Our Hayward T-cell 15 bit the dust last year and we've been using liquid chlorine since then. Liquid chlorine prices have gone up to $5-$6 a gallon so its time to get a new salt cell. I've read a lot of negative reviews online about the deteriorating quality of the Hayward T-cells so I'd like to go with another brand. I'd prefer to find a salt cell that costs around $500, if possible and comes with a 3 year warranty if you install it yourself. I want to buy one from a company that has been around for awhile and is known to honor their warranties.

Hi Everyone
I've read through several posts and have a basic idea what my issue could be, however I haven't seen anyone that has had burn marks on their SWG plug. My issue started when I opened my pool two weeks ago. I have a Hayward Aqua Plus with a t-15. I received a low salt warning, but initially thought it was due to water temp or maybe needed a bag or two of salt. Stupid me , I ended up putting 8 bags of salt in bc it continued to say low salt after getting water to temp. I had water tested with a kit and it showed almost 5000 ppm. I read up on the diagnostics and this is what I found.

Amps are extremely low so I tried resetting the breaker, did not work. Then I cleaned the cell with muriatic acid, no luck. I read on a forum here about checking the circuit board for burn marks, but I did not see any.
I did notice what look like burn marks on the plug for the t-15.


So now I am completely confused. Is this a circuit board issue, a SWG issue or both? Thanks for reading.

Is this the best option for the gallons of chlorine I will need?
Chlorine requirement is through the roof.

Hi,
We have Brown spots on bottom of pool after switching to SWG summer of 2022. We also had the plaster redone in fall of 2021. Does the cheaper salt at Walmart vs pool store contain metals? Is there anything I can add daily or weekly to keep the metal from staining the plaster? Pool chemistry is Free Chlorine 5.35, Total chlorine 5.35, PH 7.5, TA 71, Calcium 347, CYA 42, IRON 0, Copper .1, Phosphates 215, salt 4000.
Thanks in advance,
Barb

So short version, i got a leak in some plumbing from filter to pvc, I ordered a new piece, it took a week to get here, I turned the timer/pump/swg off with my cutoff switch. When I got everything replaced, went to turn it on to test and nothing turns on. If I keep rotating the timer over and over, sometimes the lights on the VS Superflow pump will flash for a second. I dont think I even need the timer, since I have VS Superflow which has it's own schedule but no freeze protection. I dont know if somehow I broke both the SWG and the pump, but honestly not sure how to even wire everything together if I remove the timer to even check either device. I had an electrician come out and they said its getting power to the timer, but that's all he really checked. Thoughts? Is there some way I can just remove the timer out of the question? Or do I really just need to get a new timer? and is it possible it's not the timer? I took the panel out of the case and looked at the back and I dont see anything unusual. The black cable coming out of the bottom goes to my circupool SJ45. I have a Pentair SuperFlo VS Variable Speed Pool Pump 1.5 HP 115/208-230v.

koffey said:

btw, you can still use the pool while slamming.

Click to expand...

Really? So CYA of 40, FC 16 and PH 7.0 you can swim in?

Moved from here.

Hello everyone, I just now got our pool up and running from just being built. I have a question regarding pool fill ups. I might have mistaking filled up the pool with a hose splashing from the top of the deck down to the pool the whole time causing a constant splash. I now have really high ph that I have been steadily decreasing using muriatic acid. However due to evaporation I’m concerned about refilling the same way. Does everyone top the water off by submerging the hose into the pool water so it doesn’t cause an aeration effect? Thanks!

I have a 2 year old timer that started acting up in the last 2 weeks. Most of the time now it will not turn on when the timer hits the on pins but it always turns off when it hits the off pins. When I open the box and slightly tap to the on position it will kick on but often turns off at some point during the on cycle. It seems it is not completely clicking to the on position, like 90% there but not quite enough. Is it already shot after just 2 years or is there something I can do to fix. Thanks for any help.

After 8 relatively trouble-free seasons my Pentair MasterTemp heater died (heat exchanger) and so I replaced it with a new one. It is integrated with a Pentair Intellichlor salt system and Intelliflow pump, controlled by IntelliTouch/ScreenLogic. Previously the IntelliTouch/ScreenLogic completely overrode the panel controls on the heater. With this new heater, with exactly the same hookups, etc., ScreenLogic will turn the heater on and off (and is the only way to do so), but it will not change the set point as before. I can change the set point from the control panel on the heater, just not from the remote ScreenLogic interface. So now I can only turn the heater on/off from ScreenLogic inside but then need to go outside to the heater itself to change the setpoint. Not the end of the world I guess, but rather annoying. Has anyone else had this problem? Thanks.

Hi, I'm a new pool owner with a small inground pool. I was given no information about the pool when I bought the house but the pump and filter were working fine. But now I'm getting air bubbles in the pump basket, crackling sound from the multiport area, and bubbles from return jets.

I recently had the pool resurfaced and leak tested. There was a small crack in the skimmer which was repaired, but no other leaks were found. The pump basket lid was removed (I had never removed it before) during the process. Once the pool was filled I filled the pump basket and closed the lid. The pump primed but had vortex of bubbles, which I never had before. And the water drains from the basket overnight. The filter was not making noise at this point.

I did a backwash and rinse. After I moved back to filter I noticed the crackling from the multiport area. I've tried all the suggestions for finding a leak and all joints, valves and gaskets are fine.

When I turn the pump off there's a quarter size bubble remaining, but with the pump on it looks like a lot more air. Should I stop running the filter? I don't want to break the pump. Any suggestions to fix this would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are new to pool ownership (two weeks into pool ownership to be exact). We seem to be getting the hang of things pretty well, however, there's one problem we've heard many varying different opinions on what could be wrong.

The previous owners of the house didn't maintain the pool after the contract on the house was accepted, so we have cleared up any water chemistry/algae problems left behind. We are to the point of vacuuming our pool and are actually able to see to the bottom through our crystal clear water! However, after vacuuming the pool, back washing, and rinsing, the returns return sand in the pool for a good 20 seconds after putting the filter back on filter mode. The sand doesn't come immediately after turning the pump on, it takes about 10-20 seconds to start, and lasts for about 20 seconds. We used the trick we learned from lurking on here of putting a sock over the return to catch some of the particles returned to verify that it is sand. The only time the returns produce sand is after backwashing and putting back on filter, and it only lasts for about 20 seconds. Otherwise all is fine.

We have contact various companies and pool-experienced people, and they have said anything from a broken lateral, to the sand needs to be changed, to potentially a spider gasket may be broken. Anyone have experience of this situation happening?

I'll update my signature later tonight with our exact system. Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated!

Hello,

I need help deciding between an electric or gas heater for the pool. Open pool in May, close in late September. Natural gas to the house. All professional installers in the area, that I've spoken with, push electric for it's efficiency and claim they themselves started with gas years ago, but have switched to electric themselves. It sounds like they set the heater at one temp and forget it until they close their pool. On the other hand I understand that gas can more rapidly heat the pool. Any advice is welcome.

-Xavier

Display reading high salt and or amps. New generator and sent for testing came back fine. Salt level is at 3200. Still shutting off chlorinator saying high salt/amps

I have a Pentair 5G Intellibrite and a SAVI Color LED bubbler pool light. These have gotten at most 50 hours of use in total for the past 4-5 years. Last night I went to turn them on and they came on, but they were both quite dim. Also, the SAVI can display all the colors (green, blue, white, red, magenta) but the Pentair cannot display white, instead it shines red.

I tested the voltage and current coming out of the transformer: 13.4 VAC and 0.4 Amps. So, the transformer seems OK, but the current draw seems too low, which makes sense because the lights are dim.

I see there is a replacement cartridge available for the SAVI, and I see that there's a company in Florida that sells a replacement board for the Pentair. Anyone have any luck with those?

I have a person I work for as a personal assistant. She has a 25,000 gal chlorine pool with some dark stains that popped up about a year ago. She says she has had pool people come out and they just say they don't know what it is. We performed one of those Jack's Stain ID kits and got no results from any of it. So we are working to try and identify what this is. We are open to suggestions on how to figure out what stain this is. Located in Dallas, TX.

I purchased a used 29.5' x 17' x 4' Splash SuperPool. It's a bit older, probably 5 or so years old. The liner is in decent shape, a bit of bleaching near the return, but not bad. The gaskets on pretty much every inlet, outlet, etc. are shot and leaking. I've ordered replacement gaskets, but there's a fair number of them. I think a total of 6 plugs, returns, supplies, etc. They're pretty standard looking and remind me of the Howard skimmer return I installed on my Intex last year.

What's the best way to replace the gaskets without losing a ton of water? 2 of them are at the very bottom part of a corner so losing a LOT of water is very possible. Any good tricks?

Suction is bottom right, return is very left side, and the plug is above the suction on the right which holds the Splash skimmer. I have 3 more exactly like this on the opposite side of the pool.

Hi All!
We have a 9 month old vinyl pool that had a leak in the liner - our PB is replacing the original Hydra liner with a Merlin one next week. We have steel steps and steel tanning ledge that are also covered by the vinyl liner. These steps and edges in the ledge are pretty sharp, and I want. to cover them with some kind of seam tape before the new liner goes in (as the steps and ledge get the most traffic). What is the best product for this (besides duct tape). Is there a seam tape that has better adhesion to steel? Maybe something that is a tad thicker to ease the sharp metal edges?

Originally we wanted to add some wall/floor foam, but the liner was already cut so I couldn't have the foam thickness deducted.

Thanks!

I'm opening my pool and due to excessive rains in California, the water is black.
I'm going to get a box of floculant, but not sure if that is going to do the trick...
Not looking forward to the summer....

Hi everyone!

Trying to work on many issues in my pool one at a time.

I just finished a SLAM today and working on getting my water chemistry right and need to set my salt cell properly.

Here are my water parameters:
FCL - 22
CC - .5
pH- 8.2
CH - 425
TA - 180
CYA - 50
Salt - 3400

I already added dry acid to lower pH to 7.6 and adding stabilizer via sock method to get it up to 70. I'm also going to let my FCL start to drift down and want to maintain it at 7-9.

The thing I don't really know how to do is set my chlorinator properly. I have a Hayward Turbocell 940 Extended Life SWG running through an Omni panel. It is setup in the orientation in the attached picture. I also have a variable speed Hayward pump.

My goal is to be able to set the pump as low as possible and run it for as short a duration as possible but still keep everything in check.

What is the best way to do this with my current setup and a drifting lower FCL from 22?

Thanks for all of your help!

Bobby

Anyone else in TX that has been impacted by the heat and winds of the high pressure cell experiencing rapid water level drops? Filled the pool up to the drain line and w/in 2 days, looks like it has dropped an inch+. Haven't done the bucket test yet. Our pools longer length runs N-S w exposure to S winds so I know that's accelerating the issue...hopefully that cell will move sooner than later...thanks

Happy Father's Day to all you guys !

Upgrading this old pool a little at a time, as we get enough money for each phase.

And well, we've finally reached electrical.

My pool subcontractor just installed the new variable speed 3hp Black & Decker pump, and now he's telling me my old timer might not have enough power for it? I'm pretty clueless about this.

I guess i'm looking for: can work for this 3hp B&D pump, but also power my booster pump, has freeze protection (but i've also got a freeze protection box already on the wall), and maybe, ideally, has an app i can use from my phone.

What should I buy?

See photos for old/current timer and install progress.

Thank you!

I built the solar reel from this forum. Just search diy solar reel and you’ll find the post if you are interested. It was very ez to do. Only thing I have to figure out is where to put it when I take it off . I have a deck but it’s only 12 feet wide . The cover is 24 ft wide . It looks like the ground is my only option unless you guys have suggestions

Hi all,

New to all of this, need help. Keep going to the pool store buying a lot of stuff and still ending up with a not so crystal clear pool. Third year of having a pool, first two years no problem, this year...cloudy pool.

Pool guy says it the phosphates, thus my reply here but you all seem to be saying not a prob. About to get a divorce over this pool, need help. I put the numbers from store testing this AM, not sure it's the right terms but I tries. Will look at the pool school but need immediate help. I was told to drain and fill, drain and fill to lower phosphates and then use a remover...or buy 13 bolldre of phosphate remover at 30$ each....I don't want to do that.

Help me...please.

Thanks



Alcanity : 118PPM
Cal Hardness : 158 PPM
PH 7.6
Stab : 48 PPM
Salt 2777 PPM
Free chlorine : 6.86 ppm
Total 6.86 PPM
iron : 0
copper : 0
Phosphates 6097 ppb (0-400)

My first slam on opening went fairly smooth (or so I thought), I passed all 3 criteria for 2 days so had let the SWG maintain FCL around 9 most times cya 40) covered pool unless swimming). (Plan to eventually raise to 60)

I tested everyday with tft smart stir. FCL always 7.5-10 range.

Didn’t use the pool for about 5 days (still tested everyday). Went in a couple days ago and the floor and walls were slippery. (I had not brushed the pool for 2 weeks but my Polaris robot is in there 3x per week for about 3 hours).

I started SLAM again after this. FC up to 16 brushed daily everything “feels” better. Decided to open up the light niches. Puff of powder like substance. I’m guessing algae. Scrubbed them out best I could.

Couple questions moving forward

1) I can’t leave the lights out of the pool for slam duration. I’ll try to open them up everyday for a couple days to brush and let water circulate. They are aqauscape so it’s a twist off to expose the niche. Should I try to get more concentrated dose of chlorine in there with a syringe for a quick brush or anything like that? Should I remove and brush in there as part of my weekly brushing from here on out given the ease of removing? Any harm in this? I’ve attached a couple pictures best I could do underwater if the niches. One had a bunch of black spots. I don’t think it’s algae. No amount of brushing or using my nail removes it. The 2nd had a yellowish stain would this be from mustard algae? Though I’ve not seen visible algae anywhere else in the pool and this stain won’t come out.

2) would this alone be responsible for my reslaming? I’m also going to clean my autocover and vault to cover all bases, but I’m really surprised that algae from these light niches would make it over the whole pool and walls even the opposite side of the pool and biofilm without a drop in my FC to minimum or below minimum.

Hello, we had a few tiles pop off of the spillway of our pool. Having done some research it sounds like I may need ez-patch 1 (to build up the bed, where the tile will be placed), ez-patch 3 (thin set) and ez-patch 4 (grout).

We recently had a freeze and I’m thinking (hoping) that is the reason for the tiles popping off. I don’t see evidence yet of any cracks or anything.

I’ve already used a little saw to remove the grout on the tiles. The tiles look like they are in good shape. I also removed the grout on the sides of the tiles that bordered the ones that fell off. But I’m not sure whether I should try to chip away the grout or plaster that was underneath. I saw a pool video where the person doing the repair simply built up the bed (using EZ patch 1) to make the surface even without chipping away anything underneath. That person then reapplied the tiles using the thin set and then grouted around the new tiles.

My questions are, should I chip away the gray stuff in the picture? I don’t know if that is grout or part of the bed that I should build back up using EZ-set 1. If I do chip that gray stuff away, then do I even need EZ-set 1 or can I just use EZ-set 3 to apply thin set to the tile and then just use EZ-set 4 to grout around it? Just wondering what the experts would do…

We just installed a new pool and I only have experience with old manual chemicals and equipment. Our new pool has a Pentair IntelliChlor IC40 SWG. The system is controlled by a Pentair EasyTouch panel. It was all installed by a pool installation company at the end of last summer and they programmed everything, but then it was winterized and I re-opened it all myself. When I have the panel in Service mode the chlorine generator works just fine and I can press the buttons to control how much chlorine it's generating. When I turn the system to Auto, the SWG doesn't seem to generate any chlorine. There are lights on that show that it's on, but the lights that indicate how much chlorine it's generating are always off and pressing the buttons on the unit does nothing.

I'm sure I just need to do something to turn it on through the EasyTouch panel, but I can't find it anywhere. I'd love any pointers anybody has.
Thanks!

I was having a problem with my Polaris 380. It is 20 years old and I was replacing the belts. I changed them out with no problem, but this one part on the drive shaft keeps sliding out of its pocket. The little blue piece in the middle of the pic is loose and slips out, along with the white piece it holds in place. Both are on the drive shaft. I can't find the part number on the schematic I have, I think I have an older model. I also don't see it on any of the rebuild kits on Amazon or Inyo or other pool sites. Any idea how to keep it in place? or the part number to order to replace it? Thanks.

I've posted about this several times over the years, but it's happening again.

I flipped the breakers, reset the controller, still nothing. I opened up the crontroller to see if there was anything causing a short, but couldn't find anything that looked wrong or out of place.

Everything's been fine for months and then suddenly this.

Ideas? Probably just going tocall a pool gut.... so tired of this recurring problem

I used to pour liquid chlorine standing up at arms length. I would get some splashes on my legs while wearing shorts but I didn't worry too much about that. Later on, I realized it was splashing up as far as my shirts (and ruining them). Since then, I bend over and try to get the bottle close to the surface before pouring, and that has mostly eliminated the splashing problem. I do get some small splashes sometimes, especially when first tipping the bottle over. I try to avert my head so I don't get splashes in my face.

After reading some posts, I think I am going to switch from 14.5% to 31.45% muriatic acid. I found a video online that recommends wearing safety glasses and long rubber gloves, pouring the acid into a 5 gallon bucket with a 10:1 water/acid ratio, and then pouring the mixture into the pool.

I am wondering whether the video instructions are a good practice or overkill?

How do others here add strong muriatic acid? And do you do the same with liquid chlorine?

Thank you.

Hello TFP folks! First time poster, as our pool was just finished about one week ago.
We have a Prowler 920 that I have used about 4 or 5 times in the last week. Up until today, it worked fine. Now, today, it will not power on when I plug it in. The power supply box with the power button and schedule selection buttons and lights will not come on. The outlet that it is plugged into is working fine (I tried different outlets, plugged something else in to test the outlets and no issues). I didn't leave it submerged nor did I start it out of water.
Anyone have any suggestions, aside from contacting Dolphin about a repair/replacement?
Kind of frustrating that it seems to have gone kaput in only one week.
Thanks for any suggestions!