Want to rehab old above-ground, where to start?

[Itshotiwnttoswm]

I didnt want to make a new post, but I'm so overwhelmed at the moment it seemed like the easiest and quickest thing to do. And it's the hottest day of the year and my wife is ****** she cant frolic in the pool.

We got a new house in nov, and the PO left the 22'x52" 10k gal coleman pool and equipment. They drained the equipment last fall, so currently the water level is about a foot low, but I have the hose filling it back up from my well. I do know our water is acidic.

There is a thin layer of green scum on the bottom that wipes off relatively easily, otherwise the water appears to be fairly clear minus some leaves and stuff.

They left an intex sand filter pump, that pumps into a intex sand filter, which then goes into an intex Krystal clear saltwater system, then back into the pool. There is 160lbs of pool salt and 2gal of liquid chlorinator out in the barn.


I've ordered a taylor 2006 test kit.

What do I do now?

 

[gonfishin]

Welcome!

Once the pump is running, add enough liquid chlorine for about 5 ppm each day until you get your test kit. How much chlorine each day will depend on the strength - 12.5%, 10%, etc. Use poolmath (app for phone) or the old poolmath webpage (see link at the bottom of the page) to help you determine the proper amount.

When you get your kit, post up the results to get further guidance. Depending on what the previous owner used, you may need to drain and fill to get CYA to a proper level or you may need to add stabilizer.

Also, fill in your signature with your pool, equipment, and test kit information. Go to https://www.troublefreepool.com/account/signature to do this.

 

[gonfishin]

And I forgot to mention .... brush the walls, floor, ladder, skimmer opening, etc. to get as much of the pool surfaces exposed to chlorine as possible.

Did the PO leave a pool vacuum? If not, you may want to consider getting one. You'll need it to vacuum up the dead algae.

 

[Itshotiwnttoswm]

Ok, I've got some test numbers. I did test a few days ago and added some baking soda for low TA, so here are last nights new numbers.

pH - 7.6
TA - 115
CH - 30
FC - .2
CYA - 0

I assume I should add some calcium chloride for the CH, and stabilizer for the CYA?

Where I'm confused is what to do about the chlorine. I have the chlorine generator running for 5hrs/day currently.

 

[gonfishin]

Don't worry about the TA, anything over 50 is good. Do keep a watch on your pH. It will likely raise due to the TA level.

Don't worry about CH, vinyl pools don't really need it unless you develop foam, then you'll need to add some calcium chloride.

Your priority is to get CYA into the pool to at least 30 ppm and raise your chlorine to 5-7ppm. There's a lot of discussion in the forums on adding stabilizer using a sock. Once you start disolving the CYA, assume you have 30ppm and raise your chlorine accordingly. Use the FC/CYA Levels.

 

[gonfishin]

Sorry, I missed you have a chlorine generator. Did you get the salt test kit? You may need to add salt in order for it to work.

 

[Itshotiwnttoswm]

The generator (intex krystal clear) indicated the salt level was low, so prior to my test results I had added 70lbs of salt per the instructions for the chlorine generator.

 

[kne]

Be careful with the Low Salt indicator on the Intex. It will read that when the cell is dirty also. You will need a test kit to know how much salt you actually have so you don't accidentally add way too much salt.

 

[Itshotiwnttoswm]

Be careful with the Low Salt indicator on the Intex. It will read that when the cell is dirty also. You will need a test kit to know how much salt you actually have so you don't accidentally add way too much salt.

Good to know, thanks. Test kit is in the mail!