Should I use creek water to fill my pool?

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So here are the test results for the creek water and well water. Surprisingly the iron levels show the same (.5). Though I dont believe the numbers b/c i can clearly taste and smell the iron in the well water but not at all in the creek water. Yes I did taste the creek water, but then spit it out :)

The first image is creek, the second is well

EDIT: Just called the pool store. I dont think I can really trust them or their numbers. They said the sheets my wife came home with were wrong on the iron numbers. They said the creek water has no iron in it, even though the sheet shows it, and they said the well has a little but its not too bad. Funny because I took the well water to a different pool store the other day to have it tested - they used the drops, and the water turned really pink. They said the iron levels were very high which coincided with what my nose and mouth were smelling/tasting. Anyways, this second place said we shouldnt use the creek water, but use the well. Makes me wonder though if they just want us to run into iron issues and come back and buy lots of chemicals.
 

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Trust your instincts when dealing with pool stores.

If you could manage a simple plumbing change that is connected to a faucet inside the house, I would think that might still be your best bet. There should be a cold line to a faucet that unscrews and you would need an adapter or two to attach a garden hose to it.
 
I am not sure that "want" you to have iron issues, I just think they know what they are talking about and a talking without actual knowledge.

If you want to know how much iron yo have, find a water testing company or the county extension or your water district. They know water testing, not the reatil hourly employee at the pool store. Some employees REALLY know that they are talking about but in my experience, the vast majority do not know, they are guessigin or uneducated.

I went into my pool store for a part. I spend 30 minutes with an employee I have trusted for 10 years. No help. The other employee, the one I KNOW i can trust became available. I repeated the question, solution provided with 5 seconds. This is the only store I know I can go into a get real reagent based testing I can trust and they understand the CYA effect on chlorine. The only computer is the store is at least 10 years old and only the owner uses it. Everything else is paper based.
 
ping said:
Trust your instincts when dealing with pool stores.

If you could manage a simple plumbing change that is connected to a faucet inside the house, I would think that might still be your best bet. There should be a cold line to a faucet that unscrews and you would need an adapter or two to attach a garden hose to it.
Click to expand...

I guess I could maybe throw that option on the table. Was really hoping to avoid it. BTW, our city water is not treated by chlorine, its treated by chloramines. I'm wondering if even that is not good....if there would be issues with it...

I guess this is what when you fill a pool up with city water treated with chloramines, see the picture on wikipedia....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine
 
I know some municipalities offer a "forgiveness" once or twice a year where a home owner can fill a pool / have a water line break / use an abundance of water and they make an adjustment to the water and sewage charge. It might be worth checking into.

Fire Companies haul water. Some for a set fee some for a donation ~ that might be an option for you too if you haven't already called around. Depending on their various water sources one place might get their water from a place that would be easier for you to manage once it hit the pool.

Iron is nasty ~ I put two wells in to get away from it. The expense was absolutely worth it to me.
By the time you monkey with that water to sequester that iron (time and time again) and then spend the time and the money clearing that water, dealing with hair that has gotten a funky color and texture and clean dingy swimsuits repeatedly hauled water might not be as pricey as it sounds. If it's the only route you are able to take at this time, you'll just have to do the best you can with it... but even taking what seems like the most economical route, can cost more you more in time, money & frustration in the long run.
 
Have you considered rigging up some sort of system for capturing rain water and pray for another monsoon? Maybe learning how to rain-dance? :party: If it comes down to it and you have to use indoor water, you can hook your water hose to the bib where your washing machine is connected.
 
In response to test kits, buy your own kit!! I spent HUNDREDS of dollars this summer listening to pool store advice, based on THEIR test results. Then I ended up having to drain & refill 1/2 of my pool to get it straight!!
Buy the TF100. It is a better value than the Taylor K- 2006 because of the size of the reagent bottles that come with the kits. The TF100 comes with 2 oz. bottles of the most used reagents, but the Taylor K-2006 comes with only 0.75 oz bottles.
The chlorine & CYA reagent costs about $11-$12 a bottle to replace. I paid $12.00 for a 0.75 oz bottle of Taylor FAS-DPD titrating reagent & $11.00 for a 2oz. CYA reagent at my local Leslie's. I also ordered a 2oz bottle of Taylor FAS-DPD titrating agent for $11.49(incl. shipping) on amazon. You will go through a couple of 0.75 oz bottles getting your pool started.
I bought the Taylor 2006 & wish I would have bought the TF100 instead. :(
It seems as if the Taylor kit is cheaper, but in reality the TF100 kit is. I could have paid for the speed stirrer(GET ONE) for money I had to spend on replacing reagents!!
BUY THE TF100 test kit :)
 

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Just a thought, I don't know if it works on iron. I once saw a setup for a shallow well in Florida where the water is heavy in sulpher. It consists of an open top tank above ground about 8-10' long by 3 or 4' wide and about 3-4 ' high (I'm guessing a bit on the dimensions) with a roof over the tank. The sides are open. Under the roof is a sprinkler arrangement which drops the water into the tank. The owner said it made the otherwise nasty water clean without odor.
 
So, there might be a plan D, and I think this might be what I go with...

We have a natural spring under our house. I have a french drain system under the house that empties into a barrel thats buried in the ground, with a sump pump that pumps it out when the barrel gets full. Ever since the monsoons we got here, its been pumping about once every 20 minutes. It pumps into a 4" black corrugated pipe that empties out into the woods. I tried to calculate how much water its pumping each time...its in the 7-10 gallon range. We got the pool wall and liner up on Saturday, so I had the idea of disconnecting the 4" black pipe and hooking up a pvc line from the sump pump directly into the pool. I got that hooked up Saturday night late, put a sock over the end (until my duda diesel filter bag comes in), and as of now, 36 hrs later, we have 3"-4" of clear spring water in the pool.

So.....here are some questions I have...

One option would be to keep filling with the spring, while simultaneously filling with the iron-full well water, and maybe even somehow hook a water hose to our city water and also fill with that (maybe use the washing machine connection like one user had suggested). Then maybe 2-3 days from now we'll have a full pool and can begin to SLAM it to get the water swimmable (SLAM comes from pool school - thanks to the user who pointed me to that!). A couple problems I see with this. 1) It still involves the well and we'll be dealing with iron issues. and 2) We are going on vacation for 6 days starting August 4th. So by the time we get it full, SLAM it, and have the water perfect, it will be time to go on vacation and the water is gonna get out of whack. Would we have to SLAM it again when we got back? How much work/money is generally involved in getting water back up to where it needs to be after not touching it for 6-7 days?

The other option, which might be better is this: Just keep filling it with the spring water, which I know is going to take a long time. But we still have other work that needs done, running the electrical, french drain around the pool, landscaping around the pool, etc...So definitely have more work that needs done that could keep us busy. So if the spring filled the pool about 2" or so per day, it would take at least 20-24 days to fill. But it just so happens that we'll be returning from vacation at exactly 21 days from when we started filling it. We could top it off with the well water when we get back from vacation (if its not full), and then SLAM. I have not had the spring water tested, but I cant taste iron like I can in the well water. So one big advantage to this is I'm pretty sure we'll have a lot less headache in that area. Another big positive is it is completely free to do it this way. The biggest question in my mind, is what can I expect to grow in the pool in the 20+ days while its filling? Am I gonna have a mess of algae and other stuff to deal with?

EDIT: And who else would ever be able to say they filled their pool with a spring that was UNDER THEIR HOUSE?
 
So as of now, I am going with option D and letting the spring slowly fill the pool. Should take another 17 days or so. Should I maybe add some bleach/chlorine during the fill to keep algae and stuff from growing? I wont be able to use the skimmer till the end, but I could maybe hook up a sump pump and pump through a duda deisel filter bag every once in a while to help clear some of the stuff.
 
That is a good question, and I'm not really sure. We just bought the house a few months ago. It was built in '97. During the inspection we noticed the french drains and sump pump under the house, but the power to the pump was off and the barrel in the ground wasnt full, so we thought it was just a backup in case water gets under the house in a heavy rain. Considering the barrel wasnt full and the power was off, maybe the spring doesnt run all the time? But ever since it rained for basically 3 weeks straight, it has been running about 25-30 gallons per hour. It hasnt really rained now for about a week, but the sump pump is still pumping every 20 minutes like Old Faithful.

We do have another spring down at the bottom of our yard that runs into the creek. Before all the rain, it was basically dried up, but ever since has been flowing slowly into the creek. So maybe its a similar situation.
 
harleysilo said:
Are these "french drains" under the slab on the inside of the house, or outside the foundation walls? Do you have a basement?
Click to expand...

They're in the crawlspace under the house. Along the foundation walls in the crawlspace, and I think one that kinda runs down the middle of the crawlspace to the barrel. Dont have a basement, but the crawlspace is walk-in for about 10 feet.
 

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