Swimming pool care?

[Brains]

Just finished moving, and this house has a pool (yay!). But it's cold outside now (boo). Previous owners left me with a pool that is in pretty decent shape and supposedly maintained, but ... I'm not so sure. Got myself a Taylor K-2005 kit and started learning. Things weren't too far off I guess, but the CYA levels are pretty high. I can't remember exactly but somewhere in the mid 100's. Water is crystal clear though, and in the past week I've been working to get the water balance a little better. I'm going from memory, but I am at like 2-3ppm free and total chlorine, 8.0 pH, and can't remember the alkalinity. Haven't done the water hardness test yet, because I can plainly see lots of white on the stacked stone waterfall out of the spa and tile surround. Previous owner's care regimen was stated as filling the chlorine injector at the pump with pucks and setting it to 2, and filling two floaters (one in the pool, one in the spa) with pucks, and then shocking with "two or three bags" whenever it "felt like it needed it." I pulled the cartridge filters out and rinsed them, they were pretty bad. Pressure gauge was reading about 38 (I think, it's badly yellowed, ordering a new one) before, and about 26? after. Flow has greatly increased.

So, pool people, please let me know if I'm on the right track here. Since it is cold and we won't be swimming in it unless we decide to fire up the heater, am I ok leaving the CYA high and just maintaining free chlorine levels, or do I need to either drain/refill to get CYA back down (to where, like 20-40?) or just keep chlorine levels higher? How high? Something else? I stopped and bought plain liquid chlorine and muriatic acid but haven't started to balance yet, because it wouldn't make sense if I need to drain a bunch of water off.

Help lol

 

[Sam Colt]

High CYA nullifies free chlorine. Change half the water (at least) to get that number down. You're on the right track with the rest.

 

[Brains]

Yeah I'm not looking forward to draining the pool down, but it has to be done.

New mystery, and a bit "what the ???" moment. Any reason for my lines to the main drains coming out of the skimmers to be filled with gravel?

 

[robertc1024]

TreyG and RP- are your guys. I took Vaquero's advice and said - f'kit - get a pool guy.

 

[Brains]

Paging @TreyG-20 and @rp-

I have this problem where I have a "need" to know how things work, and I have this gift of not being work-averse, so at least for now I am dedicated to doing my own pool stuff.

I'm figuring stuff out as I go though, this is definitely a new world for me. I thought I had the plumbing figured out, and then the gravel threw me for a loop. I probably wouldn't have known (inspector missed it too), but I went looking at how to drain the pool by selecting only the main drains and bypassing the skimmers.

 

[rp-]

TreyG and RP- are your guys. I took Vaquero's advice and said - f'kit - get a pool guy.

I keep trying to get out and they keep pulling me back in!

Paging @TreyG-20 and @rp-

I have this problem where I have a "need" to know how things work, and I have this gift of not being work-averse, so at least for now I am dedicated to doing my own pool stuff.

I'm figuring stuff out as I go though, this is definitely a new world for me. I thought I had the plumbing figured out, and then the gravel threw me for a loop. I probably wouldn't have known (inspector missed it too), but I went looking at how to drain the pool by selecting only the main drains and bypassing the skimmers.

Check your alkalinity. Should be between 80-120. If the alkalinity is high you use acid to lower it. Do you know how many gallons the pool is?

Cyanuric acid binds to blah blah blah... Numbers and big words here... Scientific mumbo jumbo... (Sounds like you learned this part from your test kit) So you should lower the level down. Aside from chlorine lock it can also cause plaster and heater issues. Yes, the only way to lower it is to drain/refill. The book will say the ideal range is 20-50 or around there but anything under 100 is fine.

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[servis]

Drop the muriatic acid and use hydrochloric. Muriatic is not as pure, may leave rust staind in the pool.

 

[robertc1024]

I finally relented when I could keep my pool crystal clear all winter - then spring happened and it was game on.

 

[rp-]

Drop the muriatic acid and use hydrochloric. Muriatic is not as pure, may leave rust staind in the pool.

Muriatic acid is the standard for pools. It is fine for pools.

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[rotor]

Solved my pool problems. I filled it in. One thing I would suggest is to open the skimmer basket with a hangar or hook rather than sticking your finger in the holes. The basket is where all the rattle snakes end up once they go for a swim. I kid you not.

 

[Sam Colt]

Yeah I'm not looking forward to draining the pool down, but it has to be done.

New mystery, and a bit "what the ???" moment. Any reason for my lines to the main drains coming out of the skimmers to be filled with gravel?

View attachment 232292

Is that the line from the bottom drain(s) or the line to the pump/filter? Either way, i can't think of a reason. Is it possible a rain event washed gravel in and the owner *accidentally* vacuumed it up?

 

[rp-]

Yeah I'm not looking forward to draining the pool down, but it has to be done.

New mystery, and a bit "what the ???" moment. Any reason for my lines to the main drains coming out of the skimmers to be filled with gravel?

View attachment 232292

It's likely not used and just capped off. It's pretty common for that. If you have 2 skimmers only one MIGHT be connected to the main drain. It's also possible the main drain is plumbed straight to the pump and doesn't go to the skimmers.

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[Brains]

Measured this morning:

Free chlorine: 1ppm
Total chlorine: 1ppm
pH: 8.0 (three drops on the test kit acid demand to reach 7.5, four to 7.2)
Alkalinity: 110ppm
Calcium: 190ppm
CYA: ~130

Since we won't be swimming in it, should I chlorinate it kinda high, like 7-8 until spring, and then drain/fill?

I have two skimmers, both lines to (what I assume is) the main drains are filled with rocks. I spooned some out of one skimmer, and there's definitely PVC sloped in the direction of the pool for about 6 inches that I can see anyway. I don't have equalizer ports, only main drains, but if they were going to cap them wouldn't they just screw in plugs? The other line is definitely suction, and both are clear and pulling water fine.

Over by the pump, I can close off the right side inlet and it pulls water from the skimmers, so that means the center is that line. I can't close off the center with the valve though, so I can't easily tell where the right line goes. Seems big enough to be the mains? Also that small 1 inch pipe with the riser, is that just for water hammer?

Then on the outlets, there's that capped pipe coming up. Any clues what that might be?

I do not know the total capacity of the pool, previous owners did not either.

 

[Brains]

Solved my pool problems. I filled it in. One thing I would suggest is to open the skimmer basket with a hangar or hook rather than sticking your finger in the holes. The basket is where all the rattle snakes end up once they go for a swim. I kid you not.

Only thing so far was a spider with all its babies on board, but I have been using my pocket knife to pop the lid and slide it over. I need to make a hook.

 

[Vaquero]

these are most likely, one from the bottom (main) drain and one from the surface skimmers. The valve they enter will divert flow from one,, the other,, or mixture of both..
Experiment and find a happy medium.

 

[rp-]

Good info. But I would leave the valve just how it is with the handle pointed straight down.

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[Vaquero]

Good info. But I would leave the valve just how it is with the handle pointed straight down.

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Go with the pro.

 

[rp-]

]

View attachment 232304

The line with the question mark is for an automatic cleaner but you don't have one installed. One of the jets in the pool may be covered or just not have any flow coming out of it. That connects to this line with the question mark on it.

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[Brains]

Aha! That solves that riddle, I do have one jet that doesn't blow water, and it's the only one with a little threaded cap above it.

I might swim down to the floor with a bottle of food coloring, see if the floor drains pull water.

 

[rp-]

Aha! That solves that riddle, I do have one jet that doesn't blow water, and it's the only one with a little threaded cap above it.

I might swim down to the floor with a bottle of food coloring, see if the floor drains pull water.

Little cold for that now

I swam Friday but the homeowner let me heat the pool to 73*

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