I thought this might be of interest to some people -- I have a Pentair CCP420 filter on a concrete pad with the pumps, and opening the drain makes a big mess everywhere, so I wanted the ability to connect a hose to a better location when cleaning the filter or draining excess water from the pool. Other threads showed this for filters with horizontal drain ports, but the CCP series has the drain plug vertically in a recess under the filter, so putting fittings on is not as simple.

After browsing the local ACE PVC fitting aisle, I came up with:

- 1.5” -> 3/4" reducer
- 3/4" street elbow (male on one end, female on the other)
- 3/4" short nipple
- 3/4" ball valve
- Hose adapter (3/4" male pipe thread on one end, male hose thread on the other, plastic)

By reducing to 3/4" I was able to screw the reducer in, then the elbow into that with plenty of clearance before adding the rest. I used teflon tape on all of the male threads, and it doesn’t appear to be leaking at all.

Obviously this won’t drain as fast as a 1.5” pipe would, but it’s a clear 3/4" path and seems to work fine. It will vary with your pool size, pump speed and plumbing, but I can drain an inch of water in about 20 minutes, so I just set an alarm on my phone or watch to come back and close it up. It’s probably better to have a somewhat restricted flow to keep enough pressure in the filter that air doesn't enter the system.

Pictures:

So I am new to pool ownership, but I'll try to provide accurate details...

About a month after purchasing a home with inground pool here in Houston, the pool light went out. I am fairly handy, so I read up a little then 'dove in'. The fixture came out easily enough and I noticed that it was 1/3 full with water...a leak I assume in the seal. Upon disassembling the light fixture (Amerlite SAM changing color light), I see the resin in the back of the lamp is broken. Before I buy a new light fixture, I want to pull the cord out to measure the length I'll need on the new light. I tied a string to one end, clipped the old cable at the lamp fixture, removed the wire nuts and the j-box for that light and pulled. No luck...not an inch. I am able to slide a fish wire from the j-box end for about 40 feet. From the pool side, I reached in the wet niche and inserted the fish...it only slid in about 4-6 inches.

SO...what could be stopping the fish wire? I would think that's probably the location of the cable being stuck but not sure. I haven't drained the pool to be able to clearly look in there and I'd rather not. I can't find good data on wet niches...is there typically a wire clamp on the back side of the niche? It's a Pentair wet niche(metal).

Other info: I felt a rubbery substance that the cable goes through in the back of the niche...it came out of the hole in the niche easily. Feels like it was some kind of seal or plug, but I assume the conduit is supposed to take on water?

Second question, there was crumbling substance around the niche ground wire (inside the niche). Does that matter? Do I need to replace whatever was applied over the ground wire/screw? And if so, is there anything that works while there's water in there?

Thanks! I'm about at wits end on this silly cable and just need someone with experience to share what they know or have seen!

I have an Intex CS8111 SWG that's been running great for years, but this year after about 3 weeks of running fine, the service light came on and the pump shut down. Cycling the power caused the pump to turn on and the 'Working' light to illuminate, but after about 1 minute, it would shut down and the service light would come back on. Manual says that means the input voltage is low. I confirmed that I have 121 VAC at the outlet, so the house voltage isn't the problem. I can run the unit in FP mode, so I added some liquid chlorine to the pool so it wouldn't turn green while I figured this out.

I have an old CS8111 that has a bad transformer, so I have parts that I can swap. I swapped the electrolytic cell, but same issue. Just to verify the cell was good, while the pump was running in FP mode, I connected by car battery charger to the posts on the cell. The plates started producing chlorine bubbles immediately, so the cell is good. With the unit put back in order, I checked the voltage to the cell from the controller and measured 9.4 VDC. I'm not sure why 9.4 VDC won't generate chlorine, but it won't.

I opened up the control unit and hot-wired the cell directly to the 12 VDC screws on the board essentially bypassing the board. Same problem. Turns out this was a waste of time, but it eliminated the control board as a potential cause, so it couldn't be solder joints, blown fuses, or other board issues. Next I swapped the rectifier with the one from my old unit and measured the DC output to be 13.4 VDC. I put everything back in order, and it worked. Nice bubbles coming off the plates as before.


So the Intex manual is somewhat correct. The board was correctly sensing low voltage, but rather than the cause being the household voltage, it was low voltage after the transformer and the rectifier. Fortunately, I had a rectifier on-hand from my old unit, but if this is your problem, you can buy a new one on Amazon for about $5.

I saw lots of great fixes for problems with these SWGs, but none of the symptoms were quite like mine, so I hope this helps the next guy.

Finally got over the angst and anxiety of "Will I be happy with the pool finish I chose." Am very pleased with the Stonescape mini pebble in a modified Tropics Blue. My PB omitted from the formula, the tri color bag mix consisting of blue, red and green pebbles. That left the black, white, yellow/gold and abalone shells as the main mix. He then added 20% (ie 2 bags per batch) of the jewelscape glass, consisting of the three glass colors, dark blue, light blue and white. I also had him hand cast some abalone during the final application. The added glass was a fairly pricey upgrade at $800, but worth it IMO.

Total for the upgraded finish, waterline tile and really nice looking glass tile step trim came to about $9500 for this 13k, pool spa combo, with about 105 perimeter feet for pool and spa combined.

Water color is great. Actually looks bluer than my camera phone could capture. And up close, the finish looks just as I had hoped. Had plenty of anxiety about the shallow areas (spa and baja shelf) looking to drab of a grey. Not so. Lot of texture and sparkle that doesn't show in the pictures.

Here are some pics, taken around 2:00 pm with fall shadows putting a lot of the pool in the the shade:











Also installed the Bulbwizard LED that you can get at Amazon for $169 (screw in replacement type):

Just in case you were doubting the strength/danger of your acid . Picked up a resupply of acid from Home Depot. I think the boxes got rained on because all the boxes were crumbled and most of the jugs were stand alone zip tied together to sell as packs. Picked the 4 best looking jugs and home we went. Set them in my “storage” area out of sun in between a storage chest and closet shed. Came home today and noticed some discoloration on the cement in storage area. Got closer and saw one of the jugs had leaked about a quarter out. Had an old pool brush sitting next to the jugs. Below is the result.

my friend just bought a house with a salt water pool. Has a ton of algae when opening. His pool guy told him to only use vinegar and salt. Have you ever heard of this and does it work?

Has any information or reviews been posted anywhere regarding the Polaris Freedom cordless cleaner? It's quite pricey, but I was curious to know if it was worth the added expense?

I currently have a Aiper Seagull Pro and am mixed on whether or not to keep it based upon it's performance thus far. I have a few weeks to decide and noticed the Polaris Freedom pop-up in a Leslie's promotional email.

I haven't seen any real prices or dates for the Dolphin Liberty cordless cleaners as well. I'm leaning towards a bigger manufacturer at the moment.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Hi y'all,

Just wanted to say hi and introduce myself.

Installing a used pool this weekend so I thought I'd start a thread so you can all live in my agony too.
So, I'm one of those (not so bright) people who would rather buy something like this used and put sweat equity into it. I've done it with a few Hot Tubs (including my current one) and a pool or two over the years.

I started my search MONTHS ago, found one in Indiana (I'm up near the Illinois/Wisconsin boarder) looked great, settled on a price and a day to take it down.
That day came and I made the 3 hour drive, started to take the pool down, cut the liner out and what do you think I saw? Yup, rust everywhere. There was zero rust on the outside of the pool but it was just too much rust to move on. So, made the three hour trek home with an empty rented trailer.

About a month ago I saw one for sale in the middle of Michigan, It was already taken down, and while older, very well maintained. Come to find out he has all the original paperwork on the pool. It's a Embassy Riviera.
So, I rent another trailer and head out to the middle of nowheresville Michigan.

We get there and I hold my breath as he opens the garage door.......

It's nearly perfect. Couple of tiny dents in a couple of uprights and some holes in a couple of the top rails (he had a cover reel) and of course the paint is faded. But everything is there and everything is in amazing condition for a pool that was made in 2004! Load it up, give the guy 300 bucks and I'm on my way back home.
In the next month or two while the weather is still wintery, I ordered gaskets, some misc. parts and a liner. I also sanded and painted everything, with the exception of the wall (I'll have to do that once it's up.)

Little backstory, our house originally had a AGP but for whatever reason the previous owner took it down. I foolishly figured, "Hey no big deal, just cut the sod off and start leveling." LOL boy, was I wrong.

I cut the sod out and start digging.... OMFG...... No.... No..... No.... UGH...
I guess the last pool was burred 18", so when they removed it they filled the hole with rocks and clay.
At this point I wanted to throw the towel in on this project, but.... family.

The place where the pool is going, there is no real way to get any machinery back there without totally ripping up most of the yard. So I start with a shovel and a wheelbarrow.
Luckily for me, we got a 18' pool so I didn't have to manually dig a 30' hole. Yeah, I'm not going to sugar coat it.... it sucked, it really, really sucked. After hours and hours and hours of digging (and one prescription of steroids for my back that I threw out). I'm at virgin soil, leveled and going to start sinking bricks tonight. Pool should be up by Sunday, if I and my back live that long.


Wish me luck! I'll update with pics.

I've had my pool 40 years and I haven't done this before, but during a SLAM, I was a little careless in pouring in 10% liquid chlorine and splashed some on my hand and failed to wash it off. I thought I'd share what has happened, so you'd know what to expect in case it ever happens to you.

Obviously, you don't want this to happen to you. Maybe I'll make it a habit to always dip my hands in the pool after applying chemicals. I probably won't start wearing gloves.

As always, I was kneeling down on the pool deck to pour a half gallon out of a 1 gallon jug. Above the return inlet in the deep end, I reach out about 18" to pour it. Normally, I let the gallon jug down into the water so the lip of the jug to the surface is maybe one inch or less. Very little chance of splash back. The pool water supports the gallon jug so it is very little weight.

I don't recall exactly why it happened. Probably it was a full jug and I didn't let the jug down into the water as far as normal before I tipped it to pour. What I do remember is that when it happened a blop of water splashed up and hit the back of my hand. My reaction was a mild "Oops". I finished pouring in the chlorine (slowly, probably a couple of minutes). Then I capped the jug and dipped it in the water to rinse it.

I had forgotten about the Oops. There was no burn or pain of any kind.

An hour or two later, I noticed I was scratching the back of my right hand. I looked but couldn't see any sign of a mosquito or flea bite. No, I hadn't gotten into poison oak or ivy. I couldn't figure it out but it was so minor that I didn't think about it much. There was no obvious mark on my hand, and I had totally forgotten about my Oops.

The next morning (12 hours later), that area was still itching and I still didn't understand why. Still not a real concern. Maybe it was beginning to show something, but I figured that was due to my scratching.

It wasn't until the afternoon (18 hours or so) that I started to get concerned and tried to think what it could be. That's when I remembered my Oops. I recognized that I most likely failed to dip my hands in the pool to wash it off as soon as I got done pouring the chlorine.

By that evening (24 hours), the back of my hand was getting a bit puffy but not seriously. The next morning (36 hours), the puffiness was growing across the back of my hand. I tried some out-of-date Cortaid we had but it didn't seem to help. At the urging of my wife and daughter, I put some freshly cut aloe leaves across the back of my hand and strapped them on with some flexible wrap and tape around my hand.

That evening (45 hours) the swelling was to the point of stretching the skin a bit (the back of my hand has pretty loose skin, and that looseness was now taken up). Still not too bad, but beginning to hurt just a little. I was glad we had the bandage on so the swelling didn't stretch too much. It did spread a little, to the base of my thumb and down toward the crease at my wrist. I did take some ibuprofen for inflammation. But by about 50 hours, it seemed the swelling was starting to lessen.

The next morning (60 hours), I took the wrapping and aloe off. The swelling was mostly gone. The skin is not damaged (no blisters). I have a dime-sized red area with a couple of small other red spots.

Yeah, dumb mistake. I don't expect to do it again. But, thankfully, damage has been minimal.

Just had my Jandy Laars replaced which worked great for 15 years until LCD display went out. Had a new RayPak installed all went fine we ran the heater for about 30 mins produced heat, no noises. Went to fire it up last week and within about a minute it was haunted harmonic sounds. Ive gone through everything that Ive researched. Have great water flow have back washed cleaned filters. Yes variable speed but running it at full. 1 3/4 HP 1.5" PVC. I had the installer come out we looked at universal governor and did temp test and it moved. The gasket was twisted so got it back on square with plumbers silicone. It may have improved slightly but had him order new UVG and gasket just to be sure. When my gas line was being tested prior to install they said I had very good high PSI and could run a bunch of these units. As part of my diagnostics I went to the manual shut off on gas line and slowly turned it down to a point the noise went away, still producing heat (not sure if enough) did not get any flame errors or anything on LCD to say there was an issue. The second thing I tried was to go to one of my fill lines to the pool and slowly shut the valve and that also worked but I could hear my pump straining.
So I'm wondering when I replace the UVG and does not improve would you then take a manometer the the regulator to double check that PSI is in range. Im very confident its not a pump flow issue. The interesting thing is it ran great its first 30 mins of life then week later this started. The noise is not soft and loud and annoying. I understand it comes from steam being generated in the copper coils and not enough water feeding the rate its burning. Needless to say we are not using the heater just to be safe that I don't cause further problems. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!

My pool is 20x40 I will measure depth this weekend. I have been Taking care of my pool since I purchased this house 3 years ago. I want to move away from 3” chlorine Pucks to stop the CYA from building up causing me to regularly dumping water and refilling.

From what I’ve read that means purchasing and installing a salt water generator. I know the gallonage of the pool dictates the size of the generator. I’d like to over size it so I won’t have to add much if any liquid chlorine.

1. Can someone who I happy with theirs please tell me what brown they have ?

2. Separate from the swg can I monitor and adjust chlorine levels on the swg by my phone ? That would be helpful as I am not Living full time at the house.

Also what else (besides salt) do I need to get to convert a chlorine pool to a salt water pool.

Earlier this year I bought a Black & Decker 3HP VSP on poolpartstogo.com and have just finished its integration with the pool.



The pump is quiet and energy efficient. Here are some numbers:

2200 RPM (priming only) - 2.2A, 530W
1800 RPM (cleaning and/or intensive skimming) - 1.3A, 310W
1600 RPM (normal speed for chlorinating, 80% of running time) - 1A, 240W

Compare these numbers to my previous single-speed Jandy PHPM1.0, running always at 3450 RPM and consuming 1600 watts! When B+D is not running, its VSD drive draws 100mA, which is about 24W.

The controller is pretty simple. It runs node-red flows on Raspberry Pi with two Sequent Microsystems HATs: Building Automation and Eight Relays. High-power devices (Circupool RJ-60 SWCG and Polaris PB4-60 pump) are switched with Omron G7 relays installed in a separate relay box. Low-power contacts, such as for controlling B+D pump, are switched directly by the Eight Relays HAT.



An important part of the controller is the current transducer Senva C-2344. I have set it to 30A range and wired inside the electrical subpanel with 3 wraps of one of the lines off 20A 2-pole GFCI breaker feeding the B+D pump, so the transducer converts 0 - 10A current to 0 - 10V voltage, which is passed to one of 0 - 10V inputs (analog to digital converters) of the Building Automation HAT.

The transducer is pretty precise, with the output very close to the one derived from the B+D display by dividing power by 240V (or whatever voltage one has between the two lines ). The output from the transducer is used by the node-red flows to provide a safety mechanism preventing SWCG and Polaris booster pump from running when B+D pump is not running at appropriate speed. Here is a screenshot of the dashboard's Pool Status panel (the water temperature 10k sensor is not inserted into the pipe yet, it shows the air temperature):



Now a couple of notes on the B+D automation panel. The original panel is swapped with the automation one, which allows for 1) BAU programming of speeds 2) remote selection of one of the three preset speeds. The programming of speeds is easy: set mode to manual, press speed1 button and set it to a desired value, press speed2 and set the value, and so on. The speeds programmed this way are remembered after power disconnect. The speeds can be modified when the panel is in manual mode, but only if the pump is not currently running. (BTW, the manual mode is the only valid mode with the automation panel.)

One more thing, which is not mentioned in the automation manual.



The priorities of inputs in the above diagram, from the highest to the lowest, are: IN1, IN2, IN3. This allows for multiple speeds to be scheduled at the same time, the highest priority input being effectively selected. To lower the number of entries in the schedule, we can superimpose higher priority speeds on top of the lower ones, like in the schedule below:



Controller features:
[EDITED 9/30/2023]

• VSP scheduling at three preconfigured speeds, with one-click schedule disabling/enabling:
  • priming (Speed1 = 2200 rpm)
  • cleaning (Speed2 = 1800 rpm)
  • chlorinating (Speed3 = 1600 rpm)
• SWCG scheduling, with one-click schedule disabling/enabling.
• Polaris pump scheduling, with one-click schedule disabling/enabling.
• Allowing the user to manually start/stop the VSP (for any of the preconfigured speeds), Polaris pump and SWCG.
• Monitoring the VSP speed with a current transducer.
• Preventing the user and the scheduler from starting the Polaris pump when the VSP current transducer doesn't report Speed2.
• Automatic stopping of the Polaris pump if the VSP current transducer stops reporting Speed2.
• Preventing the user and the scheduler from starting SWCG if the VSP current transducer doesn't report any speed (reports just a 140mA standby current).
• Automatic stopping of SWCG when the VSP current transducer stops reporting any speed (reports just a 140mA standby current).
• Measuring pool water temperature.
• Measuring enclosure temperature.
• On-off controlling, with temperature hysteresis, of the enclosure fan.
• Charting temperatures of water, controller enclosure and Raspberry Pi CPU for the last 12 hours.
• Sending an email alarm when the VSP current exceeds expected values, indicating, for example, an obstruction in water flow.
• Sending an email alarm when the VSP current is close to 0, which may indicate a tripped circuit breaker.
• Sending "alarm cleared" email when the VSP current returns to normal levels.
• Secure, password protected and TLS-encrypted Internet-wide UI.

A link to this project's public repository on github:
[GitHub - hexabc/pool-ctrl: Raspberry Pi / node-red based pool controller]

Hello! We have a fairly new 20x40 in-ground vinyl pool, approximately 30,000 gallons; it was installed/opened last May. We started out using Baquacil. We didn't have any problems with it, but as you all know, it is very expensive. We decided to convert it to chlorine this season. We opened the pool in mid March and our local pool store began the conversion process for us when they opened it so I don't know what that entailed. They had me adding 2 lbs of non-chlorine shock weekly in addition to chlorine pucks in the skimmer for a few weeks. In mid April, they told us to change the sand in the filter and start adding chlorine shock to the pool. When I put the chlorine shock in the pool, the water would turn green. After about 24 hours it would clear up. About two weeks ago, I added the weekly shock and the water turned green and cloudy. After several days it had not cleared up; the pool shop told me to add clarifier to it, so I did. After about 2 days, the water finally cleared, but it wasn't crystal clear like it was before. I took a water sample to the pool shop the day after the water cleared and the chlorine level was low, everything else was balanced, so they told me to add 2 more pounds of shock. At that point I decided to switch to liquid shock because I was having trouble getting the powder shock to completely dissolve. Dumped the two gallons of liquid shock in the pool, it turned green again. It took about a day and a half for it to clear up, but it wasn't crystal clear. Took another water sample, again, chlorine was still low, everything else was good. Added 3 gallons of shock yesterday evening (from what I read, I should use one gallon per 10,000 gallons) and the water is still green this morning. I have backwashed the filter 2-4 times during this process. I am concerned about the water staying green for 1-2 days. Is that normal when you convert from Baquacil to chlorine? How long will it keep doing that? Am I not doing something that I should be? Any assistance would be appreciated.

I have had a 16' round Intex above ground pool for a few years and have spent a lot of time and frustration keeping the inflatable ring inflated. This has caused multiple instances of thousands of gallons of water flooding my yard when the ring got too low on air. It also caused my skimmer to regularly suck air when the ring go too low and the mounting bracket didn't stay in place. I've tried many tips mentioned on this forum and elsewhere for finding and fixing leaks with some success, but recently I found what I consider to be the 2-part fix to end all fixing, and it was also cheaper and easier than everything else I have tried or read about. I am posting it here so it will be easy for others to find:

This is a 2 part idea to solve 2 time consuming issues with the ring, so let me list them separately. If you don't have large leaks or sunburned ring, skip to part 2.

PART1: Fix large leaks in the ring that don't stay patched in the sun. I had a large (1/2" slit) leak in the ring that patched fine with the vinyl path kit until the sun came out, at which point the patch got gooey and leaked. I found that if you patch it in the evening when it is cool, and then spray the patched area with white rubber leak seal spray:
Rust-Oleum 267970 12-Ounce Leak Seal Flexible Rubber Sealant, White

Rust-Oleum 265494 12-Ounce Leak Seal Flexible Rubber Sealant, Black - Flex Seal - Amazon.com

it keeps the patch cool and prevents it from leaking. It also provides another layer of sealing in case there is a small leak in the patched area. This can also seal small leaks on the top if you can't find exactly where they are, but if you do part 2 of this solution, you won't care about small leaks.

I also highly recommend spraying this on any sunburned areas of the ring. I live in the Mojave desert, so we have intense sun that turned the ring black on the top. This is where the 1/2" crack formed. Spraying the burnt area with the white rubber sealant prevents it from getting further damaged and seals any small leaks. You do need to mask a bit around it to leave a clean line if you care how it looks. Also shield the water with cardboard to prevent overspray getting in the water. The skimmer can handle any little bit that still gets on the surface. There is a brush on leak seal, but it doesn't come in white, so it would seal leaks, but wouldn't work to keep a patch cool for large holes.

PART 2: Fixing small leaks WITHOUT HAVING TO FIND AND FIX THE LEAKS!!!!!! (This is the one that I think will save many people a ton of work)

Don't waste time with soap, saran wrap, stethescopes, or even making your pool look white trash with PVC pipes and noodles propping up the ring, or even doing surgery to insert objects inside the ring to keep it boyant. Here is the only fix you will ever need:

1) 1 rubber stopper #3 size with 1 hole ($2 if you can find just one at a local hardware store, otherwise $10 for many at amazon)
GSC International RS-S-1H-2H-1LB Stoppers Rubber, Assorted Solid, 1, and 2 Hole, 1 lb., Pack of 38: Amazon.com: Industrial Scientific

2) any aquarium air pump and some tubing (~$10)
Amazon.com : Tetra 77851 Whisper Air Pump, 10-Gallon : Aquarium Air Pumps : Pet Supplies
Amazon.com : PENN PLAX Standard Airline Tubing Air Pump Accessories, 25-Feet : Aquarium Air Pump Accessories : Pet Supplies

3) a right angle drip tubing flag connector to connect the tubing to the rubber stopper ($2)
Amazon.com : Raindrip 122010A 10-Count 2 GPH Flag Drippers : Hose Drip Systems : Patio, Lawn Garden

Now just remove the plug from the ring and replace it with the rubber stopper. Then insert the flag dripper into the stopper and connect the tubing so that it hangs straight down and runs to the air pump. Just leave the pump running 24/7 and let it keep the ring perfectly inflated without fixing your leaks! It costs about $0.005 per day to operate, and the pump has such low pressure that it will never overinflate the ring. It will just fill it up until it is full and keep it there as long as it is plugged in. Some larger pumps may be too strong, in which case you may want to add a tee and drip valve to allow some to escape, but the small pump I had lying around worked perfectly without anything like that. There are also adjustable pumps that would allow you to dial in the firmness of your ring, but that is probably overkill. Also, you might want to replace most of the aquarium tubing with drip tubing to prevent it from rotting in the sun, but you will want to use a drip connector to transition back to the softer tubing for connection to the pump. I also loosely covered the air pump in some aluminum foil to keep it from getting damaged in the sun, since it is outside near the pool. I already have power running to my filter and chlorinator, so I plugged the air pump into the same cord.

I have had this in place for a few weeks now and it has kept the ring perfectly inflated. No more fluctuation with heat either (it used to be tight in the sun and droopy at night after cooling down). The best part is, I still have small leaks that I never fixed, and I just don't care anymore! I don't even care if I get more small leaks in the future, because I already know I won't have to spend one second of my time finding it or patching it. The pool also looks and functions exactly as it did when it was new (except for the white rubber coated part from part 1 above), since the ring is still tight with air, and not saggy with random objects stuffed inside, or flopped over a bunch of pool noodles propping it up.

I hope this helps other people to never spend another minute fixing leaks in their inflatable ring! Feel free to comment if anything is not clear or you have questions on how to make this work.

I just got off the phone with my pool builder about starting on my remodel. They want to come by to sign the contract tomorrow, but I told them I'd never gotten an estimate for a waterfall/waterslide combo, made of concrete, like I'd discussed with the owner of the company. I asked if she had any ballpark estimate on what it would cost, and she told me they START at about $30,000 to build!! That seems really high, and frankly kind of absurd. Does anyone else have experience with costs for having a waterfall built?

I'd really like to know, before I sign the contract, if it's unreasonable for me to be shocked by that kind of price. I told her to forget about it if that's the price range, but if it's more reasonable in reality, I still want to consider it.

Hi guys. A popular tree/shrub in the Houston area--popular with landscapers anyway--is the Wax Myrtle. I even had one draw a plan and plant four in my backyard in anticipation of a pool. He said they are evergreen and provide very good privacy. The privacy thing is mostly true, assuming regular professional pruning, however, one must understand evergreen does not mean no leaves in the pool. We also have Eagleston Hollies, which are evergreen. They drop maybe ten leaves a year. Wax Myrtle sheds its little skinny leaves 12 months a year. In a pool, they float around then cling to the sides, so even one of those solar skimmer things can't get them. Then they sink to the bottom where their airfoil shape strives to prevent scooping with a rake net. If you don't use skimmer socks, a fair number will drift in and sneak through the basket and right to the pump basket.

So there it is...my warning. Wax Myrtle within 10-15 feet of your pool will not make you happy.

Hello all, I need some serious help. I am currently tilling up leveling and compacting my yard to put up our 18×48 coleman vista series 2 pool. We don't want to go the sand route under it because our backyard isn't very easily accessible with a wheelbarrow. We were hoping to go with insulation foam but not sure which one. We don't have the owens corning available in our area so we can't use that. I'm hoping to spend the least amount with a good profit. I was hoping to do at least a 1in foam. Please help sos lol

Hi!
I believe I am very close to being done with my SLAM, but my pool is still lacking clarity/sparkle.

I have all my logs from the pool math app but I’m not sure how to upload them.

I have a 20x40 in ground vinyl liner pool with an 8ft deep end. 33,000 gallons. I have a sand filter that only has the slide up to run it or push it down to backwash it (no rinse, waste,etc). This is just what the pool guy installed I didn’t request this but he said it would do the job. (I think he lacked confidence in my skills as a single mom!)

Anyway, I’ve read in some other posts about adding DE to the sand filter to get the super fine particles. I’ve never used this and don’t know where to buy it or how to put it in. Is this something I should try? I love having sparkling balanced water !!

Opened the cover to this, not too bad. Dusty/Dirty. We can handle this.



After a lot of vacuuming and scrubbing.





Liquid Chlorine added. Let it run 24H before sample.



Balanced pH, and topped off chlorine. But my TA is high due to Fill Water. Drop pH to 7.0



And, time to aerate.




Thanks for all the information on the forum. My very first opening ever was simple! Appreciate you all.

18’ above ground round pool…water is foamy and cloudy…we have broadcast Flocuant and no change…
Pump is running weall…

Please help..Thank you

If you're CH is elevated and you want to do something about it for free, this is a good weekend to do it. Heavy rains in the forecast. Lower your water level a bit and let the sky fill it up for free. Do it now while you can because soon we will hit the dry season and drought.

Keep in mind that with water exchange you will lose some CYA and salt if that applies to you, but those can easily be added later.

With the influx of springtime new members rolling in, oddly, I found myself astounded at the number of members that have been Pool Stored. I don't know why it struck me this year, after helping so many that have been pool stored in the past, and even having the username PoolStored, but nonetheless, I'm astounded.

Why don't you share your "I knew I was Pool Stored when..." story so members can see we've all been there? I'll go first.

New pool owner during winter (came with the house). Pool Store told me that the UV system needed to be replaced, $1000 ("it will sanitize your pool"). What did I know? (Hint: NaDa). Sure, replace it! They opened the pool, fired up the puck chlorinator, and replaced the UV. I followed their instructions on adding pucks...two weeks later pool turned green. Daily 45 minute trips to the Pool Store (over 10 days) with water samples that turned into daily $50 purchases...clarifiers, algaecides, shock, phosphate removers. At one point I finally realized they had given me the same water results, but a different chemical set. #PoolStored.

TFP and @mknauss saved my pool, and a bunch of $$ over the years. Knock wood, no second SLAMs in my pool.

Share your PoolStored story and who here helped you save your pool, and join #TeamPoolStored, where "The first step is admitting the Pool Store is the problem," and the second step is "Get a good test kit."

If you found value from TFP, please consider becomming a supporter. We are entirely member supported and a non-profit...and no advertising!

I've been putting off cleaning my filter since opening. I cleared an algae bloom at opening. Last week or so, my SWG wasn't as full as it should have been. I turned the heat on and had the pool covered last week. A couple days ago I noticed the clarity was off. I swam for an hour. Covered it n went to bed. Today I uncovered a cloudy pool. So I ran full test results and cleaned the filter.

pH 7.5
TA 80
FC 0
CH 150
CYA 0
SALT 2700

Have no idea where my CYA went? Had 40ppm end of April n added 2 more lbs. It's registering 0 today. I added 4 gallons of old liquid which brought me up to 6ppm today. I would rather use it than dump it. I'm going to throw another bag of salt in and order fresh reagents. The kit was inside all winter. I'm thinking I didn't have enough flow through the swg due to the dirty filter and with the water being warmer it was the perfect storm
to create an early Bloom that I caught. I've got CYA in a sock now. I'm going to check my FC to see if it's increasing here in a bit.

Hey Pool people! I see lots of action on the board with the springtime coming way early this year.

Some of you know last year we installed a 21’ round pool and it was quite the journey.

The good news is we got our certificate and all is well with the town!

in Nj we had a couple of 80 degree days but mostly in 60s with nights in 40s now. I popped open the cover today to take a peak and get some samples.


Current status:

-Cover on and super dry. I’ve been pumping the water off the top regularly.
-water level seems good thank god!
-water temp just below 60*
-water looks clear! I can see the bottom easily. Thanks to TFP closing process

Test results

FC 8.5
CC .5
PH 7.6
CYA 30 I think ( at first quick glance it was 40 buy I looked more and added more water so I’m calling it 30)
TA 70

I tested FC twice and got 8.5 twice. I closed at slam levels.

So my questions to the experts:

Should I fill and hook up the pump now? I’m so tempted to pull the cover as it dry and will be easy but I knot the ornamental cherry in my neighbors yard will be dumping more stuff in the next few weeks so not sure.

so open yes or know or can I wait one more week?

If I should Open should I with or without cover?

We’re also getting rain tonight around 8pm and it’s supposed to be heavy ish.

Here’s my local forecast:


Thanks all!
-John

I'm not seeing any out there with great reviews. Does the product not exist?

Hello! Our new build is underway. The permits took forever, really just a month but when you're excited patience is in short supply lol, and we began on Thursday! We have sunny dry weather ahead for the next 10 days so I'm very excited to watch the progress continue. My husband and I had a good laugh this morning, because we originally considered doing this ourselves, but after watching how much progress was made in 2 days we agreed it would've taken us at least 3-4 months with our schedules. Makes the money spent well worth it!
*Apologies for photo quality, I tried!*

So thanks to Kim, Jimmy and others for feedback in the final planning stages.
Will use this thread to post progress and for progress questions.

I recently had someone come out and take measurements for a loop loc cover for my in-ground pool, and am a bit flabbergasted by the estimate. $10,782 to install a pool cover. I know this is a quality cover, but it seems high. My pool is rather large (1581 square feet according to the guy who took the measurements). He said due to the pool size I was being charged a commercial rate. Does this sound right? I've reached out to several different companies and these are the only people that actually got back to me so I have no other price points to compare to.

This is a follow up after 3 months of use. I thought I started a thread on this, but I can only find a few postings I mentioned this bot. They sell this through Target, and 3 months ago it was under $500, quite a bargain. I throw this in the pool when I see debris on the bottom (once or twice a week). No fancy wifi or programs, just one 3 hour cycle. Worst thing that happens in my pool is acorns. Attached is today's collection. This Aquabot got every one!

If you've had the Aquabot 4WD, you'll be much happier with this one. It's almost identical, but improved filters (old ones are useable), and swivel cable! The swivel works very well. It may tangles a bit while running, but as you pull it out, it untangles. Filters are slightly harder to clean since it's cloth like (needles stick), but an extra couple minutes of hosing off, gets it all (including silt). Climbs walls much better than the 4WD.

My 4WD is still going after 9 years, if this lasts half as long I'll be happy. Will use it as spare parts should I need to.

Got a call for interest in a SWCG install. Ok, address please. Guy has 25-30k pool but the mechanicals blew me away.