Uncovered Our Pool Today!

Ok, before the web site crash I posted a request for help converting over to "grocery store" chemicals. From what I remember everyone said to test the water and report back. We are now in the process of adding water to the pool should be complete in a few more hours. Now, do we turn the pump on and circulate the water prior to testing? That makes sense to me as we do have sediment in the bottom along with some leaves and small debris. When I get in from work tomorrow I plan to start getting all the stuff out of the pool.

Now, heres question #1, where do we get a testing kit to give us all the results we will need to get all of your help? I know Bens kit is the one everyone uses, but I don't think we can get that here in 2 to 3 days so until I get his kit ordered and it arrives, where should I shop and what do I buy? I forget who replied but they told me we would need to have the following readings so that you guys can guide us ding dongs in our efforts:
FC
CC
TC
Alk
PH
CYA
CH

Does Calcium hardness matter to us since we have a vinyl IG pool?


I have 50lbs of baking soda unopened from last summer, will that still be good? Our pool is still relatively new, so we have tons of work still to do, we plan to build a pump shed, would it be ok to store our chemicals in there? I plan to put in shelves, buy rubbermaid type plastic containers to hold the soda and borax, but would it be ok to store the acid *muriatic* I think????? and xtra jugs of unopened bleach? Thinking I read somewhere about not storing the bleach outside in the heat, but maybe that was direct sunlight??

I have started buying jugs of 6% bleach and the borax to stockpile for startup for the summer. I think someone also asked for the #of gallons of the pool. My husband measured it, and it rounded out at about 32k gallons, but that seems on the low side, I think I will remeasure for myself just to prove he is right and I am wrong as usual. lol

Let me thank you all in advance for the help you have provided and what will be provided for us this season. Oh and let me go ahead and apologize in advance for the times you will be asked to explain in BLONDE terms as well. I promise eventually I will get this down to a science.

Thanks so much everyone, your posts are so helpful and honest. We had a terrible experience with our Pool Company, and honestly, I'd rather stay away from the pool stores, they want my money and guess what.......thanks to you all, I think we will be keeping more of it for ourselves this summer and less to them.

Dana

Do plan on buying Ben's kit, but in the meantime see if you can find a drops based kit. I don't know if places like Walmart, Lowe's, etc., have stocked their kits yet or not. You many have to go to a pool store, but if so, just buy a kit and not all the other stuff they may insist that you need. Don't buy teststrips. As for storage - you will want to store stuff in a place that doesn't have extreme temperatures. I think baking soda from last year should be fine and yes, you are right that calcium hardness is irrelevant in a vinyl pool except that if the level gets too high (probably above 500 but may not take that high) you can start having issues with cloudy water. Hope this helps.

Watermom

Hi, Dana,

Watermom's got you on the right track....get tested right away. If you can't find the test kit you need, go to a pool store that will test for you. Ben's kit is the best and everyone here is familiar with it....I'd get it on order. Post your numbers for those things you listed and you'll be off and running.

Aside from bleach, I would not plan on storing much of anything else. Additionally, I personally don't store more than two weeks bleach because it does lose it's strength....particularly in sunlight. Most of the other items will be "one time" additives and you can pick them up as needed at the grocery store.

I think I reccomended this site to you before the crash but will do so again in case my memory has failed me.:) :)

http://www.deh.enr.state.nc.us/ehs/chem.htm#ta

The size (gallons) of your pool is important to calculate chemical quantities.

I, too, think the baking soda will be fine

The only problem with storing Baking Soda and Borax is sometimes they get chunky--but are still effective. Bleach should be stored in a cool, dark place.

32k gallons is a pretty big pool--my A/G is a 40x16 foot rectangle, with 5' 6" deep zone, and it's still a bit less than 20k --about 19,200, or 19,300.

Generally, for estimating, once you are at that size, 1000 gallons higher or lower won't affect your calculations much. So if it's really only 31k or up to 33-34k it won't matter. Of course, if it's really 40k, and your estimating on the basis of 30k, that will matter.

thanks everyone for the help. Due to a death in the family we will be delayed in starting up the pool a few days. I will get back online soon.

Dana

Sorry about your loss, Dana.

Although it's still chilly in Northern Delaware, I opened my pool yesterday. My levels were out of whack so I've really been anxious to get things under control and get a feel for everything before we're ready to swim.

It was too late to use my new pool last season but I'm already using the last of my PH Down and other pool store chemicals. I had already switched to bleach last year after I realized early on that the pool store geniuses had no clue what they were doing. Bought some muriatic acid and borax already as well.

Getting rid of all that pool store junk is the way to go.