Hey TFP'ers!

Just moved in to a house with a pool (details and equipment in signature). This is my first time owning a pool, and I want to maintain it myself and do it right, hence why I am here!

I have PoolMath installed and set up, and a TF test kit already on it's way in the mail. In the meantime though, I took a water sample to Leslie's to have it tested as a baseline. Here's the results:

FC: 0.18
pH: 8.1
TA: 80
CH: 206
CYA: 55

Temp: 90F
CSI: 0.32

As far as chemicals, I have 2 jugs of 20 Baume 31.45% and that's it at the moment. Would need to buy any other chemicals needed.

Questions that I have:
1.) what order should I remediate these in? Should I do pH first and then tackle the others?
2.) I measured my pool the best I could and estimated the volume to be 27k gallons. Is there a way to fine-tune this number as I go, perhaps using test results?
3.) Looks like the previous owner was using the Chlorine pucks. If I want to switch to liquid chlorine, should I do that after I get all of my levels remediated?

Thanks in advance for the help, I'm sure this is not the last time I will have questions!

Pool pic:

Well it’s over 5 yrs old and stopped working. I took power supply apart and I’m thinking it could be the transformer because I’m not getting anything on the secondary. 120v in but no reading on secondary which should be 24 vac. A new power supply is over $800 and I’m not 100% sure that’s the issue but prob is.

it’s a shame because not a whole lot of cycles used on this machine. Not sure how many but not more than few hundred.

it’s prob my fault…..I left it plugged in and we had a few thunderstorms since. I was always good about unplugging when not in use but life got busy n I noticed the other day and unplugged it. Went to clean pool this morning and nothing. The green ON but didn’t light up. I tried pushing the ON/ OFF a few times and no power to unit. Power to GFCI , nothing tripped.

I tried looking for the transformer online but I don’t get any specific results. I’d hate to just throw it out and pay a few $thousand for a new one but maybe my only option. I realize a new power supply is cheaper than an entire new robot but is it worth it to spend $800 for an older model pool cleaner?
Any advice?

My LSI:

Water temp 89
pH -I try to keep at 8.2
TA 65
Calcium 250
CYA 80
Salt 3500
Cl 2.5

LSI= .03

I have to add muriatic acid every day to keep the pH at a point to which gives a favorable LSI. Are there any other factors I could adjust so as not to have to keep adding the muriatic acid?

Hi Everyone,

So I have a legacy 30,000 gallon pool with 2 skimmers and 1 main drain. All 1.5 inch plumbing with Hayward DE 4820 filter, an old Jandy Lite 2 heater, and a chlorine tablet feeder.

Our existing two speed pump seems to be overheating on the high speed windings, probably due to a short. That is a Hayward SP2610x15, a little over 9 years old. We seldom used the low speed as we found the flow rate way too slow to keep the pool adequately chlorinated. A clean filter runs 18-20 psi and flow basically stops at 25 psi. Based upon a number of different approaches, we estimated roughly 60 TDH. To be frank, the low speed only had value on opening the pool and vacuuming up all the debris and sand that always seems to accumulate during winter (Loop Loc cover combined with high winds, pavers and sizable tree canopy).

We believe we get about 50GPM on a clean filter, so the pool water turns over every 10 hours on the high setting. We try to run it 5 hours overnight when we get cheaper electric rates. That seems to be adequate to keep the water quality and chlorine levels at decent levels.

So my question is, should I even consider a variable speed pump for a replacement or just swap out the motor for the same model. That probably runs $400 vs $1500 or so for VSP. The old motor is 1600 watts at high speed and our electric rate is about 20cts per KWH.

My Pentair pump (new 2018) is tripping the dedicated Pentair GFCI breaker. This first happened a week ago after an electrical storm in our area. I was able to reset the breaker and operated the pump without issue for several days, and found the breaker tripped again yesterday. The breaker would not reset (trips immediately). The contractor who installed my pool & equipment in 2019 suggested that the breaker might be faulty, so I replaced the Pentair with 40A dipole with the same model with no change in results. My pool contractor believes that the 4-year-old Pentair pump is likely the issue and suggests replacing it (BTW, the model is Pentair P/N 011056), mfg. date 12/2018. My question for the kind experts here is -- are there other potential causes of the breaker trip other than the pump? Any troubleshooting suggestions prior to committing to a pricey pump replacement? Pool = 15,000 Gal+spa/heater; SWG. Thank you!

I wasn't sure where to post this question. My plaster is about 7 weeks old, I have been extremely careful with it and within the last few days added a chlorine float. The float is a decorative float (solar cell enclosed globe light) and unbeknownst to me there are 4 exit holes on the bottom of the float. Anyway, the float got trapped on my top step and left a mark. Any ideas how I can get rid of this?

I tried uploading but the system stated the photo was too large. New item by Robert W

Hi all,

Looking for some help, guidance and advice on what I should be doing. You will find my specs in my signature but I am 20k plaster pool on a SWG in North Carolina. I test every three days using the taylor test kit. My most recent results are

Free Chlorine: 5.2 (ran super chlorinate late last week) I try to keep it in the 3's
PH: 7.8
Alk: 70
Calcium Hardness: 350
CYA 70
Water Temp : 85
Salt: 3100

That gives me a CSI of -.05 which is great except the pool school guy gave me different ranges for chemicals.
He suggests PH in the 7.4-7.6 range. If I go to 7.4 my CSI drops to -.42 (image below)
He also suggests Alkalinity in the 80-120 range. I know from reading just to let it settle and keep it above 50. If I let it drop to 50 with a 7.4ph and keep other chems the same, that drops my CSI to -.65.
Finally, he suggests calcium hardness from 200-400 while pool math says 250-650. Any specific reason as to why the huge delta between suggestions?

In short, it seems that TFP suggestions somewhat counter each other. If I keep my alkalinity low, my CSI soars.

And finally, I keep getting this white stuff settling at the bottom of the shallow end of my pool. I'm guessing its coming from a jet that points in that direction. I pulled my salt cell and its clean, so not sure if its scale breaking off somewhere or what.

Well we just filled our pool yesterday, and we're losing about 2" of water per day. They are coming in about an hour to turn it on, but I'm already trying to troubleshoot.

One area I'm immediatley concerened about is the skimmer. Attached are pictures. The access is on so tight I can't even open it, and then when I look in I see an uncut PVC pipe.

Is this skimmer not fully installed? Could that be a cause of the leak?

We purchased a intex above ground pool and started to fill but it is not round .

So I have an above-ground pool. I have a new sand pump hooked to it. I got a box of shock at Walmart and have been shocking it weekly and have had a beautiful pool. On the night of July 4 after everyone was finished swimming, I dumped a bag of shock and went to bed. I would up to green all over the bottom of my pool! As I was reading trying to find out what I did wrong, I found out I had used Advanced 2 shock (flock?) and I now have flocculant on the bottom of the pool. I read vacuum. I have vacuumed and it just stirs up and makes green water and then settled to the bottom overnight. What do I do?? I am at a loss.

I'm here in Texas, just outside of Killeen.
Any locals?

So my FC will not stabilize. Had it tested and it was .14. CYA was also super low at 5. Followed Leslie’s instructions and shocked it and added their instant conditioner. FC came up some and of course stabilizer takes awhile to show impact. Decided to follow SLAM directions from here and added a gallon of liquid chlorine last night which brought it up to about 3. But by this morning it is back to zero basically.

So something is eating my chlorine. So my question is if I need stabilizer to help maintain the FC but it takes so long for the added stabilizer to show up on a test, then how do I know how much of each to add to SLAM it. If my CYA is basically nothing per my Taylor test, then won’t FC just keep getting burnt off until I get my CYA up? But if takes a week to register on the test then I have to wait a week to accurately SLAM the pool?

Thanks for any help! We don’t a have a leak but it’s hot here so will need to add an inch of water to the pool today if it doesn’t rain this afternoon.

I've got a new Bullfrog spa that came with the Frog @ ease system. I may switch to Dichlor/bleach after I run out of the free chemicals I got with the new spa, but for now I'm gonna keep using the Frog.

I get consistently low FC readings, although Frog claims you only need 0.5-1.0 FC with their system. My question is: when I use the taylor daily FC/pH comparator block with the R-0600 reagent, the FC initially tends to read very low, but if I let it sit for 2-3 minutes and look again it reads significantly higher (e.g. it might read lighter than 0.5 initially but look more like 1.5 in a few minutes). Is that expected? Are you supposed to read it immediately and I should disregard the higher measurement?

I understand that the CC measurement isn't particularly meaningful for the frog system but I thought FC should be reasonably accurate.

My remodel was finished, and my pool filled today. I finally turned on the EasyTouch Panel and started trying to configure things - I didn't want to try anything out before and risk turning the pump on accidentally while it was empty. However, I cannot figure out ANYTHING on this panel! I shouldn't have worried about turning the pump on accidentally, because now I can't even figure out how to do it deliberately. The pool builder told me I'd be able to download an app and manage things that way, which would be good enough until I can figure out the schedules in the panel, but I can't figure that out either. Am I really dumb, or is this beyond confusing? I'm an IT professional so I thought it'd be relatively simple, but so far I have managed to:
1. turn on the light by pressing the relay button for it (don't know how to change colors or modes, though)
2. turn on my water feature pump (a simple single-speed pump on a relay)
3. set the date and time on the panel

Does anyone have experience configuring these things from scratch? I am utterly stumped, and the manuals I have aren't helping, either.

Right now, our pool water is hovering around 95 degrees, and to me, it is unpleasant to swim in.

So, is aeration effective at lowering the temperature of the pool? And, even if it does, am I just increasing my pool costs by further raising the pH (by adding to the aeration already caused by my SWG) and increasing the evaporation rate?

Another tangentially related question: Does the pool temperature affect chlorine loss? I know that chlorine loss is usually either due to sunlight and/or being used when combating organic material. But, I didn't know if temperature played a role too.

Hello everyone!

I've been a lurker for many years here and am finally posting my first thread!

I am in need to replace the spa light and unfortunately the cord is not long enough to do the work without draining the spa. I did some digging in getting this done and it seems that my system does not have an automatic drain function. I am assuming that I can still do this by manually manipulating some valves as there seems to be a couple of drains at the bottom of the spa.



I have solar heater, electric heater, and a spa heater. Below is a picture of my piping in hopes that someone can assist me with the process. I am a newbie when it comes to this and I am hoping that someone can assist me with labeling what each lines is. There seems to have been labels on some of it, but it has since faded away. I noticed that there is 3 automatic valves but I can only see the right-most one moving when I switch between Pool and Spa. I listed what is already labeled or seen but have no idea what everything else is doing.



1. From Solar
2. To Solar
3. From Pool
4. To pool
5. Pool related, manually closed. What could it be?
6. Pool related, manually opened. What could it be?
7. Assuming to be Spa as it closes when in Pool mode.
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?
11. ?

Also, what the heck is the black cylindrical component behind the electric heater on the wall?



I know I may be asking a lot, but my pool guy is never around when I'm home and he's somewhat of a flake with these inquiries.

Please let me know if there's anything more that is needed to determine the spa draining process or what some of the lines are.

Thank you so much in advance!

Alright so I have (2) Jandy PLC 1400 SWCGs... I'm only going to focus on the second PLC 1400 for now.

6/12/23
Noticed intermittent error code 123 (only in Reverse Flow, though it's intermittent, so the code isn't always showing every single Reverse Flow mode).

6/14/23
Replaced black power cord going to the cell.

6/15/23
Still showing intermittent 123 errors.
Replaced SWG cell unit (with Jandy/Zodiac brand).

6/17/23
Still showing intermittent 123 errors.
Ordered new back PCB board.

6/20/23
Still showing intermittent 123 errors.
Replaced back PCB board.

6/23/23
Still have not seen any 123 errors since replacing back PCB board. (checking 2-3x per day) - 3 days now, no 123 error

6/28/23
Still have not seen any 123 errors since replacing back PCB board. (checking 2-3x per day) - 8 days now, no 123 error

7/1/23
Still have not seen any 123 errors since replacing back PCB board. (checking 2-3x per day) --11 days now, no 123 error

7/2/23, 7/5/23, and 7/6/23
Suddenly seeing intermittent 121 errors - What the heck.....!?!

To recap so far I've replaced the main SWG cell unit, the power cord, and the back PCB. (I did not replace the Tri-Sensor Interface Module (since flow detection isn't an issue, there hasn't been any reason to)
Stumped here. 121 seems less problematic than 123 was but still doesn't make any sense why I'm getting that suddenly.

ANY IDEAS? (tried to call Jandy support today -- automated message of, "We're too busy, please try calling tomorrow".
Do I need to buy one of those Clamp Meters to be able to verify voltage and amperage during the error-free conditions versus when it's reporting the intermittent 121 error code?


Troubleshooting reference from install guide...



Thankfully my other SWG is still error free for now (was getting 171/189 codes on that cell (fixed by replacing the back PCB) and then later was getting 120 errors (fixed by 50/50 acid washing cell))

Hi there! I live in central Texas, and it’s crazy hot. The water temp on my 7k-gallon pool is currently 96 degrees, and I’d like to utilize aeration overnight to cool the water.

I bought a PVC waterfall/aeration setup on Amazon: Amazon.com

I hooked it up to my return jet per instructions, and expected the spray to reach several feet into the air like product review photos showed for other pool owners. Womp womp, the spray is more of a sprinkle that barely extends one foot.

I don’t understand what is different about my pool/install vs. the success other people seem to have with this product. The PVC valve window is closed, so I’d think that the max amount of water is flowing through the setup, and I turned my equipment setting to high in order to increase water pressure. Does anyone have a similar aeration setup or have any ideas? It feels like I’m just not going to be able to use my pool during the summer because of the uncomfortable water temp.

Hey everyone,

We just had pool krete installed on as the base of our flat bottom inground pool. They trowled it out, and everything looked “fine” to my knowledge.

After the pool krete had set, the installer filled some uneven spots with dry pool krete to help level those areas out.

Today the liner went in and we started filling it. I jumped in tonight to check something in the pool as it was halfway filled and was shocked to find how gritty, and sandy it was under the liner. I’m not looking for a glass floor bottom, but I don’t want to feel the grit from the pool krete.

The pool is halfway filled and I’m waiting on the installer to get back to me about what to do. Is there ANYTHING to remedy this now? Or am I going to have to replace the liner again and pay someone else to fix this?

Any advice you can provide quickly would be SO helpful!

Good morning, I just remembered that my electrician told me a while back that he didn’t think my pool was bonded and suggested that I have a “water bond coupling” installed so that he could run the bonding wire. Any idea what part he is referring to and where it needs to be installed? I asked a couple of local pool companies and they didn’t know what I was talking about. I have a good size vinyl liner pool and have no idea if the pool itself is bonded. I am pretty sure the motor is not bonded though as there isn’t any wire attached to the bonding screw. I assume it needs to be bonded as well?

Hello fellow pool owners!

Most of you are probably in the northern hemisphere and enjoying some nice and warm weather. It's a bit colder here in Sydney, but based on the mild winter we're having, I have a feeling we're going to have a hot summer!

Anyway, my question relates to some fine dust like particles that always settle at the bottom of our swimming pool. The only way I can seem to get rid of it is to vacuum to waste, but it just comes back in a week or two.

I'm wondering whether anybody else might have had similar problems and what they did to get rid of it. I don't think it's algae. We have large native trees surrounding the pool, so it might be something coming off the trees perhaps?

Anyway, interested in your opinions.

Hi! I saw this thread with what I think is a similar issue, but wanted to see if anyone has any other thoughts.

I've got an LRZ (2013), and recently it had a Check IGN Control Fault appear, so I had my regular pool guy come out to try and resolve. He changed the IGN board I believe and the fuse, and checked the volts. It worked for a bit, he left. Over the weekend, it came back up, so he came back out with another fuse. Changed it so now both fuses were changed, voltage there, left. It happened again while I had it on after he left. I noticed that it basically went wrong when it got up to 88 degrees (supposedly) in my Screenlogic app, which was about it being on for 10 minutes.

The pool guy noticed that my PG&E gas meter isn't sending enough gas to the heater (250), as the heater itself is intended for 400K BTU . He pointed it out because he thinks that soot has built up due to this, which would require an intensive and costly cleaning. His advice here is to just buy a new heater.

Is that really my only solution? Does anyone else have any other suggestions? So far, this has been a costly attempted repair, which of course puts me in the could-woulda-shoulda mindset of maybe I should've just replaced instead...but hoping there's still some good news here on what I can do!

I will reach out to PGE about changing the meter to allow more gas, but I'm really even thinking about whether or not I can invest in an electric pool heater (I think my pool is 30K gallons), but he said that no such electric heater exists (haven't done the research really, just was an idea since we have solar).

Thanks in advance (and sorry if I got some of the terms/lingo wrong here!!)!!

So I was gifted a use intex pool (10' by 30") and I shocked it yesterday using 2.4 ounces of clorox pool shock plus, and this morning I tested the water and the chlorine levels are still 0, but the PH has suddenly dropped. Yesterday when I tested the chlorine was 0, and ph was 7.2. But today after using the shock the chlorine is still 0, but pH is showing slightly lower than 6.8. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. The water was cloudy yesterday but a little better today. And I can smell chlorine so idk why it isn't showing in my testing kit. Never owned a pool before so idk what to do. And my kids are dying to swim but I don't want to let them until I get thus figure out. No one has swam in it since we set it up

We have the attached system. As you can see the inspect cell light is on.
Using my TF-Pro test kit, it says I have 3,200ppm salt in the pool.
We tried pushing the diagnostics button. When we did that the number on the box went from “2.20” to “29” and when we pressed it again, it went to “31.7”. And when we pressed it again, it went to “0.0”.
I am not sure the last time the cell was replaced.
If we need to replace the cell, is that something we should attempt ourselves or leave to a professional?
CYA is around 55/60.

Our in-ground has a Paramount Paralevel autofill that has been an equipment bane since initial installation.

We have a "smart" water meter that sends alerts when gal/hr water flow exceeds a preset amount. 99% of the time, when we get these alerts, it is related to our auto-fill system and shutting it off at the main valve generates a "Leak Stopped" message within the hour.

The issue typically arises after we have an extended period of heavy rain and the autofill will stick and run continuously. I've wet-vac'd any debris out, and have replaced o-rings in the past and that seemed to help, Lately though, it hasn't seemed to make any difference.

Of course, I've considered that it's running due to evaporative loss, but we previously had it set to keep the level right below the overflow and didn't get any leak alerts for several months. Now, we are overflowing water at the same level setting. If I run the float all the way down below the pool, it still runs. I've checked the integrity of the float and there doesn't appear to be any cracks or water holding within.

Curious if any Paralevel owners have experienced the same and what, if anything, remedied the issue.

Ok I've been running a pool for a couple of years. TFP has been amazing, SLAM process works, I've been super successful following everything. However, we went away for 10 days, the water evaporated below the pump line so the SWCG didn't work. So I ended up with a green pool. So, I know the process, SLAM etc.

However, at this point in time I'm really struggling, before I went away we had 80 CYA, it went to 0 CYA over 10 days (I'm using TFPS test kit), my chlorine is literally being demolished. I turned of the SWCG to start the SLAM process, which I've been doing over 5 or 6 days, but literally, my chlorine is being consumed at a ridiculous rate. So my immediate thought was ammonia. So I got a test kit, and it tested 0 Amonnia, which is encouraging (albeit this is after adding 166 FC in chlorine, with no CYA in it, just in case). Last night I put in 3 more gallons of liquid chlorine. That should take my pool up to 18FC, but this morning, I was down at 2FC.

So, I could be nearing the end of the process, but any tips, advice or wisdom based on past experiences? I'll update my new stats here shortly.

Folks, I am first time pool owner, lots of anxiety about self maintaining the pool. Previous owner after the close rented the property back for a month. They stopped their pool service and now, we are in process of renovating the place. So essentially no water treatment for about 2months and pool has turned green. As soon as I move in, in a week's time, I will start working on the pool myself. I am trying to make sure that I understand what equipment is installed. Below is what I have and then I will describe my struggle:

- Filter: Pentair FNSP 24
- Pump: IntelliPro VS-3050
- Booster Pump: Boost-Rite LA-MS05
- Suntouch P/N 520784
- Pool vaccum: Polaris P39

There is no solar, there is no heater, no spa. All I am trying to figure out is how can I set schedule for the pump and pool vaccum. I have done following setup that I believe is relevant for my use case.

Advanced 8/14 -> System Mode: Pool/Spa, System Type -> Single Body
Pumps 12/14 -> Intellifo VS -> Circuit Setup (1-8) 1-pool, Assign Speeds (1-8) 1-RPM 2000
Schedules 4/14 -> Schedules: [LOW, HIGH, AUX 1-3, FT 1-4]
[Question 1] In Schedule, I do not see POOL, so does it mean that my pump is attached to AUX1? Can someone confirm please?
[Question 2] What about booster pump, is booster pump turns on along with main pump or is it connected to AUX2?
[Question 3] What about Circuit On/Off 1/14 Filter Pump: [Circuit ON/Off - Low: On/Off]? Do I need to do anything with this menu item or should I leave it OFF?
[Question 4] How does Polaris P39 runs? Does it run with booster pump? How can I control schedule of Booster Pump?

Any help will be much appreciated.

New homeowner, in-ground pool included. Built in 2004, approximately 20,000 gallons, plaster finish.

There are two pumps:

• Hayward Super 2 (single speed 2.2 HP) - This unit runs the main filter
• Hayward Super 2 (single speed 0.75HP) - This unit runs the water feature (the water feature is three lion heads that have a stream coming out of the mouths, much like a hose)

The water feature pump is leaking and the motor bearing is loud. My local pool guy is suggesting a variable speed pump but I am asking myself, why?

I totally understand changing out the main filter pump for variable speed which would be much more efficient and likely save on energy costs. However, when it comes to the water feature I don't ever see a time where I would need to adjust the speed. The fountain is either on or off and only when I'm using the pool. Wouldn't a single speed 3/4 HP replacement be a cheaper option? I don't feel like I'm gaining anything by going with variable speed.

To second that thought, would a Hayward Super pump (W3SP2605X7) be a worthy replacement or is there something to gain by keeping the unit a Hayward Super 2 pump (W3SP3005X7AZ)? Both are rated at 3/4 HP.

We've been silently lurking and watching all you've built here at TFP. We here at Pool Magazine consider this website to be an incredibly valuable resource for pool owners and industry pros alike. We're happy to join the platform and contribute to this incredible community in any way we can. Pleased to be a supporter and look forward to being part of the conversation!

I had my pool replastered 2 yrs ago, they broke the fitting for the spa jets. Ths fitting is ok but the value jet inside was broke. They put new jets in and now when spa is on the water bubbles up the air vent line. I remove jetts and it runs fine.

Any ideas or how do i get the right jet.

Pools is Anthony & syslvin 2004 model, with hayward parts

Thanks for any advice