Hello, fellow TFPers. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here, partly because you all do such a good job teaching folks to manage their own pools that I haven’t had big trouble with my pool.
The following pictures and questions refer to my neighbors’ pool, so please disregard anything in my signature. I don’t know all the information about their pool, so I took pictures to include.
This pool is about 30,000 gallons with a spa with waterfall and a large water feature with a catch basin (is that what’s called an infinity edge?). They also use a Polaris pressure cleaner. The pool has always been cared for by a pool service, and they really haven’t had major issues.
After the freeze of 2021 in Texas, they had some problems with their tile and plaster and plumbing and ended up having major work done on their pool, including a full replaster. The company that did the work had to redo parts of it, and the pool was drained and refilled twice. This company also did the start up on it this spring.
Some time in May the pump for the water feature/catchment basin failed, and that area turned green. I helped them chlorinate and maintain that area up to shock level while they were waiting for their pool service to make repairs and get things under control. (The start-up company and the regular pool service are not the same.) The owners did not complete an entire SLAM and were hopeful that the pool service’s cleaning and maintenance would be good going forward, but even the pool service admitted that their regular service wasn’t going to keep algae from growing by the end of each week.
Last week the neighbors called me and asked meto come up and test their pool water again because they could see yellowish algae growing in the corners, on the walls, in the spa. I do not remember all of the exact numbers, but I ran the full battery of tests on their water. These numbers are what I remember.
FC: 1
CC: 0.5
pH: 8.0+
TA: 160
CH: 300
CYA: 60
We lowered the pH to 7.4 with muriatic acid and began a SLAM. It has been very hard to get liquid chlorine, but they have been dedicated to driving all over the nearest cities and picking up boxes. I know it’s best to add as frequently as possible, but we’re managing three times a day because right now they’re relying on my coming over to test since they only have test strips.
Twice I’ve taken three of my kids up their with toothbrushes, and we’ve scrubbed around eyeballs and in hard to reach corners. The back wall is particularly hard to brush as it really can’t be reached from the edges of the pool. I even got down into their catchment basin the other night to try a toothbrush on the drains (there are four drains in the basin), but the toothbrushes wouldn’t fit. I know those drains are a problem, but they are not comfortable with me trying to take them apart, and I’m not really comfortable doing that. I did manage to attach a clean bathroom brush to a pool pole and give them a good scrubbing this morning. I think it got some stuff loose in that basin.
Their regular pool service visits on Monday, and the tech put in some powdered shock, and so we raised the SLAM level last night to 28 instead of 24 because the CYA test rounded up to 70. Today, however, I’m thinking I’m going to let the level drift down to 10 if I can to retest the PH. The alkalinity is so high (it was 200 in our fill water when I checked), and they have so much aeration that I’m nervous about letting it rise without checking it. They are already unhappy about calcium scale that occurred over winter.
They still have seven four packs of 10% chlorine inside their house, and they are really just following what I tell them about their pool. These are older folk, and they‘ve been out their brushing and scrubbing and wrestling with weir doors (we still haven’t managed to get one off, and the other seems to be missing). I mostly just wanted to check in here because I’ve never dealt with new plaster, and I want to make sure that I’m handling things reasonably.
I know I’m very wordy, so here are my basic questions:
1) Is there anything about new plaster that I need to be particularly aware of during a SLAM? (Other than not brushing with a metal brush. We are only using the plastic bristled ones.)
2) I know that one isn’t supposed to worry about pH during a SLAM, but I’ve also read that one can let the level drop to get a good reading in the middle if necessary. Am I making a big mistake letting the chlorine go down to test pH, or should I be doing it even more often given that it’s new plaster?
3) Any suggestions for dealing with the drains in the catchment basin short of my taking them apart? A lot of water flows through them, so should exterior brushing be sufficient?
4) Does anyone see anything else from the pictures that is a red flag? (The garden hose is not a normal feature of the pool. The wife was watering a crape myrtle this morning when I was taking pictures.)
I appreciate any insight or advice or cautions or encouragement that anyone can give me. Thanks in advance.
The following pictures and questions refer to my neighbors’ pool, so please disregard anything in my signature. I don’t know all the information about their pool, so I took pictures to include.
This pool is about 30,000 gallons with a spa with waterfall and a large water feature with a catch basin (is that what’s called an infinity edge?). They also use a Polaris pressure cleaner. The pool has always been cared for by a pool service, and they really haven’t had major issues.
After the freeze of 2021 in Texas, they had some problems with their tile and plaster and plumbing and ended up having major work done on their pool, including a full replaster. The company that did the work had to redo parts of it, and the pool was drained and refilled twice. This company also did the start up on it this spring.
Some time in May the pump for the water feature/catchment basin failed, and that area turned green. I helped them chlorinate and maintain that area up to shock level while they were waiting for their pool service to make repairs and get things under control. (The start-up company and the regular pool service are not the same.) The owners did not complete an entire SLAM and were hopeful that the pool service’s cleaning and maintenance would be good going forward, but even the pool service admitted that their regular service wasn’t going to keep algae from growing by the end of each week.
Last week the neighbors called me and asked meto come up and test their pool water again because they could see yellowish algae growing in the corners, on the walls, in the spa. I do not remember all of the exact numbers, but I ran the full battery of tests on their water. These numbers are what I remember.
FC: 1
CC: 0.5
pH: 8.0+
TA: 160
CH: 300
CYA: 60
We lowered the pH to 7.4 with muriatic acid and began a SLAM. It has been very hard to get liquid chlorine, but they have been dedicated to driving all over the nearest cities and picking up boxes. I know it’s best to add as frequently as possible, but we’re managing three times a day because right now they’re relying on my coming over to test since they only have test strips.
Twice I’ve taken three of my kids up their with toothbrushes, and we’ve scrubbed around eyeballs and in hard to reach corners. The back wall is particularly hard to brush as it really can’t be reached from the edges of the pool. I even got down into their catchment basin the other night to try a toothbrush on the drains (there are four drains in the basin), but the toothbrushes wouldn’t fit. I know those drains are a problem, but they are not comfortable with me trying to take them apart, and I’m not really comfortable doing that. I did manage to attach a clean bathroom brush to a pool pole and give them a good scrubbing this morning. I think it got some stuff loose in that basin.
Their regular pool service visits on Monday, and the tech put in some powdered shock, and so we raised the SLAM level last night to 28 instead of 24 because the CYA test rounded up to 70. Today, however, I’m thinking I’m going to let the level drift down to 10 if I can to retest the PH. The alkalinity is so high (it was 200 in our fill water when I checked), and they have so much aeration that I’m nervous about letting it rise without checking it. They are already unhappy about calcium scale that occurred over winter.
They still have seven four packs of 10% chlorine inside their house, and they are really just following what I tell them about their pool. These are older folk, and they‘ve been out their brushing and scrubbing and wrestling with weir doors (we still haven’t managed to get one off, and the other seems to be missing). I mostly just wanted to check in here because I’ve never dealt with new plaster, and I want to make sure that I’m handling things reasonably.
I know I’m very wordy, so here are my basic questions:
1) Is there anything about new plaster that I need to be particularly aware of during a SLAM? (Other than not brushing with a metal brush. We are only using the plastic bristled ones.)
2) I know that one isn’t supposed to worry about pH during a SLAM, but I’ve also read that one can let the level drop to get a good reading in the middle if necessary. Am I making a big mistake letting the chlorine go down to test pH, or should I be doing it even more often given that it’s new plaster?
3) Any suggestions for dealing with the drains in the catchment basin short of my taking them apart? A lot of water flows through them, so should exterior brushing be sufficient?
4) Does anyone see anything else from the pictures that is a red flag? (The garden hose is not a normal feature of the pool. The wife was watering a crape myrtle this morning when I was taking pictures.)
I appreciate any insight or advice or cautions or encouragement that anyone can give me. Thanks in advance.
