Hello everyone.

I have a 25,000 gallon outdoor pool that is supposed to be a chlorine pool. I say supposed to be because according to my test strips, I have a measurable amount of bromine in the pool, equal to the amount of free chlorine in the pool. Free chlorine is normal, total chlorine is slightly high.

I have no idea how to get rid of the bromine, nor even where it came from (it was never set up as a bromine pool), and I do know that I have never used it as a sanitizer. All the sanitizer tablets and shock I use is chlorine based. Though, I am not the original owner, so I have no idea if the previous owner ever made that mistake, even though the sanitizer that was left over from them was chlorine based as well.

Regardless, the bromine is there, and even using a chlorine based shock increases the bromine just as much as the free chlorine.

Is there any way to get rid of it without draining the pool? I'm concerned about damaging the vinyl liner if I do that.

Thanks.

Arguments of whether DST should be kept or eliminated aside.. DST is here for now. (except AZ and HI)

My IntelliCenter updated to DST autmatically

The Checkbox for DST in the web app and iPhone app won't "stick" meaning the checkbox reverts to unchecked after saving.
Schedules, OTOH are still showing Sunrise and Sunset times as Standard Time.

Anyone else experiencing this? How to force the schedules to use DST?

As can be seen, the clock is correct for PDT but the schedules are still running for sunrise and sunset for PST.

I have been a pool owner for 31 years. I have never had many issues with pool water until last summer and again this summer. I posted my issues on a new thread. Hope I can get this fixed as our swimming season is not long in our climate. lol

Don

Hello from New Smyrna Beach, FL and yes there are more people bitten by sharks each year here than anywhere else in the world, and no I do not get in the ocean here.

I have a 10k gallon, salt-water, figure-eight shaped pool with hot tub. I'm stoked to have found this forum because to this point, I've just been trying to figure out things on my own (with varied results).

When I go into my CSI tab it is showing degrees in Fahrenheit. When I select Celcius it won't save this setting and always reverts back to Fahrenheit.

So couple days ago I started noticing algae build up on corners of pools. Which I thought was strange because I’ve never had any algae build up since I’ve had my SWG.

I went over to the unit and it was on but the “generate” light was not green as it usually was when powered at 50%.

So I reset the unit and a quick Notification pops up and says “cell connection” than immediately goes away.

SWG light was on for the time being. Several hours later I go and check and it was off again.

I reset the unit, cleaned the salt cell and tried again. Once again the message popped up saying “cell connection” I check all connection, turned power up to 100% as the troubleshoot guide said and everything worked again and it stayed on. Last night I turned it down to 50% and it stayed on for several hours before I went to bed. So I checked in the morning and the “generate” light was off again. So I upped the power to 70% just to see and the light clicked on.

I’m not sure what’s malfunctioning here but last year the SWG light was constantly illuminated at 50% and I’ve never had an issue. Just wondering why it’s clicking off at 50% randomly but when I turned the power up it clicked on

Could the salt generation connection be bad or is it the actual head unit?

Hi everyone, we're waiting for plaster (PebbleSheen) on our new 36x16 salt water pool. While we can't wait to start swimming, we have SO much to learn about owning a pool! Happy to be here and thanks inadvance for your patience with my questions!

Catanzaro said:

Modified Cover for Hayward Super Pump for Closing Swimming Pool

Here is what I have put together. Purchased a Cyclone. This will be my first year closing and it will be done in about 2 weeks. Draining water below skimmer, but not below the returns.

You have to figure out a way to push air through the system. Please read sticky in the pool closing section.

Closing an in ground pool

Click to expand...

Has anyone had any luck with making a modified cover for a Intelliflow pump? My cover has ridges underneath that I think will prevent the SP1023 from fitting properly, any thoughts would be great before I buy all necessary parts.

Background: Mostly curiosity in the science with this question. Learning as much as possible helps things stick better when I'm learning something new. 5th season with our pool, but I took ownership of caring for it just this year. And this group is what finally got me to where I am only spending 15-30 minutes on my pool each day, rather than hours scrubbing, testing, brushing, crying, sweating, yada, yada!

Can someone explain, in layman's terms, why the "industry standard" for FC levels is always 1-4ppm when everything I read from actual owners & non-industry experts says it is based on CYA levels? Even my hayward aquarite says 1-3ppm inside the power box on the sticker with all of the various directions. Their recommended CYA levels are 60-80, yet I've learned it should actually be a percentage of my CYA. Even at the minimum CYA of 60, that would make my ideal FC level 4.5ppm (I believe...based on 7.5%, though that's just off the top of my head so I could be slightly off with that actual percentage...i did not go back & actually look up that # since I use the pool math app for ideal level #s).

And then there are the other questions that come into play with "shocking" & "superchlorinating". Using the pool math app & TFP methods, what gives me that shock level #? You can't find anything out there, industry-wise, that says "to shock your pool, you should bring your FC levels to XXppm" except a few sources here & there that say it should be your CC x10 (I think) or something to that effect.

Questions:
1. Why the 1-3/4 ppm recommendation even by the companies that are not out to sell you chemicals? (i.e. Hayward & other salt cell manufacturers)
2. How is FC shock level calculated?
3. Why is my ideal TA so much lower with a salt pool? (I understand what the TA does as a pH buffer, but don't really understand the science behind it being a lower recommended # than industry standard. Same with CH really, except that recommendation seems to be high than industry standard)
4. With some of my higher FC "encapsulated" by stabilizer, does that really mean it's just sitting there, floating along until it's called up for duty, lol? If the excess (above what's getting used, at any given moment, to actually sanitize) is "locked up", how does it get released when it's needed?

Not looking to read more articles about chemistry, as I've read a TON. These questions are coming after reading all of those articles. Anyway, just curious mostly. No issues at the moment, (finally got the black algae under control after learning that the biggest culprit in keeping chlorine levels stable, after killing the algae, was actually an issue with our aquarite system not making chlorine AT ALL, and this forum's "more about..." links helped me realize it was not even making chlorine & pinpoint what was broken. I FINALLY got past the OCLT!) just looking for an opportunity to learn more so I have to ask less and can help others more effectively!

I can't thank the group here enough for getting me where I am today. Y'all have been AMAZING!

Help! Our brand new gunite pool was plastered (plain white) 11 days ago. Plaster was done on Friday and they started to fill immediately. We never received any instructions from our PB and knew almost nothing about pools bc they said they had someone starting everything up for the first 28 days. I noticed that the fill was going very slowly and tried to add a second hose, but in the process splashed some water into the shallow end.

The next morning I texted our pb because the splash marks were still visible (although almost dry at that point). He said it was no problem and would disappear once the water level got up to that point (whew!) He then told me to go ahead and stick a hose in the shallow end and let it fill from both sides, so I did. I noticed that the water pooled in a couple spots before running down into the deep end, but assumed it was fine because our pb said to do it. It took another almost 10 hours to get up to the shallow level and cover the puddles from the second hose, and at that point the wet marks disappeared.

However, yesterday they reappeared (along with a bunch of other stains), and now I’m worried. The people taking care of the startup keep saying it’s fine and they’ll be able to take care of the stains once the pool gets clean. But after reading extensively about plaster startups for the past week, I’m nervous that the water chemistry hasn’t been getting balanced the way it should have and that the pooling may have caused permanent discoloration.

Is there anything at all that can be done to address this issue? I’m sick to my stomach over the $$$ we’ve spent on this project, only to be faced with the prospect of immediately redoing the plaster...Since this all happened I’ve of course found tons of warnings about filling from the deep end, but no info about whether this can be fixed.

Pump is leaking where the green circle is. The zoomed in picture with the yellow circle I believe it's coming from that area.

Is that something I can just tighten down?

I am adding a new pool heat pump to my existing setup. The pipe that has the flow meter is my return. The piece on the right that looks like it comes out of the heater is the elbow I need to connect to the short piece of horizontal pipe. What do you do when there isn’t enough room to add the last elbow? Is that when you have to go vertical up above both horizontal pipes to give you enough room?

We had bad storms last night including multiple power outages, and I'm fairly certain I lost my EZ Touch mother board again (2nd time). My display is blank and about half of the button lights are stuck in the "lit" position, and the IC-60 isn't running and my pump is on manual.

Nonetheless, I was looking for replacement motherboards and saw that they are being discontinued and everyone will eventually need to move to the Intellicenter, which has an upgrade kit (P/N 522047). Does anyone have any experience in installing this? I'm pretty mechanical overall, but wanted to get some first hand DIYer feedback. Thanks!

So my remodel was completed 3 weeks ago, and we've been enjoying our newly finished pool. However, I noticed almost right away that there was no noticeable suction at the main drains. I thought, well, maybe I just can't feel anything with the new anti-entrapment covers on them. I tried putting small light objects near the drains with the pump running as well, and they didn't get sucked in. So I was pretty sure they weren't doing anything.

During the remodel, I had an old "booster" pump for my side suction cleaner pulled out, since as far as I knew, it didn't work. I never noticed any suction at the side port for it. The pool builder told the plumber to just plumb that pipe into the main filter pump's plumbing. Now, with the filter pump running, there's an enormous amount of suction at that side port. It seemed unsafe to me, so I bought a cover for it with a lid I can open when I put the suction cleaner in. However, after putting that in, my skimmer seems to be pulling harder. Today I decided to test it out, and fully turned the intake valve on the filter pump, closing off the skimmer and pulling only from the main drains. I get absolutely no suction that way, and there's no water coming from the returns. If I open the skimmer intake valve even a bit, I get plenty of suction. So, my main drains are doing nothing. Could they be clogged? Could the plumber have messed up something so they're not even plumbed in anymore? How do I test this, or should I just call the pool builder and ask them to figure it out?

On the same subject, I have two drain-looking things (that were there before and also had the covers replaced) located in the wall about a foot beneath my skimmer. One of the guys from the pool company told me they were probably returns, but with the pump running, I've never been able to feel any water going in or coming out of them. Any ideas what those could be for?

I have read that pools can operate just fine without main drains, but after paying so much money for this remodel I would really like to have things functioning as intended.

Does anyone know if there are any differences between these two units? These user's manuals look identical. Drastic price difference! Thanks.

I am trying to get a Pentair IntelliCenter i5P (521905) to control a Hayward H250FDN heater.

Page 29 of the Pentair installation manual says:

Connecting a Standard Gas Heater to the Load Center
The IntelliCenter® Control System heater control uses low voltage dry contacts that can be connected to most gas heaters or heat pumps with 24 VAC control circuits. The following connection instructions are for gas heaters and heat pumps with low voltage thermostats. To connect the heater thermostat cable plug to the IntelliCenter Control System circuit board:

1. Switch OFF power to the heater. CAUTION IMPORTANT: DO NOT disconnect or conductor around the thermostat, pressure switch, high limit switch, or other safety devices.
2. Remove the factory installed jumper from the heater’s Fireman’s Switch connector. At the heater, connect the conductors in accordance with heater manufacturer’s instructions. For older heaters without instructions for remote operation, connect the conductors to the Fireman’s switch connections in series with the thermostat, pressure switch, and other safety switches.
3. Run a two-conductor cable from the heater Fireman’s Switch connector through the low voltage raceway to the Load Center or Power Center circuit board, as shown below. NOTE: Use 221° F (105° C) temperature rated conductor for connection to the heater. When connecting conductors inside the heater, be cautious of HOT internal parts of the heater. Refer to the minimum temperature rating for conductors recommended by the manufacturer. See the heater owners manual for details.
4. Strip back the conductors ¼ in.
5. Insert the conductors into the GAS HEATER two-screw terminals (J2) on the motherboard. For heater circuit board screw terminal location see below. CAUTION: Be sure that the conductors from the heater to the IntelliCenter Control System Load Center are not near or touching any line voltage conductors in the heater. Failure to follow these instructions may cause the heater to malfunction.
6. Set the Power (Thermostat Select) switch to either Pool or Spa.
7. Set the heater’s Pool and Spa thermostats to their maximum position.

PROBLEM: The Hayward heater DOES NOT have a fireman's switch.

Page 29 of the Heater installation manual says:

Remote control connection:
The heater is equipped for connection to an external 2-wire remote thermostat or a 3-wire remote switch. A 2-wire thermostat has its own temperature sensor for regulating water temperature. A 3- wire remote switch allows the “POOL” or “SPA” models to be remotely selected. Connect remote wiring to the terminal block located in the lower compartment inside the junction box (see Figure 18). The heater has 2 junction boxes (one on each side of the heater). Only one junction box should be used for remote wiring. Do not remove the wires connected to the remote connection terminal block. Remote wiring must be run in a separate conduit. Use 22 AWG wire for runs less than 30 feet. Use 20 AWG wire for runs over 30 feet. The maximum allowable run is 200 feet.

PROBLEM: Intellicenter wants to use it's own water temp sensor and simply power the heater on or off as needed, which does not seem to be supported by the heater. The heater wants to receive either a remote thermostat signal or a full remote control connection (i.e. Hayward Omnilogic, etc), neither one of which seems to be supported by Intellicenter.

What is the best way to get this done?

I added 4 lbs to increase TA by 20 ppm and now my pool has a white film dust I keep brushing into drain but it comes back all over. What to do? Did I put too much? Was following the Taylor guide which came with the kit.

New pool here, no plaster yet. They cut the caps off of the return lines yesterday and the PVC is filled with dark clay or rust. Should we be concerned? Where is the water coming from? Any insight would be appreciated, thanks!

I used to use purple stuff but they don’t appear to make the spray…. What would you do?

I have been reading on the forums, lots of knowledge in this site, however I couldn't find anyone with a newer pump controlled by an older Jandy RS system like mine
The pump is hardwired to the power and it's controlled by it's own panel on a timer, has been working great since install 4 years ago
To use the spa I use the quick clean button on the pump's panel which is set to run for 2 hrs and push the spa button(to rotate intake valve) and heater on the pool control panel
I have a RS4 control panel inside the house that controls all functions of the aqualink and I wish I could turn the pump on as well.
I connected the pump's serial cable to the aqualink and i thought that would work but of course...not
I am understanding that the pump either work from it's own panel or it must totally be controlled via serial cable from the pool control panel
I am also understanding that my aqualink is old and does not have the capabilities to control a variable speed pump

I'd like to know if there is any workaround to turn the pump on with an older aqualink(6474G)
if not which revision of panel will be able to control my pump(possibly a list of various revisions and capabilities), and how to program it
and if I will need to replace my RS4 control panel inside the house

Thanks

Hello,
I'm somewhat new to recognizing problems with my salt generator, but I have a Hayward T Cell 15 salt cell that I believe is going bad. I'm not sure how old the cell is, but we bought the house 5 years ago, so at least that old. Lately it seems the Aquarite controller was not reading the salt levels correctly. Typically the level would increase 300ppm or so for every 40lbs bag of salt I added. Anyways, currently the controller is reading 2500ppm and a sample to Pinch a Penny just read quite a bit higher (5000ppm). I am adding water to dilute the salt, but does it sound like the cell has gone bad or could it be the controller? I have cleaned the cell with the muriatic acid mix recently and just cleaned it again yesterday.

Hi All
I’m following this form for quite some time but this is my first post. I have a 28k gal pool and currently using a liquid chlorine. I have enough of ‘hunting’ chlorine around during the summer due to possible shortage again (Sacramento CA area) so I’d like to to install Rj45 or 60 (haven’t decided yet). Also my wife prefers salt pool (happy wife happy life they say )
I need help with a salt generator location. Based on picture where would it be best to install it? I have a solar heating too.
I did speak with Discount Salt Pool and they said that vertical installation is also possible?
I appreciate any help on this.

Just put in my first pool and have it up and running. It is a saltwater pool and I have a few questions that you might be able to help with.

10k gallons
Pentair equipment - intellicenter, VSP, heat pump, salt cell

- when they set up the salt system they put my salt level at 4000 PPM. Should I drain 6” and refill to get the level down to 3500?

- do I need to shock the pool weekly? If so should I use a non-chlorine shock?

- does the ph naturally increase? Does this require weekly acid treatment?

Anything else I should know about a salt water pool?

Thanks in advance.

A plan comes together?

Just wondering...

We came back from vacation and it seems that the Spa is running all the time, even if I turn it On/Off via the PDA and when putting it in service mode and then going back to Auto. The normal return jets are not running but the skimmer baskets do seem to be working.

Any help is appreciated.

Pool got a bit cloudy so I started a slam. Brushing the bottom it there would be a cloud of white sand like stuff. I assumed algae. When I vacuumed I saw bits of black debris come back through on the cleaner jet and a return jet. Completely disassembled the DE filter and recharged. Noticed the pressure has been steadily at 12 PSI. Just a tick below the CLEAN mark.

Then I noticed the check valve between the filter and the pump was installed so that if the water is going from south to north the valve was sitting east to west (including the pic).

I will edit this post with more info and current chemistry since I’m posting from the app.

Edit: I did not test for PH yesterday or last night, two days ago before SLAM it was at 7.6

Also noticed that after the pump is running and I turn it off, big ol air bubble in pump basket, not sure if normal, included a pic. When the pump is off and basket is removed I can hear a noticeable hiss from the pump.

This morning 7:10am
FC - 20.5
CC .5
CYA 55

Last night 11:38 pm
FC 22
CC .5
CYA 55

I thought I had my stuff in my signature, will update that too.

Having trouble getting my chlorinator to work. I've replaced the flow switch, both temperature sensors and the salt cell (T-15). Getting contradictory error messages..."Chorinator Off: High Salt/Amps"..."Check System: Low Salt". Salt level in the pool reads as 4000ppm with my portable salt sensor and similar with salt strips. Diagnostic on the controller says 1700ppm (+40.43V, 10.05A). I think the controller is an AquaPlus. Main Software Revision 4.45. Display Software Revision 3.12. Installed in 2014. Any help on troubleshooting appreciated. (Will be diluting the pool in the mean time).

We had our pool installed last week. The water was delivered the next day which was specifically pool water, however, the installers used our hose to put a bit of water in the pool before they left. Our hose water is high in manganese.

After the pool water was delivered, we added the provided liquid shock, clarifier and algicide that came with the pool based upon the instructions given by the installer.
We started the pump and filter before doing this.

We woke up to our pool looking like what’s shown in this picture above. Yikes!

We took a water sample to a pool store. They sampled the water and then recommended adding a metal remover. Done. No changes overnight again.

Yesterday we went back with another water sample. This time they recommended adding more shock.

This morning the pool still looks like this.

This pool is 4 days old. What do we do to clear this up!?!? Thanks in advance!

I've been scouring through the forums trying to figure out what I might be dealing with. I keep getting little piles of grey/brown powder/particles that collect in various areas around the bottom of my pool. A lot of other post suggest this is dead algae, but they also mention they have high combined chlorine. My combined chlorine is 0.

Everything is new in this pool. Sand filter, sand, pump and liner all replaced in Apr.
I test with Taylor k-2006 every other day and maintain the below levels My water is crystal clear. It is quite warm though at 91 degrees. I've been trying to figure out the best way to cool out back to like 84. Usually just myself and my wife swim 3-4 days a week.

FC -4 to 4.6 (20 to 23 drops)
CC 0 - colorless
PH 7.6
TA 90 (I know this is slightly high)
CH 120
CYA 35-40

I tested my phosphates using a powder test kit by Acuchek and it's 100 or less (the slightest bit of blue color)

I brush 3-4 times a week and vacuum to waste once a week. Backwash when my pressure rises 4-5 psi or weekly whichever comes first. Then rinse 20-30 seconds after.

I also use cal-hypo tablets in a floater.. I thought maybe it could be un-disolved tablet too, so I put a sock over the floater to limit the bigger particles in the water. The grey stuff continues to show up. I'm going to switch to liquid bleach for a week or two to see if that helps.

Is there any way of collecting a sample of this stuff to test? It dissipates as soon as I disturb the water near it. Any best guesses as to what it might be?

Also, I'm pretty sure the answer is yes , but is it OK to use chlorox bleach 7.25% sodium hypochlorite instead of pool store chlorine?

Hi, first time poster....we recently installed our pool but mistakenly put the leg loops inside the band, not outside. Will this be ok or do I need to change them out?

Also, the forum will not let me upload pictures, says "uploaded file not an image as expected" but it is a picture....help!