I guess this is somewhat theoretical. But now that I have a new, larger capacity SWG Cell headed my way I wonder... For the purposes of the question, I'm making numbers up.

Lets say that I could run the pump for 6 hours with the SWG set at 100% to maintain my chlorine needs. (That's about what the old one was set at for the past month or so as it got really hot, with some extra pump running here and there for extra cleaning.)

Or I could run the pump for 12 hours with the SWG set at 50%

Or I could run it at 24 hours with it set at 25%

At the end of the day, do any of those combinations have a better or worse effect on the new cell's life? Or does that all wash out the same? (Because it is either on or off, right? The percentage it is set to is simply the amount of time the cell is flipped "on" by the controller, right? It isn't powering up and down--e.g. running at 25% of the full voltage for the full time, right?)

Part of the reason I'm wondering is simple curiosity and part of it is because I only have a single speed pump, so if I can run it fewer hours to get the job done, that saves me some electricity.

Put another way, is there any benefit to running the pump longer with the SWG set to a lower percentage than there is running the pump for less time with the SWG set to full blast while it is on?

Has anyone used the Pooli app? I used it at the end of last summer and so far this summer. Does anyone know how accurate the suggestions are regarding the suggestions Pooli gives to balance your pool water?

Hello I am new to your forum, however, I am a concern daughter-in-law. It’s a complicated story however, my father in law passed away a few years ago and I have recently come to stay with my mother in law for a few months and I am concerned that her pool has not been up and running for a few years now and they have drained cleaned and refilled it several times but they are unable to get the system up and running it just hum’s I do believe it is a 15k in-ground salt water system AquaStar Pool &Spa Control with the Goldline
Áqua Rite Salt Chlorine Generator and a
PENTAIR. SUPERFLO®HIGH PERFORMANCE PUMP the last they tried the pump would run but then it stopped and I’m told it just hum’s.

I have been reading a few of your threads and thank you because I know have a submersible pump in the deep end with the hose running around to the shallow end generating the water with a hose with a sprinkler that rotates in the middle also. So thank you for those temporary fixes. Now I have price the system and it’s going to be expensive so I have a couple of regular well water pumps is there away to use one of them instead of replacing it with the high power pump if that is even the problem. Now she will not be using a spa so we Don have to worry about that. So thank you and any other suggestions are greatly appreciated we are just 3 women so we are familiar but we are definitely not pool pro’s he taught us some things but just not everything unfortunately.

Hello everyone!

We just bought an 18'x33' oval AGP and we are planning to set it up in April next year. I am ready to start looking into what I will need to get this thing up and running once everything is set up next year, and I would like to have a good understanding of how chemistry control works before I mess something up! The pool salesman originally sold me on Frog Leap mineral system, but luckily I started reading up on this forum before I signed the on the dotted line and was able to get it removed from the order. I plan on using bleach/liquid chlorine to maintain everything.

I have done a bit of reading through pool school and I think I have a decent understanding of the basics (we'll see). Can anyone direct me to a good thread for initial fill steps for the pool, in terms of chemistry control?

Thanks!

Hey all, Skip Hatchel introduced me to this forum and I'm thankful he did! We built an 18000 gallon salt pool about 2 years ago and I have been having a heck of a time getting the 'balance' correct: pH, stabilizer, hardness, salt ppm, etc. Looking forward to people smarter than me giving me some pointers and knowledge about maintaining this pool in Arizona!

Hi TFP,

In a unique situation in that I have no history of this pool except for the pictures I've got and knowing its a pebble tec. I have no idea when chlorine stopped being added but the pool is almost solid green. I spent yesterday calling lots of pool service companies, everyone is quoting to drain and pressure wash ($800), some even wanted to do an acid wash ($2k). Whats the recommendation for a pool in this situation and for someone with 0 experience?

The SLAM method looks promising, I'm estimating its probably been sitting for 9+ months, would slam handle this? Another consideration is that I'm trying to get the pool up to speed asap for as much of summer we've got left. If going this route and before any testing, should I prep by draining at least some of the water? Basically would want to do as much as I can while I wait for the test kit to come in. When I say 0 experience I'm not even sure if this is salt or not. If ignoring cost, is drain and wash the fastest option?

Would appreciate any and all advice/recommendations and can upload more pics if needed. TIA

EDIT: I'm also assuming all hardware is functioning properly

I keep running across great content already discussed in a forum and I have more questions. It seems more efficient to just reactivate the threat by posting. But, I see this message at the bottom of the thread And it's throwing me off. I want to be a good member. What's the proper protocol?

Hi guys, Im new to all this. I installed a new Pentair Superflo 1.5hp variable speed pump. I set up the pump to run at different speeds. When my controller sends power to the pump, the pump doesnt turn on autimatically and doesnt run the programmed sequence unless I hit the programed button. The issue is that the speed is at 0 rpms when started and it doesnt run the first step (speed 1). Why desnt it run the programmed sequence automatically? See picture. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

I’m very new at pool care. My husband takes care of the pool. This year he is struggling with what he believes is algae (goes away when shock is put on it, but then returns) that seems to have settled on the pool floor in the shallow end. We have a vinyl liner (28 year old Gunit in ground pool, 30000 gallons). There is a crack under the liner that has been there since we purchased this home three years ago and stubborn algae is in the crack. This has never happened before. Any ideas? He has been using test strips to get chemicals/levels correct, shocked the area directly several times and that stain has lightened but still persists. Any jguidance would be greatly appreciated. I’m asking him to join this forum as well.

New pool owner here! We have a Jandy Flopro VS Pump w/o controller 1.85HP with Aqualink RS. We lose power regularly (once a month at least). When the power comes back we have to manually turn on the power. We were told by the pool builder: If your house loses power then it resets the entire equipment pad. When the equipment pad resets it will have to be turned back on as this is a normal setting inside the system. This is a safety feature so the systems doesn’t hurt itself, equipment or pool.

We have since learned that if the pump is wired directly to the breaker, it will come back on automatically. I have also read something about having a program created to have the pump come back on.

A little lost about what to ask the pool company. Seems like there's a way to do it but would love to know specifically what to ask for.

Thanks for your input!

Does anyone have this: Multi-Color LED Waterfall Cascade Pool Light

I'm asking because Intex is upsetting me off to no end. I don't have this particular product, but it comes with a bypass valve to switch between the waterfall and the outlet with a simple turn of a knob. That's nice! I tracked down and bought this bypass valve, BUT it was missing the o-ring/gasket on the female connection that screws onto the pool outlet.

Intex repeatedly told me that it's not supposed to come with an o-ring and I have to buy it, which is preposterous in and of itself, and to add on top of that, the the part number they giving me is for the o-ring for the male connections, which doesn't fit of course.

It's this thing right here:


Which comes with the gaskets for the male connections naturally (oh but I thought I'm supposed to buy them separately!) and of course there is no photo showing the inside of the female connection anywhere on the Internet.

One would think that the the O-ring off the plunge valve it replaces would be the same, but it's actually slightly too large. I'll really appreciate if anyone can take the time to show me what this thing is even supposed to look like, #1 so I can just order/find what's missing on my own and #2 because I'm irate enough to file a BBB claim against Intex and I want to shove it in their faces.

Thank you!

The pool builder set my Jandy filter pump to run at 2250 in pool heater mode and 3450 in spa mode/spa heater mode. They set the system to run at 2750 RPM from 9 AM to 6 PM and gave no further instruction. I have been experimenting with variable pump speeds to save electricity. I have been running the pool at 1750 RPM and pool skims, generates chlorine, my champagne spa overflows, though understandably less than at 2750 RPM.

The only problem, is my heat screen shows "Check Flow" at under 2750 RPM. If I put the pool in "Pool Heat" mode, the pump speed increases to 2250 at set, "Check Flow" still shows on the screen, the heater comes on line, but when the gas fires, it goes off after a few seconds. If I increase the RPM to 2750, the heater comes on, gas ignites, and pool heats to my set temperature.

Is the need for 2750 RPM to run and fire the heater due to the nature of my construction and plumbing? I can increase the pool VSP setting from 2250 to 2750 RPM if this is the obvious answer. I do have a check valve in the outflow line of the heater and the flap is not open much at the 2250 or 2750, but open half or more at 3450. I have a manual bypass valve also.

Any thoughts, greatly appreciated.

Jim

Hello all hope your having a good day, I have a question about my Tcell 940, my polarity and amps keep reading zero, I have voltage but no amperage. I am also getting mixed readings on my salt levels the instant salt and ave salt fluctuate quite a bit. Has anyone encountered this?

Hi All -

This is my first post. Apologies if this is covered somewhere else but I couldn't find anything that matched my situation.

Here's the situation:
- Pool is dark green/brown and thick seeming
- Have shocked the living daylights out of it with liquid chlorine
- Have vacuumed
- Have used everything the store sold me a couple of times (now I know from reading this to cut that out!)

Basically, it was a perfect storm. My liquid chlorine feeder went out while on a two week vacation. My "helpful" home sitter tried using my robot to clean up the algae that began to form. I'm sure that trekked the algae all over the pool.

As I was in France and couldn't easily help, I told him to shut it down and leave it for a week until I got home.

Now I cannot for the life of me bring it back.

I've got a taylor 1004 kit so I have some good #'s but not all. I've got the big kit around here somewhere I just need to find it.

But, here are my stats and some pictures attached...

FC - +10 (can't see higher with this kit)
PH - 7.2
Total Alk - 60-70
CYA - 0 (from test strip)
CA - 250-300 (from test strip)

My pool system is old (like a VW, I like it) and has no flush to waste, but I do have an external pump so I can vacuum stuff out of the pool - which I've been trying...

Cleaning the filter every couple of hrs.

Wife wants me to call in the pros but I know I can fix this!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Until then, I'll just keep vaccuuming, cleaning the filter, etc.

Thanks again!
Max

Hello All,

I live in LI New York and have set my pool to run Mon thru Fri stating a 4 AM thru 4 PM (this is due to the enormous increase in cost from 4pm thru 8PM). On the weekends, it run from 6 AM thu 9 PM (no extra cost).

I have read your post about testing in early evening, but unless I run the pump again after 8 PM, that is not going to happen. So I have been testing in the morning at 8 AM (see more info below), before the Sun starts to bake my pool, and after my SWG has been running 4 hrs.

I have a waterfall, but it mostly runs it on weekends, unless pool is being used during the week, which is rare.

The pool water has been crystal clear, no algae.

My numbers from this morning are:

FC: 5.6
pH: 7.7
TA: 60
CYA: 50 (still a bit low, and working on getting to the 70 TFP recommends).
CH: 50
Salt level is usually: 3200 PPM
SWG is running at 40%

I have NOT purchased the recommended test kit, yet - these numbers have been from the WaterGuru S2 that I recently purchased. My pool has been maintained my pool guy, and again, I have never had any issues - water has always been crystal clear, but I "feel" that he is using old pool math instead of TFP numbers. I am NOT at the Manorville house during the week, which is why I purchased the Waterguru to monitor it remotely.

So, I would apricate your thoughts on the testing time, and adjusting if needed. Is 8 AM good? Earlier? Or should I run the pump after 8 PM for an hour, and test then?

HP/Chiller has been sitting in my yard for over a month. Lota of work in extreme heat to replumb everything. Should have done it when it was cooler outside!

Anyway chillin now. 96 ... Hot tub like.

So HP flow rates are 30-70 gpm. Optimal 45. What does optimal mean?

What flow will cool the quickest? Does slower flow keep water in chiller longer? Or does faster flow take in more chillin?

Stuck with 1.5 " pipe, so 38 gpm is kind of max for pump efficiency, but I can run pump much faster. For now I don't care about pump efficiency, just want fastest cooling.

Hi everyone. I noticed my newly installed natural gas heater, pentair e40i 400k BTU, does not have a regulator installed in line.

Is that a problem for safety reasons?


Thanks

looking forward to summer

I am needing to put an "inner" pool fence around my pool and stuck trying to decide if I want plexiglass, which seems very hard to actually find, or a white or black aluminum fence. The big thing about white vs black is I am curious does the white look dirty very fast? I have no idea! Obviously the black would hide dirt better, but I feel like it might detract from the aesthetic of the pool. ANyone care to chime in please? THanks!

Completed a SLAM yesterday morning with no loss in the OCLT and no CC's. Since FC was at SLAM level early yesterday morning I didn't check it again until just now and it was at 9ppm after two days of bright sun on the pool. My question is should I be seeing this much FC loss after finishing OCLT? Pool is sparkling again, BTW.
Thanks ....
Numbers just now:
FC 9
PH 7.2
TA 50
CYA 35

So bummed. Finally made it to liner install day! We’ve done all the work ourselves on this 20x40 IG. A PB friend ordered all the necessary components for building. And we hired a retired PB to assist in putting the liner in. We knew this was a potentially tricky part and wanted some advice along the way with this portion of the process. When pics taken vacuums had been in and filling for about 5 hours. We’re not confident these corners will pull tight at this point. We think the wrong corner radius was ordered. We have 2ft and it appears they sent us a liner for 4ft (74” is what it says on spec sheet).

During the install the man helping us (42 years experience doing builds) couldn’t figure out why install was so difficult and fit was so tight. It took us over an hour longer than his usual installs and he kept saying things like he’d never seen the walls hang like that before vacs set. He checked our spec sheet and said everything looked fine. After (ALOT) of difficulty moving and stretching and re-moving and stretching we finally got the liner to fit. The radial corners were the hardest and liner bottom seemed right but top track seemed about 2 feet too short but we finally got it to lock in place. And began to fill.

After some research and looking at the spec sheet (states radius length is 74”) I believe the wrong liner was ordered. That length seems to be more accurate for a pool with 4ft radius corners vs the 2ft we have. So our overall straight wall length wouldn’t be accurate by quite a bit. No one ever came to measure the pool. Blueprints and liner order sheet was sent to Latham by the distributor that supplied all our steel walls etc that was ordered from them by our PB friend.

The liner is well over a foot away from the walls even after 5 hours of 2 vacs and filling with water. Seems like WAY TOO MUCH stress in the corners. (We have ordered bead lock to secure liner here)

Two concerns. 1. If in fact wrong radius for liner was ordered, will it stretch correctly to the wall with water addition and will this change thickness of liner making it more susceptible to breakdown/tears/damage? (When we push in on the corners it very much lightens liner, distorting color and shape of pattern)
and
2. What’s the likelihood we’ll get a new liner from distributor that incorrectly ordered the liner?

I'm new to pools, but the TFP method is going great so far! The typical numbers for my above ground 3800 gal (aww so cute!) vinyl pool are:

• pH 7.2 when cover has been on for a while
• pH 7.6 at the end of the day if there has been some splashing by the kids. The bubble solar cover goes on pretty much all the time except when in use.
• TA 120 ppm
• CYA 40 ppm
• CH 200 ppm
• temp 87 deg F; have had to top-off CYA about 10 ppm or so in the past month.

I use liquid chlorine daily, bringing it to 6–8 ppm at night depending on my current CYA level.

What do you all think of adding boric acid? Our pH has never crept up above 7.8 at all because the cover goes on every night and any aeration is only from a few hours of splashing by the kids. So I certainly don't need borates, but the sparkle and silky sound interesting, and I don't mind a mild anti-algae growth agent.

If I do add it, PoolMath shows that my pH would lower by about 0.3 if added all at once. (And no added alkalinity, unlike borax + acid!?) The decrease in pH is the only downside I can see. So if I do go for it, would adding it over the course of a week and leaving the cover off more than usual help the pH recover to my normal 7.2–7.6 levels? Is that how these things work?

I already have enough boric acid granules from Duda Energy to go for it. I would not try to lower my TA before adding it.

I am so happy to have found this forum. I now have a pool to maintain. Our pool person of 6+ years is moving to another state. He has been taking care of this pool since the previous home owner as well.
So, long story short I am the new pool person. I think I have all the info in my signature.
The pool looks good for an older pool (built in 2005).

New here

Just built a 16x34 in-ground pool. Live in Syracuse, NY. Electric heat and Total control system. Looking for enclosure ideas for the equipment - sit on a 10x5' concrete block.
I am glad I found this forum!!

So I built a pool and finally got the liner and and filled two days ago. Lost 2.5-3” of water the first 36 hrs. Did a diy dye test and found two of three lights have leaks. Liner guy said the conduit is the issue but I found two of the plastic rings that squish the rubber gasket in place in the box still . Can I pull the lights and pop the rings on or will I flood my conduit and ruin things??

I bought some LC at the end of last years season and stored. When I opened it up at the beginning of the season, I noticed some brown specs floating in it, kinda resembled rust. Needless to say, I didn’t use it in the pool so it’s been sitting on the shelf all season long. Anyone ever seen this before and know what it is? Regardless, I most likely won’t use it in the pool.

My pool is very stable and the chlorine always drops 2.5ppm per day. Normally I add 1/2 g daily but sometimes I'll add 1 g and skip the next day. Either way the pool ends up using chlorine at the same rate. I expected higher chlorine levels would decay at a faster rate but that doesn't seem to be the case. If the loss rate is independent of chlorine level (at least up to some point), can I do a triple dose every 3 days, or even less frequently?

I was wondering because I'll be away for 5 days and want to over-chlorinate before leaving. I couldn't find any posts that directly address this question.

Does anyone know how to get a replacement part, or know of an alternate replacement part for the Intex titanium electrode. My SWG model number is ECO15110-2, and after calling Intex, they no longer carry this part. I checked on eBay, but have not found one either. I don’t know what to do. Our SWG is in its 4th summer, so after reading here, I see it is overdue for replacement. I have had crystal clear water that’s been testing perfectly for the past month, so I was surprised when the low salt beeper started sounding yesterday. The salt level seems fine at 3150 for an 8,000 gallon pool. From what I’ve read, if the salt is fine and this code goes off, the titanium electrode needs replacement. It is not dirty either. The SWG now read “sleep” and “low salt”. Any thoughts or suggestions, especially what to do if I can find a replacement electrode. Thank you.

I need to patch a section of concrete deck where I’m having a leak repaired and am thinking of covering it with tile instead trying to patch the concrete. Does anyone have any suggestions for cool or interesting tile companies that may offer some thing other than starfish and mermaids?

I have a tile sunflower on the bottom of the pool, and was maybe thinking of something similar for the deck. But I’m also open to suggestions for something that will look good.

Thanks!!