Please, help me understand the TFP way and why anyone would want to work on their pool daily?

[BassPlayingDude]

No offense to any of you New Jerseyites .. I was just funnin'
We go "down the shore" all the time!

I was born in "Pennsyltuckey" LOL That's the "Mississippi in the middle" part of PA.

 

[mguzzy]

I think you mean the other side of the Delaware... LOL .. but then you have to pay to get back out.. you always gotta pay to leave the Dirty Jerz...

Awwe, but the joke sounds better with the Skook... instead of the Dela' And Jerz well that is a different country... I like the old joke that there are only really 5 trees in Jersey.. and they just keep moving them down the pike as you go.

 

[BassPlayingDude]

There ARE some sketchy dudes selling stuff outta their trunks up in Conshy (Conshohocken)

Ambler Gazette Community Datebook: Week of April 14

Education Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program “Issues and Insights” April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Cente…

www.montgomerynews.com

I live in Nether Providence, so it could totally be said that I inhabit the "Nether Regions"

 

[Lineman7]

Go have them check your fluids at Jiffy Lube for ‘free’. Then charge you $250 for 2 quarts of headlight fluid and $75 for muffler bearing grease. Pfffffft. EVERYBODY knows muffler bearings are good for 100K miles.

And keep that 710 fluid topped!

 

[Newdude]

And keep that 710 fluid topped

Im a brunette so I don’t fall for that one.

 

[NextGallon]

So I am probably going to get flogged, but I am still being stubborn and finding my way through all of this. Still using pucks, but I am testing regularly. I have had some wacky FC numbers and comparing to pool store results I am generally not far off. PH has been stubbornly low, CYA stubbornly high, but pool is generally clear. The pebbletec is charcoal but honestly it’s green on the floor and has always been that way since we bough the house. The pool store I go to are not charlatans, and most days I walk out with them saying you don’t need to buy a thing because you have got it totally under control. In fact I went to freak out mode because FC hot 23.5 yesterday. My pool store was closed. So i went to Leslie’s to grab chlorine reducer. Dropped by pool store today and they laughed and said public pools operate between 20-25 FC and that I don’t want to leave it that high for residential, but it was totally fine to swim in. Anyway, let the flogging begin.

 

[BassPlayingDude]

We all have free chlorine reducer..its called "The Sun"

Does your water look like this?

If you take our advice, it will.

 

[mguzzy]

Next'... Can you post YOUR testing? All of it and then we will let you have it.. Don't just tease with terms like pH stubbornly low or CYA stubbornly high!.. I'm not sure what number that is! Anthropomorphism doesn't work on this one. When you say, FC is a hot 23.5! My mind drifts to HOT rods, HOT babes, HOT cakes...

So .. these are the numbers you did say
FC 23.5... since I don't know what your CYA is I can't say whether that is high or low... follow this chart FC/CYA Levels..
If you need to drop your FC you can do the following in no particular order
1) Pee in it, that will consume chlorine
2) Dilute it with water
3) Wait for the sun to degrade it at a rate of 4-5 ppm per day if you are not adding any chlorine sources...

Now post up YOUR numbers and don't be stubborn about it

 

[kellyfair]

So I am probably going to get flogged, but I am still being stubborn and finding my way through all of this. Still using pucks, but I am testing regularly. I have had some wacky FC numbers and comparing to pool store results I am generally not far off. PH has been stubbornly low, CYA stubbornly high, but pool is generally clear. The pebbletec is charcoal but honestly it’s green on the floor and has always been that way since we bough the house. The pool store I go to are not charlatans, and most days I walk out with them saying you don’t need to buy a thing because you have got it totally under control. In fact I went to freak out mode because FC hot 23.5 yesterday. My pool store was closed. So i went to Leslie’s to grab chlorine reducer. Dropped by pool store today and they laughed and said public pools operate between 20-25 FC and that I don’t want to leave it that high for residential, but it was totally fine to swim in. Anyway, let the flogging begin.

Nah, no flogging here. You are only hurting yourself, not us.

 

[tonyjones22]

Working on a pool daily is a nightmare, I totally agree. Good question for sure.

 

[BassPlayingDude]

Working on a pool daily is a nightmare, I totally agree. Good question for sure.

My daily "work" is emptying the skimmer basket and dumping in a pint of 12.5% bleach...takes about 5 mins tops. WAY less work than a dog, let alone a toddler. If you can't spare the 5 minutes, pay a local teen to do it. Once you get your pool sterile and your water balanced, caring for the pool is about as much work as taking out the trash.

 

[NextGallon]

Next'... Can you post YOUR testing? All of it and then we will let you have it.. Don't just tease with terms like pH stubbornly low or CYA stubbornly high!.. I'm not sure what number that is! Anthropomorphism doesn't work on this one. When you say, FC is a hot 23.5! My mind drifts to HOT rods, HOT babes, HOT cakes...

So .. these are the numbers you did say
FC 23.5... since I don't know what your CYA is I can't say whether that is high or low... follow this chart FC/CYA Levels..
If you need to drop your FC you can do the following in no particular order
1) Pee in it, that will consume chlorine
2) Dilute it with water
3) Wait for the sun to degrade it at a rate of 4-5 ppm per day if you are not adding any chlorine sources...

Now post up YOUR numbers and don't be stubborn about it

Doesn’t it load automatically through pool math?

 

[NextGallon]

Working on a pool daily is a nightmare, I totally agree. Good question for sure.

I was playing devils advocate. They are more than likely correct, but they are also probably OCD about their pride regarding pool water, which I can totally identify with, and I already know I may ultimately submit, because they helped me to understand pool chem, but I am fighting the idea of spending time daily testing and tweaking the water.

 

[mguzzy]

Doesn’t it load automatically through pool math?

Ah yes there they are...that wasn't my first thought to look there.. looks like your FC has dropped 10ppm from yesterday already.. did you do anything?

 

[Highrove101]

Once my pool is dialed in I only spend a few mins once or twice a week at most. With a properly set SWG and water at TFP levels the pool is virtually on autopilot except for weekly draining of skimmer and cleaner baskets. I sometimes go two months without needing to add anything to pool. It’s so stable I end up only testing weekly or semi-weekly. Soooooo easy. But frankly I feel that is made possible by SWG. Don’t think I’d be into daily chlorine additions. Just me. But TFP has saved me thousands and much frustration. Can’t believe I ever paid a pool company so much to actually harm my pool. Crazy.

 

[Lineman7]

My daily "work" is emptying the skimmer basket and dumping in a pint of 12.5% bleach...takes about 5 mins tops. WAY less work than a dog, let alone a toddler. If you can't spare the 5 minutes, pay a local teen to do it. Once you get your pool sterile and your water balanced, caring for the pool is about as much work as taking out the trash.

Sounds like a great time to enjoy a premium beer

 

[kellyfair]

I was playing devils advocate. They are more than likely correct, but they are also probably OCD about their pride regarding pool water, which I can totally identify with, and I already know I may ultimately submit, because they helped me to understand pool chem, but I am fighting the idea of spending time daily testing and tweaking the water.

Ironically, you are actually spending way more time arguing against “testing and tweaking” than you will spend doing, once you’ve got the basics down. It just isn’t hard. At all.

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

So I am probably going to get flogged, but I am still being stubborn and finding my way through all of this. Still using pucks, but I am testing regularly. I have had some wacky FC numbers and comparing to pool store results I am generally not far off. PH has been stubbornly low, CYA stubbornly high, but pool is generally clear. The pebbletec is charcoal but honestly it’s green on the floor and has always been that way since we bough the house. The pool store I go to are not charlatans, and most days I walk out with them saying you don’t need to buy a thing because you have got it totally under control. In fact I went to freak out mode because FC hot 23.5 yesterday. My pool store was closed. So i went to Leslie’s to grab chlorine reducer. Dropped by pool store today and they laughed and said public pools operate between 20-25 FC and that I don’t want to leave it that high for residential, but it was totally fine to swim in. Anyway, let the flogging begin.

When I was using pucks my pool ate borax and baking soda like they were hotdogs on July 4th! No matter how much I dumped in my pH was in the high 6s and the kids all complained that the pool burned their skin.

What is you CYA at? 23.5 FC might be fine if you have high CYA. The problem is that you are going to need to keep adding chlorine until you run out of money or the stores run out of pucks, which is predicted to happen this summer.

Also, why does your header say your chlorine is liquid chlorine if you're being stubborn and still using pucks?

 

[iamnos]

So I am probably going to get flogged, but I am still being stubborn and finding my way through all of this. Still using pucks, but I am testing regularly. I have had some wacky FC numbers and comparing to pool store results I am generally not far off. PH has been stubbornly low, CYA stubbornly high, but pool is generally clear. The pebbletec is charcoal but honestly it’s green on the floor and has always been that way since we bough the house. The pool store I go to are not charlatans, and most days I walk out with them saying you don’t need to buy a thing because you have got it totally under control. In fact I went to freak out mode because FC hot 23.5 yesterday. My pool store was closed. So i went to Leslie’s to grab chlorine reducer. Dropped by pool store today and they laughed and said public pools operate between 20-25 FC and that I don’t want to leave it that high for residential, but it was totally fine to swim in. Anyway, let the flogging begin.

Not so much a flogging, but it seems like you're not following the advice here, or only partially.
By using pucks, you're CYA is going to go way up and become unsustainable. Looking at your logs, it looks like you're at 100, which is probably already too high to realistically maintain your pool. If you continue using pucks, that number is just going to continue going up and you're going to have to drain it. CYA will go down over time, but for me, I may add 500-1000grams once during the summer to maintain mine in that 60-70 range.

 

[IceShadow]

Bottom line: most people accept that their pool is going to go green, they'll spend a bunch of money to fix it with either chemicals or water replacement, and otherwise they only have to toss some pucks in the pool every now and then or pay someone to do it for them. They'd rather not think about whether the water is sanitary - so long as it's not green, they figure it's fine to swim in.

The TFP way does mean frequent testing (anywhere from daily to 2-3 times a week) and frequent additions of liquid chlorine (again daily to 2-3 times a week), though the latter can be mitigated with a SWCG if one chooses, but it means we know for sure our water is sanitary and it doesn't have a chance to go green.

Whichever you feel is best for your situation from the above is up to you.