Pool with new house, just opening for the first time

[Virtual]

Just opened the pool for the 1st time (for us), and was pretty pleased that the water was clear when the cover came off.

Here are my readings,

[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Temp 61

Salt = 3000
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[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Fc[/FONT][FONT=.SFUIText] = 5.2[/FONT]
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[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Cc [/FONT][FONT=.SFUIText]= 0.2[/FONT]
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[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Ph[/FONT][FONT=.SFUIText] = 7.8[/FONT]
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[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]TA[/FONT][FONT=.SFUIText] = 110[/FONT]
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[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Ch[/FONT][FONT=.SFUIText] = 170[/FONT]
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[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]Cya over 100[/FONT][FONT=.SFUIText] (Only Up to cya letters on the vial)[/FONT]
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Looks like the TA is a high, CH seems a low for a plaster pool, but the thing that concerns me is the CYA. Am I really going to have to drain the pool to get that straightened out?

Since I'm new at this, suggestions would much appreciated. Thanks,

 

[Casey]

The test only read to 100 but you may be over that. You can use distilled water 50/50 and run the test again to see if it's higher. High CYA calls for a higher level of chlorine to work effectively so yes, you should do a partial drain and refill to bring it down. Do the rain refill first. Top the pool off once complete. Run the pump and retest everything to see how much of what you'll need to adjust before starting for the season.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

to TFP Virtual

Good thing is with a salt water pool you'll want to have a CYA around 80 so it's not so bad. Here are directions on doing the dilution test - - > Please explain how to dilute CYA test if over 100

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

Look at #8 on the following page for the diluted CYA test... Pool School - CYA

Good luck.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks Frog...you beat me to it...

 

[Virtual]

Thanks for the tips.. I was wondering if I could dilute the CYA test to measure higher concentrations..

Now I have to figure out how to drain the pool. I think I can drain it from the main drains, if I can figure out how to shut off the line from skimmers. My other issue is that we have clay topsoil so water doesn't sink into the ground worth a darn, and I'm likely to annoy the new neighbors if I pump all that water all over the yard where my current discharge hose reaches. I guess have to also get a longer discharge hose.

I'm hoping I can drain and fill all in a weekend. Is there some math somewhere on drain time, and fill time?

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

Draining is normally much faster than filling since you're using the pool pump with much bigger tube/hose or a sump pump with at least a 1" discharge. Average filling time is about 26 hrs for 14K with a single 1/2" hose.

Pool Fill Time Calculator

 

[borjis]

Just a thought but if your rain gutters empty onto the street like mine do, you could loosen
the nearest one and drain through that.

 

[Virtual]

Thanks for the fill-time calculator. That's pretty handy to know...

I forgot to mention.. We're on well water, so is there anything I should look into for that, and additional water tests I should do?

 

[Virtual]

Ran into some snags during the week. Our pool plumbing sprung a leak and we had to shut everything down for a few days. It's now working again, with the exception of the polaris pump, and since I'm going to use the main pump to drain I needed this stuff back working. So we're still in a high CYA condition.

I was able to perform a diluted CYA test and it looks like the CYA is 160.

We're on a well, and it's my first time on well water, so I wanted to run some tests of the water to see if we can use it to refill, or have to truck water in. I collected a sample from the outside spigot, which I don't think is fed from any in house filtration. The test results came in as follows:

Copper < 0.3 PPM
Iron < 0.3 PPM
Total Hardness 50
CH 10
PH 7.6
FC 0
CC 0
TA 290
CYA 0

So unless I'm measuring water that's been treated by the house filters without knowing it, it seems like the well water could work for refilling. How much should I worry about the high TA though? I did look into trucking water in and it seems like that'll cost about $900 for 8k gallons, so we'd prefer to avoid that expense if it's possible.

Are there other issues I should be testing for, or be aware of with well water?

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

If you have pool water with a copper level above 0.3 ppm of copper or your fill water will be then it's recommended you add a sequestrant. You would want to add this after you get the CYA down from draining and refilling.
A sequestrant doesn't get rid of metals, it just holds on to them so that they can't form stains. Sequestrant wears out slowly and must be constantly replaced. The only way to get rid of metals is to replace water with some water that doesn't have metals in it.

 

[Virtual]

Thanks Kiss4aFrog, that's new information to me.. Though most of it is..

Since I can't fix the CYA issue without replacing water it seems like my main question right now is to decide whether to refill out of the well, or bite the bullet and pay the extra money to get some water trucked in. According to the test results, the copper level was "less than 0.3" so I'm hopeful that's not an issue. It's the high TA in the well water that is also worrying me.