Pool filtration and the lazy pool owner....

[DgenR8]

I hate to admit this, but I'm in over my head here, and I need some input.
When it came time to close my pool last year, I didn't I went as far as disconnecting the filter, and pouring antifreeze into the plumbing.
It sat uncovered all winter, and was literally black when I started trying to clean it last weekend. There were enough leaves in there to build a whole tree. I got out as many leaves and other stuff as possible, but even though I can't see more, I know they are there.
I put 6 gallons of liquid shock in there last Saturday, and 3 LBS of granulated shock in there this past Friday. I've been dragging the bottom for leaves daily, and running my D/E filter as much as possible (it requires many rechargings as it works).
Is sand filtration actually a better way to go for clearing the pool? I like the performance of the D/E filter once the water is reasonably clean, but the amount of work I have to do to use it now is disappointing.

 

[Sk8r]

Sand gets just about as bad, and if your area froze and you didn't winterize your filter you might lose it.

Beware of shock: in a cold pool it tends to gather at the bottom and may concentrate enough to be damaging.

At this point I'd call a pool company and pay them to open the pool: it's July and you're at this. You may be at it until September.

Ah, the joys of pool ownership. How many gallons are you dealing with? 13000? If more than that, I'd say a sand filter would be looking better and better.

 

[DgenR8]

I disconnected the filter, so it was dry all winter, and even in my garage.
I've been stiring the bottom pretty regularly in search of leaves, and the water temp is over 65 easy.
I actually called two maintenance companies that said they won't touch it if you can't see the bottom

 

[billsreef]

Larry the sand filter is much coarser than the DE filter, so get the ripping to filter the bulk dirt. You'll probably have to back flush it a few times from the sounds of it, but it'll be less frustrating than the DE filter that clogs so quickly. Once it gets to that point of reasonable clean, than you can put the DE filter back on without driving yourself quite so crazy. Just think of it as a large fouled up fish tank

 

[cb747]

Wouldnt it be easier to drain the pool and refill it? Might be quicker than trying to clean it.

 

[mgny]

Hello Larry, I rented a trash pump from a tool rental place., 40 bucks. Get one with 2 inch plumbing. Then connect your pool vac to it. Will need to reduce to 1.5 inch with a fitting and some duct tape. You can power vac the bottom and get all the sludge out. You will be pumping the waste water into your flower beds so move fast and you wont drain the pool to much. Your de filter will handle the rest. I actually did this on a huge koi pond 60 x 20 and it worked great. Good luck Mike

 

[Sk8r]

Careful about pool draining! If you drained mine, it would have popped out of the ground like a champagne cork, trailing its pipes and floating on a pool of ground water.

I like mgny's suggestion. Sounds good to me.

 

[jnfallon]

Can't do that now, too much chlorine/shock in there.

How about "asisting" by using the pump/vaccum reccomended above but outflowing into a bucket filled with polyfilter. (cut holes at the bottom) I have some "chum buckets" here that would work, or even a gabage can. Just try and run through coarse filtration, suck up all the sludge at the bottom. Thisway you wont have to change often.

D/E seems pointless/expensive right now.

 

[janco]

Hi Larry,

Back in the mid-nineties, I worked for my brother for a couple of years--he owns a high end pool company. On your average sized pool, we'd open by tossing 4-6 packets of shock in, then run the filter until the water was clear enough to see the grabage on the bottom, then do an intensive vac by pumping the crap straight through the pump and out onto the street. If you decide to try that, make sure you keep the hose running into the pool while doing so. Mind you, that's with pools that were usually covered during the winter.

If your pool is so full of trash that it won't clear up, you may have to get a net and try fishing out as much of the garbage as you can, then reshock if the chlorine level has dropped. It also helps to run an aux DE filter if you can get your hands on one. DE filters are better than sand filters, btw, because during the course of their lifetime they're usually regularly backwashed, which cleanses the crap out of the filter and replaces old media (if it's done right). OTH, the cleansing capacity of sand filters usually diminishes with time. You can backwash sand filters, but media replacement is usually a one shot, end of serviceablity life deal.

jan

 

[DgenR8]

Hey all,
I can see the bottom today! There isn't all that much stuff left there, as I have been out there daily with a leaf rake.
I added 10 LBS of shock yesterday, and I'm finally seeing the light. I have gone through a 10 LB bag of DE, and I have decided that nothing short of my own death will prevent me from covering this thing at the end of August.

 

[pyro383]

Spend the money & get the e-z drain system cover. No need for the big bubbles under the cover or the weights around the rim or water on the cover. I picked it up last year and was effortless during the winter.

 

[puckbs]

Larry, my sister's boyfriend owns a pool company....anything you need...you let me know

 

[DgenR8]

The easy drain cover is a good idea, but my pool is a custom size, and I'm sure that cover would come with a custom price.
My problem was with actually getting the cover on the pool, the Easy drain cover won't help me if I don't put it on.
The pool is up and running, we have been in it daily since Sunday.
Brad, if it looks like I'm being lazy about getting the cover on it again this year, maybe I'll just give in and pay to have it closed. I'll let you know.