New To It All

[Robin N]

I'm getting ready to buy a house that has an inground pool and a hot tub and I need a place to start learning what it is we'll need to do to make sure they are in proper form.

Can someone tell me where I need to start with the pool and the hot tub?

Robin N.

[rdietman]

you found the right place , just to bad for the lost info.there was some great stuff here before the mishap. just stay tuned and you will learn alot from the posters here. it wont take long now that pool season is gettin closer. get yourself a good test kit first of all . this is the best thing you can do . i recommend the kit ben sells, 233 or 234 now i believe. i knew nothing when i got my pool, going on my 4th year. i followed advice on this forum and test regularly with bens kit. use nothing but bleach and borax, occasionaly some muriatic acid and some polyquat and never had any problems.i test every sat am and add bleach a couple times a week. 20 mule team borax for keeping ph up. acid to lower ph if it gets a little to high, polyquat is algaecide but i dont use it much. just keep asking questions, good luck.

[Poconos]

You need to read through a bunch of old posts.....oops...never mind. They are all lost when the forum software changed. Anyhow...you have come to the right place and have started your learning process already. Pick the right forum and ask questions. Bunch of people here to help.
Al

[CarlD]

You need to read through a bunch of old posts.....oops...never mind. They are all lost when the forum software changed. Anyhow...you have come to the right place and have started your learning process already. Pick the right forum and ask questions. Bunch of people here to help.
Al

Watch out for Al--he's a comedian! (and a good friend!)

In the meantime, go over to the sister site: PoolSolutions.com and start reading. Read the tips--they are VERY helpful. Also, the section on 100 causes of cloudy pools is VERY informative.

Pool maintenance is neither difficult, nor expensive. It just requires persistence--2-5 minutes a day, but EVERYDAY and you'll be fine.

The approx. $70 you spend on Ben's pool test kit, now the PS-234, or the equivalent from Taylor, will pay for itself in no time.

We also recommend the 3 Bees: Bleach, Borax and Baking Soda as primary chemicals, along with Muriatic Acid. The first 3 are available at the grocery store, the last at hardware stores like Home Depot.

I used to listen to the advice of pool store clerks--BOY! did I learn my lesson the hard way! Then I started reading and applying the methods advocated here and VOILA!, no more problems!

So...it's not yet pool season--head for PoolSolutions.com and start reading! And invest in a good test kit.

Avoid expensive alternatives like Bromine, Baquicil, and Nature2--unless you need some place to spend lots of money...

[vinnygnj]

Is the pool and hot tub separate?

I ask because there seems to be some difference in hot tub water chemistry vs pool water chemistry.

I use Ben's info in my pool and a slightly different routine in my hot tub. I still use chlorine but not bleach or borax - strickly dichlor and baking soda. Also, some people use bromine in their tub.

Which ever way you choose make sure you get a good kit - it makes a big difference.

[Robin N]

The pool and hot tub are seperate. Thanks for your reply. Will I need 2 seperate test kits or will one test both? How can I find out what needs to be done for each once I use the test?

Robin N.

[mwsmith2]

Pool maintenance is neither difficult, nor expensive. It just requires persistence--2-5 minutes a day, but EVERYDAY and you'll be fine.

This is where Carl and I always (respectfully!) disagree. I think that telling a new owner thay they have to do something to their pool EVERYDAY is a wee bit overkill. If you are maintaining with bleach, every three days is fine. If you are using a SWC, once a week is fine. During those times, I only check Cl and pH. Once a month (maybe) I check ALK and Ca. I check CYA 2 -3 times a year. If we've been getting lots of rain (we haven't) I'll check ALK and Ca more frequently, along with CYA. I feel that checking any more frequently than that is just wasting reagent. Your pool isn't going to change much in 24 hours.

Michael

[heymom1]

May I very respectfully request that when the "old-timers" answer a question by a new pool owner, that you spell out the abbreviations and explain what they are in brief, so as not to confuse? At first, all the chemicals are overwhelming and we don't know what you mean by CYA and Alk (I know now, but didn't have much of a clue right after our pool was filled). If you could remember how steep a learning curve all this is, it would be very nice to see things a little simpler.

Thanks a lot, and I say this with all respect to those of you who take all this time to answer our questions!

Heymom

[mwsmith2]

Hmm. Maybe we should have a FAQ page to refer the new folks to. In lieu of that:

Alk = alkalinity
CYA = cyanuric acid
SWC = salt water chlorinator
Cl = Chlorine
Ca = Calcium

Michael

[CarlD]

Hmm. Maybe we should have a FAQ page to refer the new folks to. In lieu of that:

Alk = alkalinity
CYA = cyanuric acid
SWC = salt water chlorinator
Cl = Chlorine
Ca = Calcium

Michael

pH is pH--same as high school chemistry.
Alk is also called variously: TA, T/A, and Total Alkalinity, and very rarely pH buffering.
CYA is also called either: Stabilizer or Conditioner
Cl is chlorine, but FC is Free Chlorine (the good stuff), CC is Combined Chloramines or Combined Chlorine (the bad stuff) and TC is Total chlorine, equal to FC + CC.
Ca can also be called CH (for calcium hardness) or just Hardness.

Michael and I do disagree (respectfully, of course) on how often to test. It takes me 2 minutes to run the OTO kit chlorine and pH tests, so I do it everyday. It's not that he's wrong, per se, it's that I'm more conservative when it comes to pool care and see daily testing as lower risk. That doesn't mean I don't cheat and skip a day everynow and then (mea culpa!), but only when everything has been stable for a while.

I believe Michael would agree with me that if, for some reason, things with your water seem iffy, and you aren't certain, more testing is necessary.

IF you have an SWG, then I must completely defer to Michael on that. I don't have one and only know a little about them. If you have to mess with it everyday, what's the point? It's a lot cheaper to just add bleach. But if your SWG allows "set and forget" for a week at a time, I can definitely see its attraction.