Swimming pools blog

14 responses so far ↓

• 1 Neva Marjory // May 23, 2003 at 12:11 am

  I have a pool of similar size and use a 200,000BTU natural gas heater
  to bring it up to temp when the air temp dips. It does get a little
  costly to run, but makes it better swimming.
  Another solution is to use a solar heater for the pool. They can
  produce 2100 to 5400 BTU per square meter in full sunshine. A good
  solution if you get a lot of sunshine.
  The other problem is getting out of a nice warm pool when to air is
  cool! Some sort of shelter goes a long way.
  Good luck and enjoy the pool!
  — In homeswimmingpoolowners@y…, “lizianvance” <vanfamily@b…

• 2 Neva Marjory // Oct 24, 2003 at 4:18 am

  My wife and I just purchases a home with an in-ground pool. The water
  is clear and the kids are loving it. The pool is 18 X 40 rectangular
  in shape, has a sand filtiration system on it and a automatic
  chlorinator {I guess thats what you call it}. It also has a little
  Polaris vacum thing that runs itself around the pool to clean it.
  More on that little bugger below.
  Questions:
  1. I had the water tested and the pool supply place wants me to add
  30 POUNDS of cholorine and 20 POUNDS of ash. This seems excesive to
  me, since the pool appears to be fine. Is this unreasonable?
  2. How does the automtic cholorinator work in conjunction with
  shocking? Do I just keep filling it with cholorine tablets as it uses
  them?
  3. The little pool vacum likes to tie itself up with it’s own hose,
  which seems like abnormal behavior to me. Is it or do they do that?
  
  thanks in advance for any help
  Matt

• 3 janis_40 // Oct 25, 2003 at 5:48 am

  30 pounds of chlorine? Excessive no, outrageous yes! The automatic
  chlorinator do you put tablets in it or does it generate chlorine itself? It
  may be a chlorine generator. Meaning that it generates chlorine from the
  salt (Sodiumcloride) in the water of your pool. Maybe they said add 30
  pounds of salt not chlorine. I need some manufacturers name or model off the
  equipment because the salt requirements are different for each. The little
  polaris thing, because it is an inground pool I am betting it is a Polaris
  380? Does it have a hose that looks about the size of a garden hose? Is
  there another pump near your pool filtration pump? If that is what you have
  there are several reasons why it is making knots in the hose. First in the
  hose there are several swivels they look like joints in the hose. They
  should rotate smoothly without binding and they should not leak alot. Next
  the wheels on the double wheel side are driven by belts when one or both
  belts go then the unit turns to oneside all the time instead of a random
  pattern. If you have a 380 then write back. You also may have a 360 or 340
  
  Polaris.

• 4 Neva Marjory // Oct 27, 2003 at 10:12 am

  First of all, congratulations on your new purchase! In the years to
  come you will learn to love and appreciate your swimming pool. It
  will take a little getting used to.
  Now, as far as adding 30 lbs of chlorine, what was their reasoning?
  If your water looks great, I can see no reason for this. 20 lbs
  of “soda ash” seems right, however, I would like to know the results
  of your water analysis. Most of the time, at least around here, your
  Total Alkalinity falls down quite a bit from rain water. In order to
  keep all of your levels where they need to be, you need to adjust
  your T/A BEFORE you adjust your pH. T/A is the buffer for the pH and
  helps to keep it in range. It’s not uncommon for my customers to
  have to add anywhere from 4 lbs to 36 lbs of T/A increaser.

• 5 Neva Marjory // Oct 31, 2003 at 11:34 am

  First thanks for the reply, below is the water analysis results:
  Free Available Chlorine - 0
  Total Available Chlorine - 0
  Water pH - 6.0 (200)
  Total Alkalinity - 20
  Calcium Hardness - 270
  What I was told to to
  1.) Broadcast 30 pounds of ALKALINITY UP with the pump running, wait
  6 hours.
  2.) Dissolve 20 pounds of SODA ASH in water and add around the pool
  with the pump running. Wait 4 hours
  3.) Add 4 pounds of POWER POWDER PLUS with the pump running. Wait 12
  hours.
  that was it.
  thanks again Matt Williams

• 6 Neva Marjory // Nov 1, 2003 at 7:03 am

  thanks for the reply. The chlorinator has tablets in it. They are
  about the size of a hockey puck. It is a Polaris 380 and has a hose
  like you describe, all the swivels seem to be in working order. The
  hose appears to have a propulson jet of some kind on it and every
  once in a while when it is running that thing breaks the surface of
  the water and spins the hose in a circle like mad. Thats about it
  other then what I wrote in my post before this one.
  thanks again
  Matt Williams

• 7 janis_40 // Nov 2, 2003 at 8:33 am

  The jet is a backup valve. It should time thru a cycle where the valve is
  off and the cleaner is running and then the valve will open and the cleaner
  should stop and let the jet of water pull it backwards. The best way to test
  your Polaris is to take it out of the pool and leave it hooked up. Lay the
  hose on the deck next to the pool and put the unit on several 2X4’s so the
  wheels spin freely. Then turn on the booster pump with the pool pump running
  as well. All three wheels should spin there should be a jet on the rear of
  the unit pointed to the 11:00 position and the sweep tail should have water
  squirting out of it as well. The backup valve should cycle at regular
  intervals and the swivels should not leak very much.

• 8 janis_40 // Nov 3, 2003 at 4:01 am

  Hey Matt if I recall you have an inground vinyl lined pool and Leslies is
  telling you to add Power Powder Plus. Yes your pH and TA were very low.

• 9 Neva Marjory // Nov 14, 2003 at 6:38 am

  What they told you to do does not sounds unreasonable at all. When
  your T/A is that low, your water is EXTREMELY acidic. If you have a
  vinyl liner pool, the water will actually start to attack the liner,
  pulling the adhesive out of it that holds it all together, and can
  form wrinkles in the liner itself. If you have a heater, it will eat
  through a heat exchanger very quickly. That is one of the most
  important things to keep balanced in a swimming pool. MOST of the
  time, the T/A increaser will bring your pH up along with it. So I
  would have the water rechecked before adding the pH increaser “soda
  ash”. Adding 4 lbs of chlorine does not seem unreasonable either,
  considering the fact that you have a 0 chlorine reading. Best of
  luck.

• 10 Neva Marjory // Apr 15, 2005 at 6:42 pm

  Just bought a house with a pool and attached spa. I have a Hayward
  400 series heater. The previous owner told me (about 6 weeks before
  we moved into the house) how to operate the equipment, but he did not
  have any manuals. The spa does not heat past 85 degrees, because I
  think I am trying to heat both the spa and the pool. I have the spa
  setting selected on the heater. Which valves do I open and close to
  heat only the spa? The previous owner had mentioned that I could do
  this and the spa would heat up in 15 minutes or so…
  I have gone to hawyardnet.com to see if there is a users guide…all
  i can find is a technical manual on the parts etc..nothing on the day
  to day care etc. Can anyone help?

• 11 Neva Marjory // Jul 5, 2005 at 2:39 am

  My husband and I moved into a home with an inground pool. The
  previous owner had let it go and it was in such bad shape that we
  drained and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. (The use of we being
  rather generous since my husband did most of the hard work.)
  Filter cartridges and the manifold had to be replaced. We also
  replaced the filter tank o-ring as well as most (or all?) of the
  other smaller o-rings. We’ve managed to get the water chemistry
  balanced with the help of a local pool store.
  Problem now is that when we use the relief valve on top of the tank
  it seems to have a lot of air coming out. We have been told that we
  should “bleed” off the air this way about once a week. Today we had
  that relief valve open for over 10 minutes and were still getting air
  out of it. Any ideas here?
  TIA,
  Kathy

• 12 Neva Marjory // Jul 7, 2005 at 1:05 pm

  This sounds like the common problem of a leak on a suction line, the
  pipework between the pool and the pump, used to draw water from the
  pool. Air drawn in is either pushed through the filter and emerges as
  a stream of bubbles at the return inlets, or, as in this case,
  collects at the top of the filter tank, under compression.
  One problem this causes is that when the pump stops the compressed
  air expands and blasts (dirty) water and the contents of any filter
  baskets back into the pool…
  It might also be being caused by air being drawn into the skimmer
  point if the water level is a little low.
  You’ll need to find the leak and seal it.
  If you can shut off main and skimmer inlets separately you might be
  able to identify which is providing the air to the pump.
  Check joints too, for dried out or cracked glue.
  Steve.

• 13 Neva Marjory // Nov 6, 2006 at 9:39 am

  We just bought a house with a pool. There is a little water on the
  bottom that appears to have red algea in it. I have no idea about
  pool care and was wondering if someone could advice me as to how to
  clean the pool and get it ready for the big holiday.
  Thanks bunches,
  Melinda

• 14 Alice Houston // Nov 7, 2006 at 5:29 am

  Friends,
  I finally got my new pool done. As usual, the pool guy gave some treatment
  on the water. It was finally crystal clear after a few days.
  However, that was before the chlorine generator turned on (we use salt to
  generate chlorine). It’s been 7 days since we turned on our chlorine
  generator, the pool water is still cloudy.
  Is this normal? Did I miss anything? What should I do? What I know the
  pool guy only scrubs and vacuum and dump some chlorine tablet into the pool.
  Any comments and inputs would be appreciated.
  Thx & rgds,
  Herman

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