olyh01
Pool officially open!
2007/08/19:
You can still see some stuff at the center of the pool, but this is so much easier now that everything is under control.
Finally the pool is open, after three years under cover - the last two it was under two covers actually. It was full of leaves and other organic matters when we (Eugene, Steve Yang and I) opened it on last Sunday afternoon.
Prior to that I had already been running the filter for a whole week with extra strength shocks. Prior to that I built a platform for the filter pump. Prior to that I disassembled, cleaned, lubed, reassembled, and tested all filter connection fixtures.
During the startup cleaning, the filter had to be flushed twice, and about 1/4 garden cart load of leaves vacuumed out. I also had to add 12 pounds of baking soda to bring up the total alkalinity of the water from 20ppm (to 120ppm), followed by about 2 pounds of chlorine stabilizer. About 3 quarter of the way the vacuum hose split (arrgh!) so I had to buy a replacement.
The vinyl liner went through a rigorous scrubbing job as there was clearly signs of algae growth. But all was fine by late Saturday. The emergency clean up and algae control was over.
And yesterday I dipped in for the first time in three years. (Or, was it four?) The water temperature was a bit low because the water did not get the heating from the sun until last Sunday. Last night the ambient was about 53 of 54 degrees and all day today it hardly hit 72.
Now I am sure it was closed for almost four years.
I should not forget to mention a collateral was three wasp (or yellow jacket) stings. One in the left thigh, the second on the left chest about four inches below the throat, and the last one was in the tip of the right hand middle finger. The last one was a real bummer because I thought I got all the nests, and went ahead checking out the pool rim brackets. On the last one of the 16, I stuck my finger right smack in the nest. The insect didn't even have to fly to administer this sting. It was completely gone now. Perhaps swimming in the 60 degree (+/-) water requires 'Qi' (氣) to repel cold and Qi (氣) drove the venom out. Or I have developed immunity.
Pool officially open!
2007/08/19:
You can still see some stuff at the center of the pool, but this is so much easier now that everything is under control.
Finally the pool is open, after three years under cover - the last two it was under two covers actually. It was full of leaves and other organic matters when we (Eugene, Steve Yang and I) opened it on last Sunday afternoon.
Prior to that I had already been running the filter for a whole week with extra strength shocks. Prior to that I built a platform for the filter pump. Prior to that I disassembled, cleaned, lubed, reassembled, and tested all filter connection fixtures.
During the startup cleaning, the filter had to be flushed twice, and about 1/4 garden cart load of leaves vacuumed out. I also had to add 12 pounds of baking soda to bring up the total alkalinity of the water from 20ppm (to 120ppm), followed by about 2 pounds of chlorine stabilizer. About 3 quarter of the way the vacuum hose split (arrgh!) so I had to buy a replacement.
The vinyl liner went through a rigorous scrubbing job as there was clearly signs of algae growth. But all was fine by late Saturday. The emergency clean up and algae control was over.
And yesterday I dipped in for the first time in three years. (Or, was it four?) The water temperature was a bit low because the water did not get the heating from the sun until last Sunday. Last night the ambient was about 53 of 54 degrees and all day today it hardly hit 72.
Now I am sure it was closed for almost four years.
I should not forget to mention a collateral was three wasp (or yellow jacket) stings. One in the left thigh, the second on the left chest about four inches below the throat, and the last one was in the tip of the right hand middle finger. The last one was a real bummer because I thought I got all the nests, and went ahead checking out the pool rim brackets. On the last one of the 16, I stuck my finger right smack in the nest. The insect didn't even have to fly to administer this sting. It was completely gone now. Perhaps swimming in the 60 degree (+/-) water requires 'Qi' (氣) to repel cold and Qi (氣) drove the venom out. Or I have developed immunity.