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Russ Filtz
03-19-2006, 11:05 AM
I've moved to FL and about to close on a house with a pool (stealth gloat). Having never had a pool before, I know nothing of upkeep and maintenance. Anyone know of the best auto suction side cleaners? I was looking at the Kreepy Krawly and newer Zodiac Barracuda G4. It's an inground concrete pool and the Seller always used a service (no auto cleaner now).

Also what about testers? Do I need the chemical kind, or do the treated strips do OK? Do the inline auto chlorine dosers work?

It's got a roof-mounted solar heater too that's had a history of leaks. Is this a sign of impending problems and should be replaced, or do I just wait for leaks again? House is only 7-yrs old and I'm not sure if the heater is newer or not. Seems like it is newer as the pool has an LP heater which is bypassed and doesn't even have an LP tank connected.

Sorry for all the Q's, I'm a pool newbie!

Steve Ash
03-19-2006, 11:24 AM
Russ, my wife really wanted a pool and said it wouldn't be a problem to take care of....she was right, she hasn't had to take care of it I do.:D

Just kidding...sorta, now to your question, at least the ones I can answer from my expierience. We have the Kreepy Krawlie thing. I think it is a different name but all that stuff is packed away since we won't open our pool for another 4-6 weeks. It does a good job of crawling around the bottom of the pool but I still need to manually clean the sides. I also use the test strips but I am color blind so the wife needs to tell me what to add. Last year we got mustard algae and it is by far the worst to get rid of and also a lot of $$$ was put out to keep it under control, if I have that problem again this year...the pool goes. Make sure you invite the neighbor kids over to use the pool since activity is good for keeping the chemicals stirred up and active. when our kids had their friends over it was easier to keep clean, once that stopped it became more of a chore to clean.

Good luck with your new pool!

Don Baer
03-19-2006, 12:28 PM
Russ,
I have had the Baracuda and when it wore out I bought a similar unit from the orange borg for about $200 less. It works just as good if not better. It climbs the walls so well that it will litteraly come out of the water and fall back down when it looses suction. The baracuda uses a rubber flapper that wears out. This unit has a mechanical plastic flapper that seem a bit more robust. In terms of test kits. I use the liquid type, that all I've ever used.

Tim Morton
03-19-2006, 1:22 PM
congrats on the house and pool...I have had a pool for a couple years and i was scared to death when it was being installed because i had NO idea how to care for it. But the wife and kids wanted it and the wife agreed that she had enough on her plate and hired me as the pool boy. I immedialtely went online to find out what the SMC version of pool forums was am so glad i could it. This is a link to it and its a great place to learn...the all swore by using grocery store clorox and other suplies to keep the pool clean...and I will tell you that my pool sparkles using clorox and it is a snap to maintain. Any questions let me know and mabe i can help. The forum should be getting back in gear now that the season is coming up. Good Luck!!

http://www.poolsolutions.com/

Steve Ash
03-19-2006, 1:43 PM
I immedialtely went online to find out what the SMC version of pool forums was am so glad i could it. This is a link to it and its a great place to learn...

http://www.poolsolutions.com/

Tim, thanks for posting that link. I'm sure it will be very helpful this upcoming pool season.

Frank Hagan
03-19-2006, 1:46 PM
I used to work for a pool equipment manufacturer (in some ways, I still do), so I can tell you why the pool heater doesn't have an LP tank attached: it costs too much to heat a pool. Especially with LP. On the other hand, if you want to try it, talk to your LP company and they will come out an put a small tank near the heater. They will handle the installation in most areas without a charge, hoping you're foolish enough to heat the pool year round. You sometimes have to show the LP guy the label because they don't believe that little appliance is a 250,000 or 400,000 BTU/hr appliance ("Good lord, they heat houses with 45,000 BTU/hr furnaces around here!")

The suction side cleaners do work. I used to work for Hayward, the company that makes the Pool Vac series. It works. It also will cost you a hundred a year in parts and tune ups. The Kreepy Krawler and Barracuda units also work, and the upkeep is a little less.

The difference between types of liquid chlorine has to do with the strength. The stuff you buy from a pool store is about 11% sodium hypochloride; Clorox is about 5%. If Clorox is half the price its because its half the chemical. If its one quarter the price, its a good deal.

Most people focus on just the chlorine residual, but the pH is just as important. The chemical you choose to chlorinate with will affect the pH. Liquid chlorine has a higher-than-neutral pH.

Slow dissolve tablets with the long chemical name that starts with "tri-chloro" have very low pH. Pace tablets and most granular chlorine are 'calcium hypochloro" and have a higher pH. Don't mix different types in the same container, as an explosion can result (especially with calcium hypochlorite and tri-chloro products!) But you can add them to the same pool water without any problems.

Cliff Rohrabacher
03-19-2006, 2:05 PM
I cast some lead weights to attach to a pool hose. I attached a restricting nossle ( PVY pipe/hose connector) to the end of the hose. Then I attached that assembly to the forced water inlet.
It snakes all over the pool akeeping the water agitated allowing the skimmer to get everything.

I never clean the pool.

Tim Morton
03-19-2006, 2:06 PM
I used to work for a pool equipment manufacturer (in some ways, I still do), so I can tell you why the pool heater doesn't have an LP tank attached: it costs too much to heat a pool. Especially with LP. On the other hand, if you want to try it, talk to your LP company and they will come out an put a small tank near the heater. They will handle the installation in most areas without a charge, hoping you're foolish enough to heat the pool year round. You sometimes have to show the LP guy the label because they don't believe that little appliance is a 250,000 or 400,000 BTU/hr appliance ("Good lord, they heat houses with 45,000 BTU/hr furnaces around here!")

The suction side cleaners do work. I used to work for Hayward, the company that makes the Pool Vac series. It works. It also will cost you a hundred a year in parts and tune ups. The Kreepy Krawler and Barracuda units also work, and the upkeep is a little less.

The difference between types of liquid chlorine has to do with the strength. The stuff you buy from a pool store is about 11% sodium hypochloride; Clorox is about 5%. If Clorox is half the price its because its half the chemical. If its one quarter the price, its a good deal.

Most people focus on just the chlorine residual, but the pH is just as important. The chemical you choose to chlorinate with will affect the pH. Liquid chlorine has a higher-than-neutral pH.

Slow dissolve tablets with the long chemical name that starts with "tri-chloro" have very low pH. Pace tablets and most granular chlorine are 'calcium hypochloro" and have a higher pH. Don't mix different types in the same container, as an explosion can result (especially with calcium hypochlorite and tri-chloro products!) But you can add them to the same pool water without any problems.

yup us clorox users tend to always be on the lookout for good deals on the stuff....:D :D I was finding walmart had the 6% for about a 89cents a gallon most of the summer and the turnover was so great you were always getting fresh bottles. And even if it was about the same cost as buying the 11% stuff, the NOT having to walk into a pool store was more than worth it to me. 6-8 bottles would last me a month, and in 3 years I have not had a drop of algae or had to add any other chemical, altough I would add borax about mid season just to bump the PH a bit. I would just keep my CYA level up and make sure i never had any combined clorine in the pool. Other than that I just vacuumed it on saturday mornings.