Should we do a partial drain and fill?

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Most pool companies don't get the CYA link, nor care. They want to spend 10 minutes a week on your pool. The assumption is that you go for two years, you get algae and if you are smart you drain and refill. If you aren't then you try a bunch of expensive chemicals first that are more expensive than the refill, even here in Arizona, then you refill anyway.

So far, I am amazed on how easy it is to maintain a pool using really nothing more than Liquid Chlorine (I do like the stuff from the cheap pool store here in Tucson better than the WalMart stuff) and 30 degree Baume Muriatic acid. So far I've not had to add anything else. I've been a bit lax on my testing, really only doing the full test 1x a week, and even missing the basic test probably 2-3x a week.

After you add the initial 40-50 ppm CYA you never should use tabs again (unless you have to leave the pool for a week, but then your CYA will be higher when you get back). I think I might add a SWCG next year but that's only because I don't like to have to drive to the other side of town once a month to pick up a trunk full of liquid chlorine.

Read all of the stuff on this site, get your CYA <50 by drain/refill, SLAM until you fix the green/yellow stuff and just do it all yourself. It's about 10 minutes a day plus an hour on the weekends so far... if you can do that, you can maintain yourself. Now that's it's cold out, I can probably even slack a little more....

 

[SwimdailyAZ]

Ajw22,

I called Superior Pump and asked them what I needed to ensure we had everything.

Yes, the discharge tube kit comes with two adapters and a hose clamp. Of which neither adapter is used to attach the 1 1/4" hose to the discharge tube on the pump.

Yes, I could use a garden hose however, it would greatly reduce the gallons per hour the pump can move. Using a 1 1/4" tube on flat land the pump can move 2400 gallons per hour or 40 per minute. Using a 3/4" tube or garden hose increases restriction and will thus pump far less water per hour.
This is a water exchange and the fill water is about the same temp as the pool water so we have to pump from the deep end while filling from the shallow end.

Hose diameter adds restriction but so does the elevation of the pump and where the water is going. If it has to be pumped up to surface level that incline also reduces the number of gallons per hour it can pump. Having to pump the water up 10 feet to get to surface level drops the amount of water it can pump from 2400 gallons per hour to 1680 gallons per hour or 28 gallons per minute. If you reduce the hose diameter you would further reduce the number of gallons per hour. In our case, once the water is pumped to surface level it has to go another 30' or so to the clean-out (having one installed).
Thus, we have to attach two hoses together to make it from the bottom of the pool to the clean-out. This will also cause more restrictions and reduce the gallons per hour even further.

We can only add water to the pool at a rate of 833 gallons per hour using 2 hoses for the fill water.

This isn't something we want to spend 2 or 3 days doing as it requires constant monitoring.

Hope that answered your question.

 

[SwimdailyAZ]

Time of year does not affect the SLAM Process. Follow the SLAM Process step by step with no shortcuts.

Sorry I wasn't clear. Once you've slammed the water you have to return the FC level back down to normal levels. The UV rays will burn off the excess FC faster in the summer vs in the winter. Therefore, the time of year has to be considered especially when raising the FC to high levels (100+ppm). Especially, when such high levels may cause damage to the plaster.

We may not have to add chlorine until spring. We have three seasons here in Phoenix. Summer, Fall, and Spring. Rarely do we get anything that resembles winter.

 

[ajw22]

Sorry I wasn't clear. Once you've slammed the water you have to return the FC level back down to normal levels. The UV rays will burn off the excess FC faster in the summer vs in the winter. Therefore, the time of year has to be considered especially when raising the FC to high levels (100+ppm). Especially, when such high levels may cause damage to the plaster.

Have you looked at the SLAM Process and FC/CYA Levels?

You never raise FC close to 100+ and following the FC/CYA Levels will not damage the plaster.

Time of year or area of the country makes no difference to the SLAM Process.

 

[Pv2]

two things you wrote led me to ask if you were using the correct reagents. 1) the numbers - I missed where you may have mentioned the FC was already at 20 before they added the 6 gallons, do you know that they used 12.5%? where did the other 20 ppm come from?

and 2) you twice mentioning cloudy condition before you finish counting drops...the FC test involves a sample of pool water (clear); a scoop of powder that turns the water pink in the presence of chlorine - also clear...pink or darker, but otherwise clear; and the clear reagent you add while counting drops. Where are you getting cloudy conditions? nothing in the FC test should be cloudy - or clear out a cloudy situation - other than possibly the original sample of pool water in which case the test still wouldn't "clear" anything. all it does is go from (clear) pink to (clear) colorless.