Brand New Pool Owner Fast Start Guide

[@Eclectic-Sheep]

“Do you need a fast start guide for a swimming pool?”
YES!!! YES I DO! Thank you so much, Steve!!!

[@KegstandOG]

Most certainly overwhelmed lol. Going to buy my first set of chemicals tomorrow with little to no knowledge on what I truly need. Soaking in every video I can find atm.

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

20L liquid chlorine, 4L muriatic acid, 20lbs baking soda, a bag of CYA increaser if you need to set your CYA still at 30 to 50 ppm. Calcium flakes if your calcium is lower than 200 to 400ppm. Bring a water.sample to the store when you go

[@KegstandOG]

@@Swimmingpoolsteve Thanks man! We ended up with a saltwater intex pool. Kind of excited to have a pool finally.

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

@KegstandOG if salt then o ly buy 5 to 10L liquid chlorine and store it out of the sun. Use it for quick adjustments to low chlorine, and for breakpoint chlorination when your combined chlorine levels start to rise

[@mikewelsh3598]

3:58 Chemical order of operations
7:09 CYA level
7:49 Chlorine
8:40 Combined chlorine

[@heidi6308]

Thanks Steve! Your channel is so helpful! Getting a pool installed in the next couple of weeks, your videos are very informative!

[@drdrew3]

This is the first video to compress into 10 minutes what took me 20 years to learn. I agree with every word and hope every new pool owner would watch this video on day one. Trial and error in pool maintenance is a long difficult road. You have done homeowners a great service in this respect.
I’m hoping you can think up a Part II to this video and make it a series. You really didn’t leave much out. The other breakthroughs I’ve had was adding borates, eliminating stabilized tablets, adding in pool vacuum, skimmer socks, variable speed pump, flow meter, sacrificial anode, zero phosphates. That may be for Parts 3 & 4. Ha!

[@josephdefresco5169]

What can you use as an alternative to stabilized tablets? Thank you

[@drdrew3]

@@josephdefresco5169 The non stabilized forms are liquid chlorine or granular cal hypo (calcium hypochlorite). In the short run tabs seem more convenient but eventually they cause a giant headache that’s time consuming and expensive to fix when CYA out of control

[@josephdefresco5169]

@@drdrew3 Thank you for responding, I plan on switching to liquid chlorine this season. Wish me luck!

[@T25de]

Watched a hand full of pool
Video today. This is the channel that earned a sub

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

Thank you - enjoy the content!

[@johnkenney7217]

This was my favorite of your vids- succinct. I have had a new gunite/ plaster 1600 gallon spa that has 2 mysteries. No organic matter ever introduced, nor pee, and I have 1237 ppb phosphates, and one day had 0.62 Free Chlorine, 1.06 Total Chlorine. My chlorine disappears every day even though i put in about 2 cups. That last part nota mystery, as cover not installed yet. Alkalinity 101, pH often seems to drift up to 8.2

[@davidnewman4872]

Absolutely loved this video, Steve! Thanks for sharing this information!

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

I am very happy this information was helpful for you

[@sidtyphoon]

I just finished the Certified Pool Operator class today so I actually understand and agree with everything you said here. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@vickyf9897]

Oh man it sounds overwhelming. Thank you

[@hustonwitt9425]

Do the vinyl above ground pool need calcium?

[@storypunman]

Good video, I stick with liquid chlorine mostly with some small chlorine tablets with CYA in a floater. Seems to work good. This stuff is hard to understand for new owners, we have been at it for close to 30 years. Friends don't listen, but I have recommended them to your videos and site.

[@drdrew3]

I wholeheartedly agree that being aware of your CYA levels and keeping them in range is critical to success. I also agree that liquid chlorine is key to sanitization while avoid the introduction of excess stabilizer. I don’t think your friends refuse to listen as much as they don’t grasp the underlying chemistry or have the same firsthand proof that the science works. I was the same way until the lightbulb went off and it all made sense. If they just watched this video it would give them a 5 year jumpstart on that curve

[@storypunman]

@@drdrew3 That's up to them to learn. Their pools turn green or cloudy several times per season, at some point they have to learn. Not my problem, my pool is balanced and clear. And I agree, they should watch this and many other videos on pool care.

[@sonicx98]

I have a silly question: Is it ok to use a sock for the skimmer basket to catch all the small insects and other particles? The reason is to reduce the number of times you need to backwash the filter and as such the water wasted. I am from New Jersey and we have water consumption restrictions during the summer. I want to say that All your videos are worth watching by pool owners. They are the best on UA-cam with this subject. I would advise more reviews on newly released pumps and other pool equipment.

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

It's not bad to use them, but this assumes you clean and change them regularly to avoid starving the pump for water. Skimmer socks is the name they sell by in pool stores.

[@floridagarye9288]

Hey Steve - Really enjoy your videos. Where were you 15 years ago when I needed your advice? Haha. Have you considered creating a video for home automation outside of the very expensive pre-packaged products from companies like Hayward, Pentair or Jandy etc?

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

I tried reaching out to poolside tech to feature their products but they did not respond to my request.

[@user-ho5qm9os5p]

Question is the chlorine good to buy at Walmart or is it better at pool house store is it stronger chlorine

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

I strongly encourage to shop from a dedicated pool and spa store where they know and care how to handle chemicals. Old chlorine and if it is improperly stored or old will be less effective. I also find the big box stores sell the lowest quality possible chemicals with many fillers etc.

[@KegstandOG]

Thanks for this video, this is late but I am days away form setting my first pool up. Above ground 16x32 intex pool with a sand filter and a saltwater system. The calcium hardness is basically for inground pools or is it something I need to worry about with above ground pools?

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

Worry about. Or at least know it matters the same equally for both inground and above ground pools

[@KegstandOG]

@@Swimmingpoolsteve Ahh ok so right there is something another source was saying above ground pool owners didn't really need to be concerned with. Thanks for the prompt reply.

[@daymackgaming6903]

What do you mean replace the pool kit? Please help

[@shiftyshellback9442]

What is your opinion of the test systems that send info to your phone?

[@Mason-kern]

I just got a Hayward pool system. And I have the full automation. Just curious does your system tell you what chemicals are needed

[@shiftyshellback9442]

I added the Water Guru Sense 2 to my pool. It has a 5 way test and tells me exactly what is needed in the pool.

[@TheNine6]

Any issue with me linking to some of your UA-cam video from my website?

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

No problem with that

[@DebBoha2011]

Can you explain how to fix when total and free chlorine don't match please? My total chlorine is much higher than my free chlorine. Cloudy water.

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

You need to perform "breakpoint chlorination" where you increase the free chlorine level to be ten times the combined chlorine level, and then you hold it there for 12 hours continuously.

[@faamecanic1970]

So I have my first vinyl liner and salt pool. I have had 2 gunnite non salt pools before. With the gunnite no salt pools I would shock my pools when combined chlorine got to .5ppm. Can I shock (chlorine) a salt pool? Or should I use a non chlorine oxidizer? And if using chlorine shock…should I unplug my salt cell until chlorine levels return to normal?

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

You can and should be treating your pool with chlorine. A salt pool is a chlorine pool.so treat it like a chlorine pool. The fact that you got your chlorine from salt electrolysis and not a jug of chlorine does not matter. You treat the pool the exact same way.

[@faamecanic1970]

@@Swimmingpoolsteve Thanks. Lots of misinformation out there. So if I shock my pool with Chlorine shock, the temporarily high chlorine level will not hurt my cell? I know it will add calcium hardness.. but I keep my pool at 220ppm so it would take A LOT of shock to raise that over 400ppm. And my pool is in a screened area so I don’t get a lot of organics in the pool (other than humans…lol)

[@hovansh2373]

Hi Steve, any reason why CYA is acceptable at slightly higher levels for salt water pools?
I thought 7.5% of your CYA level should be your baseline Free Available Chlorine (FC) level. Hence why keeping CYA levels at 30ppm is considered ideal.

[@drdrew3]

But if you maintain a CYA level of 50 the chlorine is better stabilized. You will need a slightly higher amount of chlorine to achieve sanitization but IT WILL LAST LONGER. It’s a trade off between quantity and effectiveness - hence the ideal RANGE for cyanuric acid is widely agreed to be 30-50ppm. Best solution is to add borates to 30-50ppm and your chlorine additions can be cut in half. Been doing that for years and don’t even remember what algae looks like anymore

[@hovansh2373]

@@drdrew3 Still doesn’t explain the reason why according to Steve, higher levels of CYA are acceptable in salt water pools. If I have a salt water pool, why is 70ppm of CYA acceptable VS let’s say 30ppm of CYA with 40ppm of Borates?

[@drdrew3]

@@hovansh2373 Higher levels of cya are acceptable in a salt
pool because within the salt cell chlorine levels are super concentrated and locally overcome the cya “lock” effect. So you still get effective sanitization despite the cya being over 50ppm

[@alexmoreno5894]

Question is the chlorine good to buy at Walmart or is it better at pool house store is it stronger chlorine

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

For sure ypu should buy from pool stores. Hardware stores are notorious for old stock, improper storage that leads to loss of effectiveness, selling low quality chemicals chock full of fillers etc. Pool stores are the only place to buy pool chemicals in my opinion.