Flooding, dirt mulch in pool

[GJMIV]

We are relatively new to pools and bought a new home about a month ago that had a pool. We have taken care of the pool ourselves thus far with direction from the previous owner and some careful research but are clearly not yet comfortable enough to claim any level of expertise. We use test strips from KMart and pool-store-bought products at this point, but I've researched and understand that there are other better alternatives and I plan on learning about these in more detail over the winter to start next year as a much better-informed owner that can diagnose and solve problems on my own.

Pool facts:

I think our vinyl-lined pool holds about 20k gallons - 4' to 6' deep, figure-8 shaped.
Filter is cartridge, 4 top skimmers, one bottom skimmer.
Natural Gas heater.

Up until a few days ago the pool was crystal clear. We changed the cartridge in the filter about once per week, shocked about once per week (or after rains, usage, etc) and the test strips always came up clean or only needing slight adjustment.

Cut to last Thursday - flash floods moved through the area. We discovered a drainage issue (that I'm working on as a side project now to prevent issues like this in the future) that combined with the flooding to basically totally flood our pool. Think of a river of water rolling over a leave/mulch bed and into the pool. At first the mulch collected in the pool - later the rains were so hard that the floating mulch ended up in the neighbor's yard and I'd probably say that maybe half of the poolwater is gone and replaced with rain/groundwater. Needless to say, it was basically brown. We could see to the first step (maybe 5"?) after the rain stopped.

Not knowing what to do, I drained the pool to skimmer level and left it for the evening.

I've called a few pool places. First guy out is a very poor communicator but seems knowledgeable. His plan: Shock it, Floc it, let it settle for a few days, vaccuum to waste if we can find the bottom and then start filtering. He's concerned that the cartridge won't be able to clear it, but we can try. Otherwise he says $1100 for a drain/refill, and risk to damage to the liner. But faster to back to swimming.

OK, go ahead and floc. He managed the PH daily, added floc two or three times and it is definately more clear. We can see the bottom step, but not the bottom surface yet (maybe today when I get home?)

In the meantime I called another guy. He was much better at communicating, but didn't give me as much intellectual confidence. He suggested to just get that filter going. But he didn't really even know what floc was.

Algae growth seems non-existent thus far even though we have 95 degrees and sun for the last few days.

It has been 4 days now and the pool isn't brown, it is gray/cloudy. We have a party on August 12th that I'd love to have the pool ready to swim for.

A) should I consider vaccuuming tomorrow afternoon regardless of the condition and then filter the crap out of it?

B) for $500 I can have a DE filter installed, will this do a better job of filtering? Is it worth it as a longer-term investment and in case this happens again?

C) is the drain/refill option really that risky to the liner?

D) CAN I GET THIS POOL BACK TO SHAPE IN 10 DAYS??



Thoughts? Ideas? Advice?

I like this place and plan on spending lots of time here. I'll post pictures of the pool soon - it is (ok, it WAS) freaking awesome before this ridiculous flood.

The flood, btw, flooded 100's of basements in the area. I'm happy to have gotten away with only a trashed pool.

[aylad]

I would definitely go for the DE filter, from everything I've read both here and elsewhere, it'll do a much better job of filtering, and at a lower long-term cost. If it were my pool, I'd shock the *&%^ out if it with bleach, brush daily (at least once if not more), and keep the filter going 2/7. If by leaving it off overnight enough stuff settles on the bottom to vaccuum out, that's also an option. I think you can probably get it back to shape in 10 days, but it's going to take some effort. I have never used floc in my pool, but everyone I've talked to that has says that it creates more cloudiness than they started with....I'd save the money and spend it on bleach instead.

Good luck!

Janet

[GJMIV]

3 days of "floc'ing" and I finally lost my patience.

So I called around and got a local guy called "the Pool Doctor". He gave me the same options (drain/refill, floc, filter, clean, etc.) and also offered another solution. He said for $300 he'd have it clear in less than 48 hours or I won't pay.

OK!? Get on it, I said.


Showed up about two hours later with a portable high-capacity DE filter and a pump and a vaccuum.

I don't think he knew what he was in for - it was probably a little worse than he imagined - but he started vaccuuming blind. He pulled out about 2 wheelbarrows-full of mulch and leaves.

Then he started filtering in the early evening. By midnight it was looking better but not great. Next morning we could see the shallow end a bit, things were getting better. He was managing chemicals this entire time too, by the way.

Went to work - came home at lunch - a little better. He had stopped by and set up an additional filter on the other side of the pool.

End of workday - much, much better, but still cloudy.

Woke up this morning - CRYSTAL CLEAR. Little bit of mud on the bottom. Guy called me this morning and asked how it looked - I informed him that it was ok and he said he'd drop by later and vaccuum one more time, scrub it all down, transfer ownership to all of my equipment and take his stuff. He said "jump in when you get home".

Unreal. $300. I gave him $350.



Conclusions...

1. NEVER MULCH AROUND THE POOL. Replacing all of the mulch with stones and building walls around the beds.

2. ENSURE APPROPRIATE DRAINAGE FOR DOWNPOUR CONDITIONS. I had the irrigation folks out yesterday and they are working on a plan to divert water from heavy rains.

3. SCRAP THE CARTRIDGE FILTER. I'm going to install a DE Filter and build it so that both filters can be used when needed. I'll put in a valve diverter that allows me to run the water through either filter in case of a failure or if we don't have materials, etc.

4. MAINTAIN A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH A GOOD POOL SERVICE COMPANY. While I intend to fully learn the intricacies fo pool service and maintenance, you never know when you'll need help from somebody that knows your pool. Or somebody that can help you when you are gone or overwhelmed with other things. These guys were good. Thank GOODNESS.


Pictures to follow. I learned a ton from the experience and with the right filter I think I could probably have recovered from this on my own at an even lesser expense. Of course maybe not as fast, but for less $$$.