Potential New Pool Owner - Need Advice

[Poolnoob210]

Hello all,

My wife and I are in the process of buying our first home. It has a pool that hasn't been open for at least 7mo or more. Thankfully it has a "cover" (big tarp with weights on the decking)...and the cover has fallen into the pool exposing about 3' across the width of the pool to the oak tree above.

In order to get the home inspector to inspect the pool, they need to be able to see the sides/bottom and main drains. This inspection is on Monday afternoon. I have the ability to access and clean the pool to prepare for inspection. I plan on scooping the bottom for debris, vacuuming, sweeping the pool, and cleaning the filter during the next few days, along with adding chemicals.

I've seen two schools of thought for clarifying the water 1) chlorine and muriatic acid or 2) Algicide and FLOC

What would y'all recommend for a quick fix to facilitate the inspection?

Thank you!

Poolnoob210

 

[Patrick_B]

Welcome to TFP!

No quick fix here I'm afraid, unless it isn't bad, but that is not likely the case. Whatever you do, don't go pouring in Algaecide and Flocculants. Alagacide is prevention, not cure, and Flocs can make a huge mess. Chlorine is what you need to do it right, but it takes a little time, testing, and keeping up with additions. Acid is for controlling pH, not clearing a pool although some subscribe to extremely low pH to hasten the process. That approach is dubious at best, and very potentially damaging to the pool and equipment at worse. I would never suggest to any friend he do that, and put his stuff at risk.

What does the water look like now?

 

[Fingaling]

You need for the pool to be clear enough to see the bottom after 7 months of no use with an open cover by Monday?

Uh... I don't think that's going to work, is my first piece of advice.

I guess we'll start off with what does the water look like? And go from there. Also what kind of pool is it? Vinyl, concrete, etc.

If your water is very murky I don't see this as being possible over a weekend and you'll also need a fas-dpd chlorine test and cyanuric acid test kit to do it, which you'll likely have to order online.

If this pool passing an inspection is a condition of your loan, you may want to call and ask for more time or have the pool exempted.

As a side note, anything the inspector finds wrong in the pool can be easily corrected. Holes can be patched and main drains can be plugged or repaired. As long as there's not a catastrophic leak that's going to flood your basement it's only a small concern. Is the pool holding water now? And if it's a liner pool, is the liner solidly against the walls of the pool, as far as you can see.

EDIT: just saw your location... At least you don't have to worry about freeze damage to the piping.

 

[Poolnoob210]

Welcome to TFP!

No quick fix here I'm afraid, unless it isn't bad, but that is not likely the case. Whatever you do, don't go pouring in Algaecide and Flocculants. Alagacide is prevention, not cure, and Flocs can make a huge mess. Chlorine is what you need to do it right, but it takes a little time, testing, and keeping up with additions. Acid is for controlling pH, not clearing a pool although some subscribe to extremely low pH to hasten the process. That approach is dubious at best, and very potentially damaging to the pool and equipment at worse. I would never suggest to any friend he do that, and put his stuff at risk.

What does the water look like now?

That's what I was afraid of...doing it wrong and/or damaging something. We're heading over there this afternoon to remove the cover, and I'll know more about water condition at that point. I was also going to take a water sample to Leslie's as well. I can follow up with pics after we're back.

Thanks for the reply!

- - - Updated - - -

We're going to remove the cover this afternoon so I'll know more about what the water looks like in a few hours. The pool is in-ground concrete/gunite/plaster type pool. Luckily, the pool passing inspection isn't a qualifier for loan approval. It's more for our piece of mind so we don't buy a house with a major problem child of a pool.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Poolnoob210]

Welcome to TFP!

No quick fix here I'm afraid, unless it isn't bad, but that is not likely the case. Whatever you do, don't go pouring in Algaecide and Flocculants. Alagacide is prevention, not cure, and Flocs can make a huge mess. Chlorine is what you need to do it right, but it takes a little time, testing, and keeping up with additions. Acid is for controlling pH, not clearing a pool although some subscribe to extremely low pH to hasten the process. That approach is dubious at best, and very potentially damaging to the pool and equipment at worse. I would never suggest to any friend he do that, and put his stuff at risk.

What does the water look like now?

That's what I was afraid of...doing it wrong and/or damaging something. We're heading over there this afternoon to remove the cover, and I'll know more about water condition at that point. I was also going to take a water sample to Leslie's as well. I can follow up with pics after we're back.

Thanks for the reply!

- - - Updated - - -

We're going to remove the cover this afternoon so I'll know more about what the water looks like in a few hours. The pool is in-ground concrete/gunite/plaster type pool. Luckily, the pool passing inspection isn't a qualifier for loan approval. It's more for our piece of mind so we don't buy a house with a major problem child of a pool.

Thanks for the reply!

UPDATE:

So we took the cover off and found a brown-colored, swampy-looking, and stinky-smelling pool. We took a water sample to Leslie's for analysis and these are the results:

FAC = 0
TAC = 0
CH = 200
CYA = 0
TA = 120
pH = 7.6
Copper = 0
Iron = 0
TDS = 813
Pho = 300

According the the results and allowable ranges, it looks like we have some pretty good water to work with, and a lot of love and chlorine will fix us up.

The pool is only 4.5' deep at the deepest point in the center and becomes more shallow at the ends. It's a rectangle pool that is approximately 27' long and 11-12' wide...basically a little lap pool.

The salesperson at Leslie's recommended using three tubs of ALUM (~$90) and either vacuuming to waste or using the filter (DE I'm guessing) to do the dirty work and backwashing every few minutes during the vacuuming process.

Here are some pics of the pool...

 

[Fingaling]

That's about right.

Alum likely won't help you much, but your welcome to try it.

The pool is clearly holding water so there are no leaks in the vessel. If you turn the plumbing on and it doesnt leak you should be good. Is your guy doing a pressure test to check that there's no leaks in the underground piping? That's the only other thing I would want done. That and make sure everything powers on.

 

[Poolnoob210]

Pressure testing is one of the tests this inspector doesn't perform. The pool equipment is turned off at a breaker somewhere (which we hope to find in the morning), and then we'll know if the pool equipment runs, etc...

Is there a way I can pressure test the system myself?