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Hi all. Of course I found this fourm after I filled my pool and its been running almost a week no issues yet but my pH is starting to get low (7.0) barely on an OTO. I have some chlorine tabs in a floater now. I was looking on the simple start up page but the smallest size is 2500 gals. My pool says its 1500 gals. What would my daily dose be and where should I start with adding bleach and borax. Thanks in advance. This is a wonderful site!
Hi and welcome to the Pool Forum!
A dose of about 1/4 of a cup should be about right. If you don't have dichlor yet, you can just use bleach until you get some. The directions are in the 'recipe.'
If you have trichlor tabs in a floater, that is most likely the cause for your low pH as they are very acidic. The Borax doses will raise that up.
You might want to see if Walmart has an HTH 6-Way drops-based kit (not test strips). That will allow you to measure more than just chlorine and pH. You'll want to know what your CYA level is after you have been using the dichlor for about a week. A CYA level of about 50 is good for most pools. At that point, you'll want to switch to just using bleach.
It is really important that you maintain good chlorine levels. These little pools are actually harder to deal with than bigger ones because they have such poor filtration that cleaning up algae can be a nightmare. So, be diligent and keep it algae free.
Hope this helps. Come back if you have further questions.
Watermom- thanks for the reply. I was thinking 1/4 cup would be about right lookng at the progression of measurements per gals. I have dichlor on order. Should I do the bleach and then the borax nightly, do I have to wait in between and should I dissolve the borax first (I don't have a skimmer). So many questions! But I want to get it right!!
Until you get the dichlor, use the bleach as per the recipe instructions. It is ok to add the bleach and the borax one right after the other with no problems. You can dissolve the borax first if you want, but it isn't necessary.
Don't worry about the questions. The learning curve is really steep in the beginning. We are happy to help so..... ask away! :)
If the pool is being used, you'll still need doses closer to the 2500 gallon pool than it might seem. A child swimming (or peeing) in a pool consumes the same amount of chlorine, regardless of the gallons in a pool.
In large pools you can store large amounts of chlorine, while having low chlorine levels. In small pools, in order to have enough to 'meet the need' you have to have higher levels.
For example, in a 30K gallon pool, you can store the equivalent of 1 pound of chlorine in a pool (sufficient for several 'pee' episodes), with only 4 ppm of free chlorine (on your test kit). To do the same in a 3,000 gallon pool, would take 40 ppm of free chlorine!
Ok soooo I put too much dichlor in yesterday. When I checked the levels the chlorine didnt even register and my pH was about 7.2 I figured since I had no chlorine reading and hadn't used the dichlor AND had to add about 3 inches of water to pool (ring deflated other day because someone caught the plug on way out in hurry. I noticed it quickly after but only fixed the ring but didnt fill the pool as a storm was quickly approaching). Anyway I added about a cup of dichlor and a cup of borax. We swam last night. I covered the pool (solar cover) and ran filter all night and all day. Tonight clorine level is 5.0+ on OTO and pH is 7.6. Should I leave the cover off tomorrow and hope its not rainy and windy tomorrow and the sun will take some of the chlorine out? Should I do anything else or just wait it out? Note to self. Dichlor is strong....dont need much!!
Use the chart at this link to help you decipher what number those off the scale OTO readings are:> http://pool9.net/oto-chart/
It won't take long for those chlorine levels to come down. Not to worry.
Thanks for the quick reply. I'd say based on that link I'm between 9ppm and 13ppm. It's definitely bright yellow but no orange tone. I will run the filter again overnight and check tomorrow. Another quick question. Trying to not raise the electric bill too much. Is it ok to only run the filter at night once the levels are ok and then after swimming on weekends (we usually swim after work and summer camp and when we get out I run the filter until morning. Thanks again for all your help!
You can run the filter as little as it takes, but at least 4 hours per day, preferably at 2 different times. Use this, or something like it:Intermatic P1121 Heavy Duty Outdoor Timer 15 Amp
Perfect! Thanks. Gotta love Amazon!
We do! ;)
I'm sorry to post on my old thread, but it won't let me post anywhere else! :)
My GFI plug on my pump seems to be water logged from all the rain we've had in FL the last week or so. I came home from vacation and it won't reset and start. Has anyone else heard of this problem? Should I just pray for some drier weather and it will start again? I'm hoping it will be drier today and I can get in and scrub the pool. It's starting to get slimy. I came back to no chlorine and about 7.2 pH, I added dichlor and borax yesterday and I will check again tonight if the storms aren't too bad when I get home from work.
You should be able to post in this section; you just can't post in the Getting Started any more.
1. GFCI units aren't fixable. You wouldn't want to fix them in any case -- you couldn't be sure it was safe. Is the GFCI unit on the cord, and external to the pump?
2. You can maintain the pool with bleach and dichlor, but keep the chlorine high and DO NOT SWIM! If you load the pool up with swimmers, when you have no filtration, you're likely to end up with a swamp.
3. If the GFCI is external, you can cut it off, and rewire a new plug onto the cord. You'll need a separate GFCI; your pool won't be safe without one.
This plug replaces the male plug on your extension cord; you have to cut the cord and rewire it. You *may* be able to use it to replace the GFCI on the pump
Leviton 16693 15A 120VCompact Right Angle GFCI
This is a simple plug:
Leviton 660-515CV-0CV 15A 125V Male Connector, Yellow
I'd recommend that you get those models from Amazon; similar products are usually available from Lowes or Home Depot, but they have unsuitable products mixed in with suitable one, and you have to read labels very, very carefully . . . and know exactly what you're looking for. If you need appropriate extension cords, here are 2:
US Wire 74050 12/3 50-Foot SJTW Yellow Heavy Duty Lighted Plug Extension Cord
US Wire 74100 12/3 100-Feet SJTW Yellow Heavy-Duty Lighted Extension Cord
Ideally, you'll put the GFCI on one of these, and the plain plug on the pump. That way, the GFCI will be off the ground and semi-protected.
Finally . . . I'm guessing your GFCI lay in a puddle? Don't do that! The new GFCI won't have that problem -- IF you put it on the extenstion -- since it will plug directly into your receptacle. But make sure the extension cord / pump plug connections are raised off the ground, too.
Here's another option:
TRC 26020008-6 12/3 GFCI Protected Tri-Cord Set 3-Outlets, 2-Ft, 15A Yellow
Thank you for your quick reply. The GFI is on male end of the cord, which is plugged into an extension cord. I keep the plug on a concrete square. It wasn't in a puddle, but when I look at the button to reset it looks like condensation inside the button. I will look into a new plug end or new pump. Thanks :)