Actually because you reported aeration earlier - using Cal-Hypo that could be part of it... just sayin. Were you able to eradicate the aeration source?
Welcome to my SWAMP!
- Thread starter Fancypants
- Start date
frustratedpoolmom said:
FPM, the only way I can eradicate the aeration is to not use the skimmers. I have heard that it is undesirable to run a pool from the main drain only, but not 100% sure why. We are going out of town tomorrow, and the house sitter is going to be trained on the pool, but I will not instruct him on how to turn on the skimmers. Thus, so long as he stays on top of everything else, I am looking forward to seeing what kind of a difference 3 days away might bring, that will also be 4 days without using the skimmers.
I haven't bothered with an overnight chlorine loss test yet, primarily because I am still "shocking" and the water isn't clear. I think I will do one Sat. night when we get back from vacation, hoping to have the pool usable by 6/8 for our baby girl's 1st birthday party, that will be 3 weeks from opening.
I have a FLOCKING! problem now!
So, against the advise generally given on this forum, I decided to flock my pool because we are trying to have a pool party THIS Saturday. I am also passing the overnight free chlorine lost test with flying colors, and now that my CYA is up from 0, I'm not even losing that much during the day relative to what I had been previously losing.
The flocking worked GREAT, I could see the brown stuff on the bottom of even the deep end. However, I am assuming due to my suction side underground air leak, my vacuum doesn't work for Crud! I couldn't get a leaf to go in by placing it in the vacuum with my hand!
Here's what I did, please tell me if I screwed up, or possibly what to do next:
I went from waste to filter, and brushed the bottom of the pool hoping that the flocking mess in my pool will get filtered out by the sand. Do I have a prayer or did I just screw up big time?
Thought?
So, against the advise generally given on this forum, I decided to flock my pool because we are trying to have a pool party THIS Saturday. I am also passing the overnight free chlorine lost test with flying colors, and now that my CYA is up from 0, I'm not even losing that much during the day relative to what I had been previously losing.
The flocking worked GREAT, I could see the brown stuff on the bottom of even the deep end. However, I am assuming due to my suction side underground air leak, my vacuum doesn't work for Crud! I couldn't get a leaf to go in by placing it in the vacuum with my hand!
Here's what I did, please tell me if I screwed up, or possibly what to do next:
I went from waste to filter, and brushed the bottom of the pool hoping that the flocking mess in my pool will get filtered out by the sand. Do I have a prayer or did I just screw up big time?
Thought?
Sounds like the flock did it's job. Which one did you use?
If you can get it to stay in the circulating water, your filter might catch it...I think that is how some "clarifiers" are supposed to work. I would keep brushing ocassionally and see if that does the trick.
When you have the vacuum attached (is it a suction side one?) do you get air in the pump basket? If you do you are probably pulling air in at the pump basket seal or one of the other connections. The basket seal can be lubed up using some teflon gasket lube.
If you can get it to stay in the circulating water, your filter might catch it...I think that is how some "clarifiers" are supposed to work. I would keep brushing ocassionally and see if that does the trick.
When you have the vacuum attached (is it a suction side one?) do you get air in the pump basket? If you do you are probably pulling air in at the pump basket seal or one of the other connections. The basket seal can be lubed up using some teflon gasket lube.
I used the AquaChem Sink and Sweep.
It is a suction side vacuum, but I get air when I engage my skimmers AT ALL, per my earlier posts. So I think that when I hook up the vacuum, it just pulls more air from the existing air leak because the resistance is less than the vacuum and thus the vacuum gets almost no suction. And yes, there is A LOT of air in the pump basket. I only get the air when my skimmers are engaged.
It is a suction side vacuum, but I get air when I engage my skimmers AT ALL, per my earlier posts. So I think that when I hook up the vacuum, it just pulls more air from the existing air leak because the resistance is less than the vacuum and thus the vacuum gets almost no suction. And yes, there is A LOT of air in the pump basket. I only get the air when my skimmers are engaged.
Fancypants said:
Mainly because then you have to skim the surface by hand daily - the skimmers catch all the bugs, leaves etc.
Fancypants said:
Silly question but you did prime the hose first before you put it in the skimmer, yes?
FPM, I did. I messed with the vacuum a little more last night, and I was able to get some suction, but it didn't last, it quickly went away.
So... Our baby girl's first birthday party was today and we had swimmers! The pool is not 100% crystal clear, but you can see the main drain, and that was good enough for me to allow bodies in the water.
The hail mary was last night, flocked one last time after using clarifier this week. I was able to vacuum thanks to MrsFancypants. She had an idea. I wasn't using my skimmers because of the air leak, so her idea was to just cut the skimmer line and attach the vacuum line directly to it!
It worked like a champ and I can vacuum now, once I get around to digging up the line and repairing the air leak, I can re-plumb the above ground stuff.
So now I can only pull from my main drain, I did however see a skimmer floater thingy online that can be hooked up to a vacuum tube, thinking about getting one of them.
One thing has been bugging me however. If I am pulling solely from the main drain, which has a cover on it, how are whole leaves and frogs winding up in my pump's impeller?
The hail mary was last night, flocked one last time after using clarifier this week. I was able to vacuum thanks to MrsFancypants. She had an idea. I wasn't using my skimmers because of the air leak, so her idea was to just cut the skimmer line and attach the vacuum line directly to it!
It worked like a champ and I can vacuum now, once I get around to digging up the line and repairing the air leak, I can re-plumb the above ground stuff.
So now I can only pull from my main drain, I did however see a skimmer floater thingy online that can be hooked up to a vacuum tube, thinking about getting one of them.
One thing has been bugging me however. If I am pulling solely from the main drain, which has a cover on it, how are whole leaves and frogs winding up in my pump's impeller?
Stupid question, but were you using your skimmers at the water level showing the picture?
joshs2000ss said:
Josh, short answer is NO. The water level shown in the pictures is after A LOT of vacuuming to waste.
If you look at my initial posts, you can see how high the water line was when I started, it was MUCH higher. I actually had to add a bit of water after vacuuming to even get the returns below the water line.
I will gladly hand over my Cinderella title, fancy wand, and raise a glass to the fancypantsers 
A year after swamp recovery, my 18 wheell barrows of leaves are now pretty much compost somewhere and the frogs have slowly adjusted to the transformation of their nation (though they still hang around and mate poolside occasionally, and this morning greeted me from the skimmer after what must ave been a hot date...)
So cheers to the reigning Swamp king and queen
A year after swamp recovery, my 18 wheell barrows of leaves are now pretty much compost somewhere and the frogs have slowly adjusted to the transformation of their nation
(though they still hang around and mate poolside occasionally, and this morning greeted me from the skimmer after what must ave been a hot date...)So cheers to the reigning Swamp king and queen
I saw a frog the other day that just looked at me and said "howdy" then jumped ~ 6' into the grass from the deck of the pool! It was a BIG frog!
I don't know how I feel about awards and titles... but I can say this, I cannot believe how clear my water is becoming! I am LOVING it. CYA is finally staring to register after adding 8lbs of it! Added an additional 2 lbs tonight after getting a reading of 20ppm. Chlorine loss is low enough to believe that I have no "life" in the pool, TA and pH are good. I am exited!
Starting to add borates slowly, I hope they really put the cherry on top with regards to turbidity.
Anybody else go through sort of a Stockholm syndrome when it comes to shocking? I am having a hard time turning my pump off, not running it 24/7, and allowing my FC to drop below shock levels! For some reason I feel like if I don't keep continuing the shock process, my water will cease getting better! I of course "know" that this is BS, but I "feel" like I need to keep shocking. It may take a week or so before I allow my pump to run less (eventhough it will cost less in electricity), and allow my chlorine to drop down to normal levels (eventhough it will save me money and be better for swimmers.)
I don't know how I feel about awards and titles... but I can say this, I cannot believe how clear my water is becoming! I am LOVING it. CYA is finally staring to register after adding 8lbs of it! Added an additional 2 lbs tonight after getting a reading of 20ppm. Chlorine loss is low enough to believe that I have no "life" in the pool, TA and pH are good. I am exited!
Starting to add borates slowly, I hope they really put the cherry on top with regards to turbidity.
Anybody else go through sort of a Stockholm syndrome when it comes to shocking? I am having a hard time turning my pump off, not running it 24/7, and allowing my FC to drop below shock levels! For some reason I feel like if I don't keep continuing the shock process, my water will cease getting better! I of course "know" that this is BS, but I "feel" like I need to keep shocking. It may take a week or so before I allow my pump to run less (eventhough it will cost less in electricity), and allow my chlorine to drop down to normal levels (eventhough it will save me money and be better for swimmers.)
I know exactly what you mean, and truth be told, I actually STILL don't like turning the pump off. (In my case, I get daily heavy debris and often use the heater, so my pool skim that catches all the overhead leaves and petals stop working when the pumps off, etc.) I tried for while last year to use the timer, but it didn't really make that dramatic a difference in our energy bill so this year I've just kind of let it run. I have an unusually decent local pool store owner who said in her opinion the best money spent on a pool is running the pump and that many of her clients who don't turn over their water enough end up spending more in her store
That said, common wisdom would suggest 24/7 is completely unnecessary. Now that I have a robot, I may just shut it down at night and let the bot clean the floor in the morning.
That said, common wisdom would suggest 24/7 is completely unnecessary. Now that I have a robot, I may just shut it down at night and let the bot clean the floor in the morning.
I don't have the money right now, but I am starting to really starting to see the attraction of a dual speed pump.