communal pool................

Don`t matter you can still check it out, the kit is only about 6 €`s.
You fill the phials up to the mark with pool water, put in 5 drops from the little bottles you get with it, each side is marked Chlor or PH and you check the colour on the side of the phials, it`s usual to keep them just above mid.
Or you can get test strips, you just dip them in and swirl about, then check colours on the box.
HERE

I know I can buy them - but what could I realistically do about it


maybe I should just have a chat with the pool guy

Yes, speak to him and tell him you are going to sue him for bottles of tomato sauce needed to sort your daughters hair out.
Or speak to the president about the problem you are having with the hair.

well this is it!!

it's costing a fortune in ketchup!!!


wonder who the president is?


I still haven't managed to get hold of a copy of the community rules.............

Cranberry juice works too and less messy than ketchup

actually I'm wondering if lemon juice would - it's the acid that works, right?

How long does anyone backwash? I've been told recently, having the same issue with fine particles coming out of the jets when vacuuming, that I've probably not backwashed long enough, and should do 3 min plus up to a minute rinse. Unfortunately we then lost a load of water & haven't had mains much recently so I haven't tested the theory, nor been able to vac to waste which I would do when there's a lot of stuff to get rid of (such as after putting Oxygen Activo in, which is brilliant for clearing murk in my pool....)

You should do it before vacuuming and after,
You can see the gunge in the phial on the side of the valve or some sand filters have a see through lid, do it till the water clears then rinse for half a min.

I've been doing that - ours is that little side phial thingy - but he said make sure & do it longer than you might think, hence me asking how long anyone else with filter problems thinks is enough!
I can see our outlet pipe too, and he suggested using the clarity of the water coming out during washing rather than the little phial. So 3 minutes.
Another reason for querying was cos the pool girl of the previous house owner only did it for seconds, something like 30 sec wash, 10 sec rinse; so maybe the sand never got a thorough clean in her day (It's been changed to zeolite since then).
Either way, I've got to wait til we have mains water again before doing it. Won't hold my breath!

I would do it for at least 3 mins and then rinse for 30-60 seconds.

Realistically though, you need to do it until the water clears!

Hold on hold on hold on!

Where the HELL have you been?

I always had this problem of cloudiness coming back in. Lots of trials with sand etc. lots of backwashing. I finally found out, the only way to get clean pool is to vacume on waste, it uses about 2 inches of water depth, but the water cost is far better than the time of all the repeat backwashings and repeat vacuming!

I always do that after a torrential rain instead of pumping it out. ;-))

Excellent idea - if a bit hazardous in the midst of an electric storm, which was happening the last time I had to drop the level!!! ...so didn't vac at the time...!