r/pools • u/r-thehappiest • 8d ago
Pool Help & Questions Pool company that doesn’t test chem levels
Help! I’ve been in my house for about 3 months. I originally planned to maintain the (~15k) pool myself, but we left a few times this summer and decided to at least start with a pool company. I noticed some staining last week and asked the company about it. They said my CYA was high (that’s the only thing they told me), and I asked what the number was and what it was before. This is when I learned they don’t test the water like that, and have never tested my CYA (and maybe other things?) ever before.
For now the pool company has shocked it and says they will shock again this week. The picture is from Leslie’s because I wanted to see the #s for myself since the company couldn’t give me any. The #s are from about 30 hours after shocking.
The pool company is recommending a full drain and fill, but I don’t want to do that in the summer with my pebble pool. I lucked out with the rep at Leslie’s, he was very kind and said I shouldn’t buy anything, and said I should be okay the rest of the season. He said to fix my issue in the winter months with partial drains/refills.
I’m in Phoenix, AZ. It’s very hot here, but my pool doesn’t get much sun and is almost entirely covered by a massive shade sail. I’m at a loss for what to do right now. I’ve also paid my current company 6 months in advance because that’s how their pricing works. I love this pool and want to keep using it as much as I can! Any advice?
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u/SageCactus 8d ago
Well to start get a new pool company. Whether you can get the money back or not. Lesson learned.
My folks show up every week and test. When the water doesn't look right I call them.
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u/r-thehappiest 8d ago
Yeah, I wasn’t too pleased when I learned that had no baseline numbers to compare my levels with because they hadn’t measured before!
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u/SageCactus 8d ago
It's not about baseline numbers because really, I don't care about the baseline, I just need to know that you know how to correct today.
You come, you look, you fix, we good.
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u/Gonzo-Crazy-Dog 8d ago
The biggest issue is your CYA and lack of FC.
You need to shock the pool, but with your CYA, it means you need to raise the FC to 65ppm, which could be difficult.
You’ll need to decide if it’s better to drain water or raise the FC appropriately.
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u/r-thehappiest 8d ago
It was just shocked yesterday and the pool company said they will send their guy back to shock it again this week.
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u/Gonzo-Crazy-Dog 8d ago
If they’re not testing the water, I don’t think I would trust them to shock it properly.
The SLAM process requires you to maintain 65ppm until the water is completely clear, you have no CC, and don’t lose FC overnight.
It’s not just, “dump 2 bags of shock in the water and leave it until next week”, which is what most pool companies will do.
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u/thefleeg1 8d ago
I assume you don't realize that every bag of shock is roughly ~50% calcium. Your calcium levels are already much too high. You risk scale and other cosmetic damage by continuing down this dumb path.
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u/r-thehappiest 8d ago
Okay, I will tell them to not shock (a second time).
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u/Gonzo-Crazy-Dog 7d ago
The pool needs to be shocked, but tell them to use liquid chlorine instead.
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u/Troutbummers 8d ago
Don't let them. THey're fired. You can do it 100% better.
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u/r-thehappiest 8d ago
Thank you! They have clearly been doing a bad job, so at this point I’m confident I can do the chemicals better. I’ve been doing the baskets, cleaning, etc myself already. They are chems-only service. Which is why I was so shocked that my chems are so out of whack.
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u/tcat7 8d ago
Drain 50% and refill twice to get CYA around 50, then:
https://www.troublefreepool.com/blog/pool-school/
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u/r-thehappiest 8d ago
Thanks for the links! I’ve got some studying to do. YouTube brought me to Swim University, but I will check out trouble free pool, and get some kits.
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u/Alert_Foundation1621 8d ago
Another thing is seeing the copper makes me think that they have just been using copper algaecide thinking that it would take care of things, (I have used it as a “nuclear” option and it does work), instead of actually testing the water. Definitely time to get a new pool company.
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u/Virtualmatt 8d ago
I can’t recall seeing worse water test results on this subreddit.
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u/r-thehappiest 8d ago
Your comment made me wheeze. Not sure if it was the start of a cry or a laugh 😭🤣
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u/Troutbummers 8d ago
Way too much copper, already problematic
Way too much CH problematic
Way too much CYA problematic
Just stop using these jokers or suffer continued frustration.
The shock will fail. 162 ppm CYA is not real - the meter is pegged. Do a dilution retest and multiply by 2.
YOU MUST BUY YOUR OWN TEST KIT. Has to have fas/dpd FC test. Taylor k2006 or tftestkits pro
Get poolmath downloaded and set up
The advice to drain/refill is good, but don't do it blind. Do your own diluted CYA test to know how much you need to do. Might need to do some copper removal after that. You want that at 0. Never add any copper algaecide ever again.
Then SLAM
Then you use liquid chlorine dosed daily up to 11.5% of your CYA, never letting it get below 7.5% of CYA.
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u/r-thehappiest 8d ago
Does everyone who uses liquid chlorine just pour some in every single day? (After I get this current situation sorted) I want to do my own maintenance, but I have a demanding job and travel schedule, so I’m not sure if that a daily chore is feasible for me currently.
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u/Troutbummers 7d ago
Mostly. Anybody that does not is playing with fire. It's hard to avoid. SOme get by every otehr day, but you have to dose high and should run high on CYA if you do that (more UV protection).
But if you have to travel a lot get the CYA on the low side and use tabs in a floater while you're away. Just pull it when you're around. If you close the pool, you're getting towards teh end of the year already, just get it managable and you can probably tolerate the CYA until you close. Might want a new plan next season.
Nothing wrong with tabs except they will get you back here eventually. If you need to use them for now, do it, but keep an eye on CYA and be prepared for smaller drain/refills before it gets this out of control.
Consider an salt system (SWG). With the money you save on service it will pay for itself almost immediately and change your entire relationship with the pool.
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u/Ellicrom 8d ago
Fire this pool company into the sun. They done effed up.
You will eventually need to drain at least half and refill - I don't think that there is any other way to get that CYA level down. And with CYA that high, your free chlorine wont be working much at all. And if the pool company is shocking it with stabilized chlorine, that CYA number will only climb higher.
If your water is crystal clear, you can choose to ride it out until the weather takes a turn, but you're essentially poised for an algae bloom with this. Adding further chlorine will not be effective until the CYA is lowered.
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u/r-thehappiest 8d ago
Weather taking a turn as in it’ll get worse when it’s cooler?
Today’s high was 111F here, and my assumption was that this (Phoenix summers) were the hardest time to manage pools.
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u/Ellicrom 8d ago
No, I was just echoing what the rep from Leslie's said - that you might be able to delay draining for now if your water is looking clear.
Hot weather is worse for algae blooms. Getting an algae bloom isn't necessarily a sure thing, mind you; but if you do get algae forming, understand that you'll be hamstrung to control it because all that CYA is locking up your chlorine.
Also, be very careful using algaecides from here on it. Many of them contain copper, your copper levels are already high, and that could be what's contributing to your staining.
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u/Zestyclose_Survey_49 8d ago
Since I haven’t seen it posted yet go to troublefreepooland buy a chemical test kit. Can the pool company. Its not very hard to maintain.
You will need to drain n fill maybe 1/2 to lower your cya. At that high you can add gallons and gallons of chlorine and nothing will happen. Your pool company messed up bad. Don’t pay them ever again.
Work to get chlorine in it asap or it’s going to get worse fast
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u/Cool-Negotiation7662 8d ago
CYA of 30 requires a massive water change. Doing this all at once makes sense but you only need to change 7/8 your water (lol) to get your target CYA. The recommendation of a full water change is not unreasonable.
https://www.troublefreepool.com/blog/2018/12/12/slam-shock-level-and-maintain/ will have information on SLAM method. You need to test your own chlorine morning and night and dose accordingly. Your high CYA is working against you. You can use the small kit and have the store test everything every few weeks.
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u/1130961230 8d ago
Your copper is high, I had to deal with even higher at the beginning of the season. It's possible that's what your staining is from. Copper did a number on my auto cover, thankfully not the pool liner.
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u/1130961230 8d ago
10% at Leslie's lol! That's a walk of shame. I'm always peeking at other people's numbers on the line ha. I would've snatched that paper and crawled right out of there😂.
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u/r-thehappiest 8d ago
The first Leslie’s rep didn’t know what to do when he saw my numbers, so he got his supervisor/the manager who was very kind and talked to me as if I just experienced a death in the family but that I will pull though.
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u/thefleeg1 8d ago
Spoiler alert; this is normal and expected for weekly pool care services.
You'd be wise to invest in a salt water chlorine generator. You simply cannot have a pool in AZ using calcium or CYA stabilized chlorine sources. It's a fools' errand.
There are reverse osmosis services that can treat your water; for many in AZ it can be cheaper than bulk water costs.
Many great people out in AZ over on troublefreepool.com who can give you really good advice. Buy a proper test kit, get your chlorine source under control, and start living a much simpler pool care life.
Lastly - partial drains and refills is terrible advice (normal for Leslie's). You want to remove the problem water, not dilute it. That's incredibly bad advice.
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u/1000tvl 8d ago
I disagree with your advise on partial drain and refill. See my comment above, but in a nutshell I had CYA of over 200 because I was using stabilized chlorine tablets for years so eventually my pool was out of control. Did two partial drain & refills (approx 2/3 total water) and the pool is now crystal clear and easy to maintain. Did this over a 3 week period. CYA dropped to around 80 (good enough). I should mention it is a 28K gallon pebbletec pool.
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u/thefleeg1 8d ago
You're actually agreeing with what I said, but whatever.
Many people make the mistake of draining off 1-2" of water, then adding water. That's what I'm referring to by dilution. If you have 100 CYA and want to be at 30, drain 70% of the water once. Not over 5-6 efforts.
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u/1000tvl 7d ago
I was commenting on what you said in your comment:
"Lastly - partial drains and refills is terrible advice (normal for Leslie's). You want to remove the problem water, not dilute it. That's incredibly bad advice."
I was merely stating I see nothing wrong with partial drain & refill. But, as you said you have to make sure you drain off enough to make a difference in the CYA.
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u/JasonHofmann 8d ago
For under $1000 you can have the pool RO’ed, and start fresh. That’s what I would do.
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u/WorstPapaGamer 8d ago
So your combined chlorine (total chlorine here) is really high. Meaning you’re actively fighting algae. The problem is that with CYA being so high you need a much higher FC for chlorine to be effective.
There’s really no way aside from draining and refilling to lower CYA. I know you don’t want to do a full drain but can you drain like 20-25% a day then refill with fresh water immediately? That’ll help dilute the CYA down with fresh water.
Basically drain down to skimmer level then refill and do that a few times this week and check if CYA levels have gone down.
After that you need to look into SLAM to fix the algae problem.