The Pool Saga Continues

Probably because it's been such a frustrating year. Two prior summers were scorching hot UNTIL we got the pool up. So I thought hah! We'll show them. (The Weather Gods?) This year it's already up. Wow have you ever seen such a cool and rainy summer. Yup! Our fault again. It rains so much we can't hardly work in the backyard on the deck either. Despite that Pat is out there today on his birthday no less working on the deck. What a guy!

Notice the green water. Yeah. I really screwed this up.

Here's my presentation on how many ways I screwed up.

Big Time Screwed Up Pool Project

Or how many mistakes I made this year

I have a big confession. I think everything I did to the pool screwed it up and it’s just multiplying.

#1. The new skimmer. Last year I got frustrated with the vacuum and felt it didn’t suck very well. So forgetting Bernoulli’s principle I thought a wide mouth skimmer would help clean the pool better. Wow just lying here now it occurred to me why that was wrong on so many levels. And I reviewed people’s set up on the pool forum and now realize another mistake.

#2. Removing prior skimmer set up to install new one. Most install as a second opening. Fargenugen! Now I know at least one good reason why.

#3. Vacuum doesn’t work right with wide mouth skimmer.

#4. Thought bigger pump and sand filter would also improve vacuum and help clean the pool. But that didn’t work either.

#5 Which made me wonder if the bigger pump sends the water by the salt sensor faster so it keeps thinking we’re low on salt and not running. Because the SWG keeps detecting low salt it doesn't keep running so it doesn't make chlorine and here comes the green stuff.

#6 The biggest mistake of them all not cleaning out the pool when my husband told me too. It was a Friday night I just got home from the office. He'd been home working on pool all week. I'm sure he hated it but I was jealous as I love being outside. So I walked in back to see how it was going and he said we're going to need you to hop down in here and clean this again before we put it up. I'd already cleaned out mucked up leaves that were disgusting and this was just a little clay dirt that fell in. So I said "Oh we don't have to clean up that dirt the filter will take care of that."

#7 Another physics lesson. Which is a smaller particle clay or sand or silt? From all my gardening I sure know this. Sand > Silt > Clay. So how well is a sand filter going to filter out the clay dirt that fell into the pool. NOT SO MUCH!!!!! 

Really I’m not sure which of these mistakes are worse but together it’s all f#@$ed up.

Possible Solutions?

But honestly I’m afraid to make any decisions since I’m 0 for 3 or 0 for 6 or 7 maybe.

First Option: Add back the old skimmer/inlet to use with vacuum

1. Install old skimmer back in and have connect to other outflow and both flow to pump. Have switch so can have both open or just the one. Will that even work?
2.  This would solve the problem of current vacuum not working because of not having a good seal. Hopefully we still have the old inlet and thing that draped over the side the vacuum attached to.
3.   But now we have this sticking into the pool which honestly I thought was more annoying then our new pool ladder because it was up by the net. (Volleyball net) Now I want to say for the record I really REALLY like our new pool ladder but Pat detests it. I mean he really doesn't like it. And I think it made it look more like an in ground pool myself. Sigh...
4.  OK so this would require cutting another hole, and probably would have to use PVC for these extra connections. BUT I don’t know about that and I am scared to say.

Second Option: Buy vacuum that doesn’t operate off of pool pump.

This is a much more expensive solution BUT much easier. If it works! 

Third Option: Take pool down and clean it.

1.    This is another option.

2.    Only problem with this is we still have a wussy vacuum.

3.    And there are probably other problems with taking it down that I’m not even aware of.

Last Problem: Is this Salt Water Chlorine Generator going to work with this pump?

1.  I hope we’re just low on salt.
2.  I probably need to buy the stupid salt testing strips that cost $18! (Good example of cutting off your nose to spite your face.)
3.  If they show that indeed we are at 3000 ppm or higher than why does it keep saying low salt. Is my pump idea valid?

So I presented the above issues to my husband today on his birthday in a Dear Honey Letter, Please help before my blunders screw up our pool forever! Also to put the $277 robot in perspective I have spent $70-$100 twice now to get chemicals and get rid of algae bloom and such and still haven’t successfully gotten the pool clean. BUT if the Aquabot doesn’t work then I will really never live this down. But from the reviews it sounds like people have had similar issues and it filters down to smaller micron than sand filter. So anyone have any ideas please please help!

Oh and here's the old ladder vs the new ladder.