Saturday, August 18, 2012

Green To Clean??


You will recall the pool malady we suffered and battled and ...... lost. This product, Green To Clean, is supposed to kill all manner of algae and is guaranteed to work. Guaranteed.

We have actually used this product before and it did work. This is why I ordered it as soon as I noticed the turquoise tint to the water and subsequently discovered the wonderful bouquet of flowers that had been steeping in the skimmer basket.

It didn't work. It is not cheap, this product, and I was careful to order from the vendor offering free overnight shipping. In addition to this killer of algae, you have to make sure the PH is at a proper level and add additional chlorine and shock. This is at a considerable cost also. We contacted the company offering the guarantee and were advised that a replacement shipment was on the way. 

In the meantime he who will take advice from any one with a voice was about the business of driving to town for remedies. Algaecide was dumped by the gallon. PH+ and PH-, depending on the advice of the day. Vacuum, sweep, beg, plead, and curse. I saw 9 gallons of Clorox go in. Shock and more shock. All I could see was $$$$$$$$ wasted. Looked like a huge vat of pea soup.

After 10 days of waiting for the miracle chemicals, more e-mails went and finally a company official called he who shouts on the phone. A promise of an overnight shipment was made. This was on a Friday. Fed-X and UPS deliver on Saturday and we were told to expect a delivery. It came the next Tuesday.

By then I had given up and was loathe to spend another penny on the green water. He who is ever optimistic, opened the package and proceeded with the instructions. He came in and told me the water looked better ........... I took a look and assured him it was not.

So, $1500 in chemicals later and untold loss of revenue, we had to have the drawback whatever thing tested on the well to determine  if we would risk depleting our water supply to refill the pool.


The well is fine, so we dumped 60,000 gallons of water with over $1500 worth of chemicals. We set up some PVC pipes with holes to work as a giant sprinkler to direct the water onto the parched grassy field and found the algae alive and well on the bottom of the pool. The picture was taken at dusk and you can't see the bright green algae in all it's glory.

Pool had to be power washed and all the equipment had to be cleaned.


Then the refilling process began. No, we did not fill the pool with a garden hose. We have a fire hose that we drag out for this purpose. Takes a couple of days to fill it. We have to keep the pressure down on the hose during peak hours or our campers have no water ..... not to mention me having no water. The irony is that since we have refilled the pool, the weather has turned cool.

So that now, the campers complain about the water being cold. Not to mention the nuggets of wisdom and advice I get. "Have you ever thought of using chlorine?" "I had a pool once and I think you should run the pumps." "I heard about some stuff called shock, have you tried that?"


I escape to my garden and wish I was frog on a log.


Or maybe in an old wheelbarrow tending flowers, as I smell chlorine wafting through the air and listen to sound of the skimmer pumps filtering the water ..............

10 comments:

Brian Miller said...

oy...ha....sounds like it might have been better with the pool closed...smiles...eh it will all be a memory soon...right?

ellen abbott said...

Who knew a few flowers could ruin a whole pool full of water? I'm sure it wasn't the flowers but I wonder where the super algae came from.

joanne said...

can you get the company to pay the lost $$$, it's worth a try!

Linda O'Connell said...

What a mess. You should now ORDER the campers to swim :) Truly sorry for your problems. Having an oabove ground pool, years ago was a pain. I can only imagine what you went through. 90s this week, though.

luksky said...

I empathize with your algae issue. When we lived in Alabama we had horrible issues with algae in our pool. Here in Texas we have never had algae at all in our pool. Matter of fact, we have to use very little chemical in our pool here at all...aside from chlorine. I attribute it to the high lime content in the water here.

Joanne Noragon said...

I held my breath all the way through and it didn't help. I'm so sorry and hope the rest of the season goes better.

mamahasspoken said...

Ah the unsolicited advice from well meaning people. Yea, I don't like it either:o)

lotta joy said...

AFTER we try anything and everything in our pool, we get all kinds of advice. Especially from people who no longer have a pool because of all the problems they couldn't fix.

Joe is always measuring ph-this and ph-that, and I keep telling him "If you ever die, I'm having it filled in with sand and dirt and plant a tree in the middle."

And I will.

Val said...

The greens and blues of summer. Both are quite breathtaking.

Unknown said...

pvc pipes
better than others.....