A picture is worth a thousand words . . .

[haze_1956]

I went out tonight about 10:00 pm and could see stuff settled on the bottom, so swept the entire pool again

The following should be done after you are sure the filter is working properly

If you can see stuff that has settled on the bottom, vacuum it up ! Don't sweep it back into suspension. And when you are done vacumming, leave the vacuum facing upward at the bottom of the pool. This will draw the dirtier water from the bottom through the hose instead of just the cleaner water from the top through the skimmer. Unused pools tend to filter the top water more (no bathers to mix it up). You were also aerating, which decreases mixing even more.

I also think that if the water isn't mixing well, there is a chance the algae at the bottom isn't getting high enough doses of CL to be killed.

I am suggesting this as I have seen no mention of the pool having a bottom drain.


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[Pamsel]

When I said I swept the pool, I did mean that I vaccumed the pool. I'm not sure if you mean vacuum to waste when you say vacuum it up. I did not vacuum to waste, but did vacuum.

I do have a bottom drain and have the valve set 50/50 drain/skimmer. I have not ever left the vacuum facing upward in the bottom of the pool.

This morning my pressure guage had gone completely around and was spasming at 0 with a loud hum now. I turned off the filter and put a message on the construction repair forum.

What next??

[haze_1956]

Next step is to get the filter working properly. Without the filter the rest won't matter.

If the filter hasn't really been removing much, the sheer volume of organic matter may be too much for the CL to oxidize.

Keep going Pam, this pool must not defeat you. The honor of PoolForum rests on your shoulders. - (cue poolforum theme song)

Seriously Pam, I has been a long battle with no results so far, But you WILL get it cleared up. It's just chemistry and water filtration. Its a matter of finding out whats not working right, fixing that and back at it.

[Pamsel]

I dunno Haze. I'm ready to cover it back up and forget it's out there!.

[haze_1956]

I dunno Haze. I'm ready to cover it back up and forget it's out there!.

But it's only June with a lot of hot weather ahead.

In August you will look at your crystal clear pool and think, "I made that happen" Then dive in for a nice refreshing swim.

And won't that be SWEET !!

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[Rangeball]

Several years ago, I had a sand filter and relied on bad pool store info.

I had a point where my pool looked like your last pic. I was told to vacuum, so I did. All the algae straight into the filter. I fought a similar battle that you are going through with only input from the pool store who sold me droves of stuff on their recommendation. Their final solution was that my sand must have gone bad.

When I went to replace the sand, the top several inches were pure dark green. Looked like spinach. There was so much algae, I could never get ahead of it. It would never backwash out.

I replaced the sand, fired back up and things finally straightened out. In retrospect, if I had vacuumed to waste when I had all the visible algae, I probably could've avoided a lot of headache and wasted money.

Morale of the story to me was if I see algae, I get it out of the pool, not into the filter.

[Pamsel]

Haze, I'll try to keep that image in mind!

Thank you Rangeball - I've done a lot of vacuuming to waste, also. I've vacuumed both ways.

I appreciate your input.

[smallpooldad]

Two thoughts.

Could it be that the type of sand is not correct for pool filters, that is why the pressure readings are so odd? The other thoughts on the filter are also strong possibilities, such as too much algae, broken laterals, etc.

Would it not be easier to just drain the pool and start from scratch?

I drained our pool when we had a metal problem as it is nearly impossible to get rid of the metals through backwashing. This ended up being the least expensive solution.