I'm no pro but to me it sounds like you may have a "grading" issue. I know they had to build up my yard pretty significantly to make all the drainage go away from the pool. There is a lot of precise measurement involved and extra draining pipes (even under the concrete). I would check with an expert. You sound like you are exerting a lot of time, energy, and money in keeping the pool clean. A little more spent on drainage my save you in the long run.

Thanks, nikkineel. I had posted before about this problem, and that's what others had said. I'm not sure what to do about that. (The grading) I think i was just at my wit's end a bit ago when I posted.

I'll start monday with the paver company and see if we can figure out a solution!

Kathy

Kathy, that's a pretty pool! I hate to say it, but it's not going to get easier for you unless the drainage problem can be fixed. I can't remember if it was your other thread that I mentioned this in, but something similar happened to our neighbor. The pool was installed too low and after every heavy rain it was full of mud. They PB walked away from the problem, they sued them and won and never collected a dime. They ended up having some yard reshaping done and installed a sump pump to pump the water out before it got into the pool and that has helped. I suggest getting a landscape architect and/ or a civil engineer to look at it. Explain the problem and see if they can come up with a solution. Good luck!

Kathy, get a small ball or marble and check the grading of the pavers all around the pool. Also if you don't have polymeric sand in the pavers, I would recommend using it. A hard rain can splash into the pool from the deck and regular sand becomes dislodged. DH never does a paver job without it. It will trap the water more on top of pavers, but is much easier to hose off. We live in the desert and I hose the deck almost every day as we get so much sand blowing around. I clean filters once a week as I am a clean nut, but it is amazing how much dirt gets trapped in them. Good luck, your pool area is so pretty. Barb

Tresw and Airorne, thank you, and I remember you both replying to my previous thread regarding the same problem.

I will go out right now and put a marble on the pavers and see what it does. Should it roll AWAY from the pool? (That makes sense, but I didn't know if it should be an 'obvious' roll.)

Like I said, we contracted the whole thing ourselves. So I'm not sure where to start to find problems. It would seem to me that the paver people would have double checked the grade before they did their work, but who knows.

Tresw, you know a lot about salt...and I know you've told me not to 'trust' the reading on my Aqualogic, but is that number ANYWHERE reliable? After last week's "wash out", I drained the 2-3 inches from the top and had to add 80 lbs of salt. That put me back around 2900 (according to display.) Now, with yesterday's "wash out", I'm back to "check system, low salt". I'm obviously losing a lot of water with the overflow, but is that enough to need that much salt every couple of weeks?

Thanks for the help. I love this forum! You guys are great.

Kathy

It's quite possible, if you've got a low pool then you're probably getting a lot of water washing out of the pool during those storms in addition to the water & mud washing in. I'm not sure about the Aqualogic, but with the Pentair Intellichlor 2900 is the limit of normal, so it wouldn't need to lose much salt to go to a low salt reading (3350 is the target zone with the Intellichlor).

The marble should indeed roll away from the pool, but that won't tell the whole story. You may have minimal slope away from the pool that becomes ineffective when you have a big rain event. Our septic tank lids are about an inch above grade with minimal slope away from the lids, but when we get a real gully-washer they're completely underwater. Thank goodness they raised our pool up nice and high!