CyprusLiving

Looking for advice, please.

Our developer has advised that our pools need to be emptied and refilled with fresh water and will take 5 days to accomplish.( see quote below ) My question is : is this dangerous and should the pools be closed until this has been addressed? Obviously the timing is not good with us in the middle of the season. Also what would cause this, bad management or wear and tear?

Quote: Even though the pumps are working for the adequate time needed and the chlorine and PH levels are ideal, the alkalinity and the Cyanuric Acid levels are too high (this is due to the length of time the water has been in use in the pool and not through quality of the water) which prevents the chlorine to kill the germs.
Therefore this is essential to be done for the general upkeep of the pool.Furthermore, we need to clarify to you that refilling the pool with fresh water is according to the rules of the Public Health Services and the Eloctromechanical Department of Cyprus. unquote

Rob

It doesn happen depending on chemicals used over years of maintenance. If the Cyanuric increases to a higher level, there will be a 'Chlorine Lock', at which point, the chlorine is inactive, and, the water quality will degrade. So better to do 'now' i would say.

Absolutely no need to do this unless it is contaminated or has a very serious problem, your developer is milking you for cash it seems, like they all try to do.

I will move this to our section on swimming pools..

It is easy to verify what the developer has said, put a 4-part test strip in the water and it will tell you all the approxoate levels mentioned within seconds. If the stabiliser/cyanuric is very high then you WILL have problem now, soon, or later if no action is taken. Full or partial water change is a common way to resolve the 'Lock' problem.

Depends on the liner, first one i had was made off site to fit the pool in one piece, then air vacuum out from behind during filling. The second liner was fitted on site from rolls of material glued together, and sat in the pool for a day or so until the lorry came to fill it.

Former will collapse without water, latter will be fine.

Take a sample of water to one of the pool companies, they are very good will test it and will give good advice.

Alan

I've just had the same message from our developer, although ours says 3 days. The total quoted was €655.75 to empty and refill the pool.
I was also wondering about the safety meanwhile as we will have guests staying.

Hi first you should check your Cyanuric acid level first, The correct level should be now more than 50 ppm. If your pool is on a maintenance Contract why is the Company not controlling this level either by Backwashing for longer when they know Cyanuric acid levels will not disappear unless you remove existing water, or when Cyanuric levels reach 50 ppm stop using Stabilized Chlorine and use Hypochlorite shock Granules. If they are qualified this levels should have been recorded in your Log book as it is Commercial Pool also if the same engineer is a different person they will know these levels.

Steve.

Have you read these threads?

http://www.cyprusliving.org/phpbb/nfphpbb/viewtopic.php?f=106&t=53758

http://www.easterncyprus.com/viewtopic.php?t=74687

This the response we got when we basicly said that this was due to bad maintenance :

The fact that we need to change the water of the pool has nothing to do with faulty maintenance. Throughout the years, when maintaining the pools we use chlorine like any other maintenance company would do.

The chlorine we use contains stabilizer-cyanuric within it, as it is a gas and it needs to become stable. We do not use any additional stabilizers.

After so many years of use, the Cyanuric Acid levels become too high and there is no other way to clean the water than to completely change it.

Therefore, we cannot be held responsible, this is just a procedure that has to be followed after so many years of use of the water of the pool.

In addition please note that as per the regulations of the Public Health Services the pool water needs to be refilled every 3 months, but nobody either Management Companies or private owners do so, as it cost a lot of money.

Furthermore we would like to remind you that we are a Certified Pool Operator which is recognized by the National Swimming Pool Foundation and we maintain the pools according to the guidelines from the Cyprus health and safety department and according to the Pool regulations of 1996

I would not have said it was because of bad maintenance, and i beleive what they have written originally, and in the follow up to be true.