Hi..our pool is in Michigan . has a new VS Hayward pump, new AVIA Raypak Heater and new Coversafe cover replacing the 20 year old one . 40 by 20 in ground pool with DE Sta Rite 37 sq feet Grid S75D model System 3. Added a new Hayward Chlorinator in line last year. Just closed pool today.

My pool CYA is at 45 ppm. According to "trouble-free pool recommended FC levels" (Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship Explained) I'm supposed to maintain at least 6 ppm FC. Now, on a sunny day, I lose about 3 ppm FC. Therefore, when adding chlorine every other day, my target FC is 6 + 3 + 3 = 12 ppm. It's a high concentration, and that's what I'm curious about.

I'd like to know what is the maximum free chlorine that you folks would allow your visitors to swim in. I've read a number of comments on this website from people who are not at all concerned about swimming in higher FC concentrations -- up to and including SLAM levels.

So what is your personal max FC ppm, and why?

Searching for ideas others have done of installing a hose bib near the pool.
Will be connected to an existing 1-1/4" PVC irrigation main line; same line used to fill the pool.
Something like a yard hydrant, but more decorative and within a $75-150 budget.
Will be located near a black aluminum fence post in a flower bed.

A very weird problem with the Raypak 007864F igniter in my Raypak 406A spa heater has arisen; I'm wondering if anybody else has seen it. The control board always reports "Flame w/o CFH" even with the bare igniter entirely removed from the heater & pilot assembly and grounded only at the small metal bracket mounted on the insulator. If the wire to the igniter is unplugged at the board, the board does not report any error. This phenomenon is 100% reproducible.

Both the +- 1V/uA on-board readout and a direct measurement in series to the igniter indicates ~0.8 uA DC current with about ~22 VAC being applied. It is clear that something is acting as a diode within the insulator - probing over the surface of the insulator with the ground lead does not result in any current. Ideally, with the igniter removed & cold there should always only be 0 uA. Bypassing the blue HV wire by connecting to the flame end wire gives the same DC current.. It is quite clear that the rectification cannot be any artifact of the PC board.

While replacing the igniter is the obvious next move, has anyone else ever seen rectification through a 007864F insulator?

I have a Pentair easy touch control center and recently lost control of my pump(Intelliflow VS), lost most features in ScreenLogic, as well as no communication to my easy touch remote. This pointed to a bad control board, or so I thought, as did the Pentair tech support. However, I swapped in the new control board(PCB 520484) and still have the same issues. I can control all other things(lights, valves, salt cell, heater, etc) but the pump does not run. I can manually turn the pump on using the control pad on the pump. That display normally says it is disabled but doesn’t now for some reason. I replaced my antenna control board about 6 months ago, and it was working fine until this week.

I have ordered a new control cable for the pump, but still can’t figure out why my ScreenLogic and easy touch remote won’t work.

Anyone have any other ideas before I call someone to come troubleshoot further?

Thanks guys.

Josh

Hi all! I live in the St. Louis, Missouri metro area and we are interested in putting in a pool. We are pretty novice to the entirety of the process, including what we should spend our money on vs. what we can skimp out on, etc. when looking for quotes and making a decision on an installer/pool.

Here are a few of our more high priority wants:
- Rectangular shape
- No need for a diving board / diving depth, so 6' depth is A-OK with us.
- Suitable for adults but also kids as we have one and potentially more on the way in the future
- Lower maintenance the better (fiberglass?), given our one young kid and the likelihood of more on the way

My biggest questions/concerns are on pricing. I have no idea what is reasonable vs. what is not. We've only received one quote so far and I've attached that with all of its details for everyone here to look at and review. This was for a Fiberglass Pool via sun pools called the St. Lucia (37 x 15). The quote we received certainly seemed pretty high to me, and we do plan to get at least 3-4 more estimates/quotes from other local contractors (minimally). But again, I have no idea what is reasonable.

Additionally, while in my mind Fiberglass is likely the best bang for our buck (most affordable when compared to gunite, and less upkeep/future expense than vinyl liner as I understand it), I'd love for people here to chime in with their opinions as well. Given we live in the lower midwest, we do have snow/ice in the winter (though more mild than Iowa/Chicago/etc.).

I'm sure there is a lot that I don't know I don't know, but we're in no hurry so I plan to take my time on going through this. I'm pretty handy and savvy so pool maintainence itself doesn't scare me if that's a consideration. Thanks in advance for all the help/tips/pointers, I look forward to reading the responses! Any other info I can provide, let me know!

We had our Infinity edge/knife edge pool built last year. For those who are familiar with this, the water is pumped from the surge tank and pushed to the return grate in the pool that creates the overflow.

This year however, the water coming from the return grate is producing small bubbles...it was never like this before. They cleaned out the surge tank and made sure there was no obstruction there and replumbed the edge pump. Still seeing small bubbles coming up as per the video. They are now saying it's normal but I know its not as it was not like this before. Any ideas why these bubbles are surfacing and what can be done?

I have a used AGP with vinyl liner just installed a couple months ago. I installed the steps and for about a month, had a rubber pad underneath to protect the vinyl liner. However, that pad kept bunching up and was a source of algae and dirt, so I removed it. The steps have 4 rubber feet. I used it that way for about a month. Well yesterday, I removed the steps to clean them and the vinyl underneath and found that the white rubber from the feet was flaky. If I rubbed my hand on them, they would flake off and felt grainy in my hands, like sand. No big deal, except that material seems to have bonded to the vinyl liner on the bottom of the pool where they sat. No amount of brushing or vacuuming removed this stuff. It feels smooth under my feet, like no texture difference between the normal and stained vinyl. Any ideas? Did this ruin the liner here?

Do I throw this whole push pull valve away or is there a split union nut I can purchase?

I cracked the nuts when taking out the filter so I could wash the grids and the filter and the top nut is completely gone - kind of like in the picture

Does this mean I now need to completely throw away the existing valve and put in a brand new one?

I could imagine I would have to cut the bulkhead (the white fittings) carefully and put in the nut and new bulkheads again, but I am really hoping I can skip all of that by buying split unions from somewhere!

It feels like this is the closest match to what I need: Amazon.com but this would require me to cut out the fitting that goes into the valve, which I will then have to buy new just so I can put this nut in?

or can I purchase split unions from somewhere?

Thanks and greetings... My problem is that I have these milky white bubbles form when the Automatic Cover is opening across the 40 feet of the pool and end up against the liner in the deep end. I thought it was coming from the DE filter (Sta Rite System 3) grid where one was damaged. So replaced them all, as well as the spider gasket on the Mutiport valve. The cover was just replaced due to the one I bought last year, had a 10 inch opening where the material was delaminating. They replaced it with a new one so not sure if there was oil or some coating on it. On the milky bubbles it looks like parts of some chemical in the pool that hasn't fully dissolved.

So...long story short...I have been using TFP for THREE months and it is wonderful!!! It helped me get a handle on my completely messed up pool that we built 3.5 years ago. We were maintaining based on PB advice...but as you all know...that is not ideal.

My brother built his pool 1.5 years ago, and used the same pool builder. THUS, he is maintaining his pool the same way...aka POORLY.
He is now struggling with several issues...including algae. Water is still "blue" (not green or yellow), but algae can be seen in corners
Here are just issues that I know about:
He told me that the Chlorine test he uses just says " ideal" or "not ideal"
He add Chlorine randomly and does not know how much he adds
He never tests for PH
He rarely adds MA (maybe every couple month or so....if not longer)

Right now, here is what he wants to do to address the algae issue (this is what the PB told him to do):
Drain his pool (not a water exchange) but a full empty/drain
Pressure wash/brush the plaster
Then, pour chlorine directly on the plaster to kill the algae, get rid of it off the plaster
Then refill

Here are the current measurements that I TOOK with the Taylor 2002 kit on August 6th:
FC = .5
TA = 180
CH = 1300
PH = 8.0 (This is probably MUCH MUCH higher)
CYA = 60
CSI = 1.3

Basically, here is my question:
What would you advise him to address first, second, third in order to address the Alga issue and get his pool in a "better" place to start implementing the TFP method?

My thought is:
- Get Ph is balance ASAP. This will also drop his TA some, as I think he is going to need a TON of MA to get it below 8
- Do the SLAM process to get rid of the algae (no need to drain, pressure wash, apply chlorine...correct)
- Then Do a 100% water exchange (do not empty completely and refill) to get the CH down
- Then do what you need to do to get TA, PH, CYA and Chlorine within range

I am really not sure if we are allowed to ask on behalf of a friend/brother....lol! But, he seems pretty overwhelmed trying to understand proper pool maintenance (they just had a new baby) so I thought I would help him out a bit and get him on the right path...

I think I already confirmed by searching I'm just out of luck here, but two of the three Microbrites in my pool are now unable to emit red light - there is a very, very dim red light in one of them, nothing in the other. So if the dial is set to white, blue or green they all work - set it to red you get one light and two off, set it to magenta you get one magenta and two blue. And of course nearly all of the color-change modes include red or magenta in the sequence so you lose a lot of that effect.

I don't have any automation or an Easy Touch, the 3 lights are controlled on a single Intellibrite controller. Like I said I think I know the answer but just looking to confirm, is there anything worth checking at the connections anywhere or is this an obvious failure in the lights themselves and replacement is my only option?

"Magenta" - you can see the purple hue in the lower left from the one that's working correctly:


Red:

Hi,

I just installed a new T9 Calimar cell. it i working fine, good voltage , amps et. However, the calibration will not count down. I did salt test ( using proper testing not strips ) and salt is at 3500. However, the Aqua Rite says 4800. Tried to do the calibration, but it is not counting down , it just stays at -5000. Any ideas ? thx

Hi all,

We are brand new pool owners since May and have the SWG system. It's been going well until this week, chlorine is reading 0%. We turned it up to 100% production for a couple days and still says 0%. We confirmed at pool store FC is 0.17. We did have a couple storms recently with lots of leaves in the pool. The pool water otherwise feels fine and is sparkling and clear. The salt cell has been manually cleaned. I have read about OCLT but our FC is too low to even do that. What to do next?

FC = 0.17
TC = 0.34
pH = 8.1
T/A = 107
CH = 286
CYA = 46
Phos = 198 ppb
Salt = 3354

Wasnt sure if I should add this to the dormant intelliph thread or post new so figured I'd post new and let mods sort it out lol.
End of last week i went out to find my intellichlor seeming dead. Moved things around and rebooting the panel seemed to bring it back but with no comms. I have made my compulsory pentair warranty claim but suspected an iph issue. Opened the iph today and found the connector burnt as is on so many other threads. It appears though that mine was one of the special ones that decided to take out the surge board as well as d4/d5 on the surge board have clear signs of overheating

When I had my equipment installed, the gas fitter (who does a large amount of pool gas service) suggested that I run my pump at higher RPM when the heater is on, in order to extend the lifespan of the heater. Is there any credence to this? Does flow rate above the minimum required for the heater to operate have an impact, outside of a small change in heater efficiency? I have been turning my pump up any time I run the heater just in case, but if I don't need to be doing this, I might as well leave it at it's normal 24/7 low RPM setting.

It’s that time of year where all the stores are out of chlorine- at least the good stuff. I hate buying the weak forms. Is this stuff an option? Or do I have to go with Walmart Crud. Think in terms of slam.

Perusing the site I stumbled across Where to find Liquid Chlorine. Having just purchased some yesterday, I thought I'd add a marker. However, it just throws an error like "that address can't be geo-located" over and over. I tried several iterations of "Union" "NJ" and the zip code.

Me thinks the form be broken, mateys? Is anyone use this resource? I envision it would be like "Gas Finder" where folks can post the cheapest prices for a given area. Are old entries expired or did this idea come and go?

Hello,

We have had trouble vacuuming all summer. After endless researching, I am coming for help. We have a single skimmer with two holes (pool pump and equalizer). When we vacuum, we can never obtain suction unless we cover the equalizer with something. We have used a Walmart-style plastic sack all summer and placed it over the equalizer and then vacuumed from there. I know there has to be an easier way to do this but we have not found it. I have tried placing a tennis ball over the equalizer port in the skimmer and that has not worked either. We do not have a main drain on our fiberglass pool (in case that is useful information).

Thank you for any help!

Hey all — anybody have a recommendation for a builder in the Atlanta area? Looking to do a pool deck replacement.

Greetings,

I've read several posts on here regarding this subject. Tried everything suggested. Wanted to toss out an extra detail to my situation to see if it sparked anything new. I had the 1HP motor go out of my 5 yo Super Pump. Bearings I presume. Was not leaking a single bit. I bought a new 1HP Century motor and "go kit" to replace it. Watched a few dozen youtube videos to see the process. Took everything apart and found that the motor plate (extra detail mentioned above) was melted to the motor. Full on deformation. Had to use a hammer to knock it off. So I bought a replacement motor plate off that jungle website, 1 day delivery of course. It seemed as though it was the same as the old one. Put everything back together, new motor plate, old seal plate, old impeller, new seals all around. Fired it up and everything seemed fine. Came back out the following morning to a puddle under the pump. Flashlight and inspection mirror showed it leaking out the hole at the motor plate. I've disassembled and reassembled the whole mess now about 6 times. Also bought and replaced the shaft seal again. Still leaking. Any thoughts? Is it possible that the new motor plate and old seal plate aren't jiving enough to allow that ceramic seal to do it's job? I'm willing to buy a new "drive train" if that's what's needed but man, I'd like to avoid the cost if it's something else. Thanks.

1. On the first of each month, a contest "theme" will be announced (i.e. water clarity, family fun, decking, custom features, lighting, scenery, etc)
2. Members have 10 days to UPLOAD ONE image for consideration; Photo must be related to the thread titled theme for that month.
3. Per general TFP rules, nothing profane, political, or insulting.
4. The first 10 days is the submission period. Posts are limited to ONE image ONLY. No discussion posts yet. This will make viewing much easier for all.
5. Days 11 - 15 the thread will be locked and is for voting only. No more uploads. Viewers now have a final opportunity to vote (or modify their selection) for their favorite upload.
6. Members are encouraged to use an emotion icon ("Like" or "Love") to vote for their favorite upload; it will be tough, but select only one favorite.
7. On day 16, emotion Likes/Loves will be tallied for a winner. In the event of a tie, we will create a poll on the thread to make a final selection.
8. Once a winner is announced, the thread will be unlocked and comments/discussions are welcomed. Winner and nominees can tell us all about their pool/photo/event.
9. A member can only be selected as winner once per calendar year.
10. Winner will receive a $50 gift certificate from tstestkits.net! Oh, and maybe some bragging rights.

Let's see those toys. Have fun and good luck to those who apply!

I made the switch last weekend from liquid chlorine to SWG and am confused at the lack of results. I am still running tests, so this post may be premature, but hoping to get insight.

I oversized the SWG considerably, Circupool Universal 55 for a 16,500 gallon pool. SWG should generate 2.9lbs/day per the circupool website (this model is not yet in Pool Math app), which in Pool Math should raise my FC by 21 over a 24 hour period and I am not getting anywhere close to that. I performed an OCLT and lost 1PPM and my CC was .5...so not perfect, but technically passing. Last night I left the SWG on to do what I am calling an Overnight Chlorine Gain Test "OCGT" to take the sun out of the equation and my FC only rose 2.5ppm. If I account for the 1PPM loss the night before that is a total gain of 3.5PPM. Per the effects of adding calculator, I should have gained 8ppm over that time period.

Pool Chemistry
FC - 9.5 as of this morning after 2.5 overnight gain
CC - .5
PH - 7.6
TA - 70
CH - 375
CYA - 30 (I know this is low, but don't want to raise just yet if I need to SLAM)
SALT - 3400
Pump Run Time - 23 hours at 1500RPM and 1 hour at 2600 RPM
SWG % - I have been running 24 hours during these tests, mostly at 100%
Pool is crystal clear and has been, no cloudiness whatsoever

Notes/Questions:
1. I know I need to raise CYA, but have been hesitant in case I need to SLAM or do something else. I would think the Overnight gain test would eliminate the sun factor in the equation, but could be wrong.
2. Is SWG cholorine somehow just different than LC in that it dissipates more easily? I wouldn't think so, but if the SWG can generate at even 1/2 the levels advertised I should be seeing major gains should I not? What could consume that much Chlorine?
3. Is there something potentially wrong with my cell?
4. Am I just not understanding how SWG's work and had I run the cell at 30% last night I would have seen the same results?

Background
Bought a new house in late February with a pool. It's ~24k gallons (napkin math) bean shape in ground. One skimmer basket and a main drain, single speed pump, no way of controlling the flow between the main drain and skimmer that we can tell. My wife and I travel a lot in the summer so we kept the pool service the last owners had with the intentions of taking over maintenance this fall.

What happened
Last week we were out of town. Pool cleaner finds our skimmer basket is broken, leaves it on our patio, doesn't tell us or turn off our the pump. Leaves the basket weight in the skimmer well, this blocks the intake port and pump runs its schedule like this for at least a few days.

When we get home we find what the pool guy has done. The pump is overheating and powering off, the filter pressure is ~8 PSI and the norm was like 20-30 before. From everything I read online 20-30 is actually too high, but that's what the pool guy said was normal so I have no idea if that was even a good thing. It looks like the main drain is clogged. Water flow into the pool is really good despite all this.

What We've Tried
We replaced the skimmer basket ASAP and popped the cover off the main drain at the bottom of the pool and cleaned around it. We tried a bladder jet from the pump side while holding something over the skimmer intake & it forced the skimmer intake open. We tried a bladder jet by the skimmer intake while holding something over the pump side and it forced it open. We tried a bladder jet from the main drain and it popped the bladder jet out and got no where. I ran an auger into the main drain from the bottom of the pool. It got a long ways until it hit an elbow, but didn't seem to have any clogs. The direction of the main drain is directly towards both the skimmer basket and the pump pad. The length the auger went into the main drain seemed to be a few feet longer than the length to the skimmer basket, but not long enough to get to the pump pad. given how roughly we measured this, I think there is a possibility the closed port in the skimmer basket could be the main drain itself and I'm just completely off in thinking the main drain actually worked. Cleaned the filter twice just to be sure. Not sure what to do next, wondering if the pump is just on its way out.

Extras
Also not having a diverter or valves to control the flow is making this relatively difficult at times. If anyone has recommendations or experience in dealing with things like this without those useful things I'm all ears.

Any thoughts from this community would be greatly appreciated, I'm relatively new to this and being a new home owner and generally a fast learner, I'm trying to handle it the best I can before calling in the professionals. I'm beginning not to trust service people with some of the poor work I've found and having some contractors try to squeeze us for things we don't need, so unless it requires electrical work I'm uncomfortable with, I'm mostly willing to do it on my own. I've generally seen what goes into replacing the pump, and our current pump isn't even bonded, so I'm pretty sure I can replace it on my own and it'd end up safer than it is right now...

If you made it this far, I really appreciate your time. I've put in hours reading online, so if I missed some post that goes over things I should be doing I apologize in advance, I just couldn't find it.

I have always drained my filter and pump and stored in my shed for the "Massachusetts" winter. But, lugging the filter in is sometimes a pain, and risk breaking something. I just bought a new Haywood S210 sand filter.
Any suggestions on either keeping it out and covering or lugging it back in the shed?
Thanks
Barry

I just tested my water in preparation for closing and discovered that it is only around 100. The manufacturer of my older fiberglass pool recommends a minimum level of 200. Since the pool is going to be covered with a mesh cover for the next 7 months and the water level will be below the tiles all winter, do I need to add 18 pounds of calcium to the water to increase it to 200? Would I be putting my gelcoat at risk if I closed with calcium at 100 since we normally open up to some algae and lots of leaves in our pool? If I need to add calcium, I could use some advice on how to get it to dissolve in colder water and how much to add at one time, since I had difficulty getting it to dissolve in the past. I know from experience that calcium gets quite hot when added to water, so I'm not sure I feel comfortable with dissolving it in a bucket of water and pouring it into the pool.

They stopped offering retail drive up service in December 2022 and referred me to a place in Kingwood (long drive for me). Any other sources from North to West Houston?

If you have the IntelliCenter will that control the IntelliChem acid tank with pump or do you still need the IntelliChem Chemical Controller?

My 1.0HP century/A.O. Smith pool motor has recently started randomly tripping the circuit.

I have a 20amp circuit, but I also tried it on a separate 15amp circuit with a GFCI, regardless of which one it randomly trips the circuit, happened once yesterday, then ran fine all night. Today when my plug in timer turned on, motor tripped breaker immediately.

Through my testing, sometimes it happens as soon as the motor turns on, sometimes it runs for a bit, then shuts off, no blockages to be seen, just stops randomly.

I eliminated the timer from the equation and it still occurs. The motor is a little over a year old, purchased in march 2022:


Bad capacitor maybe? The motor draws 11amps.