Having Trouble Cleaning a Pool..

[PoolDoc]

At this point, unless your pump is just overheating due to high outside temps and poor air circulation, which you might be able to fix by some clean up and a fan . . . you have a choice.

#1 - You can work on the pump and forget about the pool till the pump is running.

OR

#2 - You can run go buy a new pump, install it ASAP and keep working on the pool.


It's just not practical to clean up a pool with no working filtration system. Sorry.

[BoredOne]

At this point, unless your pump is just overheating due to high outside temps and poor air circulation, which you might be able to fix by some clean up and a fan . . . you have a choice.

#1 - You can work on the pump and forget about the pool till the pump is running.

OR

#2 - You can run go buy a new pump, install it ASAP and keep working on the pool.


It's just not practical to clean up a pool with no working filtration system. Sorry.

Good News!! We got a brand new pump! Wow, its the same exact brand/model pump and I didn't realize it could be so quiet lol.. Its definently running better there seemed to be a slight air leak with the last one so the skimmer for it was never fully just water as there had been air pockets.. However no longer a problem. We also got a brand new filter cartridge. The old one was just falling apart and doing a horrible job filtering.. I mean you'd brush the bottom and you can see the waste come back through the jets..

I'm not at this point yet however I need some advice as to how to properly vacuum.. As I don't have a valve to block whats being vacuumed to go through the filter. Also do you take the basket out of the pump to vacuum so all the waste doesn't clog it up so quickly?

To see what the plumbing looks like I drew up a quick mspaint photo.. This is as far as I understand..



I figure just turn off the 2 valves for return and jets then open the valve for the waste then turn on the pump?

[PoolDoc]

Yes, from your drawing, it looks like that would work.

I'd recommend that, if you can, you remove the solar heater loop connection completely, and pipe straight to that return, so you can have full use of the circulation system.

[BoredOne]

Yes, from your drawing, it looks like that would work.

I'd recommend that, if you can, you remove the solar heater loop connection completely, and pipe straight to that return, so you can have full use of the circulation system.

Actually the picture is a little off.. The solar heater is right before both outlets.. So it goes up and through that first then back to the chlorine feeder then out the return/jets.. Removing the heater loop really isn't viable at this point in time.. Nor probably in the near future..




So this is more what it looks like..

Also you didn't answer about the hair basket.. What do you do with this? I'd imagine from vacuming it'd get filled extremely fast, as it was from just sweeping it was getting filled were it was completely black.. I don't think the little cap thing is on the thing in the deep part of the pool..

[PoolDoc]

Not sure what "hair basket" you're talking about . . . or what the "little cap thing on the thing" is.

Ben

[BoredOne]

Not sure what "hair basket" you're talking about . . . or what the "little cap thing on the thing" is.

Ben

The hair basket skimmer thing that is on the pool pump.. It goes through that before getting sucked up into the filter.. the cap thing is the thing that you put on the drain in the deep end of the pool so large things don't get sucked into it..

So today I cleaned out my filter and instead of being green it was more of a brownish tint, is that a good thing? Or does that mean the color came out of the algae from all the chlorine thats in the pool? I've taken your advice and the color of the chlorine test is a dark orange.. I just added 4 gallons of 10% yesterday evening.. I'll be getting the 2 2.5gal buckets from pinch a penny to have those on standby hopefully today.. Other than that I'm just waiting for the pool to clear up a bit.. Every time I sweep it goes from being like a bluish grey to a bluish green so there is still tons of crap on the bottom that I want to vacuum as soon as I can start seeing whats down there.. Cause I know for sure there is an old skimmer at the bottom somewhere, but I'm not about to dive in to find it, and trying to get it out with my brush proves pointless..

As for the PH its ~7.2

[PoolDoc]

OK. The pump strainer basket, and the main drain cover. Don't think I'd offer to swim down to get that, either.

Dead algae is brown, so that's probably a good thing. Continuing to keep the chlorine high is the right thing to do, especially if you have piles of algae. Otherwise, the pile will consume the chlorine when you brush up the algae, and leave you with a pool no chlorine and lots of live algae -- NOT a good thing.

Just FYI: when you have layers of algae like you describe, the total consumption of chlorine, before you finish, can be enormous. So, don't be surprised.