Total Noob --- Hayward sp2607x102s dual speed pump for Above Ground 24' round pool

Pool Equipment
21

Thank you for the picture of the pool! It will only get better!!

I prefer to aim the jets towards the skimmer to help it suck up anything that gets on the surface of the pool but try to not make too many waves on the surface - it can cause your pH to go up (but we will worry about that later).

Wait until you can sort-of see the bottom of the pool to vacuum since you don’t want to poke a hole in the liner with anything that might be down there (sticks, etc). Since you have a sand filter I would just vacuum as normal UNLESS you have 1/4" or more of mud/gunk on the bottom. If it’s a light dusting of dirt vacuum as normal and backwash when you are done.

The eyeballs only need to have a gentle flow coming out of them. More flow is not necessarily better - just keep circulating the chlorine around and filtering a bit.

How much chlorine did it lose overnight?

22

It didn’t lose much according to cheap test strips neighbor gave me that were from Ollie’s.

Ok…will wait on vacuuming…slow and steady wins race. Taylor test kit coming tomorrow or Monday…

I can almost taste the burgers…

Another two gallons of chlorine tonight?

Will move eyeball slightly downward towards skimmer…

Pump still purring like a kitten on low speed. 8 psi…won’t need to backwash to around 15-18, right???

We re going to get there right??? Crystal clear waters, burgers , hots and badminton just over the hill right!!!

Thanks so much!!??

23

Give it to me straight, Rich…

When is the water going to look like Bora Bora Paradise…

3-5 days?
6-8 days?
9 - 14 days?
15+?

Should I set up the new blackstone now or I should be listening to Mr. Miyagi’s podcast, “Patience, Grasshopper” more? Just for my mental well-being based on test results, the picture provided, the rig we have set up, and the pool being closed for 3 years…

Give it to me straight!

Another 2 gallons tonight? What’s the recipe for tonight?

24

Lol! I am not a patient person and waiting for pools to clear up can be frustrating, but patience pays off (go the My. Miyagi route). :slight_smile:

I’m a bottom-line kind of guy - so - bottom line: Make darn sure the chlorine level never drops below 10 and you will see a dramatic improvement in 3-5 days. Let it drop below 10 and you’ll be fighting this for weeks. You can add extra chlorine to keep it at 14-16 as well. After a week of this you should be able to tell if the quarter at the bottom of the pool is heads up or tails up.

You should only need 2 more gallons tonight if the level is zero, which might be the case early in the game but it will eventually level out. You gotta check the level to be 100% certain.

25

Roger 10-4. I’m on it like white on rice…Then on our strips, we wanna see dark purple continuously…LFG!!!

The hare has nuttin on this turtle!!!

I’ll keep you updated my friend!!! I appreciate you!!! I’m giving you a lifetime membership to the BBQ.

Godspeed.

26

Update…pool is about 5 right now for chlorine level [using cheap test strips], once the sun goes down, I’ll pour 2 gallons of chlorine…yesterday after school, it was really low, today, I had a light purple…

So…after adding all these chlorine, it’ll eventually stay steady at 10 and change once I see heads or tails?

27

Correct. I might recommend adding a gallon in the morning and one in the evening to keep the level, well, level throughout the day rather than boosting it all at once. You need to maintain at least 10 at all times. Feel free to go over that a bit; it;s better to be over than under.

28

So…got the water tested again…so we want TOTAL Chlorine to be 10.0!!!

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This was at 6 PM before we’re going to add chlorine…so we should do 2 TONIGHT…then one in the morning and then one in the evening…

The lady wanted to sell me Flocculant…I told her I’m letting it all ride on Rich…slow and steady to the finish line…ALL IN!!!

She suggested a blind vacuum to waste too…or get it all agitated with brushes and mix things around…

29

Sooo…decided to check on the basket for the first time in the hayward super pump. I turned off the pump, and unlatched the two knobs…water started gushing out like Niagara Falls…wife had to block at the skimmer to slow it down…a little tricky getting it back on…not much debris, but a lot of pollen…we put the basket back in, and turn the pump back on low.

I immediately noticed the water pressure out of the eyeball is 10x’s more powerful than it was previously to emptying out the basket.

Do you know why this is happening? Thanks!

30

I would guess that the gushing removed something that was clogging the pump strainer basket up - leaves or ither debris like that - or possibly it flushed out something clogging the pump impeller or even the skimmer basket.

31

Sooooo…waited a few minutes…the pressure out of the eyeball jet is similar what I was explaining before. Feels weak but it’s still coming out…trust the process…curious what dictates the flow coming out…when it was gushing even on low, i was able to get a lot of debris out since everything was moving…

32

So these eyeball jets are bugging me…

We came back from the beach and the jet was ‘weak.’ The skimmer box wasn’t having much action.

I turned off the pump. plugged the skimmer thing so I could take the basket out of the Pump. Water gushed out but not as bad as the first time…there was some debris, nothing too crazy, few wet leaves and some pollen. manually checked impellar for anything. Nothing.

Put it all back together, put pump on LOW and it was blasting out of the eye jet. Skimmer has action again. I feel like this is how it SHOULD be. I’m going to check every 15 minutes to see if it continues.

I noticed when it’s pumping water out nicely, I see water ‘action’ {moving} in the area where the pump basket is…when it was pumping out of the jets slow…I saw little to no water movement in the pump area.

Very interesting situation. YouTube and Google has no answers for me…Jet flow seems to be dependent on clog in the skimmer basket, pump basket or impellar…not sure what is going on…

You have a hypothesis…is there a hidden shuttlecock moving around mysteriously, laughing at me???

33

Trying to read up on this…just 30 or so minutes later…you could see no bubbles or any kind of water movement in the pool pump basket…is that what you want? Or do you want it bubbling like a hot tub !!!

Now it’s just purring like a kitten, slowly coming out of the eyeball jet, not like gushing…I go to a YMCA pool, it’s always gushing out of the jets, but that’s inground pool…above ground pools different…i have no idea…

34

So…I had my first, let’s drain this mother effer and turn this into a mud pit wrestling extravaganza and make some money on this thing moment.

This morning decided to vacuum. Hose hooked up on vac…throw tubing in pool, hand over hand method, filled the tube with water, put vac head, stick over skimmer basket. turn pump on…on LO, I had no suction…turned it high, got suction (Should we be able to vacuum on low? ) went very slow…within a few minutes, skimmer basket was full. Did another sweep of the floor. seemed like it was not sucking, took out the vacuum, and just pile of crap all sticking to the bristles and inside of the vac. That’s enough vacuuming for one day. There could be a myriad of issues here…the hose and vac are probably close to 25 years old.

I empty out the pool pump basket. I assumed self-priming means it’s pretty automatic, but I could be mistaken…so I have three videos…showing how the pool pump is working after trying to prime the pump…

Video #3 = https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VpGD5LV_V9A

This is what I believe is what it should be like with my investigative work but I could be completely wrong…Looks like this on LOW and HIGH speed, but little pressure coming out of the eyeball jet on low

Video #2 = Feel like there is too much air, but comes out of the eyeball jet pretty strong. This was 30 minutes right after video 1 and doing nothing. = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OozLdAfIZww

Video 1 = This was right after vacumming, and with no idea that priming requires some technique and skill even though it’s a self-priming pump to an above ground pool. I see a lot of water action, too much air I think!!! Not primed correctly or in the process of getting primed… = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slQcoyOoN44

Rich, I need some inspirational words, some wisdom, and some kind of David Goggins spiel to keep me going…I feel like the only thing I see in this pool is GREEN and I’m not even talking about the color of the water, because that’s holding a steady cloudy blue!

Sensei, I need you!

35

If we ever see the bottom…would it be wise to vacuum to waste or would we lose too much water???

or Jump in and just use a net to scoop large debris? then vacuum on filter?

36

So we backwashed for the first time…what an experience…

PSI went down …now the pool pump basket looks like video 3 and a STRONG pressure coming out of the eyeball on LOW speed.

I’m cautiously optimistic, but I think there is a lot of junk on the bottom of the pool.

Give me some inspirational words, Rich!!!

Is there a way to get large amount of debris from the bottom of the pool (when it’s cloudy)?!! I almost want to jump in with the rake net and do it manually…

37

Since our pool is filthy, should we be vacuuming to waste?

38

Someone suggested 10 gallons of chlorine in at once? That seems crazy or is it?

39

Ok, slapped myself silly, listened to some Eric Thomas, and got my head back in the game. I am refocused…

A few things I may have learned…there is a direction correlation between when power of the air jet gets weak, the PSI has increased, and it’s time to backwash.

After a backwash, I’m at 5 on low, and around 17.5ish on high. Pressure gets weak about 12/28ish respectively, and according to google, that’s an appropriate time to backwash.

Further investigative work, most people backwash like once a week. However, most people don’t start with a sawmp, and these instructions are for a swimmable pool if I’m not mistaken. People dealing with a swamp (a pool that has been partially uncovered for three years may have to backwash 3-5 times a day.

Every time we backwash, everything looks to be running beautifully. I also learned there really isn’t TOO MUCH chlorine one can add, the only issue is pissing extra money that one does not to.

Does one gallon in the morning, two at night until clear make sense, or should we up it…Chlorine is like $6 for 10%, and 7.50 for 12% so …I’m not really worried about these prices until I see that quarter you promise me. I’m hoping it is a 2005 - P Minnesota so I can’t recoup some of my cash back, but we’ll worry about that when the time comes.

My mind is right.

I think I’m starting to get the hang of things.

Oh, we vacuumed , got some debris off the floor. Sadly, i know this backwards, I find we get the best suction AFTER a backwash…so I’ve been vacuuming after backwashing. A little unorthodox, but I hope it’s kosher. Couple hours, going to backwash again is my logic…

What a ride man…what a ride…at the start, I felt like I signed up for the 100m dash, but here I am on mile 5 in a marathon race. I hope I have it in me to make it to the finish line. I need you to stay on the scooter and have your hand out with cool blue Gatorade at every mile marker…

I’m taking you with me, Rich. You have no choice!!!

40

We re at 16 ppm…smells like a pool…

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Filling up buckets of leaves and debris…now we just let ride here?!!

Keep it at 10 ppm+ all this week…continue to rake bottom of pool???