Every Pool Owner's Worst Nightmare

[aylad]

Oh, wow, that IS a nightmare....I am a huge chicken when it comes to bad weather--there's nowhere I'd rather be in a storm than home with the blinds closed so I don't have to know what's happening outside!

I don't know anything about main drains, because my IG pool doesn't have one, so hopefully somebody else will come along to give you useful information about that.

I think that the insurance probably will cover the liner under "wind damage", just as it should cover your plumbing. I'm not sure about your insurance company, but mine replaces at current market value..they wouldn't depreciate the value of the liner. In the eyes of the insurance company, it was a working liner, regardless of how old it was.

Your bleach and CYA can be added simultaneously--remember that it's going to take several days for the CYA to dissolve and start to protect your chlorine, so get it in as soon as possible. I would go ahead and add bleach as soon as you have a way to circulate it. You're going to have to add the bleach daily until you have a measurable CYA level, though, so make sure that you have plenty on hand.

As for adding bleach through the skimmer, (assuming the pump is running), the only problem with it might be fading of the liner around the outside of the skimmer plate if you don't pour it slowly enough...otherwise, adding it through the skimmer is fine. Personally I'd rather add it through the returns, though, so that it gets to my pool before it gets to my filter...I don't want to waste any by trying to "sanitize" anything that's stuck in my sand filter.

You're right in that TA and pH are the other values that concern you when restarting the pool--running a test on your fill water ahead of time might tell you how much Borax or acid you need to have on hand for the refill.

Don't know about the pump motor...I'd say that if it were still running when you found it, and if it primes okay after the pool is refilled, you're probably okay...but I don't know much about them so maybe Poconos or somebody that is a motor expert will stop by soon.

By the way, when your skimmer plate sticks, pour a cup full of tap water from the pool or hose over the plate and it will lift right out!

Good luck.....you have a mess on your hands but hopefully your insurance company will come through and get you up and running quickly.

Janet

[Watermom]

You're right about Jan's pool nightmare being worse ...............

But, your problem is certainly a lot to handle, too! Jan has given you good advice. Just a couple of comments. I always add my bleach through the skimmer -- slowly --- and don't have any problems. One other thing, although I am certainly a 'bleach girl,' since you need chlorine and cya, you might want to consider some trichlor tabs to put both in at once in this circumstance. If there was some way that you could put a floater where your water hose is running to fill the pool, that would be a way to get some of both in there at the same time. Then, when your pool is full, you can continue to use the trichlor pucks for awhile to build your cya or switch to bleach. Only thing is that trichlor is very acidic and will drop your ph. If your fill water is extremely low ph, this might not be a good plan, but if not, I think it could solve the problem of needing both in there at the same time for these first couple of days as your pool fills.

Good luck and sorry you are having to deal with this.

[elsie]

Thanks Janet, Watermom -

Of course! Insurance always pays "replacement value" - I momentarily forgot as I've never had a claim in my life before. I may be in good shape, I just hope I don't hear "well, we'll pay to have it patched…" But I do have a really good insurer (Alfa) after giving State Farm the boot a number of years ago.

Good idea to test my tap water! Then I can be all prepared. I think I still have my TA reagents from Ben's kit a couple of years ago, and they might even still work as they appeared to when I tested once at the beginning of the season out of curiosity. I'll first run on current pool water to see then try it on my tap water. That way I don't have to reorder that reagent, and I still have plenty of CYA reagent from my Spring 2008 order.

I wonder if I should have them put a chlorinator back on my pump? I had it cut out when I went to the BBB method because it made such a rattling noise turned off. Can anyone tell me if they have a chlorinator but have it turned off and if it makes a racket? If not then I can assume it was that older chlorinator, and putting a new one on might be the way to go, "just in case." I never take vacation because I won't kennel my dogs, but it might be a good thing to just have one put on.

Got another bid last night and I've already decided I'll go with this guy. He's a go-getter unlike the others who waxed and waned about the timing thing ("well, maybe in a month we can get to installation…"). He said once I give the go-ahead that he'll order it (he measured last night) and it will come in after around 5 days and he'll promptly install it. He also said the mil would be 28 on the floor and 20 on the walls, and he told me about the warranty (one year full, then pro-rated after that). And, that the motor is probably fine, but he'll quote one price with it and one without for insurance. At least this guy knew what he was talking about, EXCEPT, GET THIS: I told him how I sanitize, and he looked shocked and said "liquid chlorine's illegal in Alabama, it's very toxic." I replied "well what's in trichlor or cal hypo? It's all chlorine, except those are stabilized forms." He didn't know how to reply to that so that was the end of that. Boy there's a lot of ignorance when it comes to chlorination and pools!

Trichlor, trichlor, gosh it's been a long time since I've had to use anything other than bleach. Believe it or not, the water's been sitting at half-mast for five days now, and once or twice I sprinkled some bleach into the water, and it's holding at 10 ppm -- no circulation and no green swamp. So maybe I'm okay if I put a couple of pool cover pumps in the water at either end for circulation and just use bleach as it's filling?

He left a brochure of liner wall and tile patterns and I'm getting pretty excited about choosing one -- mine's been bleached out for many years. The new ones are so handsome! I'm going to get the one that's like cut glass, a darker blue, with a handsome tile pattern/colors.

Hey, thanks for your input! I'll let you know how this all turns out as time moves forward.

Oh, and thanks for the tip on that skimmer plate! Also, I think I'm just going to have that main drain stay closed -- why invite problems (although I wouldn't mind the extra circulation).

[aylad]

Sounds like you're on your way, picking out a new liner would be exciting!! When I picked out the one we have, I was just glancing at samples to humor DH--I didn't realize that he was going to sign the contract the next day!! The one we have is not too bad, but I think I'd do it differently next time.

Watermom's idea of trichlor is a good one if your pH isn't already low, but you still probably need to add a low "loading" dose of CYA even if you use the trichlor, since it'll take awhile to get it up to 20. I would go ahead and have the guy quote a chlorinator for you too, while you're at it....granted, there are only certain times that they're good to use, but it's sure nice to have them when the conditions are right!!! When I'm not using trichlor in mine (which is all winter and every other summer, or when I finally get my CYA up where I want it), I just leave it empty and the flow dial turned all the way up to 5--that way it just flushes itself out and I don't have a problem with it freezing. You can hear water gurgling inside of it, but it is not louder than the pump, unless you put your ear right down to it...then again, I have a waterfall about 4 feet away, and it's hard to hear anything around it except rushing water.

Let us know how this turns out!!

Janet

[elsie]

Janet, how would you do your liner differently? I've got to make a decision the next day or two and it's driving me nuts (but good nuts).

The adjuster came out last night, took pictures, and said a check will be in the mail to me today for the liner, the new pvc at the pump, the two market umbrellas, and even $100 for fill water (I called my water board to see how much it will be). Alfa Insurance is hands down the best insurer on this planet. No quibbling, no questions, they just take care of the customer. I'm on cloud nine right now, as I was expecting to have to replace the liner next year on my own anyway. This is a windfall (pun intended) of many thousands of dollars.

I know darker liners are "in" (although I'm not one to follow the crowd), but I'm thinking it will be difficult perhaps to see the dirt to vacuum up since I vac manually. Fortunately, unless there's a major storm, I have my jets set in such a way that in either end most debris collects in just a couple of spots so I guess I won't use this as a defining factor. My biggest challenge is deciding between aqua and a darker, or true, blue (navyish). The one I have (that has no pattern left it's so old) puts off a light aqua color, and I've enjoyed that, so I'm a bit nervous to switch to the darker blue. It would be nice to have something different, but only if I LOVE it! I think I've got it narrowed down to Inspiration or Medallion (http://taraliners.com/). One is more aqua and the other a handsome more true blue. Initially I was thinking of getting the Arizona or Arcadia but the cut glass look is a trifle busy. Help!!!!!!!!!!!

[aylad]

Elsie,

I'm glad that your insurance company is not being a pain about the whole thing...and it's great news that they're replacing your liner too!!


The link you posted for the liners will not work for me..don't know what the problem is. My liner is a light aqua/blue with black outlined blue squares around the top of the waterline. The problem with it being so light is that during pollen season (which is almost year round here), the yellow in the water combines with the liner to look medium to dark green......I know my pool is clean, but sometimes it's hard to tell by looking at it. Next time I think I'm going with a darker (true) blue.

Janet

[elsie]

Janet, you could try taraliners.com. I had copied the link but you don't need the extra slashes, etc. What do you think about the Arcadia, Arizona or Medallion? Although, as you'll read more about below, the Medallion in my brochure is a more true blue than is depicted on the webpage, which appears more aqua. You can click on the liner and bring up a better picture. The Arcadia's got a better/higher il on the sides. So you don't think the Arcadia or Arizona are "too busy" and might drive one's eyes crazy? One of them was actually my first choice, but then I thought maybe they were too much.

Now I'm getting an uneasy feeling. Installer was wrong again. He said all the Tara liners were 20/28 mil, 28 on bottom and 20 on walls. But I've just finished several correspondences with someone at Tara and only the patterns asterisked are more than a straight 20 mil, and the few that are, are 20/27, but the higher mil is on the sides, not the bottom as the installer said. Also, the brochure I have isn't current, and the Tara contact told me to use the website when choosing, yet there's a disclaimer there that says the colors as depicted may not be true. And indeed, when I compare a color in the brochure to the same one on the website, the colors are way, way off. So now I'm getting frustrated. I re-emailed the Tara contact and asked if they have a current brochure they can send me.

I think I'm going to get other bids now. If the installer is telling customers wrong stuff, well that doesn't sit with me very well. Geesh I already have the feeling there's a ton of incompetence out there and I have to be extremely careful and not rush this, albeit I need to get this done before the leaves start cascading down end of September.

Vinyl Guy,

Thanks so much, and I'll print your posts and bring home to review tonight and look at my system and respond tomorrow. But I can tell you one thing, the cover on my main drain is most definitely a grate-type one. I can see now that it's probably wise to just keep it closed and get a new vortex cover.