Opening my pool

[IceShadow]

Probably too early....it’s still in the 40s at night and 50s during the day. But my kids were begging and the heater seems to be working.

Tested and as expected, no FC or CYA. Got 5 lbs of CYA in an old bra bag of my wife’s dangling in front of the shallow return, and 2 gals of 12.5% liquid chlorine is put in via slow dump at the deep end return. Leaf rake to get a bunch of the hundreds of earthworms that crawled in somehow over the winter, and I’ll vacuum in a bit to get the rest along with the dirt, etc on the bottom.

Only real question I have right now - I did a deep clean of my sand filter and the sand seemed kinda low. How can you tell how full your filter should be, short of replacing it all?

photos!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I always read they should be about 3/4 filled with sand. <shrug> Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

Maddie

 

[IceShadow]

Well it was maybe about halfway. Maybe I’ll get a bag and put it in in the next couple of weeks.

Sun set really fast but I vacuumed what I could. It was 48°F in there. >.< But now I got the heater running, so we will see what it is in the morning!
Tested the FC and it was down to 7.5, so I added another gallon of 12.5%. Squeezed out the CYA bag as well. We’ll see what it’s at in the morning and how it looks in the sun.

 

[IceShadow]

Looks about the same this morning. Need to get at this with a vacuum and brush. I tested and got 12 FC - good, only lost ~1.5 FC since last test and cloudy sun has been on it this morning.

Going to buy some more sand and new batteries for my WaterGuru. I had some C cells but they were corroded and not likely good. I’m also out of MA so I’ll get some of that as well.

 

[IceShadow]

Oh, and the temp is up to 55°. 8° higher with the heater running all night.

 

[IceShadow]

So today I finished spending about 3 hours vacuuming. Exasperated by the pump not always pulling at 100%...I have a separate thread about that. Had to restart the pump several times. After really going over the bottom a ton and some of the sloping sides a bit with the vacuum, I scrubbed the sides, the slopes, behind the light, the skimmer - all pretty clean now.

I added 50 lbs of sand as it seemed low. Now it seems to be up to about where the filter starts curving at the top, which is where I want it to be.

Heater was finicky today and not always running. I did get the WaterGuru going. Measured 8 FC and 57°. Heater running as I go to bed - we’ll see what it does in the morning.

Manually measured 10.5 FC. Added half a gallon of bleach. Pool is looking fairly clear but I’ll keep the slam going one more day before doing the OCLT as it’s not the clarity I’m used to. Half a gallon of LC added.

CYA isn't quite fully dissolved but it’s close. Probably to be expected with the water being so cold and 5lbs in a bag all at once. Should be gone tomorrow. Then I can test the CYA on Monday to see where it is.

 

[Chrissykr]

Your a brave soul running your heater at night. I only run mine during the day/evening When someone is home. I had this happen a few weeks ago. Thank god the motion sensing on the cameras picked it up fairly quickly.

 

[wireform]

Ice,
So you know there may be too much sand now. I remember some years back was at a sand filter which I deep cleaned and wasn't sure about the sand level. I called Hayward and was quite surprised of how low they had it spect. It was within the +/- and just left good enough alone. They explained when it's too high you can end up with sand in the pool.

 

[IceShadow]

Ice,
So you know there may be too much sand now. I remember some years back was at a sand filter which I deep cleaned and wasn't sure about the sand level. I called Hayward and was quite surprised of how low they had it spect. It was within the +/- and just left good enough alone. They explained when it's too high you can end up with sand in the pool.

Well, I have no way to tell short of replacing it all, but seeing as I only had about 6-8” or so from the top of the sand to the laterals, I felt it was probably low.

 

[wireform]

You can always call Sta-Rite and ask. Worse case scenario is to remove what is in excess.

 

[wireform]

Ice,
Look at this post as an example.

 

[IceShadow]

Ice,
Look at this post as an example.

Link didn’t work - can you try it again?

 

[wireform]

Try now

 

[wireform]

Link fixed this

 

[IceShadow]

Thanks - seems right for what I have now.

 

[ajw22]

What model Sta-rite sand filter do you have? Some manuals specify the freeboard space you should have. Like https://www.pentair.com/content/dam...filters/System_3_SS_Owners_Manual_English.pdf

Sta-rite System 3 Sand Filter specifications

• ajw22
• Apr 26, 2020

 

[IceShadow]

T-240BP-1

 

[ajw22]

T-240BP-1

That manual does not specify a freeboard space. Just sand amount.

See page 4 in https://myaquaducks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/StaRite-CristalFlo-Sand.pdf

 

[IceShadow]

Thanks for looking. I’m not planning to pull it all out, dry it, and weigh it, so....I’ll just have to trust that I have the right amount unless any problems present. We took it all out of the filter and washed it in wheelbarrow-fulls last year, getting a ton of pine needles and crud out of it, and it wasn’t clumping up at all, so I’m assuming the previous owners didn’t gum it up with flocs or clarifiers.

 

[IceShadow]

Pool looks completely clear this morning. I’ll run the pump a bit more to be sure but I’m thinking I can let my FC levels come back down. CYA is all dissolved so I will test that tomorrow to give it time to work its way in.

Heater wasn’t running this morning and once again I’m having trouble getting it to fire. Trying to decide if I should have someone out to look at it or write it off as a lost cause and start planning a replacement.