- Jul 20, 2022
- 1,054
- Pool Size
- 13500
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
Although I am not a pool newbie, I am a SWG pool newbie. I haven't opened a pool in 3 years and by following the TFP way of taking care of my pool I really never had issues.
We decided to open the pool earlier than we normally do to hopefully have warmer water on Memorial Day weekend (doesn't look like it is working!
) and I made sure I had supplies for the opening. But with that said, I learned from this opening that may be helpful to some others.
I "knew" I needed to add CYA - nope, not sure what happened but it is higher when opening then when I tested last year. I have tested CYA in the past a lot but obviously I screwed up somewhere, maybe tested CYA too soon upon the pool being set up last year. I had some CYA left but bought a huge tub (14 lbs) from BJs which will probably last me close to the rest of my life with this pool.
I "knew" I was going to need a SLAM - nope, opened the pool to FC and very little CC. I did add a gallon of 12.5% liquid chlorine to raise the FC for good measures and again buying at BJs I have another 3 gallons that will probably deteriorate badly by the time I use the last of it ... and that's before turning on the SWG. So far the pool's been open about a week, and other than that first gallon I have used maybe 1/3 of a gallon. At least for now my FC isn't dropping, maybe in the heat of the summer but with the blue solar cover on and the pool getting a lot of full sun, FC is not dropping by much at this point.
I "knew" last year that I was going to have a very short (1 month) season but also "knew" that I had to open this year so I bought extra because of it. The truth is I didn't use much of my leftovers from last year so I still have a lot of stuff. I also used washing soda vs borax and baking soda so that was new to me as well but I still bought baking soda and have a few boxes sitting in the garage.
Basically, what I "knew" was all wrong. If you are opening the pool - scout out where you are planning on buying your stuff, maybe buy a little but wait to buy everything. I would have been better off buying my LC after opening and I would have only needed 1 gallon. If I waited to test my CYA I could have not bought more stabilizer and if I paid more attention to the things I bought I wouldn't have excess. The chlorine was a waste of money and will be less potent by the time I use it all, the stabilizer is going to last for years, I probably will never use all the baking soda.
Don't be me - think before you get all the stuff you think you "need"!
We decided to open the pool earlier than we normally do to hopefully have warmer water on Memorial Day weekend (doesn't look like it is working!
) and I made sure I had supplies for the opening. But with that said, I learned from this opening that may be helpful to some others.I "knew" I needed to add CYA - nope, not sure what happened but it is higher when opening then when I tested last year. I have tested CYA in the past a lot but obviously I screwed up somewhere, maybe tested CYA too soon upon the pool being set up last year. I had some CYA left but bought a huge tub (14 lbs) from BJs which will probably last me close to the rest of my life with this pool.
I "knew" I was going to need a SLAM - nope, opened the pool to FC and very little CC. I did add a gallon of 12.5% liquid chlorine to raise the FC for good measures and again buying at BJs I have another 3 gallons that will probably deteriorate badly by the time I use the last of it ... and that's before turning on the SWG. So far the pool's been open about a week, and other than that first gallon I have used maybe 1/3 of a gallon. At least for now my FC isn't dropping, maybe in the heat of the summer but with the blue solar cover on and the pool getting a lot of full sun, FC is not dropping by much at this point.
I "knew" last year that I was going to have a very short (1 month) season but also "knew" that I had to open this year so I bought extra because of it. The truth is I didn't use much of my leftovers from last year so I still have a lot of stuff. I also used washing soda vs borax and baking soda so that was new to me as well but I still bought baking soda and have a few boxes sitting in the garage.
Basically, what I "knew" was all wrong. If you are opening the pool - scout out where you are planning on buying your stuff, maybe buy a little but wait to buy everything. I would have been better off buying my LC after opening and I would have only needed 1 gallon. If I waited to test my CYA I could have not bought more stabilizer and if I paid more attention to the things I bought I wouldn't have excess. The chlorine was a waste of money and will be less potent by the time I use it all, the stabilizer is going to last for years, I probably will never use all the baking soda.
Don't be me - think before you get all the stuff you think you "need"!
