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I'm trying to get a rebar stain fixed. Contractor says that cutting out the bad stuff, versus just installing mosaic tiles over the top to cover, would have similar cost, and they're recommending the tiles rather than the real fix. Is this OK? I thought that the rusting rebar would eventually...

Assuming that the SLAM returns my FC levels to normal, is the failed temperature sensor anything I should worry about? I'm happy to save the money if the only complication is that I need to manually set it back to 0% over the winter.

The cell reports 20%, i.e., 2,000 hours. This is clearly incorrect. I run the pump 10-12 hours per day all year, temperature permitting, so it should be doing that many hours every year, and this is it's 6th year so I should be well over 10K hours. (also, I went on to the temperature sensor...

My SWG - an IC40 - is now in its 6th season. In past years I've been able to keep my FC level where desired by setting it 20% to 40%, depending on various stuff (if that seems low, that's probably because it's oversized for my pool at 11K gallons). When I started up this year I found that I...

Funny, this morning it was working. I can't imagine why, with its thermostat set at 50F, yesterday's 33F didn't have it running. But this morning at 31F it was going, and even at noon and 40F, it was still going on antifreeze mode. I guess I'm just going to have to keep an eye on it.

Thanks for the reply, Mike. Although your manual doesn't give a model#, the picture on it looks exactly like mine, so I'm assuming it's the same pump. That being the case, it seems like something is amiss. I guess I've got to talk to the PB and/or PentAir. In the meantime, I've changed the...

This is our first cold snap with the new pool, and I'm concerned about its freeze protection. I have two pumps: the main one, a Pentair variable-speed that claims to have freeze protection (at least, it's an option in its menu), and a separate one to run the sweeper robot thingy. The Pentair is...

I have to disagree here. The other tests, for chlorine, etc., are great. But for TA there's plenty of room for misinterpretation. As you say, it changes from blue green to red. But it does so by traveling through purple. At least as I experience it, there's a pretty broad judgment call from...

I have some air on the suction side of my pump. It doesn't seem to be causing any trouble, but I want to be sure that I'm not missing something. While the pump is running, there seems to always be a small air bubble at the top of the viewport - maybe a couple of tablespoons of air, if it makes...

I have a new pool in the Austin area, and have experienced the exact same thing. I'm pretty sure now that the source is the bare ground surrounding the pool, where the construction was being done. So my priority now is to get some kind of grass growing in that dirt, 'cause not only is the dust...

I'd like to add Borax to my pool. The instructions here say to first get the TA into position. My pool seems not to want to budge from the range of 90-100, and I'm wondering if that slightly higher value means I should wait. A little background. The reason I want to add the Borax is probably...

As a hobbyist photographer (I know more about cameras than I do about pools, so far), I can verify that ambient lighting can make a big difference. For example, if you're standing in the shade of a tree while looking at the strip, the tree in sunlight can give a green cast, maybe causing you to...

I've been having this problem myself. I'm not sure how the skimmer would help, as it seems the pollen just settles to the bottom as a brown dust. I've been brushing every day for the last couple of weeks, just stirring the stuff up so that it'll get sucked through the bottom drains into the filter.

The shed itself is PVC, and I think the only metal in it is the brush and net. The other chemicals I've got in there are: Muriatic acid Metal sequestrant Water conditioner (but I emptied this one yesterday anyway) In addition, I was thinking about storing some yard chemicals in there, like...

Our pool is new, we just put the salt into the water. As I was learning how to use the SWG (it's a Pentair Intellichlor IC40), I noticed that this model is for pools up to 40,000 gallons. My pool is a measly 11,000 gallons. In general I'd think it would be better to have excess capacity...

I just put together a "shed" (really just a large vertical cabinet) for storing pool chemicals and equipment. But I think I read read cautions about what can be stored together (specifically, chlorine and muriatic acid, iirc), and some things that might be temperature-sensitive. If I keep my...

I guess you're missing something, because it does tell you what to do. For example, it's telling me right now to "Add 24 fl oz Muriatic 31.45%" (coincidentally, the same as the screenshot on google play. See the attached image.

I bumped into Pool Pal, for Android use. It seems to be following the TFP methodology. In fact, the app itself references TroubleFreePool.com, telling users to read up here to understand better. I've been getting enough use from it that I wanted to give the author a donation, but haven't found...

It turns out we had to do an acid wash of sorts - but they didn't need to drain the pool to do it. The plaster guy came with a little device that fits on the end of the regular pole. It's a little disk, with a tube running back to a jug of acid sitting on pool deck. He used this to treat the...

I'm just starting up a new pool - I've had water in it for a week now. It'll eventually be SWG, but it's not that time yet, we're still waiting for the plaster to cure. I just want to sanity-check my strategy for dealing with the water chemistry as we're getting it started. We've got a floating...

Our new pool, with light blue quartzite plaster, has rather uneven coloring. There are a couple spots of a couple square inches each, where the coloring is almost white. There are also some streaks looking like drips down the wall in two places, and some more subtle streakiness on part of the...

The plaster got done yesterday afternoon, so the pool got filled last night. With two hoses running, it took 13 hours to fill. So the many times I got up during the night to check were for naught, because it wasn't full until I'd finished my morning shave and shower. Anyway, the builder seems...

If I'm understanding correctly, the borates help to buffer the pH, keeping it more stable. In conjunction with my impression that a SWG pool (and especially a plaster one?) will have a pH that's always trying to climb, it seems like something anchoring the pH would be a good thing. If not...

Thanks, all, for your suggestions. It seems like, within the parameters of the pool warranty, I should do it right from the beginning. I've got on my shopping list now Several gallons of bleach Several gallons of Muriatic Acid Test kit Magnetic stirrer Metal trap or similar, for our...

My new pool should be completed in about two weeks, weather depending. I'd like to be sure I get off on the right foot. I see here plenty of advice for starting an existing pool at the end of the winter. But I haven't seen any advice regarding brand new pools. And so this is my question: what's...