Curious to see if anybody has taken litigation against their pool builder for multiple construction defects after the 1 year warranty

Hello all,

My pool lights failed a little while ago. I’ve been trying to fix them. Instead of working lights, I’ve ended up with a pool full of bubbles and a pump that won’t prime when used with the spa. I’m confused. Thought I’d see if anyone here has any ideas.

In troubleshooting the light failure, I found and fixed two problems. There were two gfci circuit breakers on the circuit. Unnecessary and I read that can cause intermittent problems. I also found a loose wire in my EasyTouch enclosure. It wasn’t related to lighting but needed to be fixed anyway. After that, the power tested correctly at the light junction box. I verified neutral and ground there as well.

I hooked up the light to the now working junction box, got the light back in the niche, filled up the spa and tested it. Light! Woohoo! … for a few seconds. Then it flickered and went out. Junction box still tested correct. Light did not have water in it when I pulled it back out. After reading more about the lights - Pentair IntelliBright 5G LEDs - I concluded there was a good chance the lights had failed. I decided to replace them with a Pentair AmeriLite with an LED bulb. Easy, right?

As I removed the old light, I pulled in a pull string while pulling out the old wire. When the ordered light arrived, I tried to pull the new wire in using the pull string. It broke.

I then spent several hours trying to push the wire through or get a fish tape through. Nope. I filled the conduit with laundry detergent. Very effective. The wire slide right in until it hit the same sticking point and will not budge. I ran a hose to the conduit and hoped to push out any debris. Result: Spa full of bubbles.

Meanwhile, the spa is refilling with water. There appears to be a leak from the pool to the spa just below the tile line. I turned the pump on to remove some of the water from the spa. Nothing. After another hour of troubleshooting, I find that no matter what, there’s no water getting to the pump from spa suction. Pool is fine. And I can route it so pool water goes into the spa. So everything but spa suction seems to be fine. I’d used this method to drain down the spa just a few hours before. I’m completely confused as to how anything I did led to the spa suction failing.

Any suggestions???
I’m contacted my pool guy to try and get on his schedule. I’m leery of continuing to try and fix any of this myself since I just seem to have made things worse. But I’m also just puzzled as to how one thing could have led to the other.

Was away 6 days. Came back and Dolphin wont work at all. Power supply seems to function. Lights work as normal, but the lights on the clearer itself and motor never come on. Acts like it's dead. Any thoughts? Emailed Maytronics and sat on hold for 30 minutes or so.

Hi,

A few weeks ago i had the same error and back washed my filter and heater came back to life. A week later I got the same code so completely cleaned DE filter and now I get the error codes again. I replaced the ignitor and it is definitely glowing so I'm not sure what else to do now. My pool guy who really doesn't work on equipment said I should just change out control board but he admittedly says he has know idea of what's wrong. I have a multimeter but not manometer. Should I attempt to try and figure it out?

Does anyone know if Hayward’s XE Series pumps can integrate with their automation systems, especially AquaPlus? There is zero documentation online and Hayward has removed even the info pages for the XE line from their website.

Hello pool lovers! It's blazing hot in Texas!! After reading through an old thread about burying above-ground pools, I decided it might be fun and informative to check with everyone to see how their buried above-ground pools are doing. Our Doughboy was eight years old when we had the 4/11/2016 grapefruit-sized hailstorm here in Wylie. It punched a hole in our original liner, which was holding up wonderfully, BTW. We'd had no problems with our pool in those eight years and ran our 2-speed pump on low 24/7/365 (with little difference in our electric bill). After the storm, we had to have the liner replaced. The pool sat empty of water for a few days and no issues with caving. Thus, I have to agree with a prior poster that the dirt (ours is gray clay) is well settled after awhile, so it's not as risky to leave the pool empty (though I wouldn't leave it empty for months). While our eight-yr old liner, though VERY faded, was still working just fine, it was nice to get a fresh new look with a new pattern - almost felt as if we got a whole new pool!

So it's been six years since the new liner - a total of 14 years on the pool. We are still using the original filter, original Zeolite, original pump - still running it 24/7/365. I will say that the little pump is the absolute best thing in the world! The water has gotten too low a handful of times and the pump was running dry - to this day, it still works fine, still runs quiet, though the stand it is bolted to is severely rusted. To date, we see no rust on the 10-12" above-ground outer walls. At the 8-yr mark, there was no rust on the vertical top plates. Now, at the 14 yr mark, top plates are VERY rusted. Our original installer did not space the pool correctly, so a lot of the resin rail caps have never snapped into place to completely cover the top plates, though I suspect they would have rusted anyway. From what I have read, the top plates and bottom plates are usually the first to rust.

The only problem we have had with our buried Doughboy, other than the common rusted vertical top plates, is that the coping seems to have gone completely brittle, breaking off and allowing the liner to slip back over the top of the pool wall. We suspect the installer re-used the coping in 2016 when he replaced the liner, and hoping that this will be an easy fix. Sooo, aside from four ducks, two bunnies and two toads, these are the only issues we've had after fourteen great years with our buried Doughboy! After looking back at pictures of the new liner install, we just realized that he installed the new liner on top of the old liner. Hmmmmm.

So all in all, I'd say that we would do it all again, though maybe include the slurry next time and go with a higher quality skimmer. The secondary reason we went with a buried AGP is because the city cannot tax you on it - it's considered "portable." (What was the first reason?...COST!)

Cherie
32x16 buried Doughboy, 4' shallow - 7' deep
Pentair Dynamo 1 hp, 2-speed - Pentair 150# SD40 w/zeolite (75#)
One skimmer/two returns/Dolphin Robotic

Just bought a house with ~18k gal pool and spa. Water looks crystal clear but when I tested it FC, TA, and CYA were super high. Didn’t test CH. These were my results with TF-100.
FC: 17
CC: 0
PH: 7.5
TA: 17
CYA: Wayyyyyy over 100

I spoke to the service that had been maintaining it and he told me alkalinity, cya (140), and total dissolved solids were all high, but told me I’m doing the chlorine test wrong and they keep it at 3-5 ppm. I did the color match test and chlorine was bright orange, and then FAS-DPD and used 44 drops last night and 34 this afternoon.

First question, am I doing the chlorine test wrong? I read all the instructions closely but feel like I must be doing something dumb to be so off. Second question, drain the whole pool or just 2/3rd as the service recommended? Any tips for starting from scratch with new water? I read most of pool school but my head is spinning.

Apparently the pool was in bad shape all winter and owner refused to drain, and now they’re using a lot of chemicals just to make it look clear. Appreciate any help!

I'm going to try to condense mssg & type it via phone but will take me a while.I have a 20000Gallon pool marsitefor37yrs. Husband deceased so I've taken care of pool last 18yrs w no problem- til now. Wentto visit family, asked friend to care for house& instructed abt pool. Unknown by me,they had a timer put in while I was gone& it went on while pump valves were closed& blew up motor. I had new motor put in pump& installed by electrician. Pool turned green+ my peeping Tom neighbor called code on me so I had to do something fast to get water clear whilegetting new motor. I don't swim anymore bec of peeping Tom, so I used LOTS of chemicals First,I put in excessive algaecide& super shock. Then raised pH&added flocculent- nowLOTS OF SMALL LEAVES from 's silver oak& dead algae on bottom. Do NOTwant to run that thru pump nor filter. I thought if I primed pump 1st while in recirculate mode & water from skimmer it wouldn't gunk pump nor filter w excessive dead crud via bottom drain Problem: none of valves are labelled&electricianshut all valves. I flushed vacuum tube& pipe from skimmer to pump w fresh hose water. I'd like to shut drain valve initially & run clearer water from top thru pump to prime it,then turn valve to waste to bypass filter.Problem: electrician shut valves while Installing pump&I'm not sure which ones to open. Also problem getting seal back on filter basket. If pictures won't attach, will send ňext

Going to start my thread with pictures from our journey so far since we are almost at the end if the construction phase. I will add pics in small groups, with descriptions. This is a 22,000 gallon salt water pool being built in East Texas on the side of a hill. We are having to build up a good amount of dirt to level everything out, and then have a concrete pad poured. Will start adding pics now. May take me a little time to add all the pics.

Friday evening before the long weekend we used the spa. When we were done we got out and turned off spa mode as normal. I happened to glance out not long later an noticed the spa was half empty. Walking over to the equipment our suction side intellivalve was doing the service me led dance. I moved it from service make to auto mode and heard what sounds like grinding gears . For anyone that followed the "intellivalve autopsy" thread a few months ago, this is infact the one that had the small rust spot forming on the pipe below the cable gland.

I am currently on the perpetual hold with pentair hoping to get them to send me a replacement instead of waiting for the tech that I did not particularly care for on last experience.

For reference, our pool has been up for not quite 1 yr (plastered June 8) and this is the third intellivalve failure (we have 6 total)

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Hey, all, love the site. Lots of good information. I admit, though, the first few times I read about chlorine dosing being dependent on your CYA level, I thought that meant your "Cover Your @$$" level, and wondered how you quantify that, haha.

Just bought a new house in Katy, TX with an in ground pool. Looks like it's been in the ground more than 20 years. The plaster's a bit discolored, there is some calcium scaling, some iron stains (seller says from fertilizer), and there are bubbles in two of the return jets, but the water is blue and we're loving it so far. The previous owners tested and bought chemicals through Leslie's, using pucks in the chlorine feeder and a floating chlorinator in the spa. The CYA information on this site kind of scared me off of adding more trichlor pucks until I knew the CYA level, so I poured in a jug of 7.5% bleach every couple days guessing that would keep it in range while I waited for my TF-100 test kit in the mail. My first CYA test read something like 30-40, so no danger of CYA overload unless I'm misreading the black dot. And my first FAS/DPD test showed 2 ppm Cl, based on 4 drops to turn the pink solution clear, but then after the solution sat for a few more minutes, it turned pink again, so I don't know what that means. I need to calibrate my eye with the standard solutions I ordered with the kit.

Yesterday I used the daily test block and it showed the chlorine below 2 and the pH too high, so in with more pucks and I'll recheck today. Previous owner didn't leave any MA, so if the trichlor doesn't reduce the pH, I'll have to go buy some, right? I did find there's a chemical supply a few miles from me that sells 12.5% liquid chlorine in bulk. When I improve my testing game, I'll have to stock up there. They will fill 1-gal jugs, or they sell a refillable 5-gal jug (or a 15-gal jug or a 55-gal drum). Sounds a bit dicey, though, trying to measure out of a 5-gal container. Anyone here do that? Has anyone here from Katy, TX used Patriot Cleaning Supply? Still trying to find the time to practice testing with the standard solutions, then get all the important numbers tested with my test kit. Hopefully this weekend.

Once I feel good about the chemistry, I can worry about little green spots, iron spots, and scaling. I also see there are aerator nozzles in a couple places along the wall, they don't run during the normal pump cycle, and I have no idea how to operate them, or if they still work. The previous owner gave us a quick rundown of operating the equipment, but didn't mention those. Maybe there's a valve somewhere?

Anyway, thanks for the great website and I imagine I'll be hitting you guys up for input real soon.

Hi from sunny and hot Northeast Florida where the humidity can be cut with a butterknife and the mosquitos are as big as Volkswagens. My Pentair EasyTouch box has decided the low voltage relay 3amp breaker won't stay closed... so nothing works but the pump. Relieved just to have found this great bunch of highly experienced pool peeps!
EDIT - MOD -- Here is the thread describing the problem - Pentair EasyTouch Low Voltage Relay breaker Issue!

Joined this group to see if I can get help on a newly remodeled pool (Sept 2022) and am now seeing mottling in the hot tub, as well as a few rust spots in the pool. One by the drain and 2 on West end of pool.

I am a 6 year pool guy. Work for a great company with a great owner. I am currently the cleaning department manager. I manage 11 cleaners and routes. I want to learn more about chemistry, automation, and inventory procedures.

Hi all. This year we have set up a brand new 3800 above-ground vinyl pool for the kids. The previous year we had a 1000 gal and I didn't do too much maintenance other than throwing in a couple of Frog chlorine floating balls when the strips said low chlorine as well as cleaning the cartridge filter. The water went green, of course.

What's new this year besides the larger pool is an actual liquid testing kit from Taylor (how did I ever live without FAS-DPD?) that I use daily. We also have a hand-me-down sand filter instead of the cartridge one. Also liquid chlorine instead of mysterious floating balls.

Just this past week I started reading about the need for higher chlorine concentration, even above 5 ppm, for high CYA levels. My CYA is around 45 or 50 ppm. I do feel a bit odd adding more than 5 ppm chlorine, but if that's what's needed with CYA then that's what's needed.

I'm a bit concerned that I didn't get rid of all the wrinkles from the bottom before filling it up. Crossing my fingers on that.

Thanks for having me here!

Hello, everyone,

I’m a brand new pool owner. The pool came with the house. It’s a saltwater pool with the capacity of 82,000 L. Just figuring it out. So far I’ve been depending on a pool store. Looks like I’ve been getting interesting advice from the pool store and some of it seems incorrect after I’ve looked at this forum.

I look forward to learning lots. I know how to use the search function. If I can’t find some thing, then I will ask. Appreciate everyone on this forum.

Thanks!

My pool was finished in May 2021. I recently noticed that there is white scaling above my water line. Can / should I be doing anything to clean it up? I tried rubbing it off by hand but it is not going anywhere.

My cousin has the exact pool as mine except he has converted his to salt water. Since installing it he has an issue when turning pump off it.blows the lid off the skimmer. I 1st thought it.was bc the long hose on the return side so I piped it I'm with pvc and it has no dips in it at all. It didn't have an issue before adding salt generator thing. It's installed directly after the sand filter. Any suggestions. I'll get make and model next time I'm over there

I just finished putting up my Intex 16’x48” Pool and it does not look sturdy to me? It’s leveled and the legs are on pavers and alls good but it just doesn’t look sturdy. I’m debating taking it down and returning it but I’m hoping someone on here has used it and can give me some peace of mind. It is ten feet from my neighbors fence and I worry about the damage it might cause if it buckled.

HI all!
we just bought a polaris 360 to replace our 6 year old poolvergnuegen pool cleaner. i did a bunch of research and it seems that the 360 is the best for larger debris like twigs and leaves, and we get PLENTY of those in our pool. we are having a problem getting it moving tho. I did some research on this site, and it appears from what I have read here that the problem is with our return lines. We do not have a single return line, we have three. All of them had fish eye closures. We removed the fish eye on the middle line and hooked the polaris to that. However, it is only getting to about 22 RPMs on the wheels, it stops moving in the deep end, won't climb, and if it gets up against the steps it stays there all night. I saw on another thread someone recommending the Eyeball Fitting Connection Kit (part #9-100-8001) for our multiple return lines. My question is, if I put those on the other two return lines, will our pool still get enough overall circulation in the water? It seems like it will reduce the water circulation almost completely? I am wondering if this is the correct thing to do for our issue.

We took the top off yesterday and cleaned the filter. We notice water pouring from the sides and our pool water was getting low. We tried to remove the top again to troubleshoot and now the locking ring will budge. Help!

More curious than anything. New pool owner, pools been running flawless for a month thanks to this site. Just wondering why it's recommended to add chlorine at return jet? What's the difference if I just walk around the pool and pour it in, as opposed to taking 1-2 minutes of pouring at jet?

I am on the fence and stressing over installing a Circupool Universal55 to my older (1999) 28' above ground Doughboy. I've spent two weeks reading threads on here. I understand that liquid chlorine also contains salt and that the SWG generates chlorine with salt levels not much higher than liquid chlorine. I also understand that the PH being too low causes more rust than a SWG. I know that a regular chlorine pool can also rust from liquid chlorine. See, I have been educating myself

We just had a new beaded liner installed from our previous overlap. Is there a chance that water can splash behind the track where the liner is held up and cause rust on our inner walls? Would painting our top rails with Rustoleum help prevent rust?

I've literally given myself a migraine over this!

I am in the processes of SLAMing my pool after a mustard algae appearance (color and location match the description here: Mustard Algae).

I am inquiring about FC maintenance here:Chlorine/CYA Chart.

In that second post, the Yel/Mstrd Min column - how long should I follow this, or, given that I have encountered this problem two years running, I should expect this to be the regular approach? Both appearances were after a week trip away where the pool was improperly maintained.

I have followed all guidelines (SLAMing, brushing, cleaning items, and so on) and kept chlorine at an appropriate level before the outbreak. I use the guidance here, not a pool store and have a TFP test kit.

Current numbers are not relevant because I am in the middle of Yel/Mstrd SLAM after doing SLAM with a clear pool and less than 0.5 ppm chlorine drop.

Thank you.

We have a 24x12x52 Intext pool 8 years old with a salt water system. Been through two salt water systems and NOW all of the sudden the power is on but nothig happens when you try to get the pump working. No humming Nothing! It must be a simple electrical fix which I know nothig about. I took the cover off and everthing look like new inside. Hit the reset several times. Would like to just replace the unit with the key pad but cannot find just that unit. Hate to have to pay 400-500 for whole sand filter etc. Any ideas beside call an electrician? Ty This system is only 2-3 years old.

The bearings on my pool pump have gone out, and I need to buy a new pump. I am looking for some recommendations for a new pump. The old pump was Pentair Optiflo 1.5HP, 115V, and only three years old.
Thanks

Hello everyone,

Our pool builder just got done pouring concrete in our backyard. It's stamped concrete roman texture with a dark grey release. It has been about 1 week since pour. The attached picture is what it currently looks like. I am concerned with the stamp outline that is clearly visible and the fact that it is not consistently dark grey and is 2 tone with what seems to look like just regular concrete color. Will this change as it cures? Is this how it's supposed to look? Hoping others have some experience with this. TIA

Greetings from Houston!

Hoping for help with a “minor rust” question. Specifically - reoccurring on the metal screen of the In-line filter for Polaris 280 Max Black cleaner.

I appreciated the education I received from TFP years ago, when we bought this house with a pretty pool 10+ years ago. After firing a multitude of pool guys and gals and ditching the pucks, I became a liquid chlorine girl and while physical maintenance was rugged due to an oak overhead and a host of pigeons living within it... (enough said!), I managed to stop the cycle of green bouncing and had clear water with the help of TFP and my big kit.

We demo’d the house and built new (took FOUR years - adding grey hairs and stories to tell). And because everything in the pool was OLD and wrong sized, and we had to empty and punch weep holes in bottom anyway, we renovated the pool afterwards.

I am NOT a fan of the WetEdge surface we used. Still cannot discern if we had a bad install or if is just the nature of the product.

Meanwhile: We installed a new DE filter (previously had a massive sand), a new Polaris 280, dropped our heater and filled in the spa to be a shallow sun perch. I originally was using chlorine - but after much research decided to install a SWG.

Bags of salt are SO much easier to deal with (and less often needing to be hauled) than my boxes of liquid chlorine from the pool store!!!!

Aside from a black algae issue last summer (because we let the boys use the neighbors’ gifted to us from their lakehouse yellow kayak in our pool - a joyful, if less than pool-smart decision) and signs of its return now, which I have tackled myself, we have had no issues.

Except for mysterious rust colored stains on my poolbaskets, pump basket, and pool walls near jets.

2 months ago - I discovered that the in-line filter screen for the Polaris was rusting. I popped it out, replaced it. Today I see that it is rusting again.

I bought the replacement filters from Leslie’s and they are in Polaris marked bags, so appear to be genuine.

Do any of you have recommendations or ideas for combatting this? I am trying to track down a brand new inline filter housing, to replace the whole thing. We are not vain, I do not care about the current rust staining, it will fade am sure - I do want to stop the rust cycle and not be damaging anything in the system.

If this message is not too wordy and my photo file is not too large, will attempt to upload a snapshot.

Thank You!

Good afternoon. Looking for a little assistance as I have been stumped for the last few weeks on what is going on with my pool. We opened at the beginning of June, and had an uneventful first few weeks. Around early July something changed and my pool started getting cloudy and needing constant brushing and vacuuming.

~18,000 gallon in ground pool w/ Vinyl liner
Purchased as is ~9 years ago, but equipment looks older than that
Hayward (36 CU/FT) DE Filter grids were replaced 2 years ago- Just cleaned and inspected them last week and found no issues

When the pump initially turns on, you can watch the returns blow out green and white crud. Even little pieces of filtered material that made it through the pump basket. After about 15-20 seconds it starts to dissipate, and after 60 seconds or so it appears to blow clear (or clearer). I've never noticed this before this year. My filter grids were a bit packed with DE when I pulled them(despite backwashing for 10+ minutes) but there were no tears or issues. The top filter vent appears clear and as it should. However, the filter does not appear to be doing what it is supposed to.

I just replaced the spider valve gasket this afternoon thinking that the filter medium was getting back into the returns, but on first start up it didn't really seem to make a difference. I'm a bit reluctant to change the whole filter assembly and spider valve, as I'm hoping that it is something easier. Any suggestions on other things to explore?

Hi Everyone! So I tried to research as much as possible before coming here for help but I am feeling more overwhelmed than ever. This will probably be long, thank you if you make it to the end

Within 3 months I have gone from having a pool service, to relying on the pool store to buying my own Taylor test kit. Here are the issues I'm struggling with; I went out of town a few weeks ago for 4 days and while I was gone no one attended to the pool (vacuumed, skimmed, tested etc). I came back to algae growth. Went to the pool store followed their instructions to shock it (5 of those little bags) and for the most part it cleared up with the exception of some stuck in the pebbles. I got mixed advice from the pool store based on whoever was working there that day. I used a wire brush to scrub the spots where algae remained but otherwise just vacuumed, brushed the surface etc. The next week my pool store water results were fine. The following week there was still algae in the pebbles (I'm scared a patch it is black algae!) and pool store test results showed lower CYA and low total alkalinity. One more confounding factor is that the flow over feature from the hot tub/spa to the pool was temporarily off and green algae really started to grow in there. Maybe a dumb move but I turned the flow feature back on so I'm sure some algae is getting from the hot tub to the main pool. At this point I was not getting clear advice from the pool store so I researched here, read the Pool School articles and bought the Taylor Kit.

I did my first Taylor kit test yesterday and no surprise here were my results:

FC 2.6
TA 80
CYA 35
pH 7.5
CH 400

Pool math said to add 8.6 pounds of stablizier and soda ash. I started yesterday afternoon with the powder stabilizer (via the method of dissolving it in a bucket and putting in skimmer) but it was a lot so so far I have only added half. I was going to wait at least 48 hours to re-test the CYA. *I wasn't able to add the 24 hour SWG output in the Pool Math calculator because I can't figure out the make of my SWG or what the output is*

This morning I tested the FC and the it was down to 1.8 so that freaked me out and I came straight here to type this before finishing the other tests. I assume the free chlorine is low because of the algae and the low CYA?

I guess my questions are:
- when should I add the soda ash when all the stabilizer has been added?
- how should I proceed to try to treat for this algae that's sticking around (again, it's mostly in between the pebbles)

If you made it this far and followed at all - thank you!!! I am making it my mission to learn how to do this but am not feeling very confident at the moment.