Buying a house with a pool--need advice

[Poconos]

Yuck !! Hope you don't find a corpse in the bottom of that mess.
I'm not sure of the plumbing but I'm guessing the cut pipes may have been for the heater which seems to have its ports capped and disconnected? Also, I'm wondering if there is another pump somewhere. I don't understand the skinny pipes in and out of the pump transitioning to what looks like 1.5" pipe. Almost like the pump shown was some kind of very low flow circulation pump and not the main pump.
Anyone with more ideas?
Al

[jmac31]

Yeah it is really nasty, tons and tons of algae. Thinking it might be worth the hassle to drain it at this point. I got to looking at the pipes and there should be another pump is what I am thinking as well. It is a foreclosure and they took all of the appliances so I am assuming they took the pump too if it was worth some money. If anyone else can help me with this mess it would be greatly appreciated.

[CarlD]

draining it at this point could be a mistake. If the ground around is very wet, you could float the pool out of the ground like a boat, doing thousands more damage to the structure.
IF there's no ground water or you must make repairs down there then you'll have to drain it, but you'll need something get rid of ground water, and that's more specialized than I am.

I think Al is right--the pipes to the pump look too thin, like maybe it's an automatic cleaner pump or a spa pump? I don't see an in-pump skimmer basket, which filter pumps always have, in my limited experience. Is that a pool heater or just the AC for the house?

I'm thinking the best course is to identify where the pipes go (Drains and skimmers, backwash drain, returns), get a new filter pump sized to your sand filter, and re-plumb it to suit. It's all PVC, so it's pretty easy to work, but only if you know what to plumb.

The skimmers and drains go to the pump, near its skimmer basket. It pumps water to the multivalve which can route it to filter and to the returns, backwards to backwash (and to the backwash drain), or directly to the pool, bypassing the filter.

Carl

[jmac31]

So the pool is coming along. Got a new pump and re-plumbed everything. Put some chlorine in it and it is no longer brown, just a milky green now. I have been running the pump quite often, I was just wondering how often I should run the pump. Getting it cleaned up, I am guessing, I should run it more than when it is sparking clear. My question is, how often or how long should I run it once it is up and running? I have heard 12 hours and 8 hours from people I have talked to.

On another note, the pool is still quite dirty. I have been trying to clean out the leaves and whatever else is on the bottom, but it is hard without being able to see it. If I keep shocking and running the filter will it eventually clear up?

P.S. Yeah that is a heater there. I am doing away with it though.

Thanks!

[CarlD]

OK, when cleaning a pool of algae, you need to run the pump 24/7, and be dosing it with chlorine pretty much constantly. In practical terms this means 3x/day or minimum 2x. You have to vacuum to get the junk out, and back wash a lot, too.

Once it's clean and the chemicals are all nicely balanced, you need to "turn over" your water at least once per day. How long that takes depends on the gallons per minute your pump and filter run at, and how many gallons you have. For example, say you have 10,000 gallons and your pump and filter run at 25gpm: You need to run the filter for at least 7 hours to filter all the water once. I just made up these numbers.

You should also get a leaf rake. This is a gadget that looks like someone welded a squeegee to a butterfly net and goes on a standard skimmer pole. You need to drag this across the bottom, even if you can't see it, and get those leaves out of there! They are decaying and using up your chlorine.

Carl

[jmac31]

We have been running the filter for probably 14 hours a day. The problem I am having is that my impeller keeps getting clogged. I have cleaned it out 4 times today and it just keeps getting clogged. Any ideas on how to keep it from being clogged. Here is a link to the pump I have http://www.amazon.com/Pentair-Challe.../dp/B002ZJ3NC6.

I have been using the leaf rake. It just seems to be never ending. I raked stuff out for about 6 hours today. Minus the time I spent cleaning that stupid impeller. Regarding the GPM of my pump and filter. My filter is Sta-Rite HRPB24, it says 20gpm and I am not sure what my pump puts out.

I have some chlorine granules. How much of that should I be putting in during the day? I've been putting in about 5 scoops, I think it is 1 cup per scoop, every day. Think I need more than that?

Jesse

[aylad]

You need to put in enough to get your chlorine up to 12-15 ppm and keep it there, at least until the pool clears and you add stabilizer.

Janet