I'm a clutz and dropped my Aquabug next to the pool. The leading wheel broke off. The axle broke off but the wheel is fine. Anyone have a replacement source for the little white axle thingie other than the super expensive wheel replacement kits? I have wheels that work fine just broke one of the axles.

Thanks for any help!
Diane

I bought a replacement IC40 Salt Cell and it won't screw in on one side. Did Pentair change the threads? I haven't actually looked at this myself yet, but the pool guy trying to install it ran into difficulties. Is there any recommended course of action at this point? Do I just need some teflon tape or should I glue a new fitting onto the pipe? The old unit was an IC40 as well, so I would have thought this would be a simple, direct replacement.

Also, the same pool guy charged me $250 to replace unions and do an acid cleaning on the old unit, which was 5 years old and has an operating life of approximately 10,000 hours. Several days later, he got back to me and told me it needed replacement. Hence, $250 down the drain. Was this the correct procedure someone in this profession would normally take or should it have been known the unit was due for replacement prior to being worked on?

Thank you

My pool system was looked at recently, just started owning this inground pool this year/bought the house.

Found out that it’s a salt system with DE filter, built with 2 inch pipes but when the water returns to the pool- the inground pipes were built to taper down to 1.5in and then 1in diameter before it enters pool. Pool guy told me this is why my DE system baseline pressure is about 27psi. Can confirm. I backwash at about 31psi usually. It also scares me because I can’t get near the recommended amount of DE to add to the filter after backwash.

I think this is making it very hard for me to get a clear pool.

Thing has been cloudy for a month despite shocks. It’s balanced, I just can’t get rid of this cloudiness. Pool store recommended clarifier and against flocculent even knowing my system’s uniqueness.

Is this plumbing a problem I should address? Will I accidentally blow up my house if I add clarifier? Should I stick to flocculent for life?

Thanks!

Hi,

I just replaced my 8 years old T-3 cell with a brand new one as it was no longer producing chlorine and displaying LOW SALT (300). Upon replacing it with a new T-3 cell, it instantly started generating cell and the salt level was accurate (2800). Now, for the past 24-36 hours, the AquaRite is displaying 4900 salt level which is definitely much higher than what is currently in the pool. That being said, the cell is still generating chlorine as per the Aqua Rite unit.

I did try to reset my salt level by turning off and back on and upon clicking I click diagnostic button until I see the -XXXX but the value remains around 4700-4900.

I went to the pool store and they tested my salt level as 3200. I have also tested with K-1766 and I get similar results.

Here are the values througout the different diagnostic options:

-4800
AL-0
R 1.59
T-3
4900
84
27.0
4.19
69P

Is this something I should worry about ? Any recommendations ?

Thanks!

So i turned on the skimmer and drainage hose and this is what came out. What is it? From browsing this forum it looks like calcium probably from calcium hypochlorite shocking. My filter after a year looks like a hot mess and is really heavy! . the powdercolor is of the whitest of paint and when it dries on my fingers its a very fine powder.

I tried to find this answer on TFP website and on the forum.

What should my borate level be?

DH cleaned up in the garage today and found this pump. We are wondering 2 things, since we’re not that pump-savvy……

1: Our pool is 5100 gal. Will this pump be way to powerful? Currently we use 1 1/4” hoses and fittings.


If it can be used, then……

2: is it possible to hook it up so it uses our existing sand filter-pump as filter? Or is it too much “Gyro Gearloose” to even want to fiddle with it?

What do you guys think? Sub forum specifically for Automation systems questions. I work a lot with Hayward Omni PL plus and Omni PL pro. With these being the newest systems from Hayward it could be helpful to have a place just for this subject.

I have read in several places online that it is important to maintain a minimum three ppm free chlorine in order to prevent algae. However, I recently typed "30 ppm of CYA" into your chlorine calculator and it recommended a minimum of 2 ppm free chlorine. Why would you guys recommend less than the minimum amount needed to prevent algae? Thanks in advance.

I have an inground pool with a Pentair Sand Dollar filter. I recently had some sand getting into the pool, so I called a service tech. He recommended changing the sand, as it is 4 years old and I run the filter all winter. I ordered a new stand pipe and laterals. The tech emptied the sand, and put in the new stand pipe and laterals, inspected the valve and gaskets, replaced sand. This was an experienced pool tech I have used before. For a couple weeks I was getting a small amount of white very fine sand accumulating on the bottom. I ran my robot vacuum every 3 - 4 days and got about 2/3 cup of pure white very fine sand. To try and address this, I backwashed and rinsed last night. When I restarted the filter, it dumped several pounds of larger grain brownish sand back into the pool (this looked like the bags of new sand he added). Any ideas what might be causing this? Perhaps the priming flow rate is too high on restart? Too much sand, although we put in 350 lbs as the data plate says? Not sure what to try next.

Hi there! I just got a Aquacal Heatwave heat pump/chiller. I'm in Texas and that cool water is so sweet.

I had to set up the automation and such on my own, and I have it working. All seemed to be going well. Strangely, my pool thermostat shut itself off in the morning today. Pool was running normally and heat pump was turning on/off as dictated by the settings on the Pentair/ScreenLogic until that point. I cut the power to the EasyTouch, turned it back on, and the thermostat came back online without issue. All is working properly again. Why did this happen?

When I set up the automation, I got a system alert that says "Pool Solar Temp Sensor". Despite this, all was working well and normally. I called Pentair to ask if I really need to install this sensor (Aquacal manual also says to install it, even though it's not actually used) because at the time everything was working perfectly. The tech said the sensor alert "might" cause problems down the road, but he had no idea. I'm wondering if the lack of this "dummy sensor" and the presence of this alert is what turned off my pool thermostat. Or if it was maybe a fluke, one time thing.

Thank you for your help!
Sholly

For starters, I have an 18 foot above ground pool (18 foot, 52 inches deep.. so roughly 8,000 gallons max) and all last year my levels were near perfect with no issues. Sometime this winter my pool's winter cover ripped and so all the debris/junk/water got inside and left me with a mess. I opened the pool about 2 weeks ago and now the water is crystal clear and looking amazing, but my readings are frustrating:

PH: 6.2
TA: 100
FC: 3.0
CYA: 40

My problem is with my Alkalinity being extremely high and PH being extremely low. For context, my TA was 180 and PH was 6.8, so I threw in PH down and attempted to low the Alkalinity, which seemed to work (I'm using AquaCheck 4 way test strips btw) as my Alkalinity dropped closer to 80-100 (also bringing the PH to 6.2). I also moved the outlet so it was pushing upwards to aerate the pool, keeping the cover off overnight. This morning when I checked it though I saw the PH really hadn't increased much, but that the TA had seemed to climb up some which makes no sense to me? I assume the PH is just SUPER low and is in fact climbing, but I'm worried my Alkalinity is going back up though I can't seem to figure out how...

Any advice on this would be appreciated!!

I posted a few days ago about my Pentair IC40 dying and needing to balance water manually in the interim. I normally have a pool service, but they only come by monthly, so I needed to learn about water chemistry.

Starting last Saturday, I begun adding liquid bleach. I used a Taylor K-1004 test kit to test for chlorine -- every time I tested, I got 0.0. I noticed that the R-0002 reagent said "best by 2/23" so I figured it was expired.

Over the past 5 days, I have added 1 gallon of bleach per day. See attached photo of bottles used. I have used the Orenda app to determine my target chemicals to add. (side note, I also added 1/4 gallon of Muriatic Acid to get my pH down from 8.1).

I also dropped in a floating tab dispenser with two chlorine tabs last weekend. They are about halfway dissolved now.

Today my TF-100 Salt test kit arrived (shout out to TFTest Kits and their super fast shipping!). These are the numbers I got:

Temp - 89F
FC - 0.0
CC - 0.0
PH - 7.2
Alk - 70
CH - 225
CYA - 80
Salt - 3000

So everything else is good, except chlorine. Why have 5 gallons of liquid bleach over the past week not brought my FC up? Are they expired? I found date codes on some of the bottles. 22 188 (I assume 188th day of 2022?). 23 131. I've used Home Depot HDX 8.25%. And also Lowes Pool Essential 10%.

What am I doing wrong? Why can't I get chlorine in my pool??

Edit to add: Vinyl pool, 16,500 gallons. Pentair system.

PoolStored said:

How often are you testing FC and adding chlorine to get your FC back up to SLAM level?

Have you removed the ladder and cleaned it? Even inside the tubes with a brush? If not, do that.

Do you have a light? Have you removed it and scrubbed behind the light? If not, do that.

Did you check and scrub the skimmers? Did you check the weir doors for algae? If not, do that.

Click to expand...

I test FC at 6 AM and 9:00 PM if not more every day. Ladder is out. Skimmer and weir doors scrubbed. Is it safe for me to unscrew the scres holding in lights myself? My pool is on day 13 of SLAM. The water and vinyl liner are SOOOO clean! I'm so exhausted! We backwash....could there be something in the sand? I'm nervous about the safety of opening my Pentair up.

Greetings.
My single speed pump is not working cycling on and off making a noise that sounds like a electrical surge. I already replaced the capacitor (2 different ones to be sure) with no luck. The pump starts and runs for about 2 minutes then starts the on/off surge noise routine. I shut it down.

My local pool store is booked solid until August 8 so in the mean time I am trying my best to keep the water circulating using a small Harbor Freight pump and a garden hose and running my robotic cleaner daily.. I have the chlorine level on the high end (8-10 PPM) and the CYA is at 60. TA is 100 and pH is 7.6. Hoping to make it until they can either rebuild the existing pump or replace it with a variable speed pump that ties into my pentair automation system.

Here is my issue. I installed a solar electric system on my home a year ago and therefore electrical cost savings from the VSP is not an issue for me. The options I face are 1) rebuild existing pump (new motor, etc) for about 900 dollars all in with a 1 year warranty or 2) replace it with Pentair VSP for about 2,800 all in with a 3 year warranty. Since energy savings is not a big deal for me (I generate much more than I use), I am inclined to take the rebuild alternative.

Based on my circumstances, is there any reason you would not take the single speed rebuild alternative and if so why?

Is there anything else I can do over the next 10 days to keep my pool from getting cruddy?

FC has become increasingly more difficult to balance since a bag of salt dropped in a couple of weeks ago caused it drop overnight. I discovered it immediately, topped up FV and It passed the OCLT at that time, but I’ve noticed my SWG is not working as it should. Super chlorinated for 24 hours with a rise of only a few ppm yesterday. so performed OCLT again last night which failed. Water is clear. I can’t understand what’s happening with this pool right now. Only drop in FC was that one incident which I found immediately and fixed. I clean my filter monthly, although will do it again today. I maintain my FC 7.5 - 10% of CyA. I keep CYA between 60-70 (my pool is enclosed with UV protection screens)

Just brought pool to SLAM level and will do that until it passes the OCLT. Ugggh.

On another note, Can I add some salt while slamming? Lots of rain has it at 3000 and I thought better to risk contamination while at slam level, rather than once it’s good again.

The Pool Math app says Alkalinity should be between 50-90. Is that the tested alkalinity # or the adjusted alkalinity #?

Hello,
I have an approximately 27,000 gallon chlorine inground pool. It has an elevated spa where, during filtration, it overflows to the pool.
The system I inherited includes a dual speed Hayward pump that needs to be replaced (motor is SPX3220Z2BER 2.0HP/2.total) , pump is SP3200Z16 revD). The issue is, due to California restrictions, it appears I can find no vendor to provide just a replacement motor.

My only options, appear to be to upgrade to a VS motor (which I would like to do anyway) but my control unit is an older Hayward ProLogic which I am finding out will not work for that conversion.

So...long story short, does anyone have any suggestions based on my limited choices being in CA? The cost for an entire new system is prohibitive but unless I drive out of state to buy a dual speed it appears I'm not seeing many options.

Thank you in advance for any/all help!

So I know at initial setup you turn off the SWG for 24 hours but what if your salt level is getting low and you want to top it off to bring it back up. Do you still turn it off for 24 hours?

Thanks!

Hi all! Four year pool owner, first time maintainer here. Since we purchased our home in 2019, we've had companies coming to open/close and maintain the pool for us. I'm getting into learning how to take care of things myself. We have a 30,000 gallon, in-ground, plaster pool located in Northern Colorado. It's currently filtered with a Triton-II TR60 sand filter, but I've been advised by others I should consider a DE filter. Mostly looking to get my head around maintaining our current setup, and then I'll look into possible upgrades. We've had some issues with algae this year, which is what led me to the forum here. Mostly small growths on the walls, not full on blooms. The pool has been maintained with chlorine tablets, which I now understand are likely raising my CYAs and causing a need for more FC. I have a TF-Pro test kit en route (once the magnetic stirs are in stock) with a SLAM option, standard sampler and pH meter. Lots to learn, but happy to be here! Looking forward to a trouble free pool!

I have been reading many threads about pool automation. I am like everybody else: sticker shocked shocked at the prices of the commercial automation. My current system is a modified Intermatic PF1202T timer. {The left wheel runs the SWG and power to the heater. The right wheel runs the booster pump. The pool pump is directly wired and is not controlled by the Intermatic timer}. The remainder of the equipment is: a Black & Decker 3hp VS pump, a Pentair 400K heater (previously Pac Fab), a Polaris 280 with booster pump, Pentair 48 SQ FT DE filter (previously Purex Triton). I recently purchased a Sonoff' 4CH Pro R3. I have been trying to program it with the automation adapter for the Black & Decker pump. My question is when programming Sonoff I can put it in speed 1,2 and 3. Reading previous posts' it was stated that speed 1 has priority over speed 2 and 2 over speed 3. Correct me if I'm wrong. If this information is accurate. Than I should be able to plug in speed 3 from 7 AM to 7 PM @1000 RPMs. Speed 2 10:45 AM to 2:45 PM @2500rpm. The speed 1 @1500 rpm from 7 AM to 10:45 AM. The other option is to use the EwLink ap on my phone & and program each speed back to back. Speed 1 from 7:00 to 10:45 AM at 1500 RPMs, the 2 from 10:45 AM to 2:45 PM at 2500 RPMs, speed 3 from 2:45 PM to 7 PM @ 1000 RPMs. Any feedback is greatly appreciated, thanks.

I have had a drip at the heater inlet gasket and when I took it off I saw a lot of corrosion (photos attached). No problems in the heat exchanger itself, as far as I know.

I've sprayed some CLR all around and scrubbed the rusty parts with a toothbrush. Is there anything else I can do? Is there a way to treat the metal parts so they don't get worse? Can i spray high heat paint on these parts? What about the inside?

One thing I noticed is that the bolts were zinc bolts that are complete rusted. I will replace these with stainless.

Hi all. I’m replacing the impeller on my Waterway 1.5 hp pump. Two questions:
1. The shaft was fairly rusted where the impeller attaches. I sanded most of it off but not sure if I got enough of it off. How can I tell if the impeller is seated far enough? It is plenty tight.
2. I cannot get the face plate on over the end of the impeller. It appears slight larger than the hole in the plate. Also, is it possible there wasn’t a wear ring? Ive taken the face plate off numerous times to clean out the impeller and never recall having a wear ring. Is it possible that it melted and fused to the face plate, or do some pumps not have them? If it did melt, it is really smooth and seems like one piece.

Any advice?
Thanks in advance!

We have a 30,000 gal in ground pool with a 1 hp hayward super pump and a sand filter.

Drawing only from the 2 skimmers we get no air visible in the pump housing during operation, but when we open the main drain inlet to the pump, we get a flood of air bubbles - really a torrent.

1. I know it seems obvious that there may be a break or a crack in the main drain line between the bottom of the pool and that diverter valve just before the pump intake, but is there any other possible explanation? There are no known water leaks or unexplained water loss.

2. If you can keep the pool clean just drawing from the skimmer baskets, do you really need to open the main drain during normal operation?

Thanks for any expert tips!

Out of the country starting Friday for about 7 days.

A friend is coming by to clean and skim the pool when we are away. Don't want to involve him in testing etc the two or three times he comes, so I may just put the SWCG setting to where it'll continue to increase my FC overtime and when I get back, I'll either turn off the SWCG and let it drift or curse that I'll have to SLAM lol

In the Pentair App, when I look under devices, I see the 8am-8pm schedule for my pump and 9:30-midnight for my light, but neither schedule is working. When I go to the Schedules tab, it says I have no schedules. I can control the pump and light from the device tab, so it's definitely connected. What am I doing wrong?

I have a Coleman 22x52 AGP. Intex 16" Sand Filter, Intex QS1200 SWG.

I started noticing a brown residue building up around the rim of the output of the SWG. It's also present in the hose returning to the pool, and the inside of the jet.

The water doesn't seem to be affected. Chlorine, pH, Alkalinity, CYA are all within acceptable range. I did have a period where the pH and Alkalinity were very low, but they've been brought up to where they should be now.

Any tips for removing this?? Should I be adding something to my water to prevent this??

TIA

I used the HTH Green to Blue. The first steps were great. Then came the red/brown FLOC! I have managed to get it to stick together some using something my pool store (this is not a chain but private owned) recommended. I have vacuumed to waste several times and have had to replace at least 7 inches of water so far. I still can't get this dusty powder out! Please help! I am at my breaking point.

I am so relieved to find this website! I've been taking care of my in-ground pool since my husband died in 2018 (pool built in 1988), and I thought I was getting the hang of things, but it's getting ahead of me, so I'm really looking forward to digging into these wonderful resources.

Hi all, which is better? Borax or Soda ash (same as baking soda?).
Does a solar cover effect PH?
Thanks.
FC 4
CC 0
PH under 7
TA 100
CYN 45
Water temp currently 80.