New pool owner getting frustrated with costs

[jaff50]

I am a new pool owner. My family and I have never had a pool before and always wanted a pool and hot tub. We are military so never wanted to pay to put one in if we were only going to be somewhere for a couple of years. Well we came up on orders and began our house search and found the perfect house for us and as a bonus it had a pool and hot tub already. This is where the fun begins.

I have been reading through your forums quite a bit and have been kind of hesitant to believe it could really be that easy. So I kept going to the pool store spending the money and getting to know the guys that work there. It seemed the whole time I was being set up to spend more money every time I went in. It seems that if just a little instruction is left out something will go wrong and you will have to come back.

Well my pool started to turn green. I did not know what to do and so my wife went in and had the water tested while I was at work. I cam home and was so mad that I had followed every direction and they had gotten me for another 100. So I scoured the forums and found a cure bleach plain old nothing special bleach. So off to walmart to buy bleach at 10 pm. My wife was in tears laughing at how crazy I must have looked picking up 12 bottles of bleach for me and for her I had 1 bottle of vinegar, 4 packs of baking soda and moose tracks ice cream. (checkout was interesting)

It worked though 5 gallons of bleach and POW the next morning it was clear as the day we moved in. I can't thank you guys enough. I am still trying to learn more but I have confidence that I can do it.

I do have one question though. My liner looks as though it was never really cleaned around the edges and it is kind of dark. It is not algae it is not slimy or anything just looks like it needs to be cleaned real good. What can I use to clean it. I am picking up some Mule laundry soap and baking soda tomorrow just to have on hand. Would it be okay to use the laundry soap or bleach or I guess even the baking soda? I appreciate your help and any advice.

[Watermom]

Try using a paste made with baking soda and see if that will scrub it off.

Welcome to the Pool Forum, by the way! We've all done the Walmart thing with the buggy loaded with bleach bottles and gotten the stares and questions. One time when i was asked why I was buying so much, I just looked at the clerk with a straight face and said, "we are just really dirty." She just looked back. I didn't crack a smile or anything. I'm sure she thought I was strange, but who cares?

[BigDave]

Hi jaff and welcome to the forum. You've found the right place to learn to care for your pool and liberate yourself from the pool store.
I'm surprised Watermom didn't mention this, but, I think the the most important step to poolcare independence (after finding this place) is to purchase and learn to use a good FAS-DPD test kit (Taylor K-2006). If you buy one through the link in Watermom's signature, the pool forum gets a few scheckels to keep the lights on.

[PoolDoc]

I do have one question though.
My liner looks as though it was never really cleaned around the edges and it is kind of dark. It is not algae it is not slimy or anything just looks like it needs to be cleaned real good. What can I use to clean it?

Do NOT use the laundry soap!!! Never, ever! (If by "Mule laundry soap", you mean 20 Mule Team borax -- you won't hurt anything by using it, but you probably won't clean much, either.)

The brown line can be people goo. But if it was there when you opened the pool, there's a fair chance it's a type of liner deterioration that won't scrape or clean off. Basically, if the baking soda doesn't help at all, it's something you'll have to live with, until you replace the liner.

Sorry.

(PS, don't waste your money buying cleaners. But if you find you just can't help yourself, make SURE you check the labels, and that they specifically say "Safe for liners" or some such!)

[jaff50]

I appreciate the quick feedback. I did order a test kit and am looking forward to "freeing" myself from the pool store. My wife thinks I am a bit crazy and is skeptical of everything I am doing so far.

I will take the advice and live with it for now. I am having another issue though and am hesitant to act until I get my test kit.

My new issue and this one is far worse than the dark stain. My salt level is showing as 0. I have tried resetting the unit and getting a new reading but nothing. It seems as if I was stuck in time for a while. I bought my house 3 weeks ago and had to add 7 bags of beginnings. I have kept up with the renewal and had a reading of 3100. Then it just stopped and went to 500 and has gone down to 0 in less than 24 hours. Once it was so low I added 240lbs of mortons pool salt and the number went down even further. I checked my chlorine with my tabs and it was 0. So I added bleach to shock the pool.

BTW. I took a sample to the pool store and they just had me get some balance pack 100 and maintain 100. Was told I was low on CLA and needed to stabilize.

Is this a sign that my cell is going bad?

I think it is best to just stop and wait for my test kit.

I know this is kind of a random post but I am kind of freaking out and now my wife is giving me those "I told you" eyes.

[PoolDoc]

I know this is kind of a random post but I am kind of freaking out and now my wife is giving me those "I told you" eyes.

Yep. ;) :rolleyes: We hear that a lot. Not as much as I did 15 years ago, but still fairly often.

You can
+ show her the ingredients on the "Balance Pak 100" -- "sodium hydrogen carbonate" I believe they have it.
+ Then Google and find the definition ( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sodium+hydrogen+carbonate )
+ Finally, write down the price per lb of the INDUSTRIAL grade of sodium hydrogen carbonate, in Balance Pak 100, and
+ Compare it with the price for the FOOD grade of the same chemical, here: www.walmart.com/ip/10291025

See if she still thinks they are looking out for y'all!

The Maintain 100 is just stabilizer. At $3/lb for Kem-Tek dichor, you are paying $6/lb for stabilizer (it's 50% stabilizer by weight). But, of course, it's also chlorine. The "Maintain 100" is *just* stabilizer, and often sold for around $6/lb.

Regarding salt levels, it's quite possible that your SWCG has some sort of sensing problem. If you post your EXACT make and model, there's a fair chance someone can help you with the diagnostic.

However it's a good idea to go ahead and get the AquaCheck salt test strips -- these are a very innovative test method, that (unlike most AquaChek products) seems to be quite accurate.

[jaff50]

My wife read through the posts and laughed but I think she gets it now.

So, I took your advice and picked up the aquachem salt test strips. I am getting a reading of 4 which translates over to 1160. This is very low especially since I added 240 pounds of salt this weekend.

My SWG is a compupool generic aquarite replacement T cell 15.

[Watermom]

my wife is giving me those "I told you" eyes.
Hey! I'm pretty sure I have those kind of eyes, too! (Should I ask my family?? Nah. I already know the answer! :p:p

[jaff50]

I believe I figured it out!!! My wife called the 800 number on the box and ran through the tests. Well our volts are very low 14-19 range. I googled it when I came home from work and it led me here to the forums. Well, it seems I have a bad limiter. The quarter sized black piece. I took the panel apart and smelled it and looked at the back (even had my wife smell it to confirm). So I immediately ordered 2 from digikey.com I ordered them today and they have already shipped.I am hoping to have it fixed this weekend. I will keep you posted to my results.

I appreciate all the help.

[PoolDoc]

Please do.

But also remember that SWCG work best when your water is in good shape; when things go wrong, you need to shut it off and take over!

[jaff50]

Finally got it, It was the resistor. I bought 2 just in case and it was really simple to de-solder the old one and replace it with a new one. All is well now. I have followed everyones advice and have my own test kit now. It is a Taylor 2006. Looking back I wish I had read a bit further into the test kits and purchased one that I could test bromine as well. I have a salt pool and a bromine spa. Either way we are enjoying are swimming pool and are still working on getting everything else taken care of.

[PoolDoc]

It can test bromine.

No available test kit usable at pool side can distinguish bromine from chlorine. All test methods -- OTO, DPD, syringaldazine (strips) are actually halogen tests, and so react indiscriminately to chlorine, bromine, iodine . . .or if you are into expensive radioactive methods, astatine!

To test bromine with your K2006, just fill to the 10ml level, count your drops, and multiple each drop by 1.13 instead of 0.5. That will be your bromine level!