I have a fountain and it leaks beneath the coping that is over it. I am not sure what the cause is and I would like to replace the piece. Please tell me how to identify it and how it is likely connected.

I have a SWG pool and I can't keep the PH level under control. I add about 2 pints or so of muriatic acid about every other day. It effectively lowers the PH level, sometimes down to 7.2 or 7.4 but it only takes a day or two to get back up to 8.0+

Total Alkalinity is currently at 90. It was at about 110-120 before I started adding muriatic acid (been adding it for weeks now).

Salt level : 3600 ppm
CYA : 70
FC : 4-5

Is this just a consequence of a SWG pool or something going on?

The last two pools I've done have been the summer waves 14' round 48" deep. While I have enjoyed them, the last one had a manufacturing defect last summer causing a seam rip and I lost an entire month out of the peak of the summer season and I was pretty bummed. 30 day warranty sadly, so I just had to take the loss.

Right after that I looked @ Intex and I found the perfect pool. It was 15' round 52" deep with a 2-year warranty.

Now it's......gone from their site??? I really liked that one, I feel like the extra couple inches in depth would go a long way.

You can get 52" in much larger pools but I don't have the space.

In a 16' round or less size, what should I be looking at, preferably in 52" depth? And not blue exterior!!

Also, I noticed that there are some permanent pools in these size ranges that are within my budget (ideally under 2k) but then right next to them on the site will be an identical pool for 3k more. Would it be possible to get into a permanent pool that will last me a few years under 3k out the door? That might be something I would look into.

Thanks!

I noticed this just this week. A burnt spot on top of my SWG. I installed it in October of last year. Operates with Intelliconnect and shuts off properly when water flow stops.

Is this something else I need to worry about? The unit operates about 33% and does fine for chlorine gereration.

Hello all!

I am getting flame rollout from around the ignitor on my Raypak.

I have taken apart everything and thoroughly cleaned it, I have checked connections on the ignitor components and I am still getting visible flame rollout from the ignitor area.

From the picture you can see where they are rolling out.

Any suggestions about what I can try? Could it be a fault with the ignitor? a hole or something maybe?

I just moved into a house and we’ve had a lot of rain the last couple of weeks. Pool turned green with algae in it so we did a triple shock treatment last week with the HTH pool care shock packets before i found this site. Our pool is no longer green but i just ran my first tests with the tf-pro kit and the results are way off. Not sure what to do from here to fix these test results:


Ph = 7.8
CI = 0? Clear
Chlorine drop test = clear
Calcium = 40 drops x 25 = 1000
Alkalinity= 9 drops x 10 = 99
Cya = 100

Thanks in advance!

Hi all. I’m assuming this is asked often.

Had a great experience with the pool builder, and I’m about 5 days in since water following instructions daily (pool brushing is an insane workout).

However, I feel like I’m making it look worse. It’s getting more blotchy and the area by the gets on the sunshelf is extremely dark + any area that has some piping out of it prior to plaster seems to have weird coloring, especially around the lights.

Let me know if you think I’m doing something wrong. I plan to show the pool builder. Plaster is diamond brite.

attached is my chemical results.

Please see my PoolMath logs, I just finished 28 day new plaster startup this week.

One issue, I was away on work trip and PB sent someone to put the spa light. They couldn't snake it due to some obstruction and put MA in the conduit to dissolve the debris. It worked but they then also dumped some baking soda in the spa. This has raised the TA as you can see in the logs. I kept it around 80-90 during 28 days and is now at 120.

My plan is to add MA to target 7.4 pH and let it adjust over time. Is that the right course? Try something else?
thanks!

Trying to get my salt in range to turn on SWCG for first time. Salinity is at 2600 after multiple smaller additions the last being 16 hours ago. The salt is Clorox pool salt which mixes easily. How strict is the 24 hr time frame for additions?

Hi All:
I am having a strange issue with the new Pentair App. I just migrated to it from Intellicenter2 app when I opened this year (and I did get the e-mail invitation). When going into chemistry on the intellicenter2 app, I use to see the my Pool Body (named Oasis 2) and my spa body (named spa 2). I would be able to set the chlorine output anywhere from 0% to 100% on my pool body and 0% to 20% on my spa body (because it is a much smaller body). Now in the Pentair Home App, under chemistry, it is has a drop down box where I can sellect one of 3 choices (Oasis2 / Spa 2, Oasis 2, or Spa 2). If I choose Oasis 2 the Chlorine level selector appears in the Oasis 2 body, If I choose Spa 2, this the selector appears in the spa body, and if I choose Oasis 2 / Spa 2 then the selector appears in both bodies. Now here is the problem, The spa seems to work just fine, but when I try to adjust the levels in the pool body the maximum lever I can select of 20% (as if it is the Spa body). And to further complicate the matter, when I change the level output on the pool body if does NOT chage the level on the Intellichlor. If is like they are not linked. It is important to note that everything works fine if controlling from the intellicenter center directly. And oddly enough, if I set the output level of the pool body to let's say 70% and then go into the app, the output will show 70%. I am hoping I am missing something, because if the force "upgrade" caused me to lose remote access to the chlorine level control, then this $5,000 system just depreciated itself to almost nothing to me.
If anyone can offer any insight I would appreciate it.

Thanks.
Mark McLeroy

Had a Pentair salt cell that flow switch was bad at beginning of season. Replaced flow switch and ran 24 hours and checked chlorine. Nothing. Had also anticipated salt cell was eol and ordered a replacement cell, IRCF40. Put it in last night and ran all night, it did show low salt initially but I added more salt, and is now running with all lights green. Just checked chlorine level and still nothing. My water is clear and circulating. One cell not working ok, but two, what else could be going on? What should I look for? Should I do a SLAM?

I’m in the process of getting our pool replastered and the articles and advice here on TFP have been great. The plan is to follow the recommendation for waiting 6 hours before filling and to use the bicarb startup. The pool has been stripped and waiting for the plaster crew next week. My problem is that we have a high water table, there is about 2 feet of water in the deep end of the 6 foot depth pool, with water still coming in from the weep holes even the one in the shallow end.

I expected that once the weep holes are plugged, they would keep the bottom dry while replastering by using a pump at the main drain to pump out water that seeps in from the hydrostatic valve. Without the valve working, I’m concerned that there is risk of floating the pool especially if I wait 6 hours to start filling it.

Unfortunately, the plaster company is telling me that they want to close the hydrostatic valve to keep the surface dry, and that I need to fill the pool immediately due to the risk of floating and because it’s necessary to prevent hairline cracks in the plaster (despite previously agreeing to 6 hours). The plaster is smooth white commercial quartz from Finest Finish.

Given the situation, I’m thinking it may be less risky to start filling the pool immediately. They may agree to let me use the pump, a guy is coming out Monday to check it out. And there is the option of waiting for the water table to go down during the summer.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

I'm a new owner of an old pool. The seller replaced the roof before we purchased, and they let roofing nails sit in the water while the house was on the market. There are several nail-sized rust stains.

I tried scrubbing one with a Vitamin C tablet and couldn't tell that it had any effect whatsoever. I have read the Wiki entry on Ascorbic Acid Treatments and would probably wait till winter before trying that. (Our pool stays open year round.)

In further reading, I have come across CuLator. Is there any chance that putting it in my skimmer basket would have a noticeable effect on highly localized rust stains from roofing nails, or is that more intended for high-iron water with widespread, lighter staining?

I have a new pool that was filled late Nov so the plaster ~60days of curing time. I've been dutifully combating what I understand to be expected ph rise with acid and it's worked great. My TA was running at 80 and stable. To try and prevent the constant adding of acid I used the acid/aeration process that also worked well and my TA is now 50. Thise morning my PH read what's pictured below. Two questions for the folks here:

• I read my PH this as 7.5, have a look below at the pic and LMK if you agree or I'm reading it wrong?
• Should I add a bit of baking soda to raise my TA to 60 or 65 which is where I'd like to run it to see if my PH buffers a bit lower? Or should it just give it a bit time? It's been ~48hrs since the last acid add to lower the TA.

Thanks for the help!

Saltwater pool
30,000 gallons
elevated hottub approx 1500 gallons??
Built Spring 2019 (6th year)
Mid dark plaster

Basic problem: PH keeps rising even when water is not circulating.
Did a test yesterday, PH around 5PM was 6.8. This morning at 5AM the PH was 7.2. The pump was not running.

Last year when I closed this pool, the PH was 6.2 (deliberately) when I closed it, and 7 days later I peeled the cover back and took a reading at above 8. I'm using the drops to test this. Below is my water test from Yesterday. (I can post my water tests from the pool open if it would help).

Latest Tests:
FC: 3.6
TC: 3.64
Combined Chlorine: 0.04
PH 6.8
Alkalinity 79 PPM
Adjusted Alkalinity 72PPM
Calcium Hardness 364 PPM
CYA 25
Iron 0
copper 0.10
PHosphate 1721 PPB (spring around here, can you tell?)
Salt: 3.227PPM
Temp 80
Calculated CSI -0.88

I've had white build up on the dark plaster for a number of years. Last year the pool guys came out and used three gallons of Muriatic acid in the hottub to remove the sharp crystals and white stuff that built up over winter. (The pool has had this build up over winter the past 4 years, it's just getting worse).

This year, when I opened the pool, I expected the hottub to be destroyed, but also found for the first year this happened, the crystals growing on the main pool itself instead of just having a white powder at the bottom of the pool. There were even crystals growing on the black rubber innertube that I had in the hottub to keep the cover elevated for rain water run-off.

What could be causing this constant PH rise?

Yes it's a salt water pool. Right now the Salt control head exploded due to ants and isn't even connected (it's in my garage on my workbench). The ozone system has also been disconnected after I read many comments on these forums about it not being needed. (Immediately saw a reduction in chlorine demand, imagine that). This year I have NOT been running the water feature much at all, except to exchange the water in the hottub once per day. I'm still seeing massive PH rise even with the salt and ozone systems disabled and no visible aeration when circulating the main pool. Runtimes are approximately 4 hours per day at this time of year.

I never had bubbles before! Google says it's chemicals doing their thing OR air leak.

I have bubbles in: My pool, on my cartridge filter when I take it out, in my little catcher basket, in that little swooshy thing filled with water beside the thing that has my cartridge in it... (please don't judge I bought the house/pool still new to all)

This all started when the pool company opened the pool and put in the chems. Water has been tested and apparently chemistry is good. Pump has been on for 4 days.

TIA to any and all insight. I love scouring this site for pool tips. You

My 15YO Zodiac LM3 is not working correctly. Of course, I am about to leave town for a couple weeks. If I can't find a fix before I leave, what is the best way to keep the pool chlorinated until I return?

The control panel comes on but only the first of 5 lights that show the amount of production will come on. I can get the "super chlorinator" light to come on but I dont see the "aeration" inside the cell.

My current FC is 1.

I am preparing to install a new vinyl liner in the next month or 2. I’ve watched many videos but wondering if there are any tips, tricks or pitfalls I should be aware of.
I’ve been told to go ahead and replace all gaskets during the project. Do all skimmers, returns and lights all need 2 gaskets?
Thanks!

Hi, We are having trouble with our AquaTrol and ordered a new transformer GLX-XFMR.

When reading the troubleshooting guide from Hayward (and on this forum as well), we noted that the transformer should read 2.0-2.9 Ohms. The new one we received is testing 4.0 on grey and violet; and varies from 3.8 to 4.2 on blue and white! Is it safe to assume that the ''new'' transformer we received in malfunctioning?

BTW, reading more and zooming at the limiting varistor we now see it needs to be replaced. Just hoping we can return the transformer and ask for full refund

We have inherited a inground concrete pool when we bought our house. We are based in the UK and have absolutely no idea what we are doing.

We have inherited an old concrete inground pool when we bought our house. We have taken out all the water and the actaul concrete looks much better than expected infact perfect, only the bottom drain is not draining, skimmers and cleaning hose duct is working but not the main bottom one. There was a lot of silt which we took out. we can pour water backwards through to the bottom drain, from the pump, so it’s not blocked, we just cant pump it up….. help!

Hi everyone. need some help. Fairly new to pool ownership. I’ve been all over this site and it has been very helpful so far. My pool has been crystal clear all winter and early spring while pool temp was in the 50s and 60s. Once it reach the 70s a week ago I saw some green algae forming in a few spots. I’ve been slamming for 4 days now, water has been crystal clear the entire time. I have a golf ball in the deep end, 8ft, that I can read the logo off of. I brush multiple times a day but every morning algae is back to the same spots. I pass the over night FC loss test and CC is .5 or less. I even gave my sand filter a deep clean and algae still coming back.

Last fall when I did a SLAM i very quickly started seeing the dead greyish brown algae collecting on the bottom which was telling me it’s working. I’m not seeing any of that this time.

I’m using the Taylor test kit here are my numbers.
CYA 30
PH 7.3 when I started slam
FC 15
Alkalinity 60
Vyinl in ground pool. 18k gallons. Sand filter.

Going to keep slamming. Just confused on what going on. Should I up the FC higher?

We have been doing the maintenance ourselves since 2019, but we also noticed that there was black algae in some areas and that some tiles had little grout.
We first looked to see if we could easily do the maintenance ourselves and black algae became less and less, but today I had the first loose tile. I have attached a photo.

By that time we asked for advice and one company could do a renovation of the swimming pool by using a high-pressure cleaning and re-grouting service (scarping out old grout was not mentioned). This came to 600 euros, which I actually thought was cheap and gave me the idea that this was a temporary solution.
Is it true that re-grouting needs to be done once in a while?
For example, is this every 10 years (according to the neighbours, assuming correct products have been used)?
Also, the problem with the black algae will be solved they said, but it seems to me that this can also be sprayed behind tiles with the high-pressure washer and can still cause problems.

Another solution is to cut everything out and have new tiles installed, which is of course much more expensive. If I use the TFP method from the beginning, what is the expectation that a renovation will need to be done?

Ultimately, everything in life needs maintenance and I am looking for the best long-term solution. Can you help me get started in terms of information, so I can find the right professional in my area?

Many thanks,
Dominique

So been slowly learning and taking over some of the maintenance from my pool guy.
I notice particles always floating in the pool. I mainly run my pump on low for about 8-9 hours during the day
But it never seems to go away. I thought that a DE filter would get most of it.

Today we pulled the cover off the pool in hopes of simply opening for the summer, only to discover a huge tear in our liner. It's right at, or maybe just above where the water line is during normal operations, maybe almost 3 feet long and a few inches wide but I believe the vinyl kind of "curled" away after tearing and the gap could be narrower. In short, what do I do?

I know and fully agree the real answer is "replace the liner". But we just got done paying for a new roof (this house has been...fun...the two years we've been in it) and it would be a dangerous stretch of the budget to pay what I've seen for liner replacements. In the immediate term, a Boxer patch kit is on quick order, but this brings up a few questions.



1.) Is this even feasible to patch? I can't find much solid discussion about how large is too large, so to speak.
2.) How hard is it to replace a liner? I've already replaced the pump myself, as well as wired, installed, and plumbed a heat pump, and opened and closed for winter twice. I see it's critical to measure properly, and it's a multiple person job, but it's a pretty daunting task!

We don't know how old the liner is. We were told it was 3 years old two years ago, but it seems like every week we uncover a new lie that we were told about the house in general. It's also a little faded above the normal water level. I'm also very curious how this tore open just sitting over winter. It was covered with a Loop Location cover, the water level was drained to below the return, and the water surface never froze all winter. But first things first, I just need to fix it!

So ya… installed a swg today after a year of doing liquid bleach, mainly because we are going on a lot of trips this summer and I want the pool to stay sanitized without me present. Anyway, I got 7 bags of Morton salt this morning at ace before installing the swg and added them to my existing 1000ppm salt content pool of about 20k gals. That got the salt to about 2500, so while at Home Depot for a pvc fitting I grabbed a few more bags of salt but it was the diamond crystal brand. Added a few more bags and finished the install, fired up the system and water was noticeably green very quickly. PH / FC / CYA were fine before I started but now no FC was showing up on the tf color tube. So I added a gallon of 10% and set the swg to turbo along with the sand filter. FC got to 7 about 30 mins later so I turn off the swg, pool looks a bit less green but still not the normal sharp blue. Having kids over tomorrow so planning to use as is, hoping overnight filtering will help. After reading all the old Clorox salt posts it seems like a the diamond crystal brand is in the same category ( iron contaminated) and I should stick with Morton from ace. Also interesting that the swg says 3500ppm (that’s the target per manual) salt but the Taylor test says 4k which is the upper limit. I’ll add fresh water tomorrow. Only other noteworthy thing is that the temp is up in the high 80s from solar heater rocking it (thanks Ken @ hot sun !).

Am I safe to use it so long as the Fc/ph/cya are good? I covered it with the solar cover tonight is that ok or will it matter?

Thanks!

So, new to the pool thing. Last year was first year. Absolutely had no problems with water and thought hmmm this isn't too bad after all....until end of season when algae began to take over. So done best I could to clean, put winter pill in, covered, and waited till beginning of this season. Took cover off a month ago and had a swamp. Work diligently and got it clean and pump actually being able to run without constant backwashing. Things were back to normal, chemistry was about where I needed it except for alkalinity tad low as well as cya but almost close to ideal range. I heard so much about pool rx so decided to give it a try. Followed instructions to a t. Second day after the pool rx and yes my water is crystal clear and chemistry is where I am happy with. Problem lies in this. My filter is in need of backwashing, not terribly high but going close to yellow mark where flow is restricted quite a bit. Also we have had a ton of rain and water is really high could use some backwashing to drain down some. Question is this. They say not to backwash for atleast 2 weeks so not sure what I should do. If I backwash did I juat waste product, or can I backwash enough to get pressure back to normal? Stumped as to what is ok to do in this situation. Any help would be great

I saw the post it is best to test cya outdoor with your back to the sun, is there a trick for inside? I've added 5 pound stabilizer. The pool store said it was a 5 after adding. When I pour in, it fades at 50 but I can kinda see it. I don't have the sun option right now. Didn't know if I was being too exact about it disappearing. Thanks, Brenda

Jandy Truclear. Nothing wrong with the unit or salt cell BUT the connector corroded and broke off.

I know I can get a new connector at the unit but can’t find one for the salt cell.

Has anyone hard wired it? I’m an electrician and can do it. Need to know what wire from the salt cell goes where. Anyone tried this? Got a schematic ?

My TA drifts down to 30ish as i add acid over time. At those lower levels I don’t have to add acid as often. Why not keep it at 30? What’s the advantage to keeping it higher?

Thanks