Pool after hurricane surge

[WaterwayHaven]

I live in Florida and last night we experienced a few feet of saltwater surge due to hurricane Helene. Our pool is a mess and I don’t know where to start, so I’m hoping someone here has some insights to share.

I have a variable speed pump (which has been off since we evacuated on Wednesday), a cartridge filter and a pool robot.

 

[swadeab]

same here except mine is muddy brackish river water NASTY to the bone.

what i've done in past is since it's salt or brackish the salinity will be off charts is drain half fill half then chlorine max and filter clean filter clean filter clean (or backwash).

Can start 24 hour cleaning first then knock down the salinity but it's gonna be high salinity for longer through pump

anyways that's what i've done in past hoping some experts chime in

 

[Texas Splash]

Stick to the basics. If you elect to exchange some water first, go ahead. Then use the following:
1. Ensure no hard debris floated into and sunk to the bottom you can't see.
2. Ensure equipment can run safely.
3. Increase FC level to SLAM level or at least half way per the FC/CYA Levels.
4. Keep pump running 24/7; a low rpm is fine.
5. Sweep & brush daily.
6. Watch filter pressure and clean/backwash as needed.

Last but not least ........ be patient. It could take some time.

 

[swadeab]

question , is this enough to filter out all of the oils,gas,chems,etc that may be in the water? I've done the 50% replace before filter filter filter but wonder about long term
contaminates in the water.

i know drain is ideal but it's too risky after a flood by water. If your shell is elevated on a retaining wall area (my old place the shell sat above ground basically think hillside retaining wall,) that i drained..no water table stuff...but in ground best to replace in stages over time to get salinity down.

 

[Katodude]

I would really consider a no drain water exchange.

Draining - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[swadeab]

I would really consider a no drain water exchange.

Draining - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

yeah that's the ticket and i store a small submersible pump for this which is what i've been using. thanks for info op should consider same but if you're gulf side etc water is a bit cleaner, river side ....it's a
chemical bomb of river water

 

[CreedenceTapes]

Same issue here. I took FC up to SLAM level immediately. I can at least see the bottom now, and the cast is green instead of brown.

One question I have for the hive mind is that when I added muriatic acid, it turned an orange-ish yellow color and floated instead of sinking.

I've read that this can happen in a bromine pool (mine's liquid chlorine) when the bromine is very high. Can it happen with chlorine?

My initial thought was that it was iron oxidizing, but my intuition is that that would sink as fast as muriatic acid, not float.

 

[Katodude]

My opinion is ocean, river, bay or any other ground based water gets into my pool in any significant way, I am exchanging as much of that water as I can. Who knows what kind of contaminants got into your pool, and ultimately the price of water will be less that the price of the chlorine you will need. You will still need to SLAM after the water exchange, but it’s going to be much easier.

 

[CreedenceTapes]

My opinion is ocean, river, bay or any other ground based water gets into my pool in any significant way, I am exchanging as much of that water as I can. Who knows what kind of contaminants got into your pool, and ultimately the price of water will be less that the price of the chlorine you will need. You will still need to SLAM after the water exchange, but it’s going to be much easier.

I'm on board with all of that, except that I had substantial water intrusion into my house too. While I deal with a water-logged home interior, I don't want stubborn algaes establishing themselves in the places that are the most difficult to remove them.

So I'm going to SLAM till I'm back to normal chlorine loss, get my interior restored, then exchange most all of the water... before I let anyone in there.

 

[Katodude]

House before pool, makes a lot of sense. Keeping the pool at slam will also prevent mosquitos and other nasties. You dont need to be very precise about it since you will do a water exchange but until then high FC is your friend.

 

[CreedenceTapes]

House before pool, makes a lot of sense. Keeping the pool at slam will also prevent mosquitos and other nasties. You dont need to be very precise about it since you will do a water exchange but until then high FC is your friend.

Oh, and salt... Even if I weren't afraid of the other assorted nastiness from the roads, lawns, and Gulf, there's no getting around exchanging the salt water out.

 

[WaterwayHaven]

Does anyone know if equipment that was submerged in the salt water surge can survive it? I turned it off before the storm and have not turned it on since. It had all kinds of stuff on it and I hosed it down. Today, there was some white stuff on it. Pictures attached.

I know that I can’t address the chemistry without the pump but haven’t wanted to turn it on until I have some sense that it is safe to do so.

 

[swadeab]

not likely , when you redo it make sure its up though this storm wouldn't have made a difference for a lot,

or put a plug in and unions and remove before storm. Been there done that, that's what i do. then i have a sump for draining emergencies if it's filling.

You can try, an old school pump would probably run for a bit, worst happens is the breaker be it gcfi or not will trip.

 

[swadeab]

what i ended up doing to avoid using my main pump with high salinity, i did a partial 70% or so drain, salt water heavier than fresh, doing a no drian replace for a good while , then refill part of the way . Will see if cleaner line can clean to waste at lower water level if i preprime it and vacume all the Crud. Then i'll drain deep/fill shallow mostly again doing same method . then the normal stuff brush brush brush shock clean clean clean.

Lot of steps but i'm on a river off a bay , this storm brought in all kind of mud and with pool up ground water isn't as much of a concern but there's some that could be so i'm not doing a full drain. I didn't want to no drain full then vac or vac with the high salinity then no drain refill (i WOULD have vacuumed first but my gas trash pump flooded, spare pool pump for this purpose was up on a shelf in garage but not enough so it got flooded and didn't want to spend a fortune on a local pump and amazon can't get me a cheap one will tue.

 

[CreedenceTapes]

Does anyone know if equipment that was submerged in the salt water surge can survive it? I turned it off before the storm and have not turned it on since. It had all kinds of stuff on it and I hosed it down. Today, there was some white stuff on it. Pictures attached.

I know that I can’t address the chemistry without the pump but haven’t wanted to turn it on until I have some sense that it is safe to do so.

My old Hayward Super 2 survived. I'm sure it's worse for the wear, but it's still moving water like it always has.

 

[CreedenceTapes]

what i ended up doing to avoid using my main pump with high salinity, i did a partial 70% or so drain, salt water heavier than fresh,

I didn't think about that. Let me confirm my understanding. Salt water is denser than freshwater, so when I exchange, I should put my submersible pump in the deepest part of the pool and put the fill hose on the top step on the shallow end?

 

[swadeab]

I didn't think about that. Let me confirm my understanding. Salt water is denser than freshwater, so when I exchange, I should put my submersible pump in the deepest part of the pool and put the fill hose on the top step on the shallow end?

Sorry missed this, i'm sure everyone in same boat with heavy cleanup not much computer time. that's what i did and no science expert but

that whole link on no drain replacement didn't quite make sense to me, but salt vs fresh does but i think the 2 say essentially same thing.

so i would do a vac to waste first if you have a working pump and don't mind the high salinity thru the pump. then do replacement.

I ended up doing
1) sump in deep end, fill from shallow at least 70% in my case but i'm higher than ground level. I actually drained a good 60% first, then started my 50% replacement from there. That may not be comfortable for you depending on your shell and surrounding water level or table. Alot of florida pools are elevated on stem walls so ground water not so much in play depending on height above waterfront.
2) once salinity was down i closed everything except skimmer and vacuumed (old school pole and head) to waste to not make my existing de so nasty. Though i suppose if above holds true that the high saline is on the bottom you're still pumping high saline thru the pump so the point may be moot and skip this intermediary step trying to avoid the ^ salt water?
3) at that point bottom was pretty clean, so then i did another replacement, aiming for 10-15% more time it took to drain first half.
4) at that point pretty dang clear just bit cloudly (more so in my case as i tried a useless robot and it can't filter silt). So then just get the de cleaning things up or whatever.

I feel comfortable to swim in that scenario, once shocked, and filterered through the de filter.

Anyways all the more reason to prepare a portable filter for these cases, having an old pump makes it so much less to think about. Though this thing man....whatever i put high wasn't high enough so they get you
eventually anyways.

 

[swadeab]

My old Hayward Super 2 survived. I'm sure it's worse for the wear, but it's still moving water like it always has.

yeah the plain jane pumps survive ww3, though i do have a spa pump that stopped but i'll bet it's just a capacitor, haven't gotten to it yet to check. I have had an old school pump swamped before (twice) and it ran but shortly afterwards eventually squeeled like crazy from the bearings, so you may see that coming in couple months. i doubt any variable would survive total salt submersion...too much electronic Crud and i'm sure the ip,etc ratings apply to splashing.

 

[swadeab]

so my salinity test kit got flooded i think i haven't found it yet but who knows which pile it's in =)

but i've tested the river water before (i'm on an inlet so brackish) with my test kit and it was around 15000ppm salinity, i've also tested the chlorine generator level readings with the kit and they've always been on point so at least in the 1000-2000's range i know they correspond.

The chlorine generator after the above is showing a level of 2000, that would imply to me some mixing does occur (probably less so if you're purely in salt water) So at least if my memory is correct last time i tested the river salinity that would be a what 97% replacement. Given the push in from the gulf i'd almost bet salinity was much higher as seawater is 30000+ iirc and i'm not far from tampa bay at all. So the replacement percentage may be even higher (presumably).

 

[swadeab]

and here i am tonight ! i didn't get to running the pool filter till late today as some plumbing was giving me a hassle with priming so i redid it real quick. just used chlorine. I did put a bit of classifier in there after vac to waste and 2nd fill. That was so i could use the robot a bit for a bit hoping it would help it pick up a bit better, before switching to my tried and true hayward cleaner and let the de finish the job.

I did initially rig up a cartridge filter and temp pump on the deck while i worked on the plumbing.

now on the other cleanup!