Opening taking forever. 4 weeks now and still cloudy...

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ChatWithaNinja

Member
Jul 24, 2015
21
Woodstock, Georgia
I had this problem last year but I figured it was more because I was opening the pool in the middle of august with heat than a problem with the pool itself.
I started the opening process early this year (beginning of March) and got the PH to 7.6 with a CYA of 30.
I've been keeping the FC at 15-16. I'm showing an overnight loss of between 1-3 FC depending on the pollen that day.
Brush at least every other day. If I don't brush I can see very fine debris accumulate on the bottom of the shallow end and then I vacuum to the filter instead of brushing.
I can now see the deep end which is great, but I'm not happy with the amount of time this takes...
I can't help but wonder if the pump or pipes are too small to circulate enough water to make the process shorter. Or maybe the sand filter should be cracked open and checked on the inside?
The pressure is always under 10psi on the filter unless I add DE. If I add DE to bring up the pressure by 1psi, in anywhere from 2-5 hours I'm up to 25psi.

Anyone have any advice on how to make my equipment more efficient?
Anyone have any advice on anything more I can do to shorten the process?

Personally I think the sand is old and needs to be replaced. I've owned the house for 8 years and I've no idea how old the sand is.

here are some pictures of the equipment.
20160402_123347.jpg20160402_123027.jpg20160402_123400.jpg20160402_123412.jpg
 
I would do a deep clean of your sand filter. Here is a link:

Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter

I am not seeing any unions so you will need to get some and plan on installing them for now and the future. I would go ahead and add them to your pump as well. That means you need a total of 5. Here is what they might look like:

pvc unions - Google Search

The DE pushing your pressure up shows that it is helping. I would keep doing it as often as you can.

We will have to think about how to keep your from having to do this every year. Once we get it clear maybe we can go over your closing process.

Kim
 
I agree with Kim. A good deep cleaning might serve you well. Sand should last as long as the filter itself unless someone added chemicals that would have altered the sands composition. Your plumbing looks fairly straight-forward. Most common sized PVC is probably 2 - 2.5 inches in size, but that shouldn't effect too much if all you have to pump to are the return jets. You have a good 2 speed/1.5 HP pump. So I think you're on-track with a SLAM. But keep in mind with a CYA of 30, the SLAM level is an FC of 12. Slightly over is okay, but too far over only wastes bleach. Once your CC stay below .5, and the water is clear, then it may be time to try an OCLT. Until then, patience is the best medicine .... along with Maintaining the FC.
 
I hadn't really thought about putting unions in the PVC. Great idea! I'll do that when I do the deep cleaning as I'm going to have to chop into the existing pipes to get the spider gear off anyway.

Closing? I'm planning on keeping it open year round! Last year I kept it crystal clear until December when we had that mutant heat wave when I was out of town for christmas. Came back to a green pool...

FC of 12? Dang, I read it wrong. Thought it was a FC of 16 but I see now that is for a CYA of 40. argh. I'll correct that.
 
I am SLAMing the pool.
I've kept it right around 15-16 for four weeks now.
I'm leaning hard on a problem with the sand filter at this moment. The fact that I can let it run for a week without backwashing and the pressure stays right at 9psi tells me that the filter is getting next to nothing. and I can backwash after that week and the water is only green for a moment in the check glass and then clear almost immediately. Maybe 15-20 seconds of backwashing gets clear water.

After thinking about it, I seem to remember one of the previous tenants telling me they wanted to replace some sand in the filter. I'm wondering if they added enough back in.

Does anyone know what level the sand should be inside the filter? 2/3 full, 1/2? Just a rough guesstimate from anyone who has dealt with a 300lb Hayward would be great, thanks. That way when I crack it open, I'll have an idea of what to expect.
 
2/3 full is just about right on most all sand filters. Be sure to check it out.


This just now caught my eye
The pressure is always under 10psi on the filter unless I add DE. If I add DE to bring up the pressure by 1 psi, in anywhere from 2-5 hours I'm up to 25 psi
Click to expand...
. To me that means something is in your water that sand alone cannot catch and is passing through your filter.

By adding the DE, you catch it quickly and the psi goes up.

If my pool did that, I would backwash @ 25% over your normal flow and then re-add the DE......continue that process until the pool is clear.
 
All clear! The opening is done and now that I can turn off the pump for the first time in 5 weeks I'll be cracking into that sand filter to see what the sand levels are.
The DE trick worked. My method was to stop brushing the pool and let things settle. drop some DE into the filter and then vacuum to the filter then backwash and repeat the next day.

Thanks for the advice everyone!
 

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My pool had stalled in the SLAM process. The water still had an annoying light green tinge to it. I was having to keep adding chlorine to it to keep the shock level up. I still am. I didn't think my sand filter was working as well as it should so I did a deep clean on it. That was almost a disaster because I couldn't get the multiport valve to seat back down on the sand tank. Finally after some praying to the pool Gods it seated properly. Even though it's only a year old, I noted a great improvement in it after the deep clean. I then experimented with adding D.E. to the pool filter but it seemed like within 15 or 20 minutes of adding even just a quarter cup that the pressure would shoot up and I'd have almost no flow through the return. I kept at it anyway, backwashing as soon as the pressure was to high and then adding a little more. I also brushed the sides and bottom of the pool like crazy even though I could not visibly see any algae on them. I'm happy to report that the green tinge finally disappeared. The water is almost clear with just a tiny bit of cloudiness to it but it's not light green anymore! I'm still not quite passing the OCLT test yet but I'm getting close. I'm so happy that the green tinge is gone because even though I've done a SLAM before, I was getting really frustrated with this one and starting to consider buying some of the "miracle cures" that TFP looks down on as a waste of money and doesn't recommend.
 
Noah! I am SO glad you shared this. Each pool and filter is SO different. Your filter only like and could handle a tiny bit of DE. Mine likes 1.5 cups! We had one PO whose filter only liked 2 Tablespoons! CRAZY!

Kim
 
kimkats said:
Noah! I am SO glad you shared this. Each pool and filter is SO different. Your filter only like and could handle a tiny bit of DE. Mine likes 1.5 cups! We had one PO whose filter only liked 2 Tablespoons! CRAZY!

Kim
Click to expand...
Yeah, mine doesn't seem to want to take very much DE at all. I bought a 25lb. box of the stuff so I guess I'll have it a long time. I just wanted to post and let people know that sometimes a SLAM can take a good bit of time and they should not get discouraged. I've been at mine now for three weeks during which time I scooped out huge amounts of leaves and the water went from a deep dark shade of green to a very light green and then seemed to stall but finally the light green went away. The water is just a slight bit cloudy now and the pool is still consuming some chlorine over night but I think I'm almost over the hump. I got so discouraged there for awhile that I almost talked myself into buying a container of "yellow out" which had worked for me once before I discovered this site and BBB. I resisted the urge though and I'm glad I did because it would have been a waste of money. One thing is for sure though, the pool is getting a new cover put over it at the end of summer! No more killing myself scooping out leaves. I'm getting too old for that.
 
ChatWithaNinja,

I realize that your question was related to cloudiness but I noticed that your pump is not wired to code and is in a very dangerous state. You have the wires of the pump connected to the wires coming out of the electrical conduit with exposed crimp connectors and the conduit is sealed with electrical tape. That is a code violation and an electrical hazard (take it from a guy who was a kid once that shorted two wires together from an electrical outlet just to see the Sparks!). That really needs to be cleaned up with a properly hung j-box and appropriate connectors. If you're going to replumb your sand filter, you might as well redo the electrical as well.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
ChatWithaNinja,

I realize that your question was related to cloudiness but I noticed that your pump is not wired to code and is in a very dangerous state. You have the wires of the pump connected to the wires coming out of the electrical conduit with exposed crimp connectors and the conduit is sealed with electrical tape. That is a code violation and an electrical hazard (take it from a guy who was a kid once that shorted two wires together from an electrical outlet just to see the Sparks!). That really needs to be cleaned up with a properly hung j-box and appropriate connectors. If you're going to replumb your sand filter, you might as well redo the electrical as well.
Click to expand...

+1

That's a dangerous situation, especially if you have kids playing in the yard. At a minimum, I would attempt to some how encase the wires in conduit so you don't have exposed wires/connectors.
 
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