[ZenKoi26]

Originally Posted by lvoc

As above. No rational landlord would trust a pool to the tenant. You get a pool service.

Understood and if I end up with a pool home, I will likely hire a service. At least 2 of the houses I've looked at include the service monthly (either in the rental price or as an extra fee each month) but at least one other said it would be the renter's responsibility. Even with a pool service, I want to know what should be expected with each service, the basic pool maintenance. I'm a single female on my own so I have to be savvy about learning things like pool care, my car, yard maintenance, etc so I don't (potentially) get screwed over by someone wanting to take advantage.

[ND_Irish]

Originally Posted by AA702

The salt should not rise unless the volume of water is reduced by evaporation, then salt level will rise. But since your autofill is putting fresh water in, the salt should stay in the same range. If it does rise for some reason, then you can always drain some of your water and test it again with an electronic tester separate from your salt cell readout.

Thanks, again! I will be investing in the electronic tester to monitor the salt level.

[AA702]

Originally Posted by ZenKoi26

Understood and if I end up with a pool home, I will likely hire a service. At least 2 of the houses I've looked at include the service monthly (either in the rental price or as an extra fee each month) but at least one other said it would be the renter's responsibility. Even with a pool service, I want to know what should be expected with each service, the basic pool maintenance. I'm a single female on my own so I have to be savvy about learning things like pool care, my car, yard maintenance, etc so I don't (potentially) get screwed over by someone wanting to take advantage.

You can learn most of these things on the internet ... Youtube videos etc... There are various forums and websites that give you all the information you need. Leslie's pool supply has a book on pool care and I think some locations offer classes for the do it yourself pool owner.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by ZenKoi26

Understood and if I end up with a pool home, I will likely hire a service. At least 2 of the houses I've looked at include the service monthly (either in the rental price or as an extra fee each month) but at least one other said it would be the renter's responsibility. Even with a pool service, I want to know what should be expected with each service, the basic pool maintenance. I'm a single female on my own so I have to be savvy about learning things like pool care, my car, yard maintenance, etc so I don't (potentially) get screwed over by someone wanting to take advantage.

It is actually a pretty simple piece of chemistry. I have done mine myself for 30 years or so. Basically clean out the leaves the pool crawler can't handle and check the chemistry once a week. If the pool is lightly used it is very simple. In periods of heavy use you may need a little more attention. AA702 is my service when I need more help. I am now a bit handicapped and can no longer do the filter cleaning so I get him for that. My pool also has an electrically driven cover so I need very little chemicals and little filtering.

Only real cost in do it yourself is the electric bill which has already been discussed and the chemicals. I use only chlorine and acid...and very little acid.

[qingguy]

Check out Pool School - TFP Home Page, anything and everything you want to know about pool care is there.

I do my own care and spend maybe 20 minutes a week testing (I test three times a week), I brush my pool once a week so that's about 15 minutes and I clean my filter three times a year and that takes about 45 minutes each time. I turn my vac on once a week.

The care is quite simple.

[OmegaSupreme]

Originally Posted by LuisSuarez

1. about $10 a monthly for variable speed pump.

2. 1 gallon chlorine 2 times a week in winter, 3 times a week in summer $3 a gallon. I don't bother with ph it will be what it wants to be. Hose down filter cartridges twice a year.

3. Refill in summer for about 30 minutes once a week. Winter once a month.

Do you know where I can get inexpensive chlorine?

I've been using those stupid tablets and my CYA level is 100 or more, and apparently now I have to drain the pool

I suppose I need to upgrade to a var-speed pump too, just wasting money the longer I leave it

[LVAllen]

Originally Posted by OmegaSupreme

Do you know where I can get inexpensive chlorine?

I've been using those stupid tablets and my CYA level is 100 or more, and apparently now I have to drain the pool

I suppose I need to upgrade to a var-speed pump too, just wasting money the longer I leave it

Sam's Club. In the last year or so, they reduced the size of the Clorox Unscented Bleach bottles, but increased the concentration. The net effect was to sell you less water.

[AA702]

Originally Posted by OmegaSupreme

Do you know where I can get inexpensive chlorine?

I've been using those stupid tablets and my CYA level is 100 or more, and apparently now I have to drain the pool

I suppose I need to upgrade to a var-speed pump too, just wasting money the longer I leave it

Bleach - cheap liquid chlorine. Look out for sales on bleach or coupons for liquid chlorine from the local pool supply stores.

Baking Soda / Muratic acid is used to control Total Alkalinity. TA is actually just a measure of how resistant to change your pH levels are, over a particular range. What level of resistance is OK varies. Sometimes, if your TA is too low, your pH will tend to change a lot, and be hard to control. And, high TA is often related to scale buildup inside your heater, or at your pool's waterline.

Borax is used to raise PH instead of using soda ash. Keeping a borate level of 50 ppm can help with certain types of stubborn algae blooms.


There is a chemical you can buy to lower your CYA. Its called Bio-Active. I was really skeptical at first, but it actually works if you follow the directions carefully. They sell this at your local pool supply. Alternative to draining your pool and you can use tablets sparingly and use this product to lower cya in the future.

If you can afford a VS pump, then you should upgrade because it will save you money and will pay for itself. They are also very quiet when you run them at lower RPM speeds.

[ND_Irish]

Originally Posted by AA702

Bleach - cheap liquid chlorine. Look out for sales on bleach or coupons for liquid chlorine from the local pool supply stores.

Baking Soda / Muratic acid is used to control Total Alkalinity. TA is actually just a measure of how resistant to change your pH levels are, over a particular range. What level of resistance is OK varies. Sometimes, if your TA is too low, your pH will tend to change a lot, and be hard to control. And, high TA is often related to scale buildup inside your heater, or at your pool's waterline.

Borax is used to raise PH instead of using soda ash. Keeping a borate level of 50 ppm can help with certain types of stubborn algae blooms.


There is a chemical you can buy to lower your CYA. Its called Bio-Active. I was really skeptical at first, but it actually works if you follow the directions carefully. They sell this at your local pool supply. Alternative to draining your pool and you can use tablets sparingly and use this product to lower cya in the future.

If you can afford a VS pump, then you should upgrade because it will save you money and will pay for itself. They are also very quiet when you run them at lower RPM speeds.

With regard to CYA I put a few chlorine pucks in the pool since November and then earlier this month noticed I was not getting any chlorine reading with my test kit. Immediately, I figured I pushed the CYA too high by using the pucks; I forgot that I should have used liquid chlorine due to the potential for this issue to occur. I took a water sample to the pool store, and they confirmed CYA was over 100. However, I just installed my salt cell in the last week or so and have been running it at about 67% (i.e., it produces chlorine for two hours during each three hour cycle when the pump is running). After about a day my chlorine level was up to about 2 ppm, and it currently is at about 4 ppm. I have not checked my CYA recently, but I have not done anything to reduce it either. Do I need to still do anything to reduce my CYA at this point? Does CYA go down during the summer months?

[AA702]

Originally Posted by ND_Irish

With regard to CYA I put a few chlorine pucks in the pool since November and then earlier this month noticed I was not getting any chlorine reading with my test kit. Immediately, I figured I pushed the CYA too high by using the pucks; I forgot that I should have used liquid chlorine due to the potential for this issue to occur. I took a water sample to the pool store, and they confirmed CYA was over 100. However, I just installed my salt cell in the last week or so and have been running it at about 67% (i.e., it produces chlorine for two hours during each three hour cycle when the pump is running). After about a day my chlorine level was up to about 2 ppm, and it currently is at about 4 ppm. I have not checked my CYA recently, but I have not done anything to reduce it either. Do I need to still do anything to reduce my CYA at this point? Does CYA go down during the summer months?

CYA only goes down with taking water out of the pool and using an enzyme. Test your CYA again using the black dot test. If your under 150 you should still be fine. Keep some liquid chlorine handy for those times you need to super chlorinate your pool without adding any CYA. In the future, there will be cheap products to lower CYA and you can use pucks without worrying about CYA getting too high. I use pucks in my pool, but I have a backwash system that I can take water out on a regular basis to control CYA. The only time I use pucks is in the summer months and when the water is about 75 degrees. The other parts of the year I use liquid only. Mind you, every pool is different and they do have their own personalities.