New pool owner in need of some help please

M

Mapome

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Cape Town, South Africa
Hello there,

I moved into my first house last week and am now the proud owner of a huge 70 000 liter swimming pool that I have absolutely no idea how to look after.

Can anyone please help me with the following:

1. What is your pool cleaning routine? What do you do and how often do you do it (this includes putting on the Kreepy etc).

2. I put in a floater today, do I also have to add regular chlorine?

3. My pool is very old and does not have a weir basket, but rather a basket that connects in the hoses. This basket gets full every 20 minutes or so and then causes the Kreepy to stop sucking. Any ideas on what to do?

4. When I run the pool pump, must it actually run the Kreepy or do I only circulate the water?

5. Do you have to backwash and rinse for a minute every time you put on the pump?

Thanks a lot, any help is appreciated! :(
 
hth 4in1 [follow instructions] and pool magic every 2 months.
hth got a toll free number with good advice.
Pump to run 8 hours a day, even run during winter.
back wash filter once a week.
get a baracuda.
have a pool party
enjoy

when your water does go down, take sample to pool shop and they test it.
 
buy one of those little HTH testers at Spar or whever. They are around R80 i think. The small ones, no need for fancy one. Its easy to use and tells you what your pool needs, throwing in random chemicals does not help.
 
Mapome said:
Hello there,

I moved into my first house last week and am now the proud owner of a huge 70 000 liter swimming pool that I have absolutely no idea how to look after.

Can anyone please help me with the following:

1. What is your pool cleaning routine? What do you do and how often do you do it (this includes putting on the Kreepy etc).
Put in floater whenever the last one dies (last 3-4wks). Clean basket and maybe kreepy one a week.

2. I put in a floater today, do I also have to add regular chlorine?
Depends on the chlorine level. If it's a bit green or something then yes, otherwise should be fine.

3. My pool is very old and does not have a weir basket, but rather a basket that connects in the hoses. This basket gets full every 20 minutes or so and then causes the Kreepy to stop sucking. Any ideas on what to do?
At the moment there's tons of leaves falling in my pool. Should be over by next month though. Kreepy+basket can only really do light cleaning, if the bottom is covered in leaves use a net.

4. When I run the pool pump, must it actually run the Kreepy or do I only circulate the water?
If there's leaves on the top or the gardener has just cut the grass I circulate so it goes in the wier and skims the surface, otherwise kreepy.


5. Do you have to backwash and rinse for a minute every time you put on the pump?
Just once a week, if that.
Thanks a lot, any help is appreciated! :(
Click to expand...

Also blu52 seems to work well but I'll end up forgetting to put it in once a week, floater easier.
 
also get a pool gobbler thing (use old stockings later on from the GF instead of the rediculous bags)...

It stops almost everything from actually sinking to the bottom which'll stop your inline weir from filling up. I only clean our weir about once every 2 months!
 
Agree with rorz0r on blu52(and only that) if the pool is a fresh water pool,and a pool cover will do wonders in winter with regards to leaves and perhaps the little ones falling in.

If the pool is green and murky and it uses chlorine, use shock it, pool acid and soda ash to banish the sludge and balance the PH levels.(HTH tester kit required)

Another option is a salt water chlorinator(less of a chore in the long run) if it isn't already a salt pool.(Proe die water :D)

And im gonna have to side with Naas Botha here with the choice of pool crawley......

HUG BUG(Bok tand face pose).;)
 
Last edited:
Ha Ha This is a tech/computer forum just in case you are confused :D There are lots of places on the net much more suited for your quest. Have you contacted your local pool shop?
 
Hoekachaka said:
Ha Ha This is a tech/computer forum just in case you are confused :D There are lots of places on the net much more suited for your quest. Have you contacted your local pool shop?
Click to expand...

OH FFS..how many times do I have to read this sh*t from noobs...have you actually scanned thru the topics on this forum? ANYTHING goes.
 
jem said:
also get a pool gobbler thing (use old stockings later on from the GF instead of the rediculous bags)...

It stops almost everything from actually sinking to the bottom which'll stop your inline weir from filling up. I only clean our weir about once every 2 months!
Click to expand...

Where do I connect the pool gobbler?
 
You need one of those outlet "jet" things, then you unscrew the bit that holds the "ball" part in, take that out and screw the pool gobbler onto the fitting.
 
rorz0r said:
You need one of those outlet "jet" things, then you unscrew the bit that holds the "ball" part in, take that out and screw the pool gobbler onto the fitting.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Is the outlet "jet" thing, the place where the bubbles come out if I accidently allow water into the Kreepy hose?
 
What does the backwash do? I've only done it once so far.

It's a pity the people who installs the swimming pools, don't really give the necessary information to the owners.
 
Roger.Wilco said:
What does the backwash do? I've only done it once so far.

It's a pity the people who installs the swimming pools, don't really give the necessary information to the owners.
Click to expand...

It rinses all the debris out of the pool's filter. This water then is flushed away. While backwashing you should be able to monitor the condition of the water through a little glas "bottle" that should be attached to your pump somewhere. Once thsi runs clean you can stop the backwash. Then set the pump to rinse for about a minute and then back to filter. Do not forget the pump on backwash 'cos it will empty the pool...a typical rookie mistake.
 
MightyQuin said:
It rinses all the debris out of the pool's filter. This water then is flushed away. While backwashing you should be able to monitor the condition of the water through a little glas "bottle" that should be attached to your pump somewhere. Once thsi runs clean you can stop the backwash. Then set the pump to rinse for about a minute and then back to filter. Do not forget the pump on backwash 'cos it will empty the pool...a typical rookie mistake.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the good answer. What does the rinse do and why should you only do this for a minute? How often do you backwash and rinse?
 
Another question related to my first post.

I have explained that the in-line leaf basket causes the Kreepy to stop when there are leaves in it. Is this bad for the filter or does the filter continue to filter through the weir when the Kreepy is not running?

I also mentioned that I do not have a weir basket since the pool is so old. Except then for the in-line leaf catcher, are there any other places where thigns may get stuck causing the Kreepy to stop?

Is it necessary to run the Kreepy every day or can I just run the filter on the Circulate option?
 
Mapome said:
Thank you for the good answer. What does the rinse do and why should you only do this for a minute? How often do you backwash and rinse?
Click to expand...

To be honest I do not know exactly what the rinse does, but was told many many years ago that that should be the following step. Some pool pumps have a pressure gage on it that indicates the actual presure inside the filter. The higher the pressure, the more dirt is in the filter 'cos the water is struggling to get through all the dirty sand in there. If your pump has nou pressure you should just keep an eye on the outley where the water is pumped back into the pool. A good idea is to tilt the "ball" inside the outlet's opening upwards at abot 45 degrees so that you can see how stringly the water is pumped back into the pool. The weaker that stream becomes, the dirtier your filter is. There is also a basket inside your pump that catches big debris like leaves and sticks and plastic or whatever. This should also be monitored and cleaned when dirty (if you do not have a gobbler in place). The sand inside the filter should also be replaced about every 3 years or so...quite expensive.
 
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