wkillham said:

Go to poolheatpumps.com. Great selection, plenty of help with sizing. I have a 110k btu gulfstream for my 20x40 gunite in MD. It will raise them 10 degrees a day without issues.

Click to expand...

Do you ever wish you had gone with more btu’s?

We’re having an 18’x36’, 10’ deep, built now and I bought an AquaCal t115 which is 112k btu’s and I’m wondering if I should have gone bigger. That’s why I’m in here looking at other’s thoughts.

I’m assuming it works fine when it’s warm and the extra btu’s would be handy at the beginning of the season and end.
We’re in Pittsburgh.

Long time reader, first time poster. I’ve learned so much by reading through articles/other threads! New fiberglass pool opened mid July.

I test weekly using a TF-Pro Salt and test ad-hoc using strips. It took a couple weeks to get salt to the right level, figure out how long to run the pump and to what percentage to set the SWG to get to the right chlorine level. Last couple weeks (we had warm weather, heavy rain due to the leftover of hurricane Idalia, we had several parties with groups of people in the pool) the free chlorine is staying steady.

These are my current results:
FC: 3
CC: 0.5
pH: 7.3
TA: 30 > LOW
CH: 125 > LOW
CYA: 0
Salt: 3400

My questions:

• My TA & CH are low. Should I try to get these withing range? And if so, do I first look at CH or first TA or can I do them at the same time?
• No CYA has been added to the pool. Do I need CYA if my FC stays good? Are there any other side effects from not having any CYA?

Thanks so much!

Hello all,

I just wanted to get some advice.

I am about to go on vacation for a week and I don’t want anything to go wrong with my pool. (Had some trouble a few months ago and now everything has been perfect for the past month and a half. Water so clear it feels like there isn’t even water in the pool.)

I am currently using Liquid chlorine and I keep it between 4 and 6. CYA is between 30 and 40.

Essentially after a day my chlorine drops to around 4-4.5 and then in the evening I add enough to get it to 6. Been doing that for a month and things are perfect.

Since I will be gone for a week what do you all recommend I do? I still have some chlorine tabs that came with the pool, should I just throw some in there for the week and then check and balance when I get home?

My wife’s sister is going to come by a few days to feed our animals and possibly swim, but I don’t trust her to add any chemicals.

Any tips would be helpful!

Thanks,

Brett

I am in the process of signing a contract for a new pool. I have interviewed a few pool builders and have settled with someone I think is trustworthy. I am looking for recommendations on what I have been quoted.

• rectangle 40'x20' with level spa
• Hayward Omni Logic Touch Screen Control Panel
• Aqua Star PTF 27,000 Rated #1 in Filters (is this a better option than a traditional Hayward filter?)
• Hayward 180 Degree valve actuators
• Hayward Tristar VS950 2.7 HP Variable Speed Smart Pump
• 3/4 HP Booster Pump for Pressure Side Cleaner, Polaris 280
• Hayward Maxflow 500 for feature
• Hayward Premium 500k NG
• Super Pro Premium Chlorinator, Hayward Salt T-Cell
• 12 Volt LED color changing (2-lights in pool 1-light in spa)
• returns - 6 Pool, 6 Spa

I hope to have some renderings this week.

Hi all,

I have a Stenner E20PHG 71S7 peristaltic pump with a 15-gallon tank that was in use inside for about a year as part of a hydrogen peroxide dosing system to remove iron from well water. I ended up switching to an ozonation system which was worked much better for that purpose, and now have the pump and tank to get rid of. I know some of you folks use these for chlorine dosing. These are ~$500 new. If someone wants the pump for $275 or the tank and pump for $300, let me know. Thought I'd offer it here before listing it on eBay. I'm happy to pack and ship it to you if you'll just cover the actual shipping cost.

Thanks!

Wes

Hi I'm Travis and new to the pool s ene so kind of a fish out of water here

Have a small in ground with jandy and DE filter, ozoneator, and Polaris cleaner

Hello,

I have a fairly new (3 years, 4 months) Pentair System. 3 HP Intelliflo VSP with Intellichlor Salt Cell. In addition, Master Temp 250 Heater.

I have no flow issues with pool running and also when running pool and spa bubbler.

If I switch to spa overflow, the T-Jet actuator turns as designed 180 degrees. The red flow light on the Intellichlor comes on and you can hear air in the pipes.

When turning on the Spa, the T-Jet and Spa Main Drain Actuators turn 180 degrees. Red flow light on Intellichlor comes on and again, can hear air in the piping. All four jets in the spa are on. The red service heater light is on the heater.

Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated.

If additional pictures are needed, let me know.

Thanks

Hi everyone,
I currently have a small Intex pool, and I tested the water today with 3 test strips to try to have some sort of accuracy.
Here are my results:
FC- 7
Ph- 8.0-8.4
Cya- 40
TA- 70
Total Hardness: 200
I noticed that the testing app said that my ph was too high and it should be around near 7.4-7.6.
I was reading on the forums that it is preferred to use muraitic acid compared to dry acid. But…
Muraitic acid scares the bejeebers out of me to pour (as I have spashed myself with bleach pouring one to many times on my hand and once a little bit on my face when pouring in a measuring cup), and the dangers of smelling the fumes it releases. Dry acid concerns me a little but not as much as muraitic acid as there could be sulfates that build up in my pool.
So, I was wondering what would be the best way to go here? Would draining a quarter of the pool and refilling work to lower ph instead?
Thanks in advance!
Also, around what times in September to you close up your pools? This is the end to my first pool season and I am not sure when to close it up.

Apologies in advance if I don't post this in the correct forum.

I have a 30K gallon, in-ground, salt, cement/PebbleTec pool that was custom-built in 2010. It currently uses these lights: Pentair Aqua-Light 250W 120V, 77168100.
There are 3 of these lights in the pool and 1 in the hot tub. I replaced one of the pool fixtures last year but another has recently gone bad. By bad, I mean, that with good bulbs, the fixture will turn on for about 30 seconds and then throw the breaker. When I take that fixture out of line, the other lights run fine.

Now that everything has gone LED, these fixtures are becoming difficult to find and they are essentially obsolete. The wet niches are the Pentair small niches, 7824xxxx or 79206600. The lights read Series 77xxxxxx, 250 Watts, 120 Volts, T-4 Bulb Type.

I am proficient enough to pull the fixtures and handle the wiring, change breakers, etc.

My question is this. Rather than try to replace these same incandescent, halogen-quartz lights, what should I swap in their favor? These are getting difficult to find and there have to now be better options. I'd like to avoid adding transformers and going to 12V if I can.

Thanks in advance!!!

Hi All. First time poster. Will share as many details as I can.

28,000 SWG gunite pool completed earlier this summer. Started using TF-Pro test kit and am learning a lot. I have read a lot of the articles on here but am not sure where to start. I have the pool math app. Water is clear, no issues to the naked eye.

Here are the readings I got today:

FC 1
CYA 35
TA 110
pH 8.2
CH 175
Salt 2800

We added 1/2 gal of MA to bring down the pH. (probably need more)
We put the SWG up to 100% but from what I am reading, the generator may not be able to increase the FC quickly enough, and if the CYA is this low, the FC may not hold anyway?

What to do we do next, in order of importance?

TIA!

We're in the middle of discussing renovating our current pool, but as the price rises I'm wondering if perhaps I could instead enhance the pool, and just focus on outdoor living - However, there is an issue since I re-opened the pool where either the ground on one side if sinking, or the pool is rising.
At this point some of the surrounding stone has cracked, I can see ~1" rise, and the skimmer cap is about 2" higher than the stone, and I know it wasn't before.
I am noticing it is on one side more than the other. I haven't noticed any water loss, and I've turned off the 'waterfall' in case it's pressure build-up. We haven't gotten a lot of rain in the past few months, so I'm curious what else it might be?

I know the builder is going to push me to do a complete re-build; and honestly it's probably the thing I do. But I'm wondering if there is something I can check to see if I can just "upgrade" this pool (Remove liner, fix foundation, etc etc) to reduce cost, or think I'd still end up near the cost of a new one anyway?

Hi,

I’ve been following this website for a good year or so and finally opened up the pool myself this year. We bought our house that had this pool with spillover spa about 3-4 years ago. The heater went the first year and finally just got it replaced this year.

I know there’s a way to heat the spa only, but I’m not entirely sure I’m going to do it right. The pool guy I had last year said there was a way, but unfortunately I didn’t remember how since we hadn’t had a heater.

I attached a photo of our set-up with some markings. There’s only blackout return but that’s for a water fall feature we don’t use so it stays permanently off.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I'm using my pool heater for the first time and wondering how you all set things up so it doesn't trigger error codes. I understand that there needs to be a certain level of water flow in order for the heater to operate. This requires that the pump be running at a certain speed - higher than "normal" for me. But I don't know exactly when the heater will kick on, so how can I know when to set the pump to a higher speed, unless my pump is just always running on high?

I have a spotted lantern fly problem and they are causing a mold to cover the cement patio next to my pool. I noticed my 30 second outdoor cleaner is 5% hypochlorite. Could I dilute my 12% pool bleach and use it on the painted cement patio like I have with done the cleaner? The rest of the ingredients on the cleaner reads 1.2% proprietary ingredient and 93.8 inert ingredient, (soap and water I suppose). Would I add 1 part water to 1 part bleach to achieve a 6% solution, or should I dilute it to 95% water and then 5% bleach? Thanks.

I'm following this with interest after trying and returning a robot. Coming from a Kreeply Classic K70405.

First try, a $100 Vingli from Amazon, isn't terrible but is missing spots and getting stuck at stairs.

@nuke_twidget What did you wind up doing?

@Dirk On the Rebel v2, did you get the hose kit or just the head? What about the short hose connector and float thing? Wondering if I need to replace my aftermarket hose if I get a Rebel.

Interesting discussion of leaf traps. I never used that with the Kreepy Classic--my hose goes directly through the Pentair Vac Plate (K12068) so all large debris lands in the skimmer. I only have one skimmer and I believe the one drain at the bottom of the deep end is actually plugged (at the skimmer), so the pump's full suction is through the skimmer. Any reason to change that setup?

How good is the Rebel v2 on walls? Will it knock off any algae starting to form? To me that's half the point of any cleaner--to not have to brush. The other half is picking up debris.

Moved from here.

Hi all, this summer was going too smoothly I guess something had to go wrong.

got home from the store today and saw the pool wasn’t running.

Checked it and electrical was fine but no sound.

Pump basket was full of Crud from rain last night and it was very hot. So I’m assuming it overheated.

I put a bag of ice on it. Cleaned the basket out. Opened up the back and then the power kicked on and it was humming. Spun the impeller and it moves freely. Closed it up again and it turned on so I shut it. Put the screws back in and the. Turned it on again and it only hummed?

Let it cool a bit more did same process. Turned it on again and only hums then smoke started coming out. So I shut it.

I’m gonna let it cool for a while. But now afraid to turn it on.

I bought it last year so it’s not even one full season. Should I check warranty? Not sure if it’s toast or not .

I'm meeting a builder to start finalizing plans next Wednesday and curious of things I hadn't considered, and should put into our discussions of design/pricing? I've told them my high level wants, walked the property, but I want to make sure I walk into the conversation with a pretty flushed out idea. Also would love some design ideas - We decided to do benches instead of stools since he told me ~1500 for bench, 4500+ per stool - Here is the rough idea I am thinking size wise.

Some common questions we've already discussed:

• Do we need an exit/entrance on 'deep side'?
  • I plan to have an embedded cover in that side so I assume no ladder
• How many steps from tanning ledge into pool?
• Should hottub be even with the steps?
  • He was explaining to me about the pump having a 'pool' and 'spa' mode and how spa mode would isolate the spa from the pool water; how does this work? It surely can't level the water that much without wasting?
• How many lights?
• Can benches have lights (without it being a PITA)
• How many jets/returns should I have?
• Is 6.5' deep enough?
  • I originally said 8 but that was an arbritrary number - I don't want a diving board. Pros/cons?
• I would like a water feature - maybe a wall on the deep end; is this a problem with the embedded cover (I dunno if it's called something else)
  • Will ALL water features attract bees/bugs or just ones with standing water (Rocks/etc) ? Those who followed my drama know I frequently have a bee infestation.

Also attaching the sitting/cooking area just in case any of you 'paradise havers' wanna chime in

My IC40 is leaking at one of the unions, right at the "seam" where the two plastic halves of the nut come together. It looks like it was manufactured that way. Water is bubbling up at the seam and dripping onto the equipment pad. I can pinch the 2 sides of the nut together and the leak completely stops.

Is there an easy way to fix this, ideally without cutting the PVC? Would some sort of plastic weld/superglue be enough to stop it from leaking?

Recently converted to a SWG pool. Had a Jandy TruClear salt cell installed so that it could communicate with my Jandy automation.
No problem until I turned on the Spa and it began leaking around the lid. Removed lid, took off the O-ring, inspected and re-lubed. Put it back together and no leaking. No theory on why it leaked, but the removing-lubing of O-ring was an easy fix.
Anyone else experience this situation? Is the Jandy Truclear salt cell an okay system, or did I error because of my Jandy automation?
Also, can I continue to use the granular shock I have been using prior to conversion, or is there a recommended granular shock to use?
Have been off the site for awhile, but with the new SWG system, I knew this was the place to go to get re-educated. Much appreciated.

First, thanks to everyone here for always being so quick and helpful with responses! I just moved into a new home and am working on bringing a neglected pool back to life.

I just learned that there is a pool return that goes to the spa that is separate from the spa returns. So it appears that short of capping that return, there is no way to not have the spa spillover into to the pool.

Why would it have been plumbed this way? Is that common? Is there any concern with capping or plugging that return so when I turn off the spa return, all the return water goes only to the pool?

Thanks!

I accidentally got the salt level to 3500 - 3600. It is for a t-15 Hayward. Can I leave it there or must I lower the water level to get it below 3400?

And early today I added a 40 lb bag of salt. When adding small amounts like that it is recommended to turn off SWG for the next 24 hours? That 40 lbs is what put me over - I had read 3000 and 40 lb should have only raised the level to about 3300.

8,000 gallon above ground pool with dome
Baquacil
Sand filter
Just inherited maintenance from my mom (74)
Pool unchanged since ~1983, same liner, walls, everything original except pump and filter, and dome.
New England location

I’ve got a brand new pool, but am on my third builder now and am piecing stuff together. When the electrician wired my pump, it works and turns on but doesn’t work through the automation. It appears as though I need to move the wiring from the filter spot to the J4/J5, issue is I don’t seem to have a green/yellow wire anywhere. Is that something separate or something I need to buy? Assume it was probably in the box and got thrown away.

Just trying to make everything work, guy who finished the pool is a legit worker, but old school so all the automation stuff makes him scratch his head and his son who was supposed to set it up has been slow at best.

Hi all, I have run into an interesting problem with Pentair Easytouch. I have set up two schedules for the VS 3.0 Pump. One is called "Pool" and the other is called "High Speed". High Speed is a feature. I am trying to run the pool at 1500 rpm for 6 hours (Pool rpm) and 3 hours at 2700 rpm (high speed). What I see happening is that in the "pool" schedule, the pump relay kicks on, SWG gets power and it runs. In the high speed schedule, for whatever reason, the "pool pump" relay is not activated and SWG does not get power and does not run - but the pump is running at high speed. Is this a wiring issue or expected behavior? I was hoping that ad t "high speed", the pump relay is activated and SWG can run during both schedules.

Hi, I am a brand new pool owner and this is a brand new pool. Pool is about 45 days new and we put salt in about 2 weeks ago. I don't know if the SWG has ever worked correctly but now my chlorine drop test readings are less than 1.0 ppm.

Also, I am unable to monitor or track the salinity in the mobile app, not sure why. everything else seems to be usable in the app.

Where do I start for troubleshooting? I can call my pool builder but I'm doubtful I'll get a reply anytime soon.

thx

Hi everyone, wanted to get some thoughts from people who have heaters for the pool.

Did some searching on the forum and from what I've read Raypak is getting the most reccomendations from most of you on here.

I went to their site and found the pool sizer calculation page to estimate what type of heater I would need.

http://roxwebdev01.pixelgate.net/gas_sizing/Raypak.php?appid=1

On that page given my input.

Heating the pool May through October to a temp of 82 degrees.

Milwaukee Wisconsin area

Solar Cover on 20hrs per day.

Its calculating that I would consume about $266 in electric costs. $461 in natural gas, and some un-godly amount using propane.

I was planning on Gas or Electric but never having a pool heater before thought I would ask for some advice before digging any further.

So I stopped using my Apera PH60 tester for pH readings because the readings were crappy compared to my Taylor kit reading. I realized today, it's user error. I had been following the Quick Start/Use laminated card that comes with the unit, but I also noticed that that laminated quick guide doesn't say ANYTHING about proper storage and well, I was not properly storing it . I found out that the probe should be stored damp/wet with the cover/cap fully closed to keep the tip from drying out. I was not doing that and my unit seemed to get less responsive over time, even calibrating it didn't help.

The good news was, I foiund that cleaning the probe in the 3M KCL Storage Solution for a couple of hours, and then recalibrating the probe (7.0, 4.0 and then 10.0) totally fixed all my issues. Not only does it read correctly now with both the Taylor and TF-PRO pH blocks (yes, I have to use both, cause I need to double-check things being color blind) but the PH60 also reads SUPER fast now.

I bought this on Amazon to get me a proper cleaning and calibration and couldn't be happier: Amazon.com

Now I know to store the probe tip with some moisture on it and in its protective cap/cover to keep the tip from drying out. Passing this along for others who might struggle with their Apera PH60 meter.

(I use mine because I'm color blind and color based pH reading tests have been a real struggle for me in the past, though I think I've managed to train my eye properly and have gotten way better).

HTH someone else.

New DPD powder from TFP store bought in Spring 23. Just opened it yesterday and used it and it turned my test sample murky. Same thing today.

The powder is white and fluffy like my others have been. Over 4 years, this has never happened.

Testing is in line but the cloudy thing is weird.

Any ideas?

Would homemade Solar rings be nearly as effective as a Solar blanket at night to retain heat? I’m struggling with the Solar blanket. I was told I must remove it daily or CO2 will build up and increase acidity causing damage to the pump etc.
Reels are too expensive and unreliable for above ground pools.
I was thinking of triangular shapes to minimize gaps.