Plaster completed finally

[simma]

After a year long journey I finally have water in my pool.

I signed my contract in January 2021 we were supposed to start the summer it was supposed to take three months we were supposed to be swimming by the end of September I did finally put water in the pool on Sunday.

What have I learned.

A lot especially from this forum. @TampaKathy your journey and the postings about your build really helped me out. I went through almost the exact same struggles, had we wondering if we had the same builder and same PM.

They broke ground in July an started good, after shell and plumbing was done. Radio silence for 6 weeks, I was able to find the owner on and send him a note, they were out the next day.

Read your paper work and understand what it is you are getting. Be prepared to be your own project manager, you will have to push and constantly follow up to get things done.

I ordered 3hp vsp after @TampaKathy experience I decided to check the pool equipment they installed, ran the model # they install 1.5hp.

Ordered 2 110 outlet when I asked electrician where he’s gonna put it he had no clue what I was talking about he didn’t have it on his plans. They are still uninstalled.

They install the patio never installed any door pads.

They installed the pool lights but never install my LED Bubbler water is in the pool now bubbler still not installed.

Which brings me to the start up which is where I need some advice.

Pool finished filling on Sunday the start up guy came and turned on the pump yesterday dropped off my pole brush and vacuum hose And put what I think was acid and just left no instructions. This morning I noticed the pool pump is leaking water and limited circulation in the pool.

I reached out and they sent over the warranty supervisor who confirm they never took the plug out of the skimmer, fixed the pump leak, something about the joints were lose.

Could the pump be damaged by not having the skimmer open?

Any potential damage to finish by not having any circulation for those 24hrs skimmer was plugged?

With everything that went wrong during the construction I would’ve expected they could at least get startup right

 

[Texas Splash]

Could the pump be damaged by not having the skimmer open?

Depends. I can't tell from the pics, but I'm assuming you have a main drain? Some other source of water for the pump other than just the skimmer? If so, then the pump should not have run dry and be okay. But if the pump was starved for water and ran dry, it could overheat warping connections and potentially damaging the pump's shaft seal. So keep an eye on the leaky location. If it's just a union nut or adapter that was loose, that's fine. Tighten and monitor.

 

[ajw22]

What plaster startup guide will be used?

Plaster Start-Up Guides - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Do you have your own test kit to test the water and follow what you PB is doing?

 

[simma]

Depends. I can't tell from the pics, but I'm assuming you have a main drain? Some other source of water for the pump other than just the skimmer? If so, then the pump should not have run dry and be okay. But if the pump was starved for water and ran dry, it could overheat warping connections and potentially damaging the pump's shaft seal. So keep an eye on the leaky location. If it's just a union nut or adapter that was loose, that's fine. Tighten and monitor.

I have a main drain, which I think they removed the plug after plaster, but will continue to monitor no rain in the forecast so expecting a dry equipment pad by tommorow.

 

[simma]

What plaster startup guide will be used?

Plaster Start-Up Guides - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Do you have your own test kit to test the water and follow what you PB is doing?

From what I saw on Day 1 they are using acid startup. My tf100 is on its way, but the PB did drop off a test kit. I do plan on taking care of the pool my self, which they will turn over to me in 13 days. What chemicals do I need to have on hand day one? I have the pool math app and will be using it once I take over.

 

[ajw22]

13 days is within the typical 28 day startup window.

You need liquid chlorine until you can add salt and use your SWG after 28 days, and you need muriatic acid. You may need dry stabilizer depending on the CYA level when they turn it over to you.

 

[TampaKathy]

Glad my build thread helped! Crazy how involved you have to be! The PB probably didn't tell you but you should be brushing the pool every day. Since you will be using liquid chlorine for the first month (or longer depending on how long it takes your PB to put salt in) you'll need to follow those guidelines in the Pool Math app. Did you order the salt version of the TF100? There's a separate test that you will need.

 

[simma]

Glad my build thread helped! Crazy how involved you have to be! The PB probably didn't tell you but you should be brushing the pool every day. Since you will be using liquid chlorine for the first month (or longer depending on how long it takes your PB to put salt in) you'll need to follow those guidelines in the Pool Math app. Did you order the salt version of the TF100? There's a separate test that you will need.

Yes I ordered the tf pro that has everthing

 

[Texas Splash]

Yes I ordered the tf pro that has everthing

You'll be glad you did. We'll watch for your test results.

 

[simma]

You'll be glad you did. We'll watch for your test results.

So I checked my equipment pad today and there are no leaks however when I look in the pump basket there’s also no water it appears it’s just sucking air. If the pump was primed shouldn’t water always be in the basket?

I can feel water moving through the pipes however I can only see floating debris in the pump basket no water.

When they Remove the skimmer plug and fix the pump leak yesterday they never put any water in the basket to prime the pump they just turn it back on

 

[simma]

False alarm appears to be working as expected. Reached out to PB warranty dept and they called me quickly to walk through some checks.
1. Release pressure from filter, turn off pump, restart, close pressure. I see the water enter the pump, but once it gets up to speed there is no water in the basket while it is running.

 

[ajw22]

There is water passing through the basket. Right now your water is clear enough you do not see the flow. Be happy you have no bubbles in the water.

 

[Texas Splash]

Yeah, if you feel water at teh return jets then the water is crystal clear (and full) in the pump pot. Nice. Next time you clean that pump basket, check to ensure the lid O-ring has a nice coating of pool silicone lube. Remember to always use pool silicone and never petroleum jelly products.

 

[simma]

finally got my tf100-pro-salt. Need some help making sense of the testing results, this is day 7 of pool having water pb adding all chemicals until Feb 14. They last added chemicals Friday. Pool finish is wet edge signature matrix

Results:

Ph above 8.2
Fc:14
Ta: 110
Ch:400
Cya: could not measure see ? Below.

I have attached photo of the test. I also used the kit pb gave to test chlorine and ph to compare and it seems to match TF kit as both were very high, color on chlorine test stayed orange vs yellow

On the cya test. I followed the directions and both times I could see the black dot with the tube filled. So no change in the water color not clear what that means or how to log that.

 

[ajw22]

Well it does not look like your builder is following Wet Edges start up guide…

https://wetedgetechnologies.com/files/28_Day_Start_Up_Instructions.pdf

It recommends FC of 1-3 ppm and CYA of 30.

According to the start up guide you should lower the pH, your FC is way high, and CYA should be added.

Nothing wrong with your testing. You need to decide if you want to discuss it with the builder or let him do his thing until he turns it over to you and then you can adjust the chemistry. The sooner you take control of the water chemistry the better off you will be.

 

[simma]

Today was pool school with builder who I have had several challenges with, most being lack of communication. The internal staff have no clue whats going on with their subs and vice versa. Pool filled 1/31 today was handover, the pool plaster still hasn't fully cured so can't see the true color, so as we are going over their warranty paper work he says make sure I submit warranty paper work with wed edge for my cadet blue color. I said what color did you guys plaster? he said Cadet blue, I said that's not the color we ordered or that is in our contract. I show him our signed contract paper work which shows color as carribean blue, He is speechless, and calls the office.

They tell him the contract has carribean blue but their color chart they sent to the plaster company had Cadet blue and the warranty supervisor will call to talk to me.

No good options here. I can demand they redo the plaster and get the color I ordered, which means drain the pool, remove existing, plaster, replaster, which could take months, hope they don't screw antyhing else up, or demand a refund for their screw up, or live with the Cadet Blue.

Thoughts here?

 

[convan23]

Do you like the color? If you don’t, nothing else matters make them correct it. You’ll never like it and it’s all you’ll ever think about.

Fwiw, our pool builder plastered the wrong color. We made them change it and we are glad every day that we did. We love the right color so much.

If you like the oops color, act like you don’t and try to get 8-10k back in cash. It’ll likely cost them atleast that much to redo it at this point.

 

[Newdude]

+1. Only you can decide if a substantial refund will make you like the new color. In any other situation you wouldn't take something that cost you as much, and was equally as wrong per what you ordered.

Say you ordered catered food for a party and they delivered the wrong food. Not so bad if you like them both and you get 25% off, but yes so bad if you are allergic to the other food.

Got any pics ?

 

[Newdude]

*also. This is going to take time no matter what and it might go in your favor. The initial fill colors are always off, and whatever you picked was only a momentary snapshot of the lighting conditions at that time. A week or two in you should see the plaster color come out and also the water clear up which may have had a green tint to it the first few days.

Then. Then you will sit back and watch the full spectrum of 'pool moods' it will range from vibrant at lunch on a sunny day, to darn near ink black at sundown, with an infinite amount of shades in between. You may see your original pick several times throughout the range. Tomorrow is stormy ? Say hi to an angry pool reflecting all the greys of the sky. As the spring foliage pops, add some yellows and greens to the mix. It will literally be all over the place.

You may still hate it, possibly out of spite alone. The mind is funny like that sometimes. You also may love an equally stunning pool that came with a free $8k stand alone hot tub (etc)

 

[6XSBChamps]

is there a big difference between Caribbean and cadet? I googled and they seem similar but the pics may be off. if they are even remotely close I'd be on the side of keeping it. I say that only because of my own experience and research with plaster. I have midnight blue plaster and it was a vibrant color day 1 and 8 months later its lighter and not exactly midnight blue anymore. you'll find 100's of articles on plaster and who's fault and uphill battle you can fight if you choose. My rant went a little off-topic but my point being, if the 2 are similar in any way I'd stick with it.