New SWG, High CYA???

[waterbear]

If you have to drain, you are looking at close to 10,000 gallons. That could fill up WaterBear's pool with some left over.

Pat

Guess there are advantages to having a small pool!

[kathgilliam]

Well, I've spoken to the former owner and she said when she filled the pool after resurfacing in February, her water bill was under $200. We had a freak storm this afternoon and 15 minutes later our pool is full of crepe myrtle and oak leaves and something that hits and rolls, leaving a brown stain on our pristine surface. We're going to vacuum to waste and get rid of some of the water, use the opportunity of less water to get down on the deep end (we're swimming wienies) and scrub off the stains, refill, resalt and hopefully put this behind us. How's that for a positive attitude?

I'm such a newbie, I don't quite understand the difference between the pump box and the filter box. The pump runs the water through, circulating it, and it's the first box on the fence. I know the second one runs our Polaris. Is it also the filter, or just for the Polaris? Or does the filter automatically run whenever the pump is on? Do I need the pump/filter on while I vacuum to waste? I'M SO CONFUSED!

Help me, Waterbear, you're my only hope...<nod to Princess Leia>...oh, and Pat of course...and Ben...etc.

K

[hulla]

The pump probably has a filter basket in it to catch leaves before harming the pump. But the real filter is separate. If you follow your pipes, the flow of water goes from pump to filter to heater and then back to the pool.

You can't vacuum unless the pump is running. The filter does not turn on and off. The pump does all the work pushing water thru the filter. When you vacuum to waste the filter gets bypassed. Leave the booster pump off while vacuuming.

[kathgilliam]

Thank you all so very much! We have vacuumed to waste successfully, and actually, except for the stains from the oak balls, the pool is looking beautiful as it drains away. : )

Hula, I appreciate so much your plain spoken explanation of the pool plumbing. I am finally starting to "get" it.

K

[PatL34]

Actually I believe in not wasting water. This will soon be a resource that will be more expensive than oil.

Kathgilliam's $300 will be a drop in the bucket, especially in the southern US a few years from now. We are depleting Mother Nature's MOST valuable resource, NOT oil at a rate that is mind-boggling. Trouble is we think it just comes out of a tap.

In parts of Arizona, drinking water has to be trucked in by homeowners, because they cannot afford the $2 million it would cost to drill a well. Lake Mead is 74 feet below normal. It has to feed close to seven states and Mexico.

So please think about this the next time you have to drain water from your pool. A time may soon come when you may not be allowed to fill it.

Pat

[kathgilliam]

I grew up in West Texas, Pat, where water conservation was taught to us at an early age. In fact, on a visit to Seven Falls we stood at the observation point, and my sister tattled to my mother, "Ummm, they're wasting water!"

I took your advice and retested the water to confirm that the CYA was indeed that high. I used the HTH test and it was well over 100, which indeed is the top number. Then I bit the bullet and started the drain of the pool and our finances. I just didn't know what else to do. The pool was resurfaced this past February and I was warned the high CYA would be highly corrosive to the surface. I guess this is what always happens, the dilemma between the needs of the individual and the needs of the masses.

K