Newbie - with cloudy pool

[Dad2handz]

Hi all! We have had our pool for about 5 years. It is a True L shape vinyl liner pool that is 16x36x41 in size with a deep end of 9 feet. We went with the True L due to the difference in ages of our children and the fact that we had a larger area for the younger one to play in and also have room for the older one to enjoy the deep end. We have a salt water converter on our pool and in the last 5 years we have replaced the salt cell (last year), hayward pump twice (also last year for the 2nd time) and the mother board in the salt converter twice. Seems it is always something breaking with our pool. I believe this year we need to change out the sand in the filter which doesn't sound very fun but I am sure will be needed.

Opening the pool this year, it is very cloudy. I have been able to shock the pool and then use EZ Chlor Drop Out and the debris all settles to the bottom quickly and vacuum to waste. For some reason not having luck with that this year.

Hope to continue reading to get help with our pool issues. Thanks!

[Watermom]

Welcome and thanks for the subscription!

Do you have a good test kit that you can use to give us some good, current water testing results? Not test strips. The kit we recommend is the Taylor K2006 or 2006C which you can get through the link in my signature below.

What all have you added to the water, meaning ingredients, please.

What is the volume of your pool?

[PoolDoc]

1. As Mom said, you need a kit.

2. It's not normal to lose your pump 2x in 5 years, unless it's lightning or thunderstorm related voltage surges. Which Hayward pump?

3. Sand does not normally need to be changed. BUT, if your pump is too big for the filter, you may have lost sand with each backwash, and my need to ADD sand. Insufficient sand will lead to a persistently cloudy pool. Which filter?

[Dad2handz]

Thanks for the replies! Working on getting a test kit so I can get accurate readings. Our pool is right at 40,000 gallons. And we have seen sand in the area where the pool backwash line is located. We have a Hayward Super Pump - 2 HP. That is what the original one was and that is what we replaced it with. I believe the 2nd one we had was a no-name brand that the pool man found lying around and put on just to keep us quiet. I have added 6 - 1 lb bags of pool shock that is 73% available chlorine and 27% calcium. Pool shock is non- stabilized. Then I added 2 bottles of EZ Chlor Drop Out. The water is blue but is very, very cloudy.

I will post readings as soon as I get my test kit.

[PoolDoc]

Are you sure it's 40K, or is that the volume at overflow?

I ran the calcs for typical dimensions, and it came out to ~32K, or maybe less. What is the actual water depth in the shallow part of the L? Which is the deep length -- 36' or 41'? What's the actual water depth in the hopper (deepest part)?

OK, other issues.

1. Make / model of the filter? (Pump may be too big for filter.)
2. Make / model of the pump OR amps and SF (Service Factor) of motor?

Meanwhile, chlorinate your pool with 1 - 2 gallons of plain store-brand 8% household bleach added each EVENING. Hold off on the cal hypo you have -- your calcium and alkalinity levels may be high. Wait for the the kit.

If you have a top mount filter, pop the top, and check the sand level.

Take pictures of the pump, filter, and piping, and post them using Picasa, Flickr, or Photobucket links, or by emailing them to poolforum@gmail.com.

[Dad2handz]

According to the pool place that put it in and the other local pool stores who get pretty close to the same numbers at 38,772 gallons. It's 3.5 deep in the shallow and 9 feet in the deep.

Hayward Super pump model no SP2615x20

And emailing the pictures now!

Thanks!

[PoolDoc]

Calculations:

41' x 16' x 3.5' x 7.46 gal/cft = 17,128 gallons
(36'-16') x 16' x 6' (average) x 7.46 = 14,323 gallons

Total = 31,415 gallons.


Keep in mind that pool stores benefit, in pounds of chemicals sold, by overestimating pool volume! Also, pool salesman win points, on the 'bigger is better' scale, by doing the same. But the errors make it harder to manage your pool well.

[Dad2handz]

Tested the water today and these are the results:
Chlorine 0.5
PH 8.2
Alk 110 ppm

Chlorine levels have never really shown much but we were told that's because it is a salt water pool? Thanks!

[PoolDoc]

1. "Salt" or Salt Water Chlorine Generators (SWCG) are just a METHOD of delivering chlorine to a pool. You *should* have the same chlorine levels as with any other method of delivery.

2. The most critical test results, for an outdoor pool, are chlorine, pH, and stabilizer. You need a K2006 so you can *accurately* test for those. 'Guess-strips' don't count, especially with respect to stabilizer.

3. I never got the pictures: poolforum@gmail.com

[Dad2handz]

PoolDoc...please let me know if you got my pictures that were emailed? I sent them twice to your email address listed above. Thanks!

[PoolDoc]

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-v8kKVIOXk6I/U1lN19pMb7I/AAAAAAAAG5M/aXhBBJcRNrI/s512/image.jpeg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-0BxU3u-PAmE/U2P6MG2qAaI/AAAAAAAAG9s/qZJkHWOF2L8/s800/image_2-ed.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-KyM_2jYUjlM/U2P6Lr7Wt_I/AAAAAAAAG9o/LxsBNljbSrQ/s800/photo-ed.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-pWXiuG4L_gA/U2P6K95yz0I/AAAAAAAAG9c/tW-QYG8AoHA/s564/photo-ed2.jpg

[PoolDoc]

I got the photos, but misplaced them -- for some reason, Gmail has stopped flagging emails with attachments.

I didn't post the photo of the filter label; it wasn't large enough or focused well enough to be able to read the label . . . so what model Hayward is it?

The other photo is of the pump MOTOR, not the actual pump, which is the wet end. You have an uprate 2 HP motor, which is the same as a full rate 1.5 HP motor. Assuming you have a 24" filter, your pump is probably much too large. But you'll need to send a photo of the pump, before I can tell for sure.

[Dad2handz]

I will get a picture of the filter label tonight when I get off work. When the installer tried a smaller pump, it did not circulate the water in my pool well enough which is why they went to a bigger pump. (Did I have someone totally clueless install this pool?)

[PoolDoc]

What do you mean, "it did not circulate the water in my pool well enough"?

[Dad2handz]

I sent another picture of my filter a couple of days ago to your email address. Thanks. My water is clear at this point. Just need to get it vacuumed this weekend and the walls cleaned. The walls seem to have a gritty, dingy film covering them almost like sandpaper. Going to try to figure out what that is...any ideas? I will also retest water tonight and post new results.

[PoolDoc]

Photos updated.

Gritty feel to your vinyl => probably the remnants of sand algae. See this page: http://pool9.net/algae-s/

[Dad2handz]

I read about the sand algae. Am I understanding correctly that I need to lower my ph to 6.8-7.2 mad it will go away without scrubbing the walls? How long does it normally take to clear up? Also, do you need to stay out of the pool while waiting on this to clear? Thanks!

I've really appreciated the help this year!!

[PoolDoc]

Yes, lower the pH . . . AND areate. You want to strip alkalinity. A lower pH + low alkalinity environment will soften and dissolve the particles.

You can swim while this is going on; I don't know how long it will take, but more than a week. You do NOT want to speed it up, by pushing the pH to, say, 5.0. Doing that will damage your liner.