R6 Guy
08-02-2012, 10:11 PM
I'll get the starters out of the way first. My name's James, my wife and I just purchased a home here in Louisiana where I'm stationed active duty with the Army. I've never in my life had to maintain a pool (I was always on the swim teams, the facilities had people to do the maintenance!) and I'm a complete noob when it comes to this whole thing. My mother in law told me about this site and said you guys are awesome and that she has been lurking here for years gathering up tips.
As far as the pool situation itself, the house we bought came with a pool (which we originally wanted to avoid because of the fear of the labor-intensity) but we loved the home so much we decided we'd go for it.
The pool is (according to my best guess based on the calculations I've found online) 25,000 gallons, in ground. It was in HORRIBLE shape when we first looked at the house, but the sellers got a pool cleaning service working on it and we figured it would be resolved by the time we closed and moved in. It has a Hayward sand type (?) filter and came with some basic tools like a couple of different skimmers, vacuum brush and hose (complete with some splits that I had to doctor up) and a "Kreepy Kraul" (?) automatic vacuum and hose, and a couple of the extending poles to use the tools with. The filter appears to be pretty old, the model number on the side is completely illegible and I only figured out the brand name by seeing other posters using the name in its entirety.
We've been in the house about 3 weeks now, I'll start at the beginning and detail what's been going on with the pool. As I stated above, it was in VERY bad shape when we first saw it. The filter had been shut off and the pool ignored for at least a month. The algae was so thick you couldn't see your fingers if you dipped your hand into the water to mid-palm. The Kreepy Kraul vacuum thing was left sitting in the water, and was completely infested with algae inside the filter canister and the entire hose. When we looked at the house just before closing, they had sent someone out who had shocked, and was running the filter. There were large patches of dead algae clumped and floating on the surface, and a very thick 'carpet' of dead algae on the bottom. We were assured it would be taken care of by the time we closed... but it wasn't. We closed, moved in, and I pulled the timers off the filter for the first few days and ran it 24/7. The Kreepy Kraul was so gunked up with dead algae that at first I didn't even use it, and spent a week or so cleaning it in my spare time after work with just the filter running regularly. I had to very frequently backflush and rinse the filter because it was getting so clogged from the dead algae.
We started testing the water and while the Ph is usually right on the money (almost always right at 7.3, 7.4), the test kits (either of the 2 we have) are showing absolutely zero for chlorine, despite how many tablets have dissolved through the in-line dispenser by the pump or in the floating dispenser. Over the past 3 weeks I've gone through an entire box of shock (6 bags, if I remember right), and 3 whole bottles of algae killer as well. I still see algae growing on the walls, and have to scrub fairly often either with the brush/vacuum on the pole or just with a regular brush and my trunks as I walk or swim my way around and scrub away. I also found a bucket of chlorine tabs the previous owners had left in a shed that got water in it, and they were completely dissolved into a chlorine soup. In an effort to get the chlorine up to at least readable levels, I added about 4 cups' worth of that soup. 24 hours later still no chlorine reading, and algae still growing.
We received no information at all from the sellers, as they were actually across the country at the time and we were dealing with their family via power of attorney for the sale, so I don't even know if it was supposed to be a salt water pool prior to our purchasing and moving in.
The pool is in the backyard of an East/West facing home, so it receives a large amount of sunlight throughout the day. The water is nearly bathwater-warm in the late afternoons and early evenings with the air temps being over the hundred degree mark these past few weeks, so I'm sure that isn't helping the algae situation.
Adding to the frustration is the fact that the water is so cloudy. It seems like no matter how much I run the filter or how much I vacuum up the fallout that collects on the bottom, you can't really see more than a few feet. You still can't really see your feet when standing in the shallow end (approx 3' deep), and my kids have been getting increasingly frustrated with me keeping them out for days on end as I try to balance out the chemical situation to kill off the algae and clear the pool up.
Hope I haven't thrown too much out here with the first post, I realize I'm going to be heavily moderated and I'd rather get all this out immediately and start looking for answers than lurk for a year waiting for the opportunity to post reasonably. I don't blame the security on your part though, don't get me wrong!
Anyways I'm looking forward to learning a lot from you guys, I hope to get this pool squared away so I can start spending more time enjoying it than working on it!
As far as the pool situation itself, the house we bought came with a pool (which we originally wanted to avoid because of the fear of the labor-intensity) but we loved the home so much we decided we'd go for it.
The pool is (according to my best guess based on the calculations I've found online) 25,000 gallons, in ground. It was in HORRIBLE shape when we first looked at the house, but the sellers got a pool cleaning service working on it and we figured it would be resolved by the time we closed and moved in. It has a Hayward sand type (?) filter and came with some basic tools like a couple of different skimmers, vacuum brush and hose (complete with some splits that I had to doctor up) and a "Kreepy Kraul" (?) automatic vacuum and hose, and a couple of the extending poles to use the tools with. The filter appears to be pretty old, the model number on the side is completely illegible and I only figured out the brand name by seeing other posters using the name in its entirety.
We've been in the house about 3 weeks now, I'll start at the beginning and detail what's been going on with the pool. As I stated above, it was in VERY bad shape when we first saw it. The filter had been shut off and the pool ignored for at least a month. The algae was so thick you couldn't see your fingers if you dipped your hand into the water to mid-palm. The Kreepy Kraul vacuum thing was left sitting in the water, and was completely infested with algae inside the filter canister and the entire hose. When we looked at the house just before closing, they had sent someone out who had shocked, and was running the filter. There were large patches of dead algae clumped and floating on the surface, and a very thick 'carpet' of dead algae on the bottom. We were assured it would be taken care of by the time we closed... but it wasn't. We closed, moved in, and I pulled the timers off the filter for the first few days and ran it 24/7. The Kreepy Kraul was so gunked up with dead algae that at first I didn't even use it, and spent a week or so cleaning it in my spare time after work with just the filter running regularly. I had to very frequently backflush and rinse the filter because it was getting so clogged from the dead algae.
We started testing the water and while the Ph is usually right on the money (almost always right at 7.3, 7.4), the test kits (either of the 2 we have) are showing absolutely zero for chlorine, despite how many tablets have dissolved through the in-line dispenser by the pump or in the floating dispenser. Over the past 3 weeks I've gone through an entire box of shock (6 bags, if I remember right), and 3 whole bottles of algae killer as well. I still see algae growing on the walls, and have to scrub fairly often either with the brush/vacuum on the pole or just with a regular brush and my trunks as I walk or swim my way around and scrub away. I also found a bucket of chlorine tabs the previous owners had left in a shed that got water in it, and they were completely dissolved into a chlorine soup. In an effort to get the chlorine up to at least readable levels, I added about 4 cups' worth of that soup. 24 hours later still no chlorine reading, and algae still growing.
We received no information at all from the sellers, as they were actually across the country at the time and we were dealing with their family via power of attorney for the sale, so I don't even know if it was supposed to be a salt water pool prior to our purchasing and moving in.
The pool is in the backyard of an East/West facing home, so it receives a large amount of sunlight throughout the day. The water is nearly bathwater-warm in the late afternoons and early evenings with the air temps being over the hundred degree mark these past few weeks, so I'm sure that isn't helping the algae situation.
Adding to the frustration is the fact that the water is so cloudy. It seems like no matter how much I run the filter or how much I vacuum up the fallout that collects on the bottom, you can't really see more than a few feet. You still can't really see your feet when standing in the shallow end (approx 3' deep), and my kids have been getting increasingly frustrated with me keeping them out for days on end as I try to balance out the chemical situation to kill off the algae and clear the pool up.
Hope I haven't thrown too much out here with the first post, I realize I'm going to be heavily moderated and I'd rather get all this out immediately and start looking for answers than lurk for a year waiting for the opportunity to post reasonably. I don't blame the security on your part though, don't get me wrong!
Anyways I'm looking forward to learning a lot from you guys, I hope to get this pool squared away so I can start spending more time enjoying it than working on it!