What is the best way to add salt? put it in the pool? or through the skimmer?

So I have an in ground pool and spa with an overflow waterfall. When running the spa, I no longer consistently get bubbles out of the jets. I do not have a blower, just an air pipe. I recall there used to be some suction at the opening of the air pipe, but it is almost undetectable now. Intermittently, I do get some bubbles out of 2 of the jets.

So far, I've tried:

- Checking the air pipe for obstructions, but I have not tried snaking it out. The air pipe opening faces down, so other than maybe spiders, I doubt there's much in the pipe.
- Draining the spa below the level of the jets and filling again. When I do this there are bubbles for a while, but when the water gets high enough, they stop.
- Attaching the output of a wet/dry vacuum to the air pipe. That didn't help although last time I had this problem about a year ago, it did seem to resolve it.

Our spa does not get much use. This is probably the first time I've tried to use it this year. Perhaps lack of use contributes to the problem.

I have no idea what is going wrong or how the air pipe connects to the jets.

Any ideas how to fix this?

If I bought a blower would that fix the problem?

Thanks

- Bill

After hearing from you guys about the endless benefits of SWGs, I decided it was time to get on board: I installed a CircuPool RJ60+ this weekend! My wife jokingly calls TFP “the pool cult” — so I guess this switch was the last inevitable step!

Up until now, I’d been a Stenner guy. For any future readers who are on the fence about that conversion, here were my personal pros and cons:

PRO for SWG:

• Long term savings. You just can’t beat the $/ppm. Just ask @Newdude (proof here)!
• Ease of adjustment. I’d discovered that my daily chlorine needs with the Stenner fluctuated more than I had expected. In practice, I ended up FAS-DPD testing at least every other day -- and making occasional small adjustments to the Stenner output. Though not hard, that involved both changing the settings on my wi-fi switch and then [annoyingly] converting the planned “run time” to fractional gallons of bleach (PoolMath really should do that automatically). I’m hoping that the SWG will give me a “sticker” chlorine level -- regardless of clouds or sun. But regardless, future adjustments are now even easier.
• No more schlepping of bleach (well, at least less schlepping)! Last summer my WalMart ran out... just when I needed to refill the Stenner. With a SWG, I won’t have to worry about monitoring, finding, and hauling fresh bleach. The countless containers in the recycling bin also didn't seem to be so planet friendly.

CON against SWG:

• The water is definitely salty. Sure, sure, the salinity is way less than the ocean — human tears, and all that. But there is no question that I can taste the salt. I’m still waiting on the critical feedback on this from my wife and kids!
• Up front cost. This sucks. But the return on investment is a no-brainer.
• I'm curious to see what happens to my pH trend. Things had finally stabilized this year (I was using way less HCl than last season, probably now that my plaster is fully mature).

The DIY installation went smoothly, except for one hiccup: the two pipes on my pad that I’d eyeballed as parallel were not. So my last two PVC 90s didn’t fit! But once I converted those to four 45s, I got enough play to make the connections (and maybe also reduced the head loss).

I gave myself a “bonus” connection for a Stenner port proximal to the SWG cell -- in case I decide to pump acid in the future. But for now, my existing "bleach Stenner" is still connected distal to the SWG (ready for the cold weather or a SLAM).

For future improvement, I might rethink the power source. For now, my SWG is connected to the "Aux Relay 1” on my Jandy VS pump. That means that I need to run my pump at 1725 RPM or more to keep the relay active and the SWG powered. But that was the easy/safe solution to get started.

Anyway, the “RJ" is running and the hydrogen gas is happily bubbling out of my returns!

"CYA later!"

Sampo

Before vs after pictures below.

So my new pool build is almost complete (here is a pic of the spa just because).

My equipment is roughly 50 feet from the spa - the plumbing for the air blower line is probably 70 feet.

I bought a 2hp blower - my deck goes down this week - I'd rather NOT install a hartford loop if I don't have to (1. I'd have to dig the pipes back up, but main reason is I don't really have a place to 'hide' it)

Will I run into issues if I don't have one? Will a 2hp air blower not be able to push the water back out (should the air line fill with water)?

Greetings folks !!!!

The PoolMath application recently underwent a major update, transitioning from an older mobile development framework to a newer one. This shift was essential due to the discontinuation of support for the previous framework, necessitating a move to a more advanced and supported framework. The update involved significant behind-the-scenes work to convert existing projects and update dependencies, ensuring the application stays up-to-date with the latest standards.

In short, PoolMath will get a new look while functioning mostly the same.

We were able to add descriptions to all the chemicals listed which will help many while learning. For example, that trichlor/pucks add CYA, instead of only selecting trichlor without knowing.

The full rollout is beyond our control and we don't have an ETA. Currently some Android beta testers have been updated (myself included) and the rest will follow at some point.

None of us likes change, so believe me when I say we get it. We appreciate everyone's understanding and patience as we get used to the new look and work out any kinks.

TiA.

I have a 60's room with an old Coke machine, Pin Ball machine, old Juke Box, etc..

Well, unknown to us, the coke machine froze up and this is the result...






What a mess...

Sigh,

Jim R.

Over in this thread Pool Opened: High CyA (147 ppm) and FAC (15 PPM) the OP mentioned using a CYA filter from Leslie's. It was pretty easy to track down and they are kind enough to even include the SDS link on their website


SDS

Their claims don't sound trustworthy, such as claiming it will remove 10 ppm CYA per week and omitting any limit to how much CYA it will remove. I was wondering if some more chemically minded people might want to weigh in on whether there's even the tiniest bit of potential in the polymer listed or if the thing is nothing but an $80 placebo.

Hi just checked my CYA (=30) and was out of the Clorox cya I usually use. It’s typically $20 for this packet at Walmart and I saw it’s about $4 cheaper on Amazon just now so I bought some. I like this because I usually use 1 of the 4lb packets each time I need to raise CYA.

https://a.co/d/9Hadrod

Anyhow just wanted to share in case anyone else uses this one. I’m using the pool for the first time this season today so am pretty excited about the SWG.

Been watching weekly forecast and decided to pull the trigger since many days in 70s in next couple of weeks. Usually I have “clean” water but today had a decent amount of dirt as well as leaves. Otherwise water itself didn’t seem too bad. Weird numbers though as pH was 7.2, FC 0, TA 40. Didn’t check CYA yet because water is still 55 deg. For now just added some liquid chlorine until I see how things settle next day or 2. Then once I’m in the mid 60s I get more tight with numbers.

When you find out you only live 45 minutes from one of the only places that sells granular boric acid, you take a drive!

Roughly two years ago I bought a used but in good condition IPH to manage ph with my IC40. Everything worked well until this year when the IC40 started randomly power cycling, running through the startup procedure then shutting off and starting the same loop. In troubleshooting I noted when the IC40 was disconnected from the iph and run stand-alone it performed flawlessly.

Having read other threads I was familiar with the Iph burned connector issue and decided to open the unit to investigate. When I got the unit disassembled, I noted no burning but some slight corrosion on the pins of the connector where the red leads attached. I cleaned all connections, used deoxit, reassembled and put the unit back into service. It worked fine until two days ago when the same symptoms reappeared.

Upon inspection this time, I noted a slight burning on the pin in the connector that supplies power via the red wire to the ic40. Other than that everything looked fine. Knowing the issue, I called pentair support for giggles and not surprisingly the only answer on their end was to replace the entire board and faceplate. Shocking I know……

Having read other threads where Dirk and ogdento weighed in with a fix and diagrams to bypass the connector with jumper wires I decided I had nothing to lose by employing the likely fix. It worked like a charm and no issues with the unit back in service at this point. Thanks to @Dirk and @ogdento for their disussion and diagrams in other threads that lead me to this fix. I’ll attach some pics of my repair based on their work. Don't flame my electrical work too much

I had a heck of a time finding an alarm people were really happy with here so I figured I'd share our overall very positive experience with SwamCam. Some key takeaways:

• Phenomenal American-based support team that spent a whole lot of time on the phone and via email assisting with install and troubleshooting major to even minor issues. Can't emphasize this one enough.
• Very few false alarms once configured with a customized detection zone that avoids elements that seem to commonly trigger it. They say most pools don't need a customized zone, but ours has too many random things that set it off - so we have yet another subscription, but it is what it is.
• If the custom zone is not carefully set to avoid them, it is also set off by our areca palms, the waterfall, balls left in the pool - even hanging lights against the screen that reflect into the pool at dusk/dawn! We have our zone dialed in to only capture the deck immediately around the pool for these reasons. So its "Human Detection AI" is going to be underwhelming if you're expecting Ring or Nest type performance. Claims like "Featuring advanced child-detection software that alerts you wirelessly as your child is approaching the pool" tended to give me the impression this product was so dialed in that only a small human would trip it. That said, it's better than other pool alternatives I've seen, and I'm sure they have more liability than Ring missing someone walking in the corner, so Swamcam is probably programmed to be overly cautious. There is a sensitivity adjustment that helps, but the only way to almost fully eliminate our problems was a customized detection zone.
• Along with phone alarms, it has an indoor alarm module that screams louder than my upset toddler (and that's saying something). We really like that a lot because it absolutely gets our attention anywhere in the house or outside since the camera goes off too. The voice component of it that says "Swamcam armed/disarmed" is also very (too) loud, but the alarm/voice speakers are separated so a piece of scotch tape over the voice speaker made that an easy fix (thanks to support for the suggestion as it ships without an volume adjustment for certification purposes).
• Comes with a PIN arm/disarm keypad that could be very useful for guests. The keypad can be programmed to auto arm the system after a set time of being disarmed. In other words, if you set it to auto arm after 30 minutes, if you're in the pool for longer than that - it will sound the alarm. It would make more sense to say "auto arm after xx minutes of inactivity." Not sure if there's a liability or technical reason that can't be done, or if it just hasn't been completed yet - but as soon as that is in place, we will ditch my hacked together solution below:

I use SmartLife wifi plugs so that the camera has no power when disarmed because I'm "arming" and "disarming" by just turning on and off a wifi plug. I set up push notification reminders to our phones after either 1 hour or you can snooze it until a particular time of day. So when it's a nice day with the baby at daycare, I can turn it off and it won't start sending me reminders again until 4:30pm. Hopefully SwamCam can integrate some kind of push notification reminders rather than just auto arming after a pre-set time - maybe a push alert 5-15 minutes before it rearms asking if you'd like to snooze for a particular length of time? Since it's in Tasker, I can also arm it from Alexa through AutoVoice, but don't allow disarming for safety. All in all, we ended up not using the keypad whatsoever because I wanted to be able to integrate Tasker reminders. I do keep it there with the PIN visible in case the tablet malfunctions.

Anyway, just wanted to post our experience for anyone searching in the future. With the ubiquitous nature of Ring, this feels like something that should have existed many years ago but it's relatively new. I haven't been thrilled with some of the bugs and quirks to get it to the point of reliability, but support was excellent to get me to that point - and I don't really see any viable competitors that can do all of this, so I do think this is absolutely worthwhile for anyone with young kids. Gives us a lot of peace of mind that it will always go off when we need it to.



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We had a metal tray under the toaster to catch bread crumbs. Turns out this was a bad idea on a stone benchtop - bread crumbs are a lot easier to clean up than rust stains:



But thanks to TFP I knew exactly what to do. Went down the Oxalic Acid route, was easiest to source at the Hardware store. Even though Oxalic Acid is not the preferred option for a pool due to potential formation of Calcium Oxalate scale, for a kitchen benchtop that's not an issue. Turns out that the benchtop manufacturer also recommends Oxalic Acid.

So, one quick Bunnings trip later, the kitchen benchtop looks like new again:



Thank you, TFP!

As you may have seen, I had a mishap this winter. Late February my cover blew open and cover water and leaves got in. I don’t know how much. Fast forward to today, it’s open and green but CLEAR. Im unconcerned about the green and staining. It will clear up with chlorine. The concern I have is the stuff growing on the walls.

Once my pump is running for a couple hours I will test and confirm there’s no ammonia.

added photos

Hello from Southern CA,

We just finished our 18x23 11,500 gallon pool and spa build with plenty of ups and downs and lots more landscaping and decorating to go. Biggest down is probably the discoloration, mass splotch, scale, or whatever it may be in the Stonescapes Mini Black Pebble w/abalone shell finish in the hot tub. PB stated it happens with dark pebble which I’m fine with the natural color variance but this seems overboard and possibly due to lack of balancing regularly. The pics are from day 10 after fill. We brushed the pool as directed and when we mentioned the issue, PB said either an acid bath or drain and acid wash but nothing was set in stone and it was again mentioned that this happens with dark pebble. PB handled chemistry once a week for the first 3 weeks and we were told to check it weekly from there but I have since learned that may not exactly be correct. Aside from the huge discoloration issue in the hot tub, we are loving our pool. I’m trying not to freak out about it and have pretty much accepted the issue but would like to work to prevent further issues.

I checked chemistry levels myself for the first time today and woah, I had no idea I needed to be a chemist. I actually found it a little fun once I got the hang of things. I used the Taylor K-2006 and input the results into Pool Math and I now know that once a week is NOT going to cut it thanks to reading Pool School and various posts as well as learning that even though the PB balanced the pool on Thursday, we jumped in with friends Sunday and found that we have no chlorine today. I’ll be working on balancing tomorrow and am grateful for the app and it’s ease of use after initial hiccups on my end with not knowing what anything meant and what types of chemicals we would be using. Once I figured that out it was an Easy process and so grateful the app gave me the info I need to help balance my pool. I also appreciate the wealth of knowledge this website, including the forums, provides.

My results:
Temp: 75*
FC: 0.0
PH: 8.0
TA: 125
CH: 350
CYA: 25
CSI: 0.59 (potential for scaling) <—— *cries*

I have been doing a lot of reading while I am waiting for my test kit to arrive(which arrives today). I want to make sure I understand that if I need to get my FC level up (balancing it with CYA), the best way is to add liquid chlorine. Having a SWG does not preclude or relieve me of having to occasionally add liquid chlorine, the SWG simply can make me need less because it’s generating some chlorine. Am I correct?

I’m done SLAMing my pool and i have passed every test except for the cloudiness. My sand In my filter is half new and half deep washed. So that shouldn’t be the problem. I just did the overnight test. I had 4 FC last night and this morning I had 3.5. I’ve learned a lot on this forum. (Thank you) but I can’t figure out what next steps to take to clear the water.

I'm new to the forum and wish I found it sooner. I've been searching for drain mod for a Pentair filter housing. So since it's time to clean the filters again, I was able to put together a great drain pipe.

1-1/2 thread to 1-1/4 F
1-1/4 F to M 90D elbow
1-1/4 90D elbow
1-1/2 1/4 turn pipe

I cut half of both sleeves on the 1-1/4F side of the thread and the 1-1/4 sleeve on the 90D elbow so that it made an exact fit below filter housing.
1-1/4 pipe between both 1-1/4 elbows and 1/4 turn pipe are cut 4 inches. I'll connect a 10ft 1-1/2 in pipe from 1/4 turn to drain that's away from house
There's about 4 inch space to work in.

Got started this week on our Soake pool construction. So far hole, trench, and base are complete. The pool is being delivered on Monday and will share updates as we progress.

We chose 13x7 Soake with a black tile and will use same pavers as our current patio.

Well, I just got off the phone with my chemical supply house.
It seems that the 55 gallon drum of 12.5% chlorine that I get every year has gone up in price once again. (I'm not really surprised.)
This year it is running at $248 after tax. I remember (not too long ago) it cost me $150.

For Atlas Industrial ORP sensor they sent me recently: despite their website claiming 3/4 NPT, it is not. The thread is something different. Can’t be certain but I think it is 3/4 BSPT. I bought an adaptor on Amazon $14 and a #14 o-ring from Ace (BSPT uses o-ring for sealing and the gasket supplied with the adaptor is not suitable). Now everything fits perfectly! Don’t know what Atlas’ deal is, I emailed them with no response.

Happy Spring everyone! It’s been unseasonably warm here, meaning my pool water warmed much earlier than expected, leaving me with my first green mess.



Had to add a little water to reach skimmer level.

FC was 0 as expected, CYA still reading 60 from the fall… the water I added may have diluted that a bit, but treating at 60 level until I re-test cya tomorrow.

pH came in between 7-7.2.

2 gallons of 12.5% had me reading 15 after 15 minutes, but gallon 3 then had me overshoot SLAM level at 35. Oh well, we’ve got a strong start.

Now we start the wait, test, add, brush game.

So I am working to get my Pool Factory Hampton Oval pool build done by May so it is warm enough and ready to use in June. I am burying the pool about 12" and then will be building a deck/steps up to the pool on one end and a retaining wall and raised flower beds around part of the pool. I am doing everything myself. I started planning this back in December when the wife wanted a pool for our 3 young girls. We don't have the money to build a fully inground pool (prices have gotten crazy) or even a fiberglass inground pool. Plus a fully inground or permanent pool would require permitting and cause several other access issues in our small backyard.

Started the build by renting a sod cutter and cutting out 3-4" of sod where the pool will be located as well as around the pool where gravel pathways and the french drains will be located.

Happy Spring!

I’m a returning pool owner. I’ll try to make it short and sweet. I just want to make sure I’m on the right track because it’s been about 4 years.

New build in ground pool finished build and closed right away before Thanksgiving.

Before closing a put in enough cya to raise to 17, and some bleach, and said a Hail Mary.

My safety cover wasn’t ready when closing, so sometime in January they swapped the tarp cover with the safety and all the gunk on top of the tarp cover went in (I wasn’t home).

So now I’ve opened early in attempt to get a start on balancing and cleaning and omg I was not expecting this. It looks and smells like the Chesapeake bay. Can’t see the bottom. My pool was PRISTINE at my previous house and I never had to deal with anything like this. I only ever read other people’s stories on here; but at least I feel somewhere prepared because of that.

So the pool is open and running. I backwashed to lower water to where the skimmers are doing something. We had a ton of rain this winter so when I checked water chem, 0 chlorine, and cya so low it appears to be zero. But I know I poured that gallon in before closing so there should be SOME… maybe like 8? Should I guess 8 or assume 0?

I’m typing this in between added liquid cya. Next I’ll check pH, alk, and then raise my chlorine but I’m wondering what cya level to use? I’m pouring in enough to take another 17ppm… so I guess my main question is should I assume 17 or assume 23ish (assuming there is some left from the fall).

Thanks! I’ll post pics. Not much to see though. The liner is almost black and so is the water.

Anyone have any recommendations for garden hoses? Preference for 5/8 or 3/4?

I found the awesome Pool Finish and Color Viewing Room post but not many PolishedScapes photos there. We had gunite done last week and will be going to look at PolishedScapes tomorrow as we need to make a decision (originally planned to go with StoneScapes mini pebble but looking to get a smooth a finish as possible so PB suggested PolishedScapes). I like more of a light aqua hue versus deep blues, and have been looking at PolishedScapes Coral Reef, Sea Glass and Surfside. I really like Sea Glass but not many pics on NPT site and I'm concerned about it skewing too green. If anyone has any of these (or even other) colors--as well as any thoughts on PolishedScapes, I'd appreciate it!

Well, I was randomly surfing on Amazon (yes I have a problem). And I discovered a Betta SE Plus.

It has the missing feature we were all looking for adaptor based charging in addition to solar. Now I just got my Betta 2 back, but had they offered me an upgrade to the plus I probably would have taken it.

COMPLETED: DIY Travertine Pool/Patio/Waterfall Remodel in AZ

Hi, I was a serious lurker on this forum for a couple years…many thanks to posters on this forum and other forums which I referenced for this project. This is a DIY patio/pool remodel that my wife and I undertook a few years ago. We actually finished it almost two years ago July (2014, time flies when you redo your kitchen and have two kids getting married in that period), although finished is a subjective term as there is always more to do. This is late, but I am posting so that others who may attempt something similar might get some inspiration and/or decide to save themselves the trouble…it was a LOT of work.

It started out as a remodel which we got a number of bids for. One of our biggest issues with contracting out the project was that we had to temper our desires with the cost of the project.

What we wanted “minimum”:
1) New travertine patio and pool deck, roughly 900-1000 sq ft (current patio just concrete, existing “cool deck” on pool was flaking and crumbling
2) New waterline tile and pebble type pool surface (current was 20+ year old plaster)
3) Expanded water feature (current “waterfall” not pretty, not in center, old fashioned)

What we “desired”:
1) Expanded patio and pool deck (bigger than the current footprint)
2) New travertine walkway to an outside basement stairwell
3) All patios/walkways/pool deck to be “level”…no steps or ledges at transitions, even to existing sidewalk, patio, basement stairwell
4) Eliminate the dated and boring “ cap tile ” that was a popular Phoenix area Shasta Pools invention built during the 1980s and 1990s
5) Expanded water feature that really makes the pool standout, remote controlled so that it didn’t have to be manually activated and deactivated
6) New Pool equipment
7) A landscaped “look” for the entire backyard that was yet undefined

We got 4 bids on different versions of the “minimum”. They differed in regards to travertine (at least one did not use it), amount of sq feet of patio decking (800-1100), size and type of water feature, differences in pool coping styles to deal with the “ cap tile “ issue mentioned above (we didn’t particularly like any of the solutions proposed). In any case, the bids ranged from $18K to $28K. The only “desired” feature in some of the bids was a slight increases in the deck/patio size.

A couple of the designers told us that it would be cheaper to have someone else do the patio portion, obviously pool contractors specialize in pools. The pool company would simply be hiring a subcontractor for the patio and then add an appropriate markup. We took this to heart and decided to break the project into two parts…patio and pool.

After some research, I decided that we would attempt the patio portion. About six months later, after some more research, I decided we could do the pool portion as well (but not the surfacing). I’ll try to document what we did…we started out gung-ho taking pictures of our progress; unfortunately that didn’t last and so there are some times when progress skips ahead.

Edited: SUMMARY OF COSTS and SNEAK PREVIEW

In some of the later posts in the thread, I have summarized the effort and cost (about $16,500) of this project. Here is a sneak preview.

BEFORE



AFTER



Another View

Just a reminder for opening that if you open based on pool temperature instead of an arbitrary date, you won't open to a swamp. I open when the temp is above 60. It is currently hovering around 50. I figure 2-3 more weeks and I will open.