Swamp Water

[cupcake]

I am posting this for a friend. Just moved and the pool is swamp water. Has frogs living in the water. Wanted to know can you just pour bleach into the pool to clear it up to see if its worth trying to open this late in the year? Not sure that the pump works. Please help!!

[aylad]

Hi cupcake, and welcome to the forum!!

Generally we don't try to give advice for 3rd-party pools, because usually the owner of the pool isn't quite as likely to follow advice as the person asking the questions, which wastes a lot of time on your part and ours. We do encourage the pool owner to come join, though, because if they're willing to follow advice, we're more than willing to try to help! :)

You can use bleach in the pool to help clear it up, but you need a working pump and filter, otherwise you're wasting time and money. See if the pump/filter will run, and if so, we can help go from there.

[cupcake]

Thanks :) They do not have internet thats why I asked for them. We thought about getting everything working but was scared its to late in the year for that. Just not sure....

[Watermom]

It's not too late to clean up a pool. Like Janet asked above, find out if the pump/filter is operational. Report back and then somebody can try and help you go from there. I would also suggest having them to go ahead and order a good test kit. The one we recommend is the Taylor K-2006 or 2006C (see the testkit page in Janet's signature above) but it is only available online so they'll need something to use while they wait for it to arrive. Get a cheap OTO (yellow drops) / phenol test kit, or if available at YOUR Walmart (check availability (http://www.walmart.com/ip/HTH-6-Way-Test-Kit/17043668)), get the HTH 6-way DROPS test kit, which is compatible with the Taylor K2006. Test the pool as soon and you can, and post the results. If you get the 6-way kit, ALSO test the water you FILL the pool with, especially if it's a well, and post THOSE results as well. (The HTH is the best available kit you're likely to find locally, but it's not the K-2006. It can only provide rough measurements chlorine levels above 5 ppm, and it measures "TOTAL" hardness, rather than "CALCIUM" hardness, which is not ideal.)

It's much easier to answer your questions, when we know something about your pool. We often 'waste' the first few posts back and forth collecting information. So, please complete our new Pool Chart form -- it takes about 30 seconds, but will save much more than that.

Pool Chart Entry Form (http://goo.gl/cNPUO)
Pool Chart Results (http://goo.gl/PXaLu)

Hope this helps a little. You are a good neighbor to try and help them.

[PoolDoc]

Have them sit at your computer with you -- you do NOT want to be relaying info back and forth.

Also, cleaning up a swamp is a LOT of work and $$'s. Having them fill out the chart will allow us to give them some idea of what they're facing. If they don't have internet connectivity, they probably don't have a high budget for pool care . . . and you don't want to get between the pool and their budget.

[cupcake]

Its not that they dont have the money. Just moved into home. Thanks anyways. We will find another way to get info from someone that does not assume what is in the budget.

[Watermom]

Cupcake,
I think you are reading malice into this when there is none intended. We are willing to help if you and the neighbor can both be a part of the solution. We have been doing this for a long time and the track record shows that when help is sought from a third party (not the pool owner themselves) that there is not the total commitment to taking our advice. This is a really busy forum. We are actually swamped right now with posts and spending hours per day answering questions. It is not worth anybody's time if the person who has the pool doesn't totally 'buy-in' to what we suggest. So, it is not that we don't want to help. We are willing but also don't want to waste time answering posts that aren't actually going to be followed. If you can get the pool owner to sit with you and use your internet connection to post questions and read our advice, that would be best.

So, hope that makes sense to you. If you would like to have your neighbor get involved with this, then we are here to help. Please let us know. Thanks!