC and CC this afternoon. We want to see 1 drop to clear the solution
Then bring the FC to 24.
Then do another Overnight Chlorine Loss Test.

If you pass that again, consider the algae all dead. Then all thats left of the Slam is getting the water sparkly clear.
Cool!

Now thinking about going forward, Im going to point you to some info for maintaining the pool.
First, review the ABC's of pool chemistry, just so you have an idea of what all of the levels are and what effects what. If you have questions about it, just ask. We'll help.
Also, the recommended levels. You dont have to understand the chemistry behind it to keep your pool clean, but if you will trust us, you wont have any more problems.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/123-abc-of-pool-water-chemistry
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/134-recommended-levels

I was able to test the chlorine last night before bed because my husband came home and the reagents were in the mailbox. I guess once the SWG turned off completely, the chlorine was getting used up so FC was down to 18.5 nI added bleach and it brought it 25. This morning it was 25 as well so that's good news. I will run spa and waterfall this afternoon.

I guess I have a little pool owner common sense ;-)

 

[jblizzle]

Make sure you actually test the FC at night after the last bleach addition and not assume you hit the target.

 

[Pogueld]

Does your spa have a drain at the bottom? It will only pull water through when you go to Spa mode on the Easytouch. Your automatic valves will divert away from the pool skimmer and pool returns, to spa drain and jets. If you set the filter to "Filter" and run it in Spa mode, maybe you can brush the dirt into the drain.

On the IntelliChlor menu, there is a separate SWG percentage for Spa Mode, which you'll also want to set to 0% if you are still doing OFCLT.

Interesting that I had noticed what looked like drains in the spa last night and wondered if that's what those were and if they worked the same way as the pool drains. I will try this tonight. I've cleared a lot of it away just from the brushing and it spilling over into the pool, so I think this just might do the trick. More new knowledge!! And I don't have to take a standardized test to prove what I know -

- - - Updated - - -

And some POP
(Pool Owner Patience)

Excellent work!

Yes I have POP! LOL!

- - - Updated - - -

What?
Really?

No chlorine loss overnight?
And yesterday it only took 1 drop for the CC test to go clear?

Lets do that again today (and in the a.m.) just to be 100% sure.
Test FC and CC this afternoon. We want to see 1 drop to clear the solution
Then bring the FC to 24.
Then do another Overnight Chlorine Loss Test.

If you pass that again, consider the algae all dead. Then all thats left of the Slam is getting the water sparkly clear.
Cool!

Now thinking about going forward, Im going to point you to some info for maintaining the pool.
First, review the ABC's of pool chemistry, just so you have an idea of what all of the levels are and what effects what. If you have questions about it, just ask. We'll help.
Also, the recommended levels. You dont have to understand the chemistry behind it to keep your pool clean, but if you will trust us, you wont have any more problems.

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/123-abc-of-pool-water-chemistry
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/134-recommended-levels

Thank you so much! I'm very curious to see what will happen when I test this afternoon with the SWG off and after I turn the water feature on! hoping it doesn't do an algae sweep, but I've learned I can handle it I have been reading some of the info in Pool School, but I do plan to read more. Thanks for gearing where to get started.

- - - Updated - - -

Make sure you actually test the FC at night after the last bleach addition and not assume you hit the target.

I did. I was only trying to get to 24, but it got to 25. So we are moving forward! You all have been so helpful!

 

[Pogueld]

So Carl, just to clarify that I understand - the pool either operates in pool mode or spa mode, not both at the same time, correct? And depending on which mode you are in is which drains are pulling? Just want to be sure I understand.

Thank you!

 

[carlp]

Yes, there are two parts to this: the actual plumbing setup, and the easytouch behavior. Full disclosure, I'm guessing some of this based on your photos and how my system works.

Plumbing:
-There are two automatic valves in the main flow of water. You have a third automatic valve for a water feature, but lets ignore that for the moment.
--One of these valves is on the suction side of the pump, and it selects between drawing water from your skimmer&pool drain, or drawing water from your spa drain.
--One of these valves is on the return side (after the filter, heater, and chlorinator), and it selects between flowing water to the pool returns, or flowing water to the spa jets.
-These valves have an inlet pipe, and two outlet pipes. As the valve turns, it can stop fully on outlet 1 to fully on outlet 2, or stop anywhere in between. For the two Spa/Pool valves, they will usually not stop in the middle.
- The way these valves work is the have 2 adjustable stop positions and 3 wires. They will return to Pool position any time they have power on wires 1 and 2. If they get power on wire 3 as well, then they will move to Spa position.
- Spa mode exists for when you are heating the water just for the spa. You want to make sure that there is a closed circuit of hot water running from the spa drain, through the heater, and back to the spa jets. Otherwise, you'd end up heating the whole pool.

Easytouch
You can turn on or off whatever other features you want, but there are a few features/modes that have special actions:

Off: Power is removed from intellichlor. Pump is off. Control panel shows "AUTO"
Pool: Intellichlor is powered up and set to the Pool output percentage. Pump is set to the Pool setting. Heater may be active (depending on your heater settings). Shows "POOL"
Spa: Intellichlor is powered up and set to the Spa output percentage. Pump is set to the Spa setting. Heater is active. The low-voltage output labeled SPA is activated inside the panel, which in your system will be connected to the 3rd wire on both the spa/pool valves and cause them to move to their 2nd position.
Booster pump: If everything is off and you turn on Booster pump for your polaris, it will turn on Pool mode and let it circulate for 10 minutes, and then it will start the booster pump. This delay is due to the fact that most booster pumps are not self-priming, so they really want to make sure that the main filter pump is primed (pumping water instead of air) before starting up the booster pump.

 

[Pogueld]

Wow, thanks Carl!

So here's the latest

FC was 17.5 yesterday afternoon so I added bleach to get it back up to SL

Tested an hour later and FC was 26.5

This AM FC is 28?
Maybe I miscounted on one of them?

There is virtually no CC. When I add the 5 drops it barely turns a tinge of pink and of course one drop clears it up.

I reset our schedule so the water feature comes on for a little each day and the spa comes on some when the pool isn't to help keep those things cleaned out.

So. Is it safe to say the SLAM is over? [emoji5]️

 

[Divin Dave]

Hi Po,
You're almos there!
the 3rd part of the SLam is clear water.
filter, filter, filter,

Wow, thanks Carl!

So here's the latest

FC was 17.5 yesterday afternoon so I added bleach to get it back up to SL

Tested an hour later and FC was 26.5

This AM FC is 28?
Maybe I miscounted on one of them?

There is virtually no CC. When I add the 5 drops it barely turns a tinge of pink and of course one drop clears it up.

I reset our schedule so the water feature comes on for a little each day and the spa comes on some when the pool isn't to help keep those things cleaned out.

So. Is it safe to say the SLAM is over? [emoji5]️

 

[Pogueld]

How often do you think I should be back washing during this process? The PSI is staying about the same, but I have backwashed and rinsed 3 times this week.

Also do I keep FC at SL during the filtering?

I've read about adding DE to the water for the sand filter. How helpful is this practice? Do you recommend it as a general practice? We get a lot of debris from trees, plants, and DOGS [emoji6]

 

[kimkats]

I found it made all of the difference when I had a lot of something in my water making it cloudy. The test all said it was great but.....it was not as clear as I am used to. I added some DE to my sand and within two days I has sparkle!

Kim

 

[Pogueld]

I found it made all of the difference when I had a lot of something in my water making it cloudy. The test all said it was great but.....it was not as clear as I am used to. I added some DE to my sand and within two days I has sparkle!

Kim

I will give it a try!! It is MUCH clearer, but not 100%

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

I'm with Kim

I use DE in mine but the thing to remember is you DON'T want to do it at the beginning of a SLAM if there is a lot of "stuff" to filter out. It will plug up the filter in an amazingly short period of time. Adding DE is like polishing the water. It will take finer particles out because the DE itself plugs up some of the space between the particles of sand. Toward the tail end it helps clear up the water faster but the first time you do it you want to babysit it and check your pressure often. After that you get a feel for how it's going to go and how often you might need to backwash.

 

[Divin Dave]

HI Po,

First let me say... TGIF!!!

About backwashing, you only need to backwash when the pressure rises by- EDIT [20-25%] END EDEIT - above it's "clean pressure".

And keep your FC level up at 24 ish until the water is completely cleared up. So many people stop adding chlorine a couple of days before water is clear and in no time, its back again. Its just not work the risk of stopping too soon. A couple of days more of Shock FC is well worth the reward.

Adding a little bit of DE will definitely help clear the water quicker. But be careful and add it slowly.

As Kiss4aFrog says, keep an eye on your pressure. The DE will cause the pressure to rise quicker, for the reasons mentioned.

Here are the instructions for adding DE to a sand filter.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/133-add-de-to-a-sand-filter

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

Dave, isn't that 20-25% rise in pressure ?? Adding the DE itself is supposed to raise the pressure 1psi alone ??

And a very merry TGIF to you too Dave

 

[Divin Dave]

Of course it is!!
thanks for catching my typo!!
I will edit it!

Dave, isn't that 20-25% rise in pressure ?? Adding the DE itself is supposed to raise the pressure 1psi alone ??

And a very merry TGIF to you too Dave

 

[Pogueld]

Yes happy TGIF to everyone!!! So, it's back to the store tonight for more bleach and some DE. I think I've used 18 gallons, but I might have lost count. [emoji12]

But I definitely don't want to start over! [emoji15]

Won't be home to LATE tonight. Had to get one kiddo to a church retreat and now at a softball game. In case it isn't obvious, we live out in the country so it is often not convenient to go home before

heading out for errands. Once we are "in town," we get it ALL done before headed home. [emoji5]️

I won't be able to add the DE until Sunday when I can baby sit the filter.

 

[Pogueld]

The pool water looks so much better. I don't think the pictures do it justice, but I can see the pebble tech at the bottom of the deep end. I wasn't able to get the DE yesterday because Lowes Didn't have it and the pool store was closed after church. We were gone most of they day yesterday. I can pick it up today. I'm going to keep at SL today because I fell asleep last night before I could retest to see what the FC was after adding the bleach. My daughter and I were gone from home from 7 am until 8 pm yesterday. I just couldn't hold my eyes open anymore. [emoji6]. FC was 23 this morning.