Recent content by FarmerJohn

General comment regarding spa vertical placement. When we built in 2005 we were pretty physically fit and the builder wanted $1000/ft in spa height above deck. Being at the top of our budget already we went for spa and deck being flush since squatting down and stepping on the spa seating ledge...

Our 2005 inground gunite pool/hot tub currently have limestone coping. As many have found out the limestone degrades over time producing all sorts of rough surfaces and revealing fossils that pop out, etc., etc. The existing deck is concrete with an epoxy textured surface I think was called...

I have a need for some pipe and equipment repairs. The 1st place I called (it had pretty decent reviews on Yelp) said at the start of the conversation that the estimate would be $135. It costs them money to send someone out and work up an estimate but that seems pretty high considering they had...

My AO Smith 2hp single speed motor lasted 9 years before a power surge nuked it. The identical replacement lasted 1 year and 2 weeks before another power surge (lightning storm again) got it. I had kept the old motor and got it rebuilt for 1/2 the cost of new since the windings were still good...

I think your electrical contractor used to work on my car. Skip real debugging and start changing parts until it 'works'. "See, I done fixed it!" At least you are under warranty. I also had a GFCI breaker popping but it was always around rainy times. After about 10 warrantied contractor visits...

We got a pool in 2005 after having a hottub for several years. I obediently followed the pool stores' and pool builder's recommendations for several troublesome years. Being a manufacturing engineer by trade told me that there was NO WAY this was the right way to handle pools. Searching online...

That was some adventure. I can hardly wait to go searching for what I believe is a leak on my main pool return line. Sand is showing up on my pool steps that a nearby 90 degree jet shoots across.

That's what I'm doing. I just got it rolling yesterday after some lightning induced downtime. Since it's cartridge filtered I'm watching the pressure and trading it out as indicated. 3 times yesterday! They sure clean up faster when it's just algae corpses. Still murky this morning but the...

LOL, looks like dropping more than a $1000 for the Compool -> Easy Touch DIY upgrade ain't gonna happen. Have opted for a $180 used CP3800 from ebay. Looks like the seller is parting out his old pool equipment from his own upgrade. Has a 14 day return policy. My fingers are crossed this goes...

I was a manufacturing engineer for a while and your question made me think. Why aren't there many, if any, painted items around/in swimming pools? I know you can get a pretty good bond between plastic and paint so I'm thinking that bumps and dings chip it away pretty quick. If you go the paint...

Thanks for the cheering section Casey. The missus will be swimming in sushi for her efforts. I did the cable integrity check by taking the indoor controller pad out to the main power/controller box. There was an OEM cable attached to the inside of the unit so I had no problem chasing down a new...

At the end of a recent lightning storm I heard a buzzing from the indoor Compool 3400 control pad and when I went outside to hit the breaker there were disturbing electrical sounds coming from the pool equipment area. The one of the 3 pumps was buzzing so I quickly flipped the breakers on the...

You're welcome Gordon. Good work should be acknowledged. My pool was 74 this morning. One advantage of living in central Texas. Gonna have 40 people over this weekend for a baby shower so I'll probably have to nudge it up (FC and temp) for the unwashed and thin skinned! Update: Me and my big...

BBB is a terrible thing..............for the pool chemical stores. Even at 58 degrees that pool looks inviting.

:hammer: Since we got the pool in 2005 I've always done my own testing and then gone to the pool stores as a checking measure. 90% of the time we are within 20% of each other which given the conditions at their stores (teenagers, messy testing station, lighting, etc.) and my own variability...