CyprusLiving

Recently moved into house with pool. Landlady has sent her 'maintenance guy' to get it all up and running for us (before we learn how to maintain it ourselves) but its been a disaster to date! (6 plus weeks and counting!) Pump had been turned off over winter and no maintenance done/ chlorine added so resembled a murky pond!

Initially the guy has thrown in chlorine (Sogeclor and not measured quantity) followed by PH- (whole tub?!)and last week, flocculant which has turned the water cloudy and doesn't appear to be clearing - despite him saying it would within 24 hours!. Test kit today shows free chlorine and total alkalinity are high. All other levels are ok.

It appears he has turned off all but one skimmer and has been running the pump on circulation only. Is this correct?

Any advice please what needs to be done - or can anyone recommend someone who could sort it out for us and initially show us what to do to maintain the pool ourselves in future. We are worried he is going to appear and throw in yet more chemicals which could prolong the saga!
Many thanks

Hi Skye.
You should always do the basic things first, Backwash filter first and then rinse, your swimming pool guy should then test the pool water even if green or cloudy. The first item to check is your PH level put this right first 7.2, then check your Chlorine readings, if there is no reading of chlorine then it should be shocked, but not with Stabilized Chlorine but Hypochlorite
And don't just through in to your pool dilute in a bucket first and pour around pool. 450 grams
dose approx 10,000 gallons. Run you pump for 24 hours and backwash and rinse, keep Chlorine levels about 3ppm, using either jolly jell or Goldifloc tablets will also help but always back wash every 48 hours. The other test you can get your pool man to do is test your water for Cyanuric acid levels if above 50 ppm you will need to dump some water and top up with fresh, very important if Cyanuric acid levels are high this will give you incorrect test readings on your water. Most test strips will give you this test. Hope this is of some help to you. If you want to get information on looking after your pool, look for a SPATA pool builder they will have a owners hand book we give them to our Customers free of charge. Basic price £2 50
Regards Steve.

Thanks for the info and advice. Took sample of water to pool shop on Saturday and was told specific amounts of PH- to add over the weekend - water had started to clear by Sat evening. Further water sample today and a little more PH- plus all day filtration has been advised should do the trick.

However ...... when hoovering the pool yesterday it looked as though the jets were chucking dust and particles back into the pool ! The shop I went to on Saturday said the sand may need changing (but this was checked by the company who installed the pool 3 plus years ago and they said it was ok - I saw it and it definately looked like sand and not solidified)
Was also mentioned perhaps the maintenance guy had been over zealous with adding flocculant which was creating the problem?

Any suggestions? If we do have to replace the sand, any ideas on cost (inc delivery).

We may be novices at pool maintenance but we are determined to get it right! Hopefully before summer really kicks in!!

Cheers and thanks in advance.
Alison

Hi Skye.
There is always a problem after your pool starts to clear. The settlement dust or dead Algae is finer than your filter sand and therefore passes through it back into your pool returns, Best advice is top up pool and vaccume pool to waste,i know this means loosing or dumping water but it is the best way.Then return back to normal vacuuming. If you don't know how to do this
put multiport setting to waste, but always turn pump off first before turning multiport valve handle.
Hope this helps.
Regards Steve.