Hey guys,

We have a 60k gallon gunite community pool in our subdivision in Southeast Michigan and I'm trying to put a proposal together to get our current heater replaced (can only get the pool up to 82 and we are looking more for 84-85). We'd like to have it open mid-May to mid-September ideally.

From what I've gathered it sounds like a 500,000 BTU gas heater would be ideal. Anybody working with a similar sized pool in Michigan have any recommendations?

Also, I've dug through the forums here and searched the web but haven't found a reliable calculator to compare the incremental increase in annual cost to heat the pool to 82 (which we currently do) compared to 84-85. Does anybody have any tips on how I could ballpark this or have a link to a nice calculator? The surface area is around 2000 square feet with an average depth of 4 feet. The cost of heating this would be split between 300 homes so I essentially just need to show that the marginal increase in annual cost to heat it 3 more degrees isn't going to be astronomical.

Thanks

I am curious why the TF-100 isn't sold on amazon or eBay?
Are there similar FAS-DPD test kits that are sold on amazon or eBay?
Can I purchase the reagents for the TF-100 on amazon or eBay?

In 2019 I replaced eight Jandy JLUC10-100 lights that failed after only four years of service (actually, half of them failed but they were discontinued so I replaced all eight). The new lights, Jandy JLU4C12W-150s, were much brighter and appeared to be of better quality, so I was ok with replacing the old ones. Last year, three of the new lights failed after only three years of service. They were replaced under warranty, so no problem. This year, two more of the new lights (replaced in 2019) are failing - one is completely shot, the other is showing signs of fatigue. I reached out to Jandy customer service and the rep I worked with in the past told me that these lights should not be failing at this rate, and that there may be an issue with the lighting system. I find this hard to believe. The system consists of eight threaded sockets connected to a junction box via 1” pvc conduit. The junction box is dry and clean and the lights were installed in accordance with the instructions. Pretty basic stuff. In replacing the warrantied lights\, at least one of them had visible signs of condensation on the inside of the lens, which I assume is the real issue. Are others experiencing this rate of failure? Are there any preventative measures that can be taken? I though about adding silicone to the water tight connector on the light but I doubt that wil do much. Is there a better light? Just curious. Replacing 2+ lights per year is expensive and should not be necessary. Thanks!

mknauss said:

Welcome to the forum!
Great to hear you are having success. Be sure to fill out your Signature when you have the time.
I suggest you read through Pool Care Basics - Trouble Free Pool and even look at a few of our videos TFP-TV - Trouble Free Pool

Click to expand...

Thank you, I do believe I started that I just have to figure out where I found it

My IC60 is about 6 years old (I think) in a 20,000 gallon pool. (I know this is overkill for my pool size. But that is what they gave me!!)
Im in New Jersey so it only runs 3-4 months a year.
I have an Easy Touch system and the salt level in the Screen Logic app is not updating at all and is stuck on 2600 ppm (see image)
I put a few bags of salt in the pool before I realized the app number wasn't changing so I know there is salt in the pool.
I have never cleaned the SWG. Going to do that next.
I'm wondering if a dirty SWG would cause a misreading of the salt level in the app or if the SWG has just reached its end of life.

I've attached an image of the ScreenLogic readout. And another image of the constant state of the SWG.

Here is a link to a vid showing the diagnostic of the SWG

Thanks in advance for all your help guys and gals!!
Lou

This is my valve I need to adjust. On the far right is the suction coming from the bottom pool drains. It currently is CLOSED for this illustration. The bottom line is the skimmer and where my question arises (has red circles on it). From the current valve position, I can turn the valve counterclockwise until the CLOSED area reaches the main intake to the pump (far left pipe showing water flow going away from valve). The yellow arrows mark where the valve stops turning. Currently the valve is turned as far as it will go clockwise. How do I get the CLOSED position over the skimmer rather than just over the main drains or the pump itself? Once it stops turning I am scared to force it any more since I do not want to break it.

Hi All,
Fiberglass pool I installed in January. In April, it was screened in. I've got the TF-Pro test kit and water is right on. Just FYI, it's salt.

Now that South Florida is in the rainy season, I've noticed a ring around the waterline of my pool. It's not easy to get off. After lots of scrubbing I tried my fiberglass cleaner for my boat and it works well to remove it. The problem is, every time it rains the ring comes back. It's very prominent where the returns are hitting the side of the pool and the ring goes around about 8 feet or so from where the returns hit the side of the pool so it's coming from the pump apparently, though I doubt it originates there.

I installed a new filter and it's did the same thing the next day. The skimmer is clean and even when we go a week or two without getting in the pool, it still comes back after it rains. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I know there are lots of posts about robotic pool cleaner recommendations, but I wanted to list my specific needs to get the best recommendation. My Polaris 9450 finally failed. I think water got into the cable connection on the robot. Besides this, its pretty beat up. It has served us very well for seven years. No complaints at all.

So, I’m ready to buy a new robot and I’m blown away by the vast array of models offered by each manufacturer, and they all seem so close to each other in feature/function. At the end of the day, I want to drop a robot in the pool, press a button and have it do its job. Cool features are good if they are something I’ll use. I’m wide open with regard to manufacturer, model and price. I do like the fact that the Polaris has a caddy but thats not a deal breaker.

Our pool is large, probably 40K gallons. It’s 50 ft x 15 ft at the wides point. The shallow end is 3-4 ft and the deep end is 8 ft. It has one small bench and a tanning ledge. The Polaris didn’t go onto the tanning ledge which is fine. It also has a large vanishing edge tank that I would drop the Polaris into periodically, so whatever I get needs to be nimble enough to navigate the VE tank (probably 4 ft wide by 25 ft long). I assume most are. Like I said, the Polaris did a good job. If I had any gripes they would be bin capacity and speed. Due to the size of the pool I would often have to empty the bin and send it on another pass. Two passes was probably 4 to 5 hours. We do not cover our pool in the winter so it has its work cut out for it during those months.

Given that the 9450 was a fairly basic machine, are there must-have features that I should consider? Maybe knowing this will help me wind down my choices. Is mobile app important? If you have a specific brand/model that is working well for you in a similar pool, please share. I’m not too worried about price, but if a $900 cleaner will work as well as a $1,500 cleaner than I will certainly go with the value decision. If the high-end unit is truly better then thats fine too.

Priorities: gets the pool clean with no fuss, reliable, reasonable speed, reasonable capacity, parts/service availability.

Thank you in advance.

Dave

Hi All,
Greetings from Atlanta. I have had a pool for around 7 years and have been maintaining it myself with some pretty good results until this year. I’m now encountering an issue with my salt system that I have no idea how to resolve. Started doing more internet research and here I am.

I'm using the Taylor K2006 test kit to test my water.

I noticed that after adding R-0870 (powder) and swirling it, for about a minute to a minute and half, that the sample would get darker and have a higher FC level than if I were to just start adding the R-0871 (regent) right after the powder dissolved. Just curious if this is typical and the reason you need to start the R-0871 right away? All regents were bought this year so they aren't near expiration.

I need to replace a whisperflow 1 hp pump that only services my waterflow and slide. Will a 1 hp Superflow pump work as well?

Getting ready to renovate our kidney shaped pool, looking for ideas and trends to allow me to learn and maintain my own pool.

This is my second in ground pool. I had one in Fresno, CA and now here in Texas. I have always taken water samples to Leslie’s Pool Stores for evaluation and sometimes I feel like I am overdoing the chemicals and never getting as close to a balanced pool as I would like. After all, Leslie’s make’s their money selling chemicals and equipment. I’d like to say Thank You to those who can help me learn.

New homeowner here in South Florida. I currently pay a pool company to do maintenance and would like to take over soon. I need a new pump because we have a small leak and I'm interested in learning about salt water systems to see if that is something I should invest in instead of continuing with the current regular filter pump system. A few minutes of reading through threads and I have learned a lot!

Greetings. Pool owner for 3 years and so far so good. I'm a self-proclaimed geek and love to learn. I'm the resident pool guy for my family and its in my interest to ensure that the pool looks great, feels great, and is sanitary. I had a friend over one day who wanted to know what I did to keep my pool so clear and pretty , oh boy, instant regrets for him. My opportunity to talk about something I was passionate about to someone who actually asked didn't come by often. I opened up by telling him that clear water is just clear water--my toilet bowl looks great and the water is super clear, but there's absolutely no way I'd play in it. He said he never thought about it that way and our conversation turned into sanitation, balance, and the benefits. Glad to join this group and I'm looking forward to furthering my knowledge on keeping a Trouble Free Pool.

New pool owner (second summer). This app was recommended from a Facebook group and I’m so glad. We built the pool after COVID and have 4 kiddos ages 12-16. They are in heaven here outside of Nashville. Our boys were trained a couple times by the builder on cleaning the pool filters (that pump scares me every time they put the filters back on) and everyone does their part keeping our little oasis beautiful. However, We made quite the blunder on our 18,000 gallon Gunite pool. My 16-year-old put 13 pounds of shock in instead of the 13 ounces. So here we are… joining the Trouble Free Pool world!! Thank you.

We put our pool in this past August. Hoping to build a pool Pavillion next month. It will be covered but sides will be open. 26x34. What type of cabinets (to make an island) can I use? I was looking on FB Marketplace for a granite-topped island, went by a cabinet shop and he said he would not put wood out there. He mentioned stainless steel. I don’t want that. It would mot match. I know there is HDPE. That’s what our pool furniture is, but I didn’t want to spend that much. Has anyone used real wood cabinets in a pavillion? My friend has a wood vanity in her enclosed bathroom, so I know we are going to do that. I don’t want to spend an arm and leg (already have), so I’d love to hear what you guys have done. I want something mainly for a serving line, to put food on, and store things, etc. Thanks!

Hi there! Looking for some advice as we know next to nothing about pools!!!

We've inherited a pool which we think was built in the 1970's - some kind of concrete, ancient 45kw heater, pretty old filter and pump. We opened the pool late this year as we suspected a leak - water level was hard to maintain at end of last year, and settled about 2ft down over winter.

So we left it until we had some time to start investigating (got pretty green in the meantime), then started to go through the process of shocking it in order to see what was wrong. Dumped a load of chlorine it, but when running the pump you could see air bubbles inside the pump, and when we turned the pump off ready to backwash, a huge jet of air/water was released into the pool. Apparently something didn't enjoy the force that came with that jet of water, as the pool then emptied out over the course of about two weeks - about a foot of water now left in the bottom of the pool.

Strongly suspect an issue with the main drain, or the pipework leading from it, given that the pool is now basically empty. We will get it pressure tested prior to starting any work, but want that pressure testing to be done by same person who will be fixing it, so we don't have to pay twice (no one wants to assume the other guys diagnostics were correct!)

So on the assumption that the main drain / main drain pipework has gone we've had a few people over to look at fixing it, and we're getting a variety of solutions - I'd love some advice on which suggestions are the best?!

• Option 1: Install a pool liner and channel out the concrete for a new main drain. Don't like this option as also have to replace all the skimmers and a lot of plumbing, so costs were escalating rapidly. Someone estimated about £40k for liner+plumbing+fitting.
• Option 2: Abandon the main drain, cap it off and fill it in as too expensive to dig it out. Just use the skimmers instead. But concerned that we won't get enough circulation without a main drain, and pool will have to be cleaned more often. And given that the pool levelled off 2ft below the skimmers over winter, if that happened again we'd then have a dry pump - not ideal as we're likely to replace the ancient pump at same time at getting this fixed.
• Option 3: Abandon the main drain - cap it off and fill it in as too expensive to dig it out. Instead install 2 low level sidewall suction points.
• Option 4: Abandon the main drain - cap it off and fill it in as too expensive to dig it out. Instead install 1 low level sidewall suction point. Not sure this is legal...(suggested by a different person to previous option)

We're leaning towards option 3, but there's a lot of negative views on sidewall suction valves, and we don't want to be conned into something which costs quite a lot to install, but won't add much benefit. Thoughts???
Should I be concerned that no one proposed to actually fix the main drain / plumbing or is it genuinely an impossible thing to fix?

Any advice welcomed!!!

Laura

I am the new pool owner and I have an outdoor inground 33000 gallon pool with sand salt generator. Last month there was an issue with salt, the system was showing a salt error. I have called pool company, by the time they responded , my pool water got allergy and water turned green. They have added some shock and salt which worked well. But after few days my filter start giving error as well as salt. ( please refer the attachment). When I called them they asked me to do backwash. But I have noticed whenever I am backwash it it working for sometime and then again back to same problem. Now it been two weeks. The company stopped answering my call and asked to look somewhere else.
I request if anybody can help me to understand this issue.

My dad has a leak at his pool that was located with a hearing device. The leak is in the PVC pipe that leads to a jet from the pool pump. We are leaking about 1000 in 2 - 3 days.

It was recommended to dig up the flagstone and dig down 3 feet to the pipe. Looking for a magic bullet to fix this as digging in 108-degree heat is not high on my list.

So the stains seem to come from the path of the fill water which was just a single garden hose over a couple days. It was very faint & over the 4 months its getting worse.
I picked up a Jack's ID kit but nothing. I didnt reduce PH & FC as I should have so perhaps I need to try again. We have very hard water & live in the city but even so to me it appears to be Iron. I have recently put a 20" big blue on my auto filler but not sure if that will do anything at all. The test kit I have is garbage.
Such a nice pool & area, everything going well but this really sucks & not sure how to fix it or if its fixable.

Hello, I have a brand new gunite pool. I am here to learn everything I can about keeping my pool clean, clear, and algae free.

Having trouble getting our pool clear. We have an 80K litre in ground vinyl pool. Our water has been cloudy/milky white for the past week despite running the pool pump/sand filter 24/7 Cannot see the bottom of the pool in the shallow end.

Numbers

Alk 90
Hardness 211
PH 7.6
Stab 80
Chlorine (Free and Total 4.08)

I have ordered a Taylor test kit but will be a week before that arrives......any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Trying to find a skimmer filter lid. Pool shop had some but the inside ( part that goes in the hole ) was to big... This opening seems to be 8", but the smallest I've found so far is 8 3/8..

Any suggestions?

Hey all,

This may be a moot point for me, since we are upgrading to a permanent AGP soon. But this being year 3 of temporary pools, and year 2 using the TFP methods, I've noticed algae buildup in the "hard to reach" areas of the temp pool. This includes the area where the base floor overlaps the side liner, behind the pool ladder on the floor, and in the crevices of the ladder. Could this be due to the construction of the pool? And the hard to reach areas don't get enough water flow? Or is it something else? I keep my chlorine levels in range. I suspect the pump isn't generating enough power or I could benefit from a better nozzle setup to get the water flowing more, because I've noticed some of the surface water is stagnant, especially around the ladder. I always find debris near the ladder and skim it out.
Thanks for reading!

This is to make a long story short. I had crystal clear blue water for a month. Discovered a very small leak in the pool, not worthy enough to make a priority to fix. Was just topping off the water when it was looking low. Filter was always able to run. Then one night I fell asleep and overflowed my pool for 5 hours

Ok. Was back to square one. Rebalanced everything. Was told my TA was low and added baking soda. My water was a clear teal. Then the hole got bigger and had to force myself to jump in to patch and the ground was flooding. Had to then refill. Which it got down past filter and sat for 2 days.

It then had a terenchal downpour of rain after I fixed and refilled. In a day my pool was lime green. I shocked it x3. The next day it was dark green, going to black side…..

Took a sample to pool store. They told me everything was balanced except ph was 8. Add low and slow bioguard. I did that and recirculated pump. Within 2 hours pool turned back to the all familiar teal.

I retested water today. TA 80-100, ph 7.8, free chlorine is at least 10 (highest test will read) as well as total chlorine 10 (highest test will read). CYA is 0. I know. So I added stabilizer. I’m hoping that will bring the ph down enough to let this chlorine do something. I am so frustrated. I want to throw this pool away so bad. I can’t afford a commercial pool right now. But this thing has been one headache after the other. Currently have the filter recirculating after adding stabilizer.

Hello Everyone,

So I just got my pool resurfaced and I was wondering if my pool Jetts should look like this? They have part of the threading showing and are not flush to the pool wall. Will that be an issue ?

Not pool in signature:
Get a call, heard your name around can you check pool and advise. Went to see new to me pool/customer yesterday and pool reeked of chlorine. Pool is palster approximately 18k with attached spa, chlorinator being fed by pool guy. No automation, Two single speed pumps one for pool and the other for spa, mastertemp heater and rather large DE filter.
Took water sample with me for analysis.
Fc- 25 (50 drops, higher but stopped counting)
CC-0
PH- inaccurate
CH-225
TA- went from green to yellow after few drops
CYA-160 (diluted testing)
Salt- 800
Water is crystal clear. Customer is clueless and was only bothered about some bugs floating that weren't going into the skimmers. A gross adjustment was needed to balance the manual jandy never lubes.
Bottom line:
Need to advise customer....

Hi. We are currently building our pool which should be set to be completed in a couple weeks. I was told about automatic pool skimmers. I’ve been researching different ones but can’t find many reviews. A lot of the past forums were from years ago. Anyone have any experience with these recently? Recommend one over the other? Thank you.