No Chlorine. . . If not Algae, then What?

[Pamsel]

Murphy's Law seems to be in effect right now at our house. By this afternoon our water had cleared enough to begin to see the bottom of the pool in the shallow end. Early evening our pump lost its prime and we could not get it to prime again. We were certain there was an air leak. (We actually have suspected that we had a small leak for awhile that we hadn't been able to pinpoint before.) I guess it got worse and became a real problem so we finally had to address it and determined where the problem is. We discovered cracks in the coupling that goes from the lines to the pump basket so can't do anything until tomorrow morning. I plan to be at the pool store when it opens in the morning to get a new coupling and get things running again. So hopefully, tomorrow we can continue on with chlorination. Right now, everything has had to come to a halt, since we can't run the filter, so I'm sure it will set things back in clearing up the algae, but we'll get back at it as soon as we can replace the cracked coupling.

Pools are supposed to be fun, right??

[CarlD]

Ouch!

Do you have something to keep the water moving at least? A robotic cleaner is best as they are virtually the same as a filter--one cycle with an Aquabot, Blue Diamond or Dolphin is the same as a filter cycle. I used that a few weeks ago when the drain cap on my filter cracked--I cut out the filter and ran the Blue Diamond.

If not, do you have something like a submersible portable sump pump, just to keep the water moving?

[Pamsel]

We do have a robotic cleaner. I didn't realize it would circulate the water in the same way. I'll get that going in the pool immediately. Thanks so much, Carl. Can I add chlorine with just the robotic going . . . will it circulate the water enough to mix the chlorine and not allow it to settle on the bottom? I was thinking I might be able to slowly pour it into a stream made by the sump pump - We do also have a portable sump pump. I think I'll put that in the shallow end and keep the robotic toward the deep end, so as not to have it hang up on the sump pump. The more the better, eh?

[Pamsel]

Update -
Pool pump is fixed and working like a charm. Water is clear and sparkling. Now, back to work on lowering the TA. Thank you again for all the great help!

[CarlD]

Great!

The high-end robotic cleaners (the ones that are shaped like a house, with a big handle and tractor treads) will not only move the water, they will filter it--one cycle with my Blue Diamond or my older Dolphin Dynamic (when it worked) would filter the water as well as a full pool cycle with the pump. Their filtration rate is roughly equivalent to a DE filter, better than a sand or cart filter.

Happily, in my friend's pool the Dolphin is working better for him than it ever worked for me.

[Pamsel]

Thanks for the info Carl. We have an Aquabot Turbo. It does a pretty good job but spends a little too much time on the sides and seems to not get dirt that's collected right in the curve where the sides meet the bottom. I didn't know that I don't need to be running the filter while the Aquabot is going. I normally run the filter all the time.

[CarlD]

Thanks for the info Carl. We have an Aquabot Turbo. It does a pretty good job but spends a little too much time on the sides and seems to not get dirt that's collected right in the curve where the sides meet the bottom. I didn't know that I don't need to be running the filter while the Aquabot is going. I normally run the filter all the time.

Pam,

One of the diagnostics for these gadgets when they aren't working perfectly is to turn OFF the filter while it's running. The moving water can offset and upset how the robot finds its way around the pool. They don't actually seem to have sensors in them--so my guess is that the controlling computer reads a change in power requirements from the motors (voltage/amperage draw changes) and figures it's run into something and then uses THAT as its senser information. Clever and logical!

Having had my Dolphin apart, and the Blue Diamond being more open inside, I see that the B/D has three drive motor each 3x the size of the ones in the Dolphin, yet it's a much lighter unit. So far, it's been much better for me.

Happily, my Dolphin is now my friend's Dolphin and it's working much better for him.

The Aquabots have a good rep, too.

[Pamsel]

Thanks once again, Carl. You're a wealth of information! I do appreciate it. From now on I will turn off the filter when I use the sweeper and see how it works. It's a world better than the little cheapie that was here when we bought the house, so I still like the Aquabot...just those couple of issues that could be improved. I'll see if it changes with the filter off.

Happy Summer days to you! You're a great guy - spending your time helping people like me! Glad your old Dolphin is working well for your friend. It always feels better to pass along something to someone else who can use it, rather than let it end up in a dump somewhere!