Slam 48 hours in - What am I doing wrong?

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You just need to shop for the best deal on chlorine. The 10% stuff at Lowes/Home Depot is a little cheaper than the 8.25% Walmart bleach. Check the date code on the boxes though so it has not been sitting outside for long. The best deal in town I know of is at E-Konomy Pools on their bulk chlorine ($3.29 / gallon of 12% in 4 gallon cases), but they are over on the east side.
 
jblizzle said:
You just need to shop for the best deal on chlorine. The 10% stuff at Lowes/Home Depot is a little cheaper than the 8.25% Walmart bleach. Check the date code on the boxes though so it has not been sitting outside for long. The best deal in town I know of is at E-Konomy Pools on their bulk chlorine ($3.29 / gallon of 12% in 4 gallon cases), but they are over on the east side.
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What's wrong with the east side :p


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The test today when I got home was
FC 12.5, CC 1.5 PH7.3, ALK 230, CH325 & CYA 50.

Until my SWG is here & installed... I restarted my Frog System & the Frog was on high 10 setting (10ppm) & it held my FC some from Monday when the last Slam was interrupted by work out of town. So I start my slam again & see if we can get this done by Monday.

Can I bump up the schedule to "mustard level" to move this a little faster? or stay the course & run the risk of being out of time on Monday? OR keep shock level at 19 per PoolMath.
 
Will stay at shock level & hope I don't run Walmart & HomeDepot out of Bleach... I emptied the shelf on Cortaro last week!
Ammonia test kit? worth it or no? On my way to town now - should be back before Midnite ? (Gilroc that's for you LOL!) Country living is great - until you have to go to town this many times! :mad:
 
Yeah when I volunteered to come by and help and you said Marana I was like "No problem". Then I got the exact location and was like "Oh...thaaaat part of Marana"....lol. I don't even know what an Ammonia kit costs. It may satisfy some curiosity. My only concern is you said your using the "Frog" again. I'm pretty sure that is similar to floating chlorine tablets that are going to add unwanted things to the pool probably raising either CH or CYA depending on the type of tab being used. I tried to search to find out more about those Frogs...I found an old thread from this site that talks about the Frog quite a bit.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/630-Mr-Frog-pool-chlorinator-Is-it-worth-using

BTW you keep missing the "k" when you type my gamertag...lol.
 

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Gilrock - sorry about that! Got it.

Hear you on the Frog & yeah its basically "tabs" in a fancy cartridge that sits inside the housing & runs water inline onto the bottom vented cartridge openings splashes water thru cartridge & CL water out to pool. Its adding the bad stuff now - but until we get the SWG Mr Frog is a fill in while out of town & on the road. For sure its not a good or best solution but vs not being able to be home & add bleach daily... Its all we can do right now. I never hope to do a Slam again & with the Frog as the weak link "failure" last time & not putting in proper CL level... I can only hope it was a fluke that PB last Fri service appt said "likely air trapped in Frog made it not dispense CL" as nothing was wrong with the Frog dispenser physically. I can't wait to smash that Frog - as I don't want to sell it to anyone knowing its a bad deal all around!

Thanks for the concerns - its appreciated as is all the help from great people in TFP!!!

I didn't pass slam OCLT - but 2 of 3 clear water, FC held but CC is 1. I think I'm on my way to being close "yipee" !!!



Gilrock said:
Yeah when I volunteered to come by and help and you said Marana I was like "No problem". Then I got the exact location and was like "Oh...thaaaat part of Marana"....lol. I don't even know what an Ammonia kit costs. It may satisfy some curiosity. My only concern is you said your using the "Frog" again. I'm pretty sure that is similar to floating chlorine tablets that are going to add unwanted things to the pool probably raising either CH or CYA depending on the type of tab being used. I tried to search to find out more about those Frogs...I found an old thread from this site that talks about the Frog quite a bit.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/630-Mr-Frog-pool-chlorinator-Is-it-worth-using

BTW you keep missing the "k" when you type my gamertag...lol.
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Re: Slam 48 hours in - What am I doing wrong? & Rain & wiring conduit input needed

Still slamming here... more questions - anyone?

My OCLT didn't pass, we've had 2 down pours / monsoon rain in the past two days/nites & yes the auto cover has been off completely & not going back on. I've been running the slide more for circulation & spa on 15min every other hour.

Yesterday & we have done this weekly: we cleaned cartridge filters, removed 1 pool & 1spa lights (housing & scrubbed everywhere), daily: pool, autofill, strainer baskets skimmer & prepump.

Tests from last one yesterday Sat 9pm FC20 CC1, 4am Today FC18, CC1 add bleach & scrub again, 10am FC 18.5 CC .5 add bleach as per pool math.

Questions:
1) how much if any does rain effect the readings FC or CC readings?

2) what next? anything we're missing?

3) should we attempt to take out the floor drains in the spa & the deep end of pool & scrub there too?
(pool drain we'll need scuba gear or Diver Dave hahaha)

4) Lighting - conduit is about 1"dia. and spa "wiring run conduit tunnel" is almost 80ft to control panel & pool run is about 20ft. Is it industry standard to have conduit run that allows water to "sit" in conduit? The light housing is water tight but not where the wiring goes under ground through conduit & up into the Easy touch control panel... Is this "wiring conduit" the source of where I cannot get if algae are hiding there? Leaving the lights out of the side walls allows some water there but cannot get into it to scrub... is that enough? any suggestions here ??? Input is appreciated!!!

5) Pool toys - float them around at shock level an hour... how about scrub brushes & nets?

I had a 6pack of POP but I think I'm running low again!!! :mad:thanks all!
 
Re: Slam 48 hours in - What am I doing wrong? & Rain & wiring conduit input needed

4) Lighting - conduit is about 1"dia. and spa "wiring run conduit tunnel" is almost 80ft to control panel & pool run is about 20ft. Is it industry standard to have conduit run that allows water to "sit" in conduit? The light housing is water tight but not where the wiring goes under ground through conduit & up into the Easy touch control panel... Is this "wiring conduit" the source of where I cannot get if algae are hiding there? Leaving the lights out of the side walls allows some water there but cannot get into it to scrub... is that enough? any suggestions here ??? Input is appreciated!!!
Click to expand...

Are you saying that the PB used an open PVC conduit through to the lighting niche without any seal on the power cord or bonding wiring?

It should look something like this -



The "Seal Cap" should have a rubber grommet in it for the power wire as well as the bonding wiring that is there to keep water from filling up the PVC conduit. Now over time, you will get leakage and failure of that seal, but the "as-installed" state should use a proper sealing cap....The PVC conduit, if they followed code, is designed such that even if water fully infiltrated it, the water in the PVC conduit would only rise to the water line of the pool and so all of the electrical connections should be ~12" above that.

However, if you have 80' of 3/4" conduit filled with water, that's a whole lot of room for algae to hide in....
 
Re: Slam 48 hours in - What am I doing wrong? & Rain & wiring conduit input needed

Exactly - there is NO Seal Cap or rubber grommet "sealing the PVC"... We asked about that being "open PVC" upon install & they said what you did

"is designed such that even if water fully infiltrated it, the water in the PVC conduit would only rise to the water line of the pool and so all of the electrical connections should be ~12" above that."

In January 2013 We had two issues with the lights in the 1st two months after build - the lights both Pool/Spa a month or so apart failed/blew... the PB blamed the light mfg factory for "touching the interior bulb" and the other had water in the housing & was why... they quit working. Wondering if the PB Service Tech with re-install lights issues while snaking the wire back from Easy Touch to pool interior wall (while pool was full of water upon light failure) took the Seal Cap out? Hmmmmm..... ??? or would we see evidence? Ours looks nothing like Sunny Optimism's photo. When the lights failed they replaced the whole light & wire - because they don't just replace the bulb - they replace everything. SO that's the reason why the wire was snaked in & out on both.

So now what? Our opinion is the PB needs to make this right obviously! Have we found out why my SLAM cannot work? or any other ideas... or input. Our pool is still under warranty at least there should be no costs - but we don't have POP the PB can/will do right by us.

Thinking they need to drain the pool to below the lights? and redo w/seal cap & rubber grommet and at their cost & refill our pool that was around $1600 trucked in due to us being on a shared well system (can't use that water for luxury use). What would we do to rid the open PVC area of possible algae - can't really scrub it - any ideas before we call the PB Monday
 
My guess is that when they fixed the blown lights and snaked the wiring, they forgot to put the seal cap and grommet on BEFORE snaking the wire. They either were sloppy and stupid or, when they realized their mistake, they did not want to have to do 80+ feet of re-snaking especially if the electrical contractor used any 90deg elbows which make snaking wires very difficult. If they really needed to redo the wire pull, then they should have drained the water below the niche.

I thought the pool lights were replaceable just by floating the light housing out of the niche and changing out the bulb? I did not think you'd need a new wiring job?

Once sealed, you could leave a charge of water in that PVC line and it will eventually evaporate. But if it's open to the pool water, then it will always be an algae breeding ground. Not sure there's any way to really inject stuff that will kill algae as it will eventually dissipate. I think the PB needs to be shown this and, if the work is still under warranty, they ought to make it right. That there could be a code violation but there might be enough wiggle room in the code wording or a lack of specificity that could allow an open PVC pipe. In general, it's just sloppy work that leaves you guys with a constant question mark about if and when algae is growing.
 
01978ff2514952ead123f0a1770b00a94674eb0083.jpg
014f8f49e1ff3c2572a17ed466e75fa76a24be496a.jpg

Our light design photos.

Will get the PB on the phone & go from there & advise more then.
We'll show them the picture of the "typical lighting niche" and ask about ours & hope they have a good solution. Our luck they will tell us to put a piece of bubble gum in the back of the lighting PVC housing...:brickwall:

Thanks for photo & input
 
Call me stupid (believe me, I'm use to it), but doesn't it look like the lens can be removed from the electrical housing??

Anyway, that looks EXACTLY like my lens/bulb assembly, so I trust you that they had to pull new wire and all. But they should have lowered your water and done it right. I'm guessing given your fill water restriction, they did not want to pay for it.

Also, be prepared to hear them tell you that grommet and plug are optional and that there's no way algae can grow in the pipe because they used special magical PVC, etc, etc....you can try to swab the inside if the PVC tube to see if you can pull out a booger of algae, but they'll probably just say that it's not algae but magic fairy goop sent to protect your pipes...
 
No WAY you are NOT - we feel like the KING OF DUMMIES here just figuring this out about 3 weeks from our 1st Thread...!??? Jeez
We know the lens can be removed - we watched the PB service tech do it! & by accident we did it too. The bulb looked replaceable - but PB said the mfg would warranty it with the whole housing light & wiring assy returned... Go figure! The PB service tech showed us fingerprints on the inside of the housing on the back stainless reflector dome & light bulb & said that's not supposed to be like that according to the mfg specs.

We fought them about the water in the 1st fill as the PB "salesman" said it was included... & then didn't write it that way & we didn't catch him until it was time to fill it - but PB Salesman knew he was lying & they did pay for 1/2 the water fill...Better than nothing; so they KNOW how much it costs us$$$ both & yeah bet that was the reason why it wasn't done right. Where is Canadian Construction guy Mike Holmes "Just do it right" mentality these days???

Thanks again Sunny Optimism for all the help you have given us & the TFP advise from all - you have saved our sanity in this insane situation!!! Stay tuned - we're sure this isn't ending here - that would be too easy!
 
I'd just stay focused on doing the SLAM correctly and keep posting us your numbers. Are you running the filter 24/7 for the past several days?

I know your grasping for answers but I think the whole idea that a 1" PVC pipe behind a light niche is eating up all your chlorine is not what's happening. My light fixture doesn't have a seal there either. It was built like 26 years ago so maybe it wasn't code then. Anyways just think about it. Even if there is a lot of algae in the pipe I don't think it is able to just flow out into your pool the same as the pool water with chlorine is going to have trouble flowing up into the light niche. And if your really worried about it you joked about the bubble gum idea but there is some stuff at Home Depot that is a two part putty usually white with a green core and you squish is all together and you can place it and it will cure underwater. I used to use it glue coral underwater inside a saltwater tank.
 

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