Brand new Pool owner

[croikie]

Hello all.
So I just bought my first house. It came with a pool. I'll explain what I do know about it.

I live in Minnesota so the temps get really cold here in the winter. Negitive 15 this year. Colder with windshield. Brrr....
From what I heard, the pool was not winterized this season so it was left untouched for maybe a year.

So right now the month is March/April now and it is around 45 degrees for an average.

I need to replace the filter and pump. No big deal there for me. But what kind of filter do I need?
I looked inside of the large white round filter that is sitting there and it is empty except for some sand.
So I'm guessing I need a sand filter??? maybe 21" size. How do you determine what is around the pool without drilling a hole? can you? or is that the option?

The pool is rectangular but has steps at one end to walk into the pool. I think it is a 9' deepend and 3' or 4' shallow but I don't know because the pool is one big ice chunk. The house was a forclosure so I didn't get much information on it.

I can see that around the edges of the pool, the liner is not tearing but slipping off of the round bar that is on the inner edge of the pool. Is it posible to just take the bar off and restretch the liner to fit back under that bar? Or do I have to replace the entire liner? (Granted that there isnt a huge tear at the bottom of the pool that I can't see yet).

I have more but I'll only ask one more question. IS the only way to determine if the pipes are good or bad, (I'm guessing they are bad) is to try running the filter (once i buy a new one) and see if it works?

I'm 25 and I have friends who have lived with pools. But I want to get a 2nd opinion if you know what I mean.

[poolcare101]

I need to replace the filter and pump. No big deal there for me. But what kind of filter do I need?

You choose the filter according to the flow rate of the pump. You have 3 choices for tyoe of filter:
* sand is the easiest to use
* de is best at filtration, though you have the ongoing expense of de powder
* cartridge filters better than sand, tho cleaning is no fun
The existing sand filter is probably fine. The filters are tough as anything and don't crack easy.

IS the only way to determine if the pipes are good or bad, (I'm guessing they are bad) is to try running the filter (once i buy a new one) and see if it works?

The pipes below ground are most likely fine considering the pool never emptied out. Don't go drilling holes around the pool. It won't get you much info and you could end up piercing the pipes.

The state of the liner will become apparent after the thaw but in all likelihood you could just reattach the liner.

[croikie]

Thanks for the input.
The filter has three large cracks on the top half so I need a new filter. I left that part out.

So I can stretch the liner back. AWESOME
I'll check for rips.

So your thinking of best to worst filters are DE, Cartridge then SAND?

Also I'm thinking about getting a Solor heating system that would carry the pvc pipes up and down the side of my house to my roof to the panels and back again.
Has anyone had any luck with these? It costs about $199 for 40 square feet. I realize I wouldn't have heat on a non sunny day or night time.

[Me...]

In a properly equipped and operated pool, you would be very hard pressed to tell what type of filter was being used by looking at the water. And Sand is by far the easiest and least messy to use. I would opt for a cartridge on a small body of water where backwashing would simply drain too much water out.

Re: Your solar. Once the water is moving up to the roof and falling back down to the pool the pump size doesn't matter much. Getting the water up to the roof and purging the air out matters a great deal to the pump. Too many people select a filter that is just adequately sized for their pool and then plunk a huge pump there to increase circulation. They do it make cleaning systems work and/or solar systems work and/or fountains, sprays, slides etc. work. Any time you need a bigger pump to do a job, you WILL need a larger filter to handle the increased flow.

In other words, rethink your system before choosing your new equipment. How many drains/skimmers and how many returns and what size of piping is existing will also limit your choices.

And with solar, find the recommended number of panels, then buy an extra 1 or 2 anyways. Nothing worse than spending all that money on a good solar system to have it constantly be a couple of degrees too cool.