That new guy in California

[Fiveflat]

Hey there folks! Just built a new in ground pool with pentair equipment and easytouch / screen logic.
Pool contractor has a "usual" pool start up guy but he wouldn't come out to my rural neck of the woods so he found a local guy that would. That turned into a disaster. He didn't do anything he was supposed to. He told me he had it all set up on a schedule and my pump will shut off at 5pm and he split! Ha! 6pm then 7pm rolled around and it kept running. I basically troubleshot why my intelliflo pump wasn't communicating with the easy touch and got Pentair rep to come in through the internet and program my easytouch. So now here I am left holding the proverbial bag trying to figure out the rest. I'm going to Maintain it myself but I'm sure to have questions along the way and this looks like the place for that!

Any rate, hello friends!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Oh lordie, Fiveflat.....what a depressing start, eh? I'm sorry to hear this but if you have ANY QUESTION please start a thread in on of the topical forums and you'll have more help than you can imagine!! And i know a couple of these guys here are pros at the Pentair stuff.

Welcome to TFP

Maddie

 

[mguzzy]

Pool contractor has a "usual" pool start up guy but he wouldn't come out to my rural neck of the woods

The contractor thinks Galt is the rural neck of the woods?! What the heck.. city bois.. I tell ya!

That is a cool looking pool.. We got your back. ask any questions you've got.. we can walk you through anything you need. Read through the ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry so you know how things are done and pick up a test kit so you can test your own water Test Kits Compared. And put your equipment in your signature so we know what you have when you are asking questions. Create Your Signature - Further Reading

And BTW! Welcome to the forum!

 

[Fiveflat]

Ha, thanks mguzzy! I'm actually east of Galt and quite rural but I digress.
I ordered a test kit off Amazon for 1/2 the price of Leslie's. I should get that today. Pool contractor brought me 400# of salt, some conditioner, and muriatic acid on account of poor start up fella. I did get my water tested at Leslie's also...
Temps have been mid to upper 70s so I got the salt added yesterday and my intellichlor look happy this morning!

 

[Newdude]

Hey FF and Welocme !!! The hardest part is having enough troubles to find your way here. Take a breath and have a tasty beverage. It’s all behind you now and nothing but smooth sailing is ahead of you.

Even if you run into trouble, these fine folks here can sail any ship through any conditions.

 

[mguzzy]

I'm actually east of Galt and quite rural but I digress.

Oh I know where you are.. I live near Sac and travel through Galt all the time... usually when I am stuck in Lodi again....but I digress..

As you read up on the threads around here you will find we don't put much stock in the pool store stuff. The prices are all over priced and the recommendations are all over priced as well. Once you take over managing your own pool you can get most of the chems you need from the grocery store.. and everyone here is always looking out for other peoples backs and looking for the best prices for everyone to share. Have you found this article yet:

Recommended Pool Chemicals

Which should I buy? TFP's recommended pool chemicals are cheap, easy, and won't unbalance your pool water.

www.troublefreepool.com

And pool store testing is way too variable. Its a hook to sell you their chems. So which test kit did you get? A lot of people put their test kit model in their sigs too.

 

[Fiveflat]

Yea I just read a thread in the just getting started section about chemicals at the grocery store and how important a good test kit is. I'll admit, I probably got a very poor test kit. Got it off Amazon. I'll look into those higher quality kits today on my drive to Redding... and back!

 

[Newdude]

You’d be hard pressed to beat the new TF-100pro at tftestkits.net once you bought the salt kit on the side and gave up swirling a month later to break down and order the smart stir. Then a month after that you’d be buying a case that didn’t work nearly as well and the reagents from Amazon that sat on a shelf for 11 months would need replacing sooner. do it once.

 

[mguzzy]

read through this"
Test Kits Compared
and I'll spoil the story for you... get one of these..
www.tftestkits.com
A lot members prefer this configuration of the Taylor tests. The reagents are in a better proportion for residential pool testing. I'm partial to the Pro version with salt since you have a salt pool:

TF-Pro Salt

tftestkits.net

Also.. if you donate to the forum (they are a 501(c)3 non profit) you can get discounts there.. Just a little plug

 

[Fiveflat]

Haha thaks for the spoiler!
Looks like I will have to read through that later because I'm sure there's gonna be things for me to understand better before ordering it. Like why do I need all those optional parts on that test kit

 

[Newdude]

Like why do I need all those optional parts on that test kit

Just like the reliable drop based kit in the first place you will need a separate drop based salt kit for your salt/ SWG The salt test strips are about as reliable as the regular test strips are horrible. Your salt levels will stay mostly the same throughout the season, but you will need to use that test a few times a year. It is around $30 no matter where you buy it.

the smart stir is simply the most convenient tool you can buy. Without it you are busy swirling the vial while you try to make equal drops with the other hand and watching for color changes while counting said drops. It’s not rocket science but it’s sooooooooo much easier to press a button and watch it stir for you. It’s $43 and worth far more than that.

if you purchase everything separately, you will need a case to hold it all. Any tacklebox will work but they weren’t specifically designed to hold everything.

the cheaper k2006c test kit, possibly from Leslies or Amazon will definitely work as well, but there are equal amounts of reagents instead of more of the ones you’ll use more often, and less of those you don’t. So you’ll need to reorder parts sooner. The TF-100 was designed around the way we do things so it’s a better value in the long run. Also, if you buy from TFtestkits.net, you can guarantee a fast turn around with fresh reagents. It doesn’t mean the Amazon/Leslie ones can’t be fresh, but they don’t care like Rebecca does about your purchase. It probably sat on a shelf, maybe for months and months. Properly stored, they can last 2 years, but why risk saving a few bucks to get a half expired kit ?

I have a TF-100 myself and after seeing the customer service and quality product, I will not consider anything else going forward. So much so that as soon as we decide to rebuild, I will be buying a TF-100 pro to start fresh.

We will happily provide guidance for any drop based kit regardless of where you purchased it, but most people who have bought once from Rebecca were sold for life. Just recently yet another member had shipping issues that weren’t Rebecca’s fault and she stepped right in like she always does and sent out another kit right away. I would expect long time members to have some sort of extra camaraderie with Rebecca over the years and hence get a little more personal service, but the OP was a new member without that long history. Yet he was treated just as well.

Food for thought.

 

[Fiveflat]

No, I meant the options when you add it to cart like the ph meter, the standard sampler, and the XL option.
But I was able to read below the description of all those options so it looks like I should definitely get the salt test strips. But what about the ph meter?

 

[Newdude]

Get the K1766 salt test kit and not the strips. You can either buy it separate or pre packaged in the new pro kit (or separate from Amazon).

The XL option is great for beginners or people clearing swamps going through a lot more testing. Beginners will naturally take some extra tests to get it right so having extra to play with is never a bad thing at that stage.

The sample sizer is great to speed the testing process up too, but it’s not as big of a help as the speed stir / smart stir is. Most folks have already spent more than they bargained for already and skip the sample sizer. It does work great tho.

The Ph meter is for the tech lovers. It needs to be stored a certain way and requires calibration at times. It’s a neat toy but not worth the added hassle to most.

 

[Newdude]

You are very fortunate in that you found us before taking many $250+ trips to the pool store. They’ll test you for FREE and then empty your wallet time and time again.

Our investment suggestion isn’t necessary cheap, but it’s a fraction of the cost and with said investment, we can guide you how to do the rest on the dirt cheap with generic over the counter stuff. It will pay for itself many times over and anyone who went the pool store route will tell you how they wish they found us sooner. Like, hundreds or thousands sooner.

 

[mguzzy]

Food for thought.

That is a lot of food! I think I need a nap.

I started a big response..but @Newdude covered it pretty well. Yes there lots of cool gizmos on the site and its worth poking through it when you don't have to concentrate on big rigs and dodge tomato trucks on I-5

 

[Fiveflat]

Oh yea Leslie's had $270 worth of stuff for me to buy. Granted 125 of that was salt. I am just glad I went in there knowing my contractor was going to pick up the stuff I needed otherwise I probably would have bought all of their BS.

 

[mguzzy]

The best price on Salt in the Sac area is usually at Walmart. Just make sure you don't get the Chlorox branded salt, it is known to have iron contamination.. you wouldn't want to stain your brand new pool. I bought a few 40# bags of Morton for my spring start up at $6.50-ish /ea .. so for 10 bags (400 lbs) that would be 65 bux...see?

 

[Fiveflat]

Wow yea! When you say Morton's do you mean like table salt? Is there something special about "pool" salt?

By the way I did start a new thread in the just getting started forum about my SWG. Something about my screen logic has me very confused after just adding that salt

 

[Newdude]

Wow yea! When you say Morton's do you mean like table salt? Is there something special about "pool" salt

Same company. Much larger bag.

You can buy pool salt or water softener salt. The pool salt will be in the outdoor section (by the mulch, plants and patio bricks).

the water softener salt is located by the hot water heaters in HD/Lowe’s and is about $2 a bag cheaper. It has larger crystals that take an extra hour to fully dissolve but otherwise are the same. the salt won’t harm anything while it takes it’s time to dissolve.

 

[mguzzy]

Nope.. theoretically you could use table salt.. salt is salt. Some people use water softener salt.. the granuals are just bigger and it takes a little longer to dissolve. I'll check out your other thread.