Have a Mastertemp 250 that I don't have a lot of history on (came with the house we moved into last August, wasn't hooked up). Heater was setup for propane and we finally got a large propane tank setup last week. Went to fire it for the first time yesterday and the heater kicks in fine, runs for a few seconds (maybe a minute), and then as soon as the fuel ignites a high pitched squeal/whine begins. The noise is pretty disorienting so it's a little hard to pinpoint where but it seems like the exhaust or gas valve as best as I can tell. The water does heat noticeably, I can feel the outlet lines getting warm and my wife said she could feel the warm water in the pool.

Things I've tried so far:
1. Remove thermal regulator - no change in sound.

2. Adjusted flow on the pump, up and down - no change in sound

3. Checked the pressure on the front side, where the propane comes in - getting static 10 inches WC which is, as I understand, within range. Expected to and still got the noise while testing. I don't have access to a differential manometer at the moment to check backside but I'm working on it.

4. Removed the union where the orifice lies and double checked the orifice was seated correctly and is smaller than the NG orifice. Check and check but still squealing on next fire.

At this point, the ONLY way that I've been able to even dampen the noise a little is by placing my hand over top of the intake. I don't fully block the intake, only cover it enough to reduce the air flow into the system and then the scream/whine disappears.

I'm guessing this is an issue with pressure in the gas valve but I'm wondering if anyone has experienced something similar or if anyone has any idea of other debugging tools to try. Thanks in advance!

This is crazy being so far downwind. It smells like it's a few houses over.

So I had a half used old bag of DE I took out of the storage bin yesterday to charge the filter and just as I cleared the bin the bottom of the sack let go. I had probably 25 lbs of DE on the ground in a pile so I scooped up what I needed for the filter, leaving quite a good pile still on the ground. So what's the best way to get rid of it? Scoop up some more to use, or discard, and then just wash the rest into the yard? I don't know if there are toxicity issues here. Thanks....on my way to the store to buy a plastic bin for the next bag.

Can the internals of these three way valves be changed? I am masking because the way this is set up currently I can not isolate the water feature at the sun deck and just send the return to the pool return jets. I would like to isolate the water feature so I can get more flow at the jets where I have spray nozzles installed to cool the pool. Thank you for the help. I am just finding out about this site and really appreciate all the available info. Really wish I would have found the site a long time ago.

Hi! My pool heater started leaking underneath. I hired a local pro from yelp to install a bypass valve for my heater I'm not prepared to buy a new heater right now and he say it "wasn't worth" fixing. Instead, without asking, he cut out all the plumbing to my heater and took it with him in his truck when I wasn't looking, flexed apart the remaining short pipes and glued in two plastic connectors (see before and after photos). Is this done correctly? Now I can't install a new heater because he took my plumbing. He said he cut out my plumbing because my pipes are "warped" so his connectors don't fit. He said I need all new plumbing from my salt cell and to my filter due to "warped pipes" so he can install a connector to bypass the heater. I can't run my filter. Thoughts?

I have a customer with a Pentair 920 Prowler. It is about 6 years old. It does not work (powers on, moves a few feet, shuts off) Where can this unit be shipped for repairs?

I live in Connecticut and have a 24ft round agp that is entirely (except for like 1 foot for about 1/3rd of it) above ground. Not buried more than the minimum required for most of the circumference.

Is it reasonable/practical to heat it, or would i just be heating the outdoor air around the pool?

If it isn't a losing battle to heat it, what are folks' opinions on electric heat pumps? I'm thinking of getting one to take advantage of the solar panels I'm looking to put in (and want to account for it in our solar plans).

Thanks!

I installed a peristaltic pump and the injection bill/check valve (Stenner) into my return plumbing. It is a cheaper pump and it is temporally attached to a 12v transformer plugged into a 120 type a outlet attached to my panel. I will make it more permanent and probably move up from a $15 pump down the road a bit as well as add it to a relay in the Easytouch (or just hardware the existing timer)

Currently I'm running full strength, 31.45 MA at a low flow rate of 30ml/m @ 17 minutes to get me to 18 oz I want per day trying to maintain a 7.8 PH. That's based on my average daily additions lately (doing well after some minor volume tweaks). Question - I have read in a few threads of people diluting the acid (I've seen 50/50, and 4:1) and running the pump longer to get the appropriate dose. Is there any benefit to diluting or reason to change from full strength, other than maybe a weaker solution being a bit easier on the tubing and the diluted off-gassing? I realize a dose is a dose as long as it is getting into the pool.

I haven't quite worked out the final design for storage yet but have a few ideas. right now, I've got a hole drilled in the 1gal jug with the tub stuffed in there. The injection Tee is currently after the SWCG but when I put in my last diverter valve next, I will move it to just before the unit to let that MA clean the plates. until then this is more POC

Thinking ahead to winter closing. Being in Minn., freeze protection of the pipes is important.

With my old sand filter and multiport, I could hook a compressor up to the lower pump drain hole, set to "recirc", and pressurize the whole system. Thereby blowing out the skimmers, jets, and main drain. I used to set the compressor to 60-80 lbs at the compressor, assuming that as the air left the 1/2" hose, there was a big pressure drop as it expanded into the rest of the 1 1/2" or 2" plumbing. And quickly dropping further as it blew the water out of whichever line was currently open. It's a smallish 8 gal tank compressor, so not a lot of air volume available. May have to do each line a couple of times individually to push most of the water out. And then I pour in a couple gallons of antifreeze in each line. The main drain took the most pressure and time before I would turn the valve and air lock it.

Now with the new filter, there is no "recirc" setting. Either the filter is "on line" or I can use the new 2 way valve to pump to waste. The filter manual has warnings about air compressed in the filter causing (explosive) failure of the housing.

I would take out the carts, and fully drain the filter first. But would I be at risk of damaging it (or me, with shrapnel)? Are there alternatives to getting the water out of the plumbing?

Hi,

I have a GRE FS500 pump+filter installed on my pool. In the last two years the pump started to fail to start. This year, before I open the pool, I replaced the bearings and sealings of the pump and now it is quiter and runs smooth however it keeps failing to start. When I opened the motor to change the bearings and sealings I noticed that there was water inside the motor and one of the bearings have a lot of rust. I think the motor windings may be affected by the water and are requiring more power to run.

I'll try to contact a local store to know how it would cost to rewinding the motor but If I need to replace the pump should I replace with another one from GRE or there are better brands without increasing the price too much like astrapool?

Thank you

Very nice to be here! I’m from St. Louis, MO. Built a pool in 2016 and am still learning as I go! Tons of help here. Would a small leak at the top of the multi port valve cause my pool to need re-primed in the morning?

Hello,

Recently switched to salt system (Pentair IC60; 30,200 gal pool) after almost 20 yrs of standard chlorine process. Trying to get the pool dialed in and could use some help. Will search for a few answers first but no doubt will post looking for opinions. Will provide all the pool details at that time.

Thx in advance!

Hi there,

Long time reader but first time poster. Sorry for the long preamble, question is at the end…

We just had our 20’ x 40’ in-ground vinyl liner pool refurbished by (what I thought was) one of the more reputable companies in our area (Ottawa Ontario Canada). New liner, new lines, new skimmer, new returns, pool lights added, new deck, the works.

Last year, before the refurbishment, I replaced an old single speed pump and sand filter with the 3H Pentair variable speed pump and the big (520) cartridge filter. We kept the older but still working well Pentair MasterTemp 250 heater. The system ran great. The skimmer collected lots of debris daily, the water was clear and no issues with pool chemistry, consistent and I think relatively low chlorine use (we use liquid chlorine), strong water pressure from the returns, no issues at all.

The liner was old and faded and the backyard was getting a landscaping makeover so refurbishing the pool was a no brainer.

Unfortunately the pool company did a terrible job with the entire project. The coping track isn’t flush with the top of the pool wall in several spots and some rocks under the liner, but more to the point for this thread is that during the re-plumbing they installed the check valve at the pool heater outlet backwards ie after the heater the water had nowhere to go.

The setup is pretty straightforward - skimmer to pump with 2” flex hose, then 2” schedule 40 from the pump to filter inlet, 2” flex from filter outlet to heater inlet, check valve (installed backwards) at heater outlet, then 1-1/2” flex to T-fitting, then 1-1/2” flex to the two returns.

When the system was started the first time, the pump went through the priming phase at 3000 rpm, filled the filter (air pressure gauge was open), and held for a few seconds before the connection at the filter inlet blew apart.

On the second attempt the system went through the primming phase and filled the filter but started leaking badly at the same filter inlet. A few attempts at (over) tightening the joint at the filter inlet did not resolve the leak. At this point the pool ”pro“ started to blame the fitting before disassembling the joint only to discover that he had forgotten the o-ring. Once the o-ring was installed the system was again started and again the same joint at the filter inlet blew apart after a few seconds.

On the third attempt after gluing a new fitting the system was again started and this time held for a bit longer - long enough for me to check that no water was coming from one of the returns - before the pump was shut off. It was getting late in the evening and I then started to ask some basic troubleshooting questions before the pool guy realized that he had in-fact installed the check valve at the heater outlet backwards.

So my question is, how likely was any of the equipment damaged from being pressurized from this dead-head situation? Fortunately none of the buried pipes would have been affected, but I’m concerned about the filter, the heater, pump, the check-valve, and also the pump itself.

Thanks in advance,

My name is Chris. I work for a company based out of Ohio. I handle all the automation and low voltage wiring. This place has helped me with quite a few issues that even Hayward has not caught onto yet. One of the main reasons I have joined is to share my knowledge of Omni issues with communicating with heaters . This has been the worst part. Everything else has been smooth.

New member here just saying hi. I should have joined here years ago.

Would a small air leak on my multiport valve cause my pool basket to drain and have to be re-primed at start up?

Our pool builder just dropped a bomb on us and told us that our shallow end can’t be deeper than 3’ due to the construction requirements. This was news to us and feels like it came out of left field since we had consistently told him we were still deciding what depths we wanted. When we asked for 4’ in the shallow, he said “we can try to get creative but deeper than 3’ in the shallow end is hard in a vinyl pool.”

Is this accurate?! This has us really spinning. 3’ is way too shallow.

I have most of the line of Hayward heaters figured out on how to communicate with the OmniPl. I can get this one to heat but getting the cooling functionality to work is another thing. The firmware is up to date. The only issue is there is only 1 com line terminal. Not separate terminals for heating and cooling. Is it just not compatible with automation?

Hello everyone. Been reading threads from time to time and got lots of useful info but finally joined because I have a question I needed some clarity on.

I was trying to figure out why my pentair challenger pump wasn’t working. I figured out it was a capacitor. Got it changed but I had separated the housing and pump in my process to figure out the issue. Was leaking when I put back together so I got a new housing oring. Even after new oring still drips at bottom and I have tried to reseat it so many times. Have a buddy (works on pools for a living) that’s going to come by in the next week to take a look.
And now when the pump turns off prime is lost and won’t come back when pump turns back on unless I add water to pump basket.

I changed out lid basket oring but hasn’t fixed issue. I am assuming the drip leak between housing and pump is why water leaves pump basket but wanted to get a sure answer that can cause the issue and isn’t something else. Assuming that’s been the only change I have to think that’s the issue.

Hello!! My water looks and tests out very good. Actually got a 100% at my last water test at Leslie’s. For about a year now, I get white flakes shooting out of my return about once or twice a day. Almost looks like it’s snowing in my pool. Any idea on what causes this? I installed a new salt cell at the beginning of this summer as well.

Should my pool be draining if my selector on sand filter is on closed but the drain on pump has a hose connected to it(not capped off)?

On my multy port valve, the valve stem on the Key/Stem is broken, which means I do not lift the key off the gasket when changing positions.
My pool service store do not repair the valve, in fact the suggested replacing the entire filter unit at +/- U$3000 equivalent. I would like i simpler repair, ie changing the valve head assembly or key/stem assembly.
The problem is, I don't know which model valve (belive it is Hayward) and cannot locate a product number.
Any suggestion on how to resolve my problem, would be greatly appreciated.
I have attached pictures of the MPV as installed.

Hey everyone,

I’m facing an issue with my Intellichlor60 salt water generator for my pool, and I’m hoping to get some guidance from the community. Here’s the problem:

I’ve noticed that both the cell light or/cold water light and the booster light, don’t turn on. After examining the connections, I noticed that two of them appear to be burnt. Now, I’m unsure about the necessary steps to resolve this issue. Do I need to change the SCG board, replace the cable, or just the connector?

I would greatly appreciate any insights or experiences you have had with similar situations. I have attached some photos as well

So, for The last month I have been troubleshooting on my salt sytem. System is saying low salt, despite having the appropriate amount of salt per manufacture. I have cleaned the cell with acid and other troubleshooting methods.
Currently the salt cell is not producing any chlorine despite my salt levels being at the recommended 3800 ppm. The system is a Jacuzzi J-SS40 Salt system And it is only 2 years old.
It is no longer being made and the contact number connects me to a Leslie‘s pool supply. The current price to replace just the salt cell itself is $600 on the Leslie website.
I can get a whole new salt system from my local pool store installed for about $2500 with a warrantee and service protection. Currently trying to decide what would be my best option. Do you guys have any’s in solutions? Currently I was thinking about just treating it like an old fashion chlorine pool for the rest of the summer and just getting the new system installed this fall/winter. I am just afraid to spend $600 and still have problems with this cell/system, which isn’t even being made or serviced anymore.
How would I go about transitioning to an old-school chlorine type system until next spring.
Any solutions and advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've seen this question asked before but not about this pump and no definitive answer.

I was wondering if this pump loses prime, will it eventually shut off to prevent damage.

The manual says this under Priming Features - Loss Of Prime :

Notice it doesn't say anything about what happens if it can't ever prime.

But then it says under Priming Features - Max Priming Duration:

"Restart the pump" implies that the pump has shut down. But again nowhere does it state explicitly that if the pump loses prime and cannot regain it after the set time, the pump will shut down and you will have to fix the problem and restart it. That phrase might mean if it can't prime you need to shut off the pump yourself, clear the obstruction and restart the pump.

The reason I ask is I'm having to install a Paramount MV Fuse which is a Safety Vacuum Relief System on my debris canister to make the pool VGB compliant.
Since I have in-floor jets that cause the pressure to fluctuate when it moves between zones, I worry that it will trigger the SVRS which in turn opens the canister to air.
If this happens while I'm away I don't want the pump running dry until I discover the problem.

I have an indoor vinyl lined steel walled in-ground pool that has not had water in it for 15 years. I am finally going to fix it and I want to add a couple of lights to it. I also want to use the strategically placed niches as points to access plumbing behind the steel wall. What 10" or 5" niches can be installed in an existing pool wall?

We have a intex 1500 pump/sandfilter.. it only works in neutral neutral position. We've changed the sand this year and that didn't help. The pump is 1 season old. We recently changed to filter balls.. still no improvement. Our pool is only a 10x16x3.5... the filter has been disassembled and cleaned twice this year and new O rings installed. Does anyone have any idea what the problem would be? Thank you...

Model PF-20-2122M

The motor is siezed.

What would be a comparable replacement ? If we can’t figure out how to get it running again.


Am I just looking for comparable specs regarding the pump?

Hey all- I am getting water leaking out from my pump basket lid and am also getting an unusual amount of air in my returns (there’s also a good amount of air bubbles in all returns on start up). I replaced the lid with all new parts including o-ring and silicone lube but that did not fix it. Any ideas what could be causing it and how to fix? Not sure if the pump lid and air bubbles are related bc I am also seeing some air in the suction side check valve just before the pump.

Hello everyone, first off this forum is a massive resource of information. I was hoping one of the vets here can help me down the right path.

Here is where I am at. Advanced in technical-inclination (at least I think so)

Natural Gas Jandy JXi 200n, about 6 years old now. I bought the house last year it performed flawlessly all year. This year would not turn on, gave me check ignition steps fault. As a newb with pool equipment I started with the ignitor, found the porcelain was cracked and it tested as open circuit. Replaced that, and still nothing (I handled it very carefully and did not touch the element with my fingers).

Noticed the power distribution board has burn marks on the "chip" in the middle and the socket. I made a wiring diagram for 220v and just soldered jumpers on the board in the same fashion as the chip (used 12awg, which is even bigger than that is in the unit), still nothing.

Started reading just about everything here and continued on....

Now I run through the entirety of the troubleshooting steps in the Jandy graphic, all sensors test 24v to ground, 24v is being supplied to the W terminal on the Fenwal. I check F2 and theres nothing. F1 has 110v, F2 nothing. Fenwal is displaying airflow fault. The blower has not kicked on one time during this entire process.

I jump f1 and f2 to test the blower, it powers up great and runs fine. I check for 24v on both sides of the pressure switch and the normally open contacts are closing fine. When I run the unit with the blower jumped I never get any heat out of the exhaust.

I feel the unit is not igniting. Both of my gas shutoffs are open.

What is the next troubleshooting step? Could my ignitor still be bad (yes) and I'm not getting ignition? How can I verify the gas valve is opening?