Ecosmarte Pool

I've been meaning to write up some information about my Ecosmarte Pool system. We installed the system about 6 months ago and have been very pleased with it. There was so little information available when we were researching alternatives to chlorine, I thought I'd write up what I've learned.

It was not that easy to even decide what we should do as an alternative to chlorine. With all the rushing around with buying a new house, learning about pools was just one more thing to research and one more expense we didn't want. Neither of us knew anything at all about swimming pool maintenance. So I'm going to include everything we've learned about running a pool.

There are, as far as I was able to find, only a few alternatives to chlorine. And in the USA, other than salt, we could not really find any information at all. I could find very little about what was wrong with chlorine. Some of my information came from the conversation on Dr. Mercola's website. He is very against chlorine but the system he does recommend simply hasn't caught on in the USA yet. And salt has two issues. First, a salt system is simply another way of generating chlorine. Since it is generated all the time, I guess the levels are as low as possible. Be that as it may, I don't understand paying all the money to convert only to still have chlorine. The other issue with salt is that it can eat away your pipes when retrofitted to an existing pool. I guess it might be okay with a new pool installation. Well, anyway, I prefer swimming in fresh water, so I was thrilled when I came to the Ecosmart website.

To be honest, the information on the website didn't really make a lot of sense to me. I could not understand how it "worked". But keep in mind that I didn't know the first thing about pools and the water in them, so perhaps to someone with more pool background, it makes better sense? Personally, I think they should explain a bit more to the pool newbie. I'll try to do that here in case anyone reading this is totally green like we were.

I had Ecosmarte send me some information, which left me still baffled, but at least convinced I was dealing with a real company. It's something about copper.

Okay, I didn't even know that the water in my pool has been there for years. New water doesn't come in and old water doesn't go out. Well, that's not strictly true, but that is the basic idea. You're dealing with water that could be years old. We accidentally had a leak once when my daughter picked off a patch we didn't know about, and then remembered to tell us a few weeks later while we scratched our heads about the dropping water level. That time, we refilled with water from the hose. And rain likes to fill our pool, especially during the rainy season. That is a huge issue here in Florida, and one I'll be talking about more. Besides leaks, water leaves via evaporation and when you backwash, something else I'll talk more about later when I go over pool maintenance.

Okay, so other than those ways of water coming and going, you're dealing with the same old water which is getting cycled by your pump through your filter and back into the pool for however many hours a day. In general, we run the pump 8-12 hours a day. If we can figure it all out and keep the water clear and clean, I'd like to run the pump for 8 hours. We've run it as much as 24 hours a day for a 48 hour period when trying to fix an issue. We also run the Ecosmarte thingy for some hours while the pump is running. It can be run in one of a few modes. There are so many parts of copper in the water When that gets too low, we run it in a mode that adds copper. The rest of the time, it's either in oxidize mode, or off. I have a bit more to learn about that but it's not an exact science.

By the way, there is a manual that comes with the system that tells you how to do all the tests, what the target test results are, and how to fix any numbers that are off. In addition, they offer telephone support. You can just go over your numbers with them and they'll tell you how to fix them. They encourage you to take advantage of this as you are learning to get your pool stable. I'm not stable yet but I don't have to call very often.

You're probably desperate by now to know the cost. I've blocked out the exact number because it was horrifying, but I think it was something like $500-$600 for a 3rd party glass and sand filter, and something like $2500 for the basic (manual) model. The fully automatic model was thousands of dollars more than that. It cost around $200 to have the filter installed and our old filter taken away. That helped right away; I have no idea how the old filter was supposed to be doing anything. The previous owners had a pool service coming every week or two to keep the pool looking clear and blue but that stopped as soon as we took ownership of the house and so did the pool being clear and blue. We watched it turn to pea soup in a matter of weeks while I struggled with the decision on whether or not to buy the Ecosmarte system.

We noticed an immediate improvement but we were still dealing with more of a swamp than a pool. We learned that the skimmer needs to be emptied daily. That is not a huge hardship. You simply lift out a plastic basket, dump it, and replace it. Sometimes, I check the secondary basket and see that it needs emptying too.

Unfortunately, we can't justify any kind of robotic vacuum right now as they start at over $500 for an in-ground pool. So we have to do extra maintenance due to all the trees. Not everyone will have to do as much work as we do. It is quite pleasant work though. We use two different nets to clear out debris. I watched a youtube video to get the idea of how to use the nets. It's quite meditative work. I suppose a vacuum would solve that issue. I haven't checked to see if they can handle some of the larger branches that fall in (or that the squirrels throw in).

The other regular maintenance is backwashing. There are plenty of sites with instructions on how to do that. When the pressure on the filter reaches a certain level, you backwash, rinse, and then put the filter back into filter mode. The backwashing causes water to bubble up in our backyard. I wish we'd known about that before we positioned our brand new teak table and chair set directly over the hose. Perhaps some day, I'll reroute the exit somewhere more convenient than the middle of my yard.

Okay so other maintenance is weekly testing. Meaning more like monthly. I have not been great about keeping up but I do try! I do 4 tests and based on the results, I fiddle around with products and procedures to get the levels right. It all sounds complicated but it's really not that bad after a few months. The tests are quite simple to do and involve a sample of water, test tubes, adding drops, and comparing the color to a chart. I find the comparing the color step to be the most complicated so I usually get my husband and kids to offer their opinions too, just to be sure. I'm getting more confident in my color comparison prowess.

We started with pea soup and after about a week, a few phone calls, a few trips to the pool supply store, and lots of simple stuff poured in, we had beautiful clear water and no chlorine! It was brilliant and lasted a few weeks. Then the Florida summer rains started and the temperature and humidity made going outside unbearable. So other than occasionally clearing out the skimmers and using the nets to clear both bottom and surface debris out, we just didn't bother with the pool. It gradually shifted back to pea soup. With the rainy season finally behind us, I tested again and tackled fixing the pool on my own. I got all the numbers within the target range except those darned phosphates, which are just a known issue with the Florida rains. So the pool was still green, but usable. I brushed the bottom but just could not get this figured out so I called their support. I ran through the procedure they outlined:

backwash
add PhosFree or any anti-phosphate product
run filter 48 hours straight
oxidize high 48 hours
backwash
add non-metallic algecide
wait 24 hours (oops - I missed this step)
add non-chlorine shock (the first time I've ever done that)

Back to blue pool this morning.
That's it for now. I hope this posting helps people understand non-chlorine options. Sorry so rambling. I really wanted to get some information down because I just couldn't find anything when I was trying to decide if I wanted to shell out thousands of dollars. Feel free to ask questions. I love my pool and I don't resent the work at all. I love my Ecosmarte system and I'm really happy with their support.

Break the water bottle habit!

Thanks, Michele, for letting me know about this!

My mom's housewarming gift to us was an under-the-sink water filter. We use stainless steel water bottles for all our out of the house drinking water, and in house, we have glass carafes in the fridge. When we take a road trip, we fill a five gallon plastic bottle with our own water.

Why all the fuss about water?

We avoid unfiltered tap water. We are concerned about chlorine, flouride, and other toxic chemicals in untreated tap water. So even in restaurants, we know water is the best beverage but we prefer to use our own.

We are concerned about plastic bottles. Perhaps the water available in these bottles is better in some cases than the local tap water, perhaps not, but it is worth jumping through hoops to avoid these single use non-biodegradable wastes of resources. In my business, I am looking to list more products that are made from recycled water bottles.

We have not quite figured out what to do when we are on vacation. We can no longer take our own water on planes so we are forced to suck it up and drink whatever they serve us. It doesn't bear thinking about. And we currently don't have a portable filter so we drink from plastic bottles while traveling.

Ecosmarte Pool

We bought a house with a pool. I did not want a pool. I did not want to deal with the headache of maintenance and I certainly didn't want my family in chlorine. But we fell in love with the house and my husband really felt strongly about a pool. So here we are!

For the first month or so, I had analysis paralysis. I normally don't get that, but I needed the chlorine system replace and there is not a lot of information on alternative systems. One reference I found by digging around on Dr. Mercola's website stuck with me. It was about Ecosmart Pools. It was wrong, actually! It said that it these were just another salt system, which is totally false! I finally called the company and got a quote on the system and it was a heck of a lot of money. So more spinning my wheels here.

It is important to me to live our lives as toxin free as possible. This definitely fit in with my values, but it meant giving up a lot! Was it worth it? As our pool turned to pea soup before our very eyes, I decided it was.

Once we got everything installed and started doing the testing, things did start to turn around. It took a few weeks and regular phone calls for hand holding to their toll free number. At some point, it all started to make sense and I didn't need to call anymore! It is not a huge headache!

I don't have a clue how it works. Something to do with copper. They did have us buy a sand/glass filter. The old filter didn't actually seem to do anything so this was just as well. We were skimming leaves out at least daily. When we turned this thing on, all the leaves wound up in the skimmer and all we had to do was dump it.

We did have to deal with algae and we may need to again. We are not completely chemical free but the times we will have to add anything to adjust the water going forward will be very rare.

We had a leak recently. Out of the blue, the water was disappearing at an alarming rate! My daughter suddenly remembered that she'd pulled something off the bottom of the pool. Ahah! It had been patched! We repatched the hole - thank goodness it was clearly visible - and refilled the pool. And now I am all itchy! The chlorinated water definitely messed with my skin! I can't wait for all that to be gone and back to our nice clean water!

I'm not mommy

It's so sad! Tragic, really!

When my older daughter got to the age where she didn't want to call me "mommy" any more and made the switch to "mom", it was okay. She was around 7, maybe closer to 8, and it just felt right. She seemed more grown up.

Well my little one is just this side of four and she too has made the switch to "mom" and "dad". I can understand why she's doing this; she is going to learn from her older sister.

But I'm not done being "mommy"!!!!! I thought I had a few more years! I feel cheated!

My husband actually tried to get her to go back, but there is no point. She's a Taurus. Enough said.

I guess the second child grows up more quickly. At least we're having a 2nd babywearing honeymoon!

How come you can't leave a good review on BBBOnline

How come you can only file a complaint about a company at the Better Business Bureau website? I'd love to balance out the one complaint that Absolute Best Movers have with the good experiences I am sure most people have. Tony and his crew are the most professional, reliable movers I've ever dealt with.

I have had some very nasty moving experiences, including some horrors with Star of David, who stole two bicycles worth over $1000 and broke nearly all our valuables, and on top of it all, charged thousands and thousands more than they were supposed to. I only share that to show that I know what I'm talking about and how badly a move can go.

I can find no complaint with Absolute Best. The name couldn't be more well-suited. No hidden charges. Fast. Reliable. All items arrived even though two other movers were at our condo at exactly the same time moving other people out. Pleasant. Professional to the extreme. And amazingly talented in how they loaded the truck.

Moving is so stressful and relocating even moreso. There was no stress with this company!

Manual Lawnmower

We didn't mow our lawn for 2 months after we moved in. The neighbors must have loved us. No?

Well, it wasn't as bad as all that. See, it was all weeds! So it wasn't very tall!

But still, for many reasons, I didn't want an electric or gas lawnmower. I checked freecycle for a push mower or manual mower or whatever they are called and saw lots of mowers that needed repair, but no old fashioned ones. I am kind of glad; the one I wound up getting is so much lighter than the old way they made them. Plus the blades were sharp so I don't need to worry about that for now. It was simple to put together.

Took me probably 3-4 hours to mow! I had to go over and over the same spots. And it's like a bad haircut; lots of things refused to be cut down. They just bent over and then popped back up when I wasn't looking!

But it looks tons better. I am so sad I cut down most of the gorgeous wildflowers (oops I mean weeds). Still, it's going to be easier for the kids to get around.

As a side note, we have an impossible number of tree stumps. Al chopped some up with the ax I got him, but some he couldn't do a thing with. So much to do here!

We moved!

We moved to Gainseville! That's all the news for now. Quite busy with housey stuff.

Death of a friend

There is no perfect way to die. There are no perfect births, either. But there are better births and better deaths, and that's all we can hope for, I guess. I am still processing this all.

I had an amazing experience birthing my second daughter and the learning from that kept coming back to me as I watched my beautiful Maine Coon cat fading away. Two years ago, I thought he was going to die. I actually spent many days crying as he slipped away. I'd lost a cat unexpectedly and saw some of the same signs; retreating, not eating, losing weight, lethargy.

Then my daughter insisted we get a kitten. I was just starting to make peace with letting go of my dear friend and it was a difficult decision to risk adding someone new into the mix. In the end, my daughter won out. And miracle of miracles, the kitten sort of won him over. He never actually said as much, but within a few months, he allowed her to sleep next to him, and shortly after that, she was tackling him and we were enjoying shows. He got strong again and put on some weight.

But he still drank an awful lot of water. And a vet friend told me I'd have to have him undergo a lot of tests to get to the bottom of what was wrong. It could be kidney disease or diabetes. The thought of unpleasant car trips, miserable vet visits, and costly medical bills, all to find out that there was either nothing that could be done, or nasty interventions "required" gave me pause. I chose the path of least resistance. I continued to enjoy his company and relish every moment we had together.

About a month before he died, I got a sudden acutely painful shoulder injury which took up a lot of my attention. I gathered him up and put him on my chest, expecting to feel his calming, healing energy. I got nothing and he didn't really stay very long. I guess that should have been a clue but I was in too much pain to realize.

As his weight continued to plummet, it dawned on me that this was pretty much the end. I stayed home just as much as I could and spoke to my aunt a few times because she had done in-home hospice care for my grandmother. I also surfed the Internet a lot, trying to understand my options and make sure I was doing the right thing. Or at least, the best thing I could do for him.

Christmas day fell on a Tuesday. On Saturday, I called my vet friend who gave me the number of a vet who did euthanasia and who made house calls. She said that she couldn't come before Wednesday, and that it would be cruel to wait that long. I was miserable but wasn't quite ready to let go. By Christmas Eve, in the middle of the night, I knew I had to help him end it. He had some kind of spasm or tremor in his whole body. I took him into bed with me and didn't really sleep; his weakly tapping paws against me kept me up.

My girls opened their presents in the morning and he sat on my lap. He didn't really have much choice in the matter as he had lost the ability to walk the day before. I sent everyone outside to play and I got nice and comfortable on the couch with him on my lap. I wanted to have some peaceful time with him before we went to the vet I had found who would perform the euthanasia at their office. He had a few small tremors or spasms, then shakily lifted his head and looked up at me. His face looked more relaxed than it had in days. He gave one strong purr. I hadn't heard him purr in days. I smiled and cried. Then a long tremor started and I thought this might be the one. I held him very gently and told him I released him, he could go, let his soul leave his body, just stop breathing. I had been feeling so strongly up until that moment that there was life after death. The tremor went on and on and finally stopped. I checked to see if his chest was moving but I couldn't see anything. I felt for a pulse and found none. I just stayed like that for a few minutes until I was pretty sure he really was gone.

Since then, I haven't been so very sure about life after death and I feel very uneasy if I think about death and dying, but I think I did okay by him. It pains me to start to examine all the things he might have died of. Starvation? Dehydration? We had not been able to get him to swallow much water at the end. Kidney failure? Who knows. Was I horrible to not put him through the horrors of extreme medical interventions like I had done with my beautiful cat who died anyway when about to undergo another stupid procedure? Is there a sweet way to die? Was he in pain? Did I do right by him?

I know I had finally come to terms with euthanasia and perhaps my willingness to let him go gave him the peace to leave. If there is an afterlife, perhaps we will meet up sometime and he will let me know!