What did you do to your pool today?

[Katodude]

I really dont know. It just degrades in my pool. Some of it can be explained by water exchange from rain. Some of it can be explained by degradation from my pool getting pretty warm in the summer. But I also have the same effect in the winter, albeit to a lesser degree.

I have stopped trying to figure it out, and just test CYA more frequently and buy it in bulk.

 

[Newdude]

I have stopped trying to figure it out, and just test CYA more frequently and buy it in bulk.

^^^^^this right here folks.

ESPECIALLY for the newbs. Pay attention and HARD.

Listen to your pool. It will not listen to you.

 

[Casey]

I cleaned the leaves out n swept the pool only to have the same amount of leaves after I was done sweeping the pool. I'm going to dump my basket here in a few n head to bed.

 

[dfwnoob]

Was digging through the local county property records today and found the service lien from when the pool was installed in 2006. Included was a VERY digitized (faxed) copy of the build sheet from the PB (supposedly one of the most reputable builders in DFW). Found something very interesting:



It's very hard to read on this terrible copy, but that definitely says Laars LT400 Heater Gas [something]. Well, I posted a while back about the gas line out by the equipment pad since the old heater was ripped out a few years ago and I REALLY want a heater. There's a 3/4" line out there. The PB actually installed a 3/4" gas line for a 400K BTU heater.. I found a manual for the LT400 which says in no uncertain terms that you shouldn't use a gas line under 1.25". Genius.

So I go out and look at my gas meter. 425K BTU.

So somehow they managed to run a 400K BTU pool heater, a 60K BTU water heater, and a ~75K BTU furnace on a tiny meter with a 1" service. Frankly, I'm not even mad, I'm impressed. Called 811 today to get them to mark the utilities in the back yard and one of my projects coming up soon is to run a 1.5" polyethylene gas line from the equipment pad to the meter. Then I'll get Atmos out here to upgrade the meter.

What a debacle.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

Where I'm at in Florida on well water it's so bad I found out I can't use it to fill the pool until after I get my whole house reverse osmosis system installed. Salt has been rising steadily and found out it's because the well water is full of it. Had to order water as the skimmer is starting to suck air and can no longer fill from the hose. Now I understand the water tanker trucks I've seen passing by. I always thought it was people with new pool installs.

 

[magiteck]

Removed my winter cover. It split at a seam over the winter, which caused it to partially sink down and the leaves and dirty water on top to mix into the pool.

Scooped out as many leaves as I could see. Cursed several times.

Looks like my first SLAM is in my future once I can open.

Water temp - 35.4 degrees.

 

[santacruzpool]

Decided it is time to get ready for pool season - so I started doing some cleanup and checks.

The keyed safety pool cover switch was failing - only one direction worked - so I ordered the little Allen Bradley 800F-X10V switches that my cover setup uses (I replaced one a couple of years ago).

It appears that the metal single gang box allowed water to get inside - even after I sealed the top with silicone. So I decided to replace the box with a new plastic one, and drilled a small weep hole in the bottom. That way the next time water gets in it doesn't corrode my little switches. I also added Corrosion-X to the switches I replaced to help them last a bit longer. One was pretty rusted up and the other was starting to fall apart...these switch blocks are kind of interesting in how they just snap onto the lock.

We also cleaned the robot, got some bigger leaves off the bottom of the pool, and set the robot to run everyday for the next week. This weekend I might put my feet in the water. Today the water went over 70° for the first time this year!!!

My next task is cleaning the cartridge filter - I think I have 2 swim seasons in it - last cleaning was September 2019. With a safety cover, and nets in the skimmers the filter stays pretty clean. I will be curious to see how bad it is this time...I should have cleaned it last year, but with covid restrictions I was the main user of the pool, and we only had some neighbors use it a handful of times. Normally we would have a bit more people using it.

 

[Casey]

I had to put Carlos the Pool Boy back in today after running him yesterday. I woke up to hundreds of worms in my clean pool!

My best friend is over today working for me. I hired her to clean my house because I have a lot of outside work to do on top of working a 48hr work week. She asked me what the white thing is in the pool? I told her that's Carlos. She goes... OMG... I thought Carlos was actually someone you hired to come out and clean the pool!

 

[kimkats]

ewwwwww but at least Carlos did his job LOL Good job hiring out the inside cleaning! It is a win win for everyone!!

 

[magiteck]

I had to put Carlos the Pool Boy back in today after running him yesterday. I woke up to hundreds of worms in my clean pool!

My best friend is over today working for me. I hired her to clean my house because I have a lot of outside work to do on top of working a 48hr work week. She asked me what the white thing is in the pool? I told her that's Carlos. She goes... OMG... I thought Carlos was actually someone you hired to come out and clean the pool!

Casey it looks like you forgot to put the water in the pool.

#TroubleFreeClear

 

[Mdragger88]

Yesterday - pulled back the cover a little, checked temp (63 degrees on top - felt colder lower down), & scooped out a sample


Looks gin clear from what I can see.
Closed at around 28ppm fc on Halloween
Christmas fc check was 17.5ppm
I don’t use polyquat- just slam level & cover. Close late Open early! No “magic pills” or hocus pocus! That’s the secret folks.
This time last year opened to about 14ppm fc.
This week I will add water & this weekend probably hook up plumbing & get her going. I intend to leave the cover on a little while longer than usual to avoid cleaning up the pollen dump. This should be easier this year since now I have the automatic cover pump to help with water displacement when it rains.

 

[V___25]

I had to put Carlos the Pool Boy back in today after running him yesterday. I woke up to hundreds of worms in my clean pool!

I had a serious worm problem all summer last year. And over the winter too apparently - I pulled back a corner and saw tons of them in the deep end bottom. Their decomposing bodies consumed all of my FC over the winter and I think the water is cloudy with worm particulates. It's so gross.

 

[kimkats]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww where do they all come from???

 

[V___25]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww where do they all come from???

I guess just from the grass. I don't have a lot of distance between the grass and the pool, just a concrete path and they can make it across that to the pool before the dry out and die from the sun. You can see it on the right side in the picture and the left side is the same. Even when it's covered, I guess they can still slide their way under the cover.

 

[B.lu]

Edited to add some pics
Nothing exactly for the pool but I'm having the equipment pad spruced up today. Stepping stones placed for a path within the area, surrounded by blue stone rocks, and then holly shrubs to block the view from the road My two year old is enjoying the tractor and trucks. Soon they'll hydro seed parts of the lawn that served as the 'road' during construction last summer

 

[Casey]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww where do they all come from???

I have no idea but I have a ton more in my pool again today. I was going to put Carlos back in but I knew it was going to rain so I just upped the FC. I'll throw him in tomorrow if it doesn't rain. I can't believe how many worms are in my pool again. I also had a mole carcus in my skimmer when I checked it this afternoon when I got home from work.

I was out trying to get some landscaping done. I have a slight hump on the strip of ground closest to the fence. I'm working on taking that down so I can plant clematis as a ground cover and climbing roses on the fence to help add a pop of color and privacy. I'm also going to mulch it in black. I got rained out. I'll try again another day. I bought a few plants. These red and black lillies are for my husband. I brought down an old motorcycle tire he put miles on. I'm going to fill it with dirt n put them in it. 3 of my climbing roses. And my sunflowers are rocking out in the window getting huge.

 

[kimkats]

Love the tire with flowers!!! Well I really love it all lol

 

[Casey]

Love the tire with flowers!!! Well I really love it all lol

I have so much work to do and a few pool projects I want to do with "junk" that I found laying around here. I found several 12" pieces of gutters. I'm going to make a hanger out of them for my telescopic pole (it fits through them too). I bought eye bolts and s hooks that I'm going to use to attach them to the chain link fence to keep the pole tucked away in it's own spot n off the ground. I bought spray paint to paint it.

I also found a 7ft+ pvc pipe and bought a cap for it. I'm going to clean that up n spray paint it and stick it in the ground to hold inner tubes so they aren't laying around or blowing through the yard.

Hubby had a nice looking pallet that I want to paint n write some cool/fun pool rules on. I bought big eye bolts n s hooks to lean it up against the fence n hook it to the chain link so it doesn't fall over. Just little idea I have going through my head.

 

[dfwnoob]

I decided this morning I was done with having to go outside to the AL box to just turn the pool lights on or maybe run the pump outside of the programmed hours. Figured the Service Controller was nothing more than an All-Button with, well, all the buttons, so I found an old box of Cat5E and ran a length from the Aqualink panel, through my attic and down the wall next to my patio door. I need to go out tomorrow and throw some flexible conduit around the cable on that side to make things look better, but I'm happy to have everything working the way it should have been originally.

 

[dfwnoob]

Ever have one of those days where you feel like an idiot? If you scroll up, you'll see where I posted a few days ago about the 3/4" gas line feeding my pool equipment pad. I was getting ready to buy all new 1.25" polyethylene gas line, rent a trencher, and get to work. Even had the 811 guys come out and mark lines. Then I noticed that the gas inlet on the new heater is 3/4". Well that's interesting. Then I saw a YouTube video where they were running new gas line and noticed that yep, it is indeed 1.25" where it comes out of the ground, but then gets necked down to 3/4" for all the pool heater fittings. That got the gears in my head turning..

The pipe coming out of the ground that's visible is certainly 3/4", but I went and got a hand shovel and dug out around the pipe, and what do you know.. big 1.25" gas line just under the soil running back to the meter.

Sure wish I would have figured that out earlier