Hi,

I'm new to the pool game, just had my inground installed last month. I'm trying to plan ahead for the Wisconsin winters and I need a cover...but I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of drilling holes into my newly stamped concrete pool deck.

Has anyone had success with using ground stakes around the edge of the pool instead of the cement fasteners? That's the only viable alternative to drilling into my concrete that I've come up with so far.

Is it safe to assume the cheaper covers I've seen that are held down by sandbags won't cut it once the snow starts piling up?

I'd take any/all input and advice on the winter cover options. Thank you!!

I bought a used Intex pool that the previous owner had up for a year and then took down without cleaning it. I got a great deal, and I'm psyched to have it, but the vinyl is pretty grimy, greenish-yellowish. I'd love to restore it to a clean, blue 'like-new' look as much as possible before filling it with water, of course. What's a good way of doing that? Are people mixing baking soda-bleach concoctions? Or do I get store-bought vinyl cleaner? I tried a magic eraser sponge on it to see if it will come off at all, and it kind of did, but I'd go through dozens of dozens of them before I'm half way around the pool...

Greetings all. When it comes to pool maintenance, I have experience but it may not be of any great benefit because I have gotten away with the basics for years. The pool I am presently maintaining was built in the late 1960's and has been re-plastered once over those years. It is in bad need of a new coat of plaster but it's something that won't be done because the pool has significant cracks from geological settling, and really needs to go through major renovation. It will probably be done over the next 2 years or so. My challenge now is to deal with algae that has gotten worse than normal this year. This is almost certainly, at least partially, attributable to the very old plaster, with lots of nook and crannies for algae to make itself at home.

Other crazy issues are that the pool was built with a polished creekstone shallow entrance, which was all the rage at the time. This presents more nooks and crannies, as well as inviting every type of bird and animal to bath, and surely relieve itself, in the shallows. And to make matters worse, the deck and coping is of flagstone, which presents additional places for the algae to cling. The pool has always been a challenge. For now, until the pool renovation starts, my job is to try to keep it decent looking, and perhaps non-threatening, if someone should decide to jump in. Last year I don't think anybody swam in it.

Thanks to the TFP site, I learned about CYA and picked up a kit. The results were quite low at ~25 (whatevers). Last week I put one envelope of chlorine shock in the pool, as well as a gallon of liquid chlorine, on top of the 3" chlorine tablets in the float. And I'll be hogswazzled, virtually all of the chlorine was gone a few days later. I cleaned the filter the hard way last week, as my sewer cleanout is more than 100' away and I hate backwashing down a hill into a neighbors yard. Surely my, or someone's, job will be easier once the pool renovation is complete. Thanks ahead of time for any and all help. Cheers.

Thoughts on changing (SWG) to (SWCG) ? I'm one of those people who kept referring to SWGs in my posts when they really are SWCGs?

Hello TFP!

I have been lurking here for many years but just registered this morning

I have had my pool for around 9 years. It is my first pool

Up until now, I have left everything on the settings that the builder put them on 9 years ago. I relied on a Polaris 360 for cleaning, but I have a Dolphin robot en route to take its place (per this forum's recommendation). I have taken samples to my local Pinch-a-Penny, but I'd like to start tackling testing myself

Intelliflo VSP, Pentair 420, Excel cartridge filters (2 years old) and Intelliclor SWG

1. Are TF and Taylor still the go-to test kits (the TFP school article is a little old)? Is one better than the other?
2. Is there a guide for what PSI my clean filters should read at a given RPM?
3. Is there a recommended PSI to have the 360 run correctly?
4. Lastly and most importantly, I have seen what appears to be conflicting information on this... my Intelliclor is always 'on', even when the pump is not. When the pump is off, the flow light comes on the Intelliclor; does that mean it is not producing chlorine? I have read that there is an automatic shut-off when the flow is insufficient (or the water is too cold). Or does it need to be completely shut down when the pump is off?

Thanks in advance. Apologies for all the n00bie questions; I did search before posting

I have built my mason sand base over the past couple of weeks (see attached picture) - is it a problem that the sand has dried out because the pile of sand was sitting around in the California sun for so long before I shoveled it into the frame?
I saw people on YouTube spray sand with water as they were compacting it; is that something I should do before the final leveling/compacting pass?

Hey everyone, redoing my pool and my installer has plumbed it for a pressure cleaner (kreepy krauly thing). I imagine this will work well for leaves and stuff, and I imagine I will appreciate that it automatically cleans everyday, but my real question is about brushing the sides with a robot. I know a robot would be redundant and brushing really isn’t very hard or time consuming, but if I just wanted to throw one in each week to brush the sides and bottom, which robot might you recommend considering that the pressure cleaner already did its job. Thanks!

I am feeling really discouraged and anxious about my ability to figure pool math out. Sorry in advance for the long status report and question! I have a small 10x30 summer waves pool. My thought was to figure this out then next summer upgrade. I'm ready to say heck with it. Everything seems so complicated. I have a TF pro test kit.
Anyway, I put our pool up not entirely prepared. Realized I did not have stabilizer which is coming today (chlorox granual). The water sat for a day, kids played, before I added anything to it. After that I added liquid shock as my chlorine (3oz). Next day did the same, chlorine read 0. Next day I added clorox balance tabs to raise alkalinity and ph. Also added chlorine. Still reads 0. Last night, my pool was 0 chlorine, ph 6.8 and I tried the alkalinity test and it's either 90 or 110 (directions say it should turn red but was light pink at 9, darker pink at 10 drops? Was this correct? Or should I have kept going until dark pink became red? Etc.)
I am hoping chlorine reading 0 is from lack of cya. But how do I add the granual stabilizer now? (It will have to be mixed in a bucket, no skimmer on pool). And then how do I get chlorine up? I'm scared of creating an ammonia storm. Please help.
I asked my husband for help and he thinks if the water is kind of clear, which it is, let kids swim. But I don't want anyone to get sick.

Hi everyone. We have a 15x30 Pool with an automatic pool cover for use in-season. We use a different pool cover once we close for the season. The problem I have is with the current solution to get rain water off the automatic pool cover. We have one of those little giant like sump pump enclosures that sits on the pool cover, connected to a 25ft garden hose that's supposed to drain water out into my yard. It's plugged into a professionally installed electrical outlet with GFI.

When it works.. it works. The problem we run into are any of the following or all together....
1. The pump just doesn't kick in. I'll go out. it'll be sitting in water. Not pumping. I'll pull it out. Turn it over. Water will drain out... I'll turn it back over and put back on the cover. Sometimes it works.. sometimes it doesn't. I'll do it a few times until it works. Or....
2. The GFI needs a reset. I'll reset the GFI... and it'll start pumping. Or....
3. The hose has been thrown back onto the pool deck by someone who mowed the yard. (we have a service) and it'll be kinked up. So I need to straighten it out, and then do #1 and/or #2.

The question I'm posing is.. is there a better solution than a sump pump... or is there something I'm doing wrong that causes it to not work.. Secondary, is there another option than running a hose out into the yard? I don't know what to ask for other than this doesn't seem to be a very reliable and built-in solution relative to everything else. Appreciate any thoughts!

Help! Second year with our pool. Last August the pool turned green and we haven’t been able to get it cleared up. We just got our Taylor test kit and started the SLAM process on Monday night. I have attached a photo of our tests since then.

Obviously we are only a few days in, but chlorine is staying really high. Our home test showed 18.2 FC the morning after we added chlorine, and then 17.5 by the end of that day - not much was consumed. We added another gallon last night for good measure. This morning we tested 22.5 FC at home and were baffled at how high it was so we went and got pool store testing which said it was 14.42. When my husband got back home he retested that same water and it was 17.

Couple questions:
-How do we know our results are accurate? We follow instructions and have watched videos on the testing.
-Why wouldn’t the chlorine drop more on day 1? I’ve heard about people having to add chlorine every few hours to keep it at SLAM levels. How do we know the process is working? The water color hasn’t changed at all. Still green. We vacuumed last night and don’t feel like it did much.

Other info:
-Over the weekend we drained the pool to 1/3 to get CYA down, which it did. We refilled with our well water filtered through an RV filter.
-We had our equipment inspected last year and all checked out. We replaced sand, too.
-We have tried adding Metal Out and floccing the pool with no success. Also lots of backwashing, vacuuming, running pump 24/7, etc.
-We had the store test for phosphate, which was through the roof. But have seen advice that that doesn’t matter as long as you have enough chlorine. Posted those full results, as well.

Any thoughts on our next steps? I feel like we’ve been trying everything.

Due to health reasons the pool was not opened last year. When opened 3 weeks ago I used a deep net and removed what algea I could then started slam FC is at 24 and CYA at 60. The pool is slowly clearing. Chlorine checked 2 times daily now and brushed 2 times .A m I doing something wrong or just impatient on the pool clearing?? suggestions needed

Hello, I’m still a relatively new DIY pool owner (couple of years) and I’ve noticed that my spa always grows algae much earlier than the pool. I decided to test them today and the pool is at the target ppm and the spa is much less.
I have a SWG and I have the spa feed valve set to max and the pool return valve dialed back some (in order to get my spillover to work well). If anything I thought this setting would benefit the spa more but it clearly is not. Pool returns on the floor. Any tips on how to get equal chlorine into the spa with a SWG? Picture attached for reference. Thank you!

I bought a metal frame pool on clearance last year and thanks to helpful input here, i realize i started too late, triple digit in full swing, and storing for next year, will start setting up in May. in May weather permitting.
I got a inflatable ring pool used knowing they don't last too long especially in the high desert. I am doing my best to level the ground, which is not easy in 105-111 temps. It is 12 feet and 3foot deep. Does leveling need to be perfect? Any margin of error?

Hello everyone! I'm from Rochester, IL, just outside of Springfield, the real capital of Illinois. I have a 15x32 above ground pool.

Hello all-

Been through a lot with this pool but this is the first time I've had to deal with the coping. It's definitely old and is something I've thought about replacing before, but this year two sections have pulled up away from the PT lumber frame that they were attached to, and I don't think I can get them back into place securely enough to really call it a fix. Problem is, I'm completely lost as to how I would go about replacing it. This style seems to be very old and most of my searches for aluminum coping show completely different styles, so not much to go on so far. In the pics you can see the coping and then there are a row of pavers next to it, surrounded by poured concrete that also needs to be replaced (lifted up in a lot of sections, trip hazard and rough on the feet). Not sure if there is a way I can remove the existing coping and put something else down, and then put pavers over top of that up to the edge? Open to any and all ideas, thanks!

My 3900 is about 3 years old.. bottom chassis is all scratched up and worn out to a point that there is a big hold and you can see everything inside. it is also leaking water where the water shoots up to the mesh.

Kind of sad to see its in this shape after only 3 years.

- Would you just get a rebuild kit and rebuild it?
- upgrade to a different model like quattro?
- other suggestions?

Please help
How do i override the password protection on the tristar vsp 950 ?

I live in Dallas Texas and I just picked up my Polaris VRX IQ for my pool. Currently it is very hot (104 degrees) in Dallas and I am looking for recommendations and advice where the best place to install the cleaner's caddy and controller? Can I just leave it outside while the cleaner is running? Thanks

Why do swcg shut down around the 60 degree range Why do they care!

We’re having our pool refinished with new tile, coping and gunite. They put in the coping and stone tile around the spa area and when I inspected it all a little closer I discovered chips the size of nickels and dimes in multiple coping tiles. The back side coping tiles have really bad jagged edges as though the blade was dull while cutting those tiles. In addition to broken pieces of the stone tile stuck in place. Plus the coping line inserting to the spa with a cut edge vs angled into the spa. There are a few tiles that don’t line up and are more than 1/8th of inch difference. I’m attaching pictures.

I just need to know if this is typical? I don’t want to be difficult and could understand one or two small chips but there’s over 10 tiles that have chips in them that they tried to fill with grout. See the pictures and please advise.

These small greenish yellow balls sometimes they look like pellets are popping up in my pool consistently. I’ve tried Algicide and shock. My pool water is crystal clear but these small balls keep popping up over night after cleaning it out completely. Any ideas?

In-ground saltwater pool was rocking-and-rolling, clear as a bell, numbers looking good. Then we had a pool party with 40+ folks after which pool looked cloudy, flow light on the chlorinator went red, AND, the pump motor starting intermittent squealing in a way that was very reminiscent of when the bearings went bad in the pump motors on our hot tub. Fearing it would seize up, I ordered a new motor intending to put it in place. While waiting for the motor to arrive, I also opened up the DE cannister and did a super clean on the fins (yuk!), after which, flow light green, pressure < 15 psi, and pool back to crystal clear in < 24 hours . . . AND the pump motor is humming right along with not even a squeak.

Could 40+ bodies in various stages of cleanliness overload the system, i.e., the pump, and now that everything is rocking-and-rolling again, the pump motor is ok? Just trying to discern if I should replace the motor since I have one, or send it back (or try to resell it).

Age? We've lived here six years, and the pool has been here for a long time before that, so no idea how old the motor is.

Thanks!

I was recently asked to look at a pool the forum helped me stabilize years ago.

1. The initial problem of why I was contacted was that there was a suction side air leak whenever the automatic pool vacuum (Barracuda MX-8) was connected to the skimmer. I changed the hoses and still got a leak. Then I tried hooking up 1 hose section at a time (this vacuum uses twist lock hoses). To my surprise, even with just 1 new hose 3 foot hose section fully primed with no air in it connected to the top skimmer, I would still get a large air leak in the pump basket. I would get no air leak when the top skimmer was just functioning as a normal top skimmer basket. Is the additional pressure caused by hooking up the vacuum hose causing the leak to appear?

It was time for a filter cleaning anyway, so I changed the grids and manifold (grids were well worn), changed the standpipe o-ring, changed the large filter o-ring, changed the pump basket o-ring, and tested every joint and plug by pouring running water over it with a hose. I couldn't find the air leak. Now I'm wondering if it's maybe a cracked skimmer pipe that only shows up when a vacuum hose is attached to it and there is additional load placed on the pump system?

I don't know if anyone has experienced anything similar, but any suggestions on where I might be able to trace this leak? I don't like running the pump too long in the air leak state as it will lose prime fairly quickly.

I've done a bucket test, and I don't seem to be losing any water. It just appears to be an air leak.

I resorted to just placing a basket in the top skimmer.

I was in the process of contacting a leak detection company.

2. I went to check the water balance.

The first test I got, the water was clear, but the numbers were way off.

FC 5
CC 0
pH 6.8? (It was below 7)
TA 10!
CH 1875!
CYA 30
Salt 3200
Temp 65
CSI -1.56!

When the forum helped me with this pool years ago, the CH was fairly high, but below 1000. Now it's solidly above 1000.

As far as I know, they were using liquid chlorine to chlorinate the pool. They floated pucks for 2 weeks prior to my arrival when they went on vacation.

From these results, I added about 10 pounds of baking soda with the goal of bringing total alkalinity to 50. For a 22K gallon pool I believe the calculation was for 16 total pounds of baking soda to reach TA 50. I'm glad I didn't do the full amount. I also added about 1/3 gallon of chlorine to try to bring FC to 6.

The second test 2 days later:
FC 7
CC 0
pH 7
TA 75
CH 1750!
CYA 30
Temp 67
CSI -0.18

The problem now is that I've got a cloudy pool. It's blue and I can see to the 3rd step in the shallow end but not the main drain in the deep end. It looks like baking soda hasn't dissolved or I'm getting calcium precipitating out. It appears that I overshot on the TA which makes me wonder if my pool volume calculation was off.

Any way to clear out this cloudiness?

I'm thinking this pool needs to be drained. I've struggled with this decision even years ago. I'm thinking of using an RO filter company. For a 20K gallon pool, they quoted me $1K for the job. I like the fact that most of the water will stay in the pool being that it is the hottest time of the year.

I'm not sure if this is better than just simply draining and refilling it?

3. Questions:

At this point, should I do the leak detection / repair first?

Is it even possible to do a leak detection in a partially clouded pool or should I try to wait and see if I can filter out all the precipitate?

Does anyone have experience with RO pool filtration versus draining/refilling the pool in the middle of July?

Thanks in advance!

This is my first time on a forum so I hope I'm doing this right. If I don't get a response then I'll know I did it wrong. My question is concerning my skimmer. My algae problem is so bad this year that a "normal" vacuuming will not work. I'm having to vacuum to waste. This is the first time I've had to do this. My problem is that water is being sucked out around the vacuum hose where it's connected in the skimmer. The end of my vacuum hose that connects to the skimmer is larger than the skimmer hole so I have to use an adapter to get it to fit. It feels like a good connection but it obviously isn't. Therefore, the water in the skimmer is sucked out which causes a loud sucking sound. My question is will this hurt anything other than having to listen to the noise. I can still vacuum the algae but, of course, the suction isn't 100%. I just want to make sure I won't damage my pump or filter by continuing. Thanks for any input.

One of my 3/4 inch plastic aerators - Pentair 8620150 - broke and instead of getting the exact same cheap plastic version, I was wondering if I should get this brass version. Any thoughts on whether brass could cause issues with my salt water pool? It wouldn't be submerged and and most of the time no water would be in it since they drain out when not in use.


I also wanted to look at options that put more water through, for better cooling. The plastic ones only get like 12gpm for 4 with the filter pressure already at 15psi. I found this fire suppression option. Anybody have experience with that? However, I'm not sure if this will actually spray much at 10-15 psi pressure ... or if it will just gulp the water out without shooting into the air.

And I found this thing with a much bigger diameter hole in the center according to the picture but no specs / data on this.

Any recommendations?

Our pool was opened as usual by our pool company. The water remained cloudy and the pool bottom was never cleaned despite multiple back washes and chemical checks. After a month and a half, we finally opened the DE filter tank and to our surprise found no filter in it. Just water inside the tank. We realized that we had no filtration for all this time and even the DE we added after the backwash ended up in the pool. The pool company had removed our filter and never replace it and didn't tell us about it. We had them come back for a service call to replace a cracked chlorinator, but even then they didn't say anything to us. I am concerned that running a pump almost continuously for 45 days could have caused damage to the pump and the impeller. Is it reasonable to assume that damage has occurred?

Hey all!

So I have a 22k Gallon "bean" shaped pool with a 11" deep Baja shelf and a 17" deep seating ledge across on end of the pool. Its Grey Pebble finish if that matters.

Ive tested the Dolphin E20, and Dolphin Sigma so far.

The E20 did a good job cleaning bottom of floor, but would hardly climb the walls, wouldn't even make it up to Baja shelf, would just stop

The Sigma so far does an amazing job! It drives up and cleans the entire 11" Baja shelf and the seating area which to my surprise I was told these robots "dont do" However the Simga every single run has gotten stuck on my main drains (2) and the filters are a pain to clean.

Ive been in contact with Marina Pools & Margaret which have the best prices but aren't very good at replying. Im stuck between the Active 40 with Caddy $1299, and the Active 60 with Caddy $1599.

Pickup Mode is important to me because I have a bad back and dont like tugging on the cable, but Margaret & Marina claim the Active 40 does not have this, when every other website says it does?

Margaret did recommend the Active 60 as it would do a better job cleaning the shelfs with the Dual Drive, but also told me "not to expect them to clean the shelves much as none do".

My question to the community is which would be a better bargain for my case scenarcio? Does the dual drive and extra motor on the Active 60 make that much of a difference? the bottom looks like my sigma so im concerned it will also get stuck on my drains.

The Active 60 looks taller, will it be able to make it to clean my Baja shelf like the sigma? Or will I have better luck with the Active 40 cleaning my shelf/seating area with its lower profile?

The price difference is $300 which the only major thing I can say for sure sets them apart seems to be the warranty? Please help. Thanks!

Hi.
I have a Pentair 48 FNS plus DE filter and a Pentair Intelliflo pump. After backwashing and refilling my DE I notice the pressure start rising 16- 25 now and the GPM on the pump keeps slowly dropping over the last week.

I would assume I should backwash and refill with less DE. Maybe it's a combination of too much DE and excess dirt on the filters. Chlorine is fine at 5ppm and PH is steady at 7.6-7.8 for a salt water pool.

Just wanted to see if I was off base with next steps. Thanks!

I'm attaching a pic of the part I need to be replaced. It's a wire mesh that's torn. I'm three weeks into adding water to a newly plastered pool. I'm seeing some priming issues. My pool guy took a look and said this may have caused the blockage in the pipes but hasn't given me a final estimate or recommendation.

Any thoughts on what I should check or do next?

I've already cleaned those filters with acid and emptied out the plaster in that mess.

First of all many thanks for all the useful insights in this forum and it has been a great help to me to manage the pool. We have an old pool that in the house we bought and learning how to manage. I am upgrading the pool pump to an energy efficient variable speed and also replacing some of the old diverter valves (broken handles, broken lube, ..). I noticed that inside the 3 port diverter valve there is some plastic hose between the main drain & skimmer -- sort of like prevent using either one exclusively for safety. Wanted to check what this exactly is meant for and if I should use same set-up in my new diverter valve. Please find the pictures where I have high-lighted the part in question. Thanks!