Heating up out their kiddies. Always be sure and carry a spare. Stay hydrated!

New IntelliCenter for sale in the Coffee Bar Forum...

Jim R.

How clear should my water be? A very common question. Here is mine on a calm morning where I could finally vacuum. Yes I know, I'm still manually vacuuming. It took me 7 years to finally get an SWG, I'm working on a robot. So now let's see your water clarity.

I had to find a solution to these narrow Intex ladders... Short of building one from scratch with PVC, this is what I did. I enjoyed sitting and watching the kids today. Thanks to all for the informative posts!

We had unusually hot weather here in Michigan, so decided to open my pool a week earlier. Glad I did. algae was just starting to grow 4-5 inches from waterline up. Brought up to SLAM chlorine, brushed it and today it is already clear, can see the bottom of the deep end, and it is looking good! Just need to run the robot vacuum a couple of days and sweep up a small amount of dead algae and other dirt that accumulated over the winter.

Once again, the TFP tactics make my pool care so much easier than if I followed traditional methods!

I am done SLAMming my pool...as I do it each year no matter the condition of the pool when I open. I have found one SLAM per year at the start and I really do have a Trouble Free Pool all season! This year the pool was in great shape when the cover came off...a little cloudy and of course I had to drag out some leaves. Everything with the equipment came up nicely...

The SLAM documentation says use liquid chlorine FOR BEST RESULTS...and I have 4 gallons of 7.5%. But I also have 25 one-pound bags of 75% Cal-Hypo. I used 6 bags over two days to finish the SLAM.

What, if any, downside might there be to using Cal-Hypo 73% (other than maybe adding too much Calcium?)

It passed the OCLT last night, as the FC dropped overnight about 1.0 PPM and CC was 0.5 or less. The pool is clear as can be.
Water temp is around 65F

My numbers right now are:
FC 21.5
CC less than 0.5
Ph = 7.2 when I started about 48 hours ago
TA=60
CYA=40
CH=250
Salt = 2900 (I have two more 40-pound bags at the ready)

Next, I will install my IC-40 and take out the "dummy pipe".
And, is there any concern about putting in the IC-40 SWCG with FC at such a high number...should I wait a few days?

Thanks.

I am going to be leaving for a two-week vacation soon and would like some advice on what I should do so that my water chemistry is in good shape when I return. Nobody will be using the pool and the cover will be closed the whole time.

Thanks in advance,

Scott

I've had the TV mount outside for a few months now, but I've finally gotten all the cabling pulled up thru the attic so the patio TV can either be run in "party mode" with the tuner inside pushing audio and video to both TVs (living room and patio), or it can be playing its own thing but still work through the outside speakers. TV speakers are too dinky for any real enjoyment, of course. I pulled HDMI, Cat5, Coax from the aerial, as well as a line for LR audio from the TV and an RCA for the secondary sub output on the tuner inside, if we ever want to add a little thumpiness to the outside speakers. GFCI with weatherproof cover for power, because "Safety First."

Now I need to shop for sun shades to help with the glare... any recommendations welcome. Or is there some kind of anti-glare screen film I can attach to the TV?

We’re ready to go. Thanks to TFP, opened to another super low maintenance season. Cottonwood hasn’t dropped yet so I’ll be doing some extra filter cleaning and vacuuming for a while, but we’re ready to go. Ignore my grass.

...here in CA at least and it's just around the bend.
Pool owners who rely on a "pool service" are walking on the tracks unaware of the impending impact.
Summer is just beginning with fuel prices already around $6/gal, minimum wage ranging from $14-16+, employees scarce with unprecedented high turnover rates, already pool chemical shortages with prices soaring and water restrictions that limit draining/refilling inevitable, the impact will be sudden and severe.

My neighbor stopped by to tell me his pool man is quitting (has quit) because his business model does not work any more for the reasons above and after raising his prices three times in the last 18 months which is making customers, like my neighbor protest.

My neighbor's pool is green/brown already after only two weeks of no service and many years of trichlor and shock. He wanted to know what I was doing.
I started at the test kit and finished with a tour of the SWCG system.
I could see his eyes rolling back into his head despite my assuring him it's not as complicated as it appears. He is scouting out a new pool service already and I let him know what he was up against with the rising prices and rising demand. I also told him that he should expect to drain and refill very soon. I also told him that if he could not get a pool service out in two days to contact me and we will visit Home Depot for some FC until he can develop a plan of attack. Not to worry, I will pull him from the track without damaging our relationship but it is clear he will not invest the time to DIY his pool. Hold on.... my phone's ringing and he's on the line......to be continued....

Pulled the trigger today on a pool package and am thrilled. Had a self installed 24 ft. Doughboy pool many years ago that we did the TFP route. We are 20 years older now and my husband is my kitchen contractor and cabinet builder this summer, so we are having this new pool installed. I have to learn things all over again now! So saltwater systems in an above ground pool are a whole new thing since my last pool. Is it worth it? I can add it, but did not order that today. Wanted to do research first. Some things do not change-such as makes and models of pools might as well be mattresses when you try to compare.

The pool I chose is 18 ft. round, 54” Resin frame with aluminum walls. 25 mil beaded liner, 2 hp pump, some hybrid type of filter that is out of my wheelhouse (had a giant sand filter before), package with all the covers and maintenance stuff, ladder steps that can pull up and lock, install included into a sloped yard. 7100.00 all in. I know I could do steel walls cheaper but prefer the aluminum with resin. Install hopefully May but probably June.

I know this topic has been covered ad nauseam but I would like to relate the details of my CYA experience.

Background:
I have been at this pool chemistry game for five years. I'm certainly no expert but with the help of this forum, I have successfully managed my pool through five seasons with no surprises; that is, until last summer (2021)

Strategy:
Over the years I have found a chemical "sauce" that seems to work well. This recipe keeps the CSI well within the normal range.
CYA - 70 having crept up during the season
FC - 10 10% liquid sodium hypochlorite
PH - 8.0
TA - 50
CH - 500
Temp around 86
Note: For better or worse, I run a fairly high PH with a correspondingly low TA. With the opposite setup (TA 70-90 and lower PH 7.2-7.6) I found myself chasing my tail, adding more sodium bicarb for TA, more acid for PH, more 'bicarb, more acid, etc. . .

Scenario:
Last year mid-summer, with chemicals balanced quite nicely and the water having that certain polished look, I began to notice the CC slowly creeping up. With low bather load, the CC went to 1.6-1.8 despite my persistent use of liquid chlorine approaching shock levels. The pool smelled of chlorine and ammonia. After a period of two-three weeks and much chlorine, the numbers slowly returned to normal. I then tested all chemicals and found the CYA to have fallen from 70 to barely 20. I ran the CYA test again with the same result. I refused to believe the test.

With chlorine levels safe for 70 CYA but dangerously high for 20 CYA, I went swimming and suffered foggy vision for nearly two days. I closed the pool until the excess chlorine burned off and resorted to Tri-Chlor to increase CYA for the remainder of the season.

The pool was surrounded by bare, unlandscaped ground with a recent addition of compost. High summer winds prevailed during this period, with some soil found in the pool.

Opening the pool 2022:
March - April :
CYA <30. Added Tri-Chlor that brought CYA to 45

May:
More windstorms, more soil in the pool.
CYA tested, dropping from 45 to 30ppm. Once again, I have now resorted to tabs until the CYA is within the normal range. (I know I could buy stabilizer, but artificially raising CYA just goes against my grain.)

Question: Could soil that contaminates the pool cause CYA to disappear so rapidly? CYA that disappeared not only last year but this year as well? I mostly understand that certain bacteria under the right conditions change the CYA, but a 40-point drop in CYA in 2-3 weeks is crazy in my mind.

All help is appreciated.

Bud
Sacramento, CA

Hi All,

UK intex owner here! Thought I would do a quick post on my first AGP pool experience and where I've got to so far!

So I purchased a 32x16 ultra xtr off ebay (used)....i have always wanted one and made an offer while on the train home from work!

It was then a case of making a plan for where the pool would go, and the planned sub-base.

Hired/borrowed some plant to get started. Stripped the turf and reduced the ground to the lowest point. Fortunately my back garden is fairly level anyway, so only had a maximum cut of around 150mm (6inches).

When I've had previous paddling pools the problem has always been when you take them up you are left with dead grass. I didn't want this so decided to install artificial grass with a paved border for the legs of the pool to sit on.

Used some dimensions from a thread on TFP, and used 3'x2' slabs 2" thick around the edge for the legs to sit on.

Took a week off work, enlisted the help of some friends and had some fun, this is where I've got to!

My thumb fingers first wrote "sick method"

Anyway. I have an extremely fine hand skimmer. The mesh is setup to collect tiny bugs or other fine particles from the surface.
I've been using this instead of a sock for a while, hanging out in front of my waterfall.
New idea: I have the old Polaris pool cleaner setup. I use it for chemical dispersal. Hmm. Hang the CYA in front of the Polaris water stream. Genius!

It is always nice when you can open your pool in the summer and it's not green. Thanks TFP! Drained part of it before winter got my numbers right, tarped it, and didn't do anything till today.

Looks good and still has decent chemical numbers.

My neighbor has an above ground pool. It used to have a SWG but it stopped working. It was neglected for some time and eventually turned into Shrek's home. He asked me to help, so help I did. It needed to be ready to go by today for his daughters birthday! Without the knowledge from y'all, i wouldn't have been able to help!

Hi everyone,

Pool was opened last weekend to zero CYA. I dropped a couple of pucks of stabilizer in the skimmer ( Stab Tabs ) and after 5 days these things are only half way dissolved. I checked my CYA using my Taylor test kit and I can still see the black dot with the entire narrow tube filled.
I've just heated the pool to take the kids swimming this weekend but it looks like these things will take another week to dissolve. So thoughts on whether I should continue with the tabs or toss them and add some in instant conditioner tonight? My concern is that the pucks have added stabilizer which is not yet showing up on the tests and then adding instant conditioner liquid stabilizer will overshoot my CYA levels!

Thanks in advance!

I just wanted to check in with my favorite pool people and say thank you again for helping me learn how to take care of my pool after my husband died. It’s now been just over 5 years and I’m still doing the chemistry myself. I do still hire out equipment work including filter cleans.

My pool has a leaf cover on it starting in the fall and it comes off in the spring. I had last checked my chemistry 3.5 weeks ago and kept the cover on. I get kind of lax when the cover is on though…

This past Monday I remembered I needed to check the pool and when I flipped over the cover edge I could see a horror show - green, slimy water. Took off the cover and got to work. Backwashed the filter which helped a lot plus added lots of liquid chlorine, brushed and brushed, scooped out twigs and seeds that got in when I took the cover off, cleaned out the pool vac several times. Added a bag of salt, added CYA. Kept at it every day and it looked a little better each day.

Finally as of this morning the water is looking pretty good! Didn’t need to add chlorine and I have a filter clean scheduled for Monday - the soonest I could get on their schedule.

I am going out of town tomorrow for the weekend and it’s a huge relief to have made good progress with the pool before I leave. And it’s all thanks to TFP!

If you’re new, just keep asking questions, do what the experts here recommend, and I promise if I can do this, you can do this! I also highly recommend the TFP app - it’s worth way more than they charge for the subscription.

P.S. Also attached pics - one from Monday and one from this morning.

I have a very difficult time reading my CYA due to my poor vision. I thought I would take (2) water samples to (2) different places and take an average of the (2). Well, once the (2) varied so greatly, I stopped home and refilled the bottles and went to (2) additional pool stores. The picture is a breakdown of how different results can be when you take your pool water to the store to get tested. Just thought I’d share…

I am 5% done with opening the pool and wishing I hired someone else to do it... When I'm done I'm sure I'll feel proud of myself Last week the weather was 40-50s and now it's 68 and feeling balmy. While my two year old napped today, I went to the basement to just look at the pool stuff. Next thing you know, I'm rewatching YouTube videos on how to use that bar tool thingy to get the straps off the anchors. In about 30 minutes I got the cover off but it was not EASY. If I were stronger or had a second set of hands, it would have made all of the difference. But I did it! The hardest part was getting the cover out of the pool at the end. I initially tried to fold the cover in a z pattern, but that fell apart when one of the sides starting falling back towards the water, etc... Right now the cover is in an embarrassing heap at the end of the pool. My pool water is at the top of the pavers.

So I know I have to clean the cover off and fold it, but I'm probably not doing that until this weekend, when I can get my husband to give me a hand. I found the three eye things that go on the returns. I'll go back to Snoobug and Casey's posts about their openings to study up on what is next. For now, here are some pre-opening shots



and where I'm at now...

As some of you may know, my pool has been quite problematic with metal staining for many years. For the past 3 years I had been using Metal Magic to control the metal staining but lately, I've been having to use about 2 quarts of Metal Magic a week and have been having problems with chlorine demand, phosphates off the chart (over 4000 ppb) and the water not being as clear as I prefer. I know the consensus here is that phosphates are not a problem with sufficient chlorine but I've decided to do an ascorbic acid treatment followed by replacing as close to 100% of my water as i can to start new. I'm also going to try to not use my SWG and manually dose with liquid chlorine for the rest of this season.

Since I have a vinyl liner, I thought I'd try the tarp method (sump pump in deep end dumping out old water, tarp on pool surface, fill water on top of tarp).

My pool is 16x36 to bottom step (16x39 to top step) so I got the biggest tarp I could find at Harbor Freight (29ftx50ft). It won't be big enough to get to the bottom of my pool but it should get to around 1.5-2 feet from the bottom of the deep end.

In preparation, I removed ladder, hand rail and diving board.

Wish me luck!

Had to open tonight, mesh safety cover had to be off before they come. Only had help tonight. Lots of refinishing pics coming! TFP open! Little bit of haze is from a quick brush.

Learn some obsolete technology: Inadvertently dump loads of chemicals into your pool that almost certainly won't help.



Pool store and goofy DIY websites: Old and Busted.

TFP Protocol: New Hotness!

We fixed up the muddy pool equipment area over the weekend and added a cabinet to store everything. Super happy to have everything organized and pretty, but is it okay to store chemicals in there all the time? Or the test kit? Right now it seems fine and I can’t imagine cold would be a big issue in Texas, but when it gets super hot out is it better to store them inside?

you're paying more attention to the pool going in during a scene. I tried to take some screen shots to show the rebar and gunite but Netflix wouldn't let me. Ever since starting my pool journey, I love looking at and critiquing pools on tv/movies

I know you would all appreciate (ok, maybe not appreciate...but laugh) at this. When we built the pool almost 3 years ago, I wanted flower pots by the ends. My husband had a fit, saying the dogs would knock them in (we own a doggie daycare and boarding biz in our home, so there are a lot of dogs here). Because I am hard headed, I did it anyway. I cemented the bottom of the pots to make them heavier. And for 3 summers, they did great.

And then....and then we got a 1 yr old GSP
It wouldn't have been bad if I didn't try to lift the root ball. As soon as I touched it, POOF. I shut the filter off and let Fred (the robot) work for a few hours. With lots of robot filter cleaning, and lots of skimmer hairnet cleaning, it was back to normal by the next day. But man, it sure did look awful!

As Pentair IntellipH (IpH) automatic acid dosing system owners know, the IpH depends on a Pentair IntellliChlor (IC) saltwater chlorine generator. The IpH uses the IC's power supply, and monitors its flow switch, so that it won't dispense acid if the IC is reporting low flow. Unfortunately, it also monitors the IC's water temperature reading, and won't dispense acid if the IC is reporting cold water. Not sure why Pentair chose this limitation, but I didn't like it. It's bad enough I lose my SWG in the winter, not cool that I lose my IpH, too. So I developed a little circuit that circumvents this issue. It's not really a hack, in that I didn't alter any software or firmware, I just modified the way the IpH and IC are wired together.

Basically I'm using a switch that bypasses the IpH controller and connects the IpH pump motor directly to the IC's power supply, via an EasyTouch relay for scheduling. Simple enough, but, of course, I never do anything nice... and easy. First step was accessing the IC's power supply.

I was cursed with an EasyTouch PSL4 (ET), which along with other limitations, didn't house an IC transformer or any circuit breakers. My IC Power Center was in a separate, external box, bolted to the wall next to my ET. That always bugged me, so I fixed that too. I disassembled the Power Center and moved its guts into my ET. I'll spare you all the details of that, but I can share if someone wants to know how that's done. It ended up looking like so. This is the inside of my ET, and that's the Power Center transformer with its little circuit board mounted above it.



BTW, in addition to selling me the wrong ET, you get a glimpse of the fine wiring job that was done by my nincompoop pool guy. I digress. The connector you see hanging off the Power Center's circuit board was cut off and relocated in the bottom of the ET raceway, where it would be had the ET come this way. Just a matter of extending the wires.



I ended up later moving the Power Center's circuit board elsewhere, up by the ET mother board. I debated whether is should be in the high voltage area, or the low voltage area. I moved it mostly for the convenience of wiring.

Next step was to mount the other components I needed. The IC's Power Center outputs DC, but the spec's say "22-39VDC." The IpH pump gets 24VDC. The pump might be OK with 22-39V, depending on how close to 24V that means, but I didn't want to risk that, so I found a circuit on Amazon that solves for that. It's called a Buck Converter, and it accepts DC and regulates it to a selectable voltage. It can also regulate the amps, but I didn't utilize that part of the circuit. I also installed a volt/amp display, so I could monitor both, which made adjusting the Buck Converter very easy. I also needed a relay for a flow switch, more on that later. I mounted all that in the low-voltage area of the ET, just behind the motherboard. Like so (also shown is the location I settled on for the Power Center's circuit board):



The Power Center is still wired to the ET's "Pool" circuit, so theoretically the rewired IpH pump won't run unless the filter pump is on and running. But I like the added safety feature of the IpH monitoring the IC's flow switch, so I had to recreate that because with my IpH and IC in winter mode, that feature no longer exists. I installed a flow switch in my plumbing. Luckily I had just barely enough room. But the flow switch wires we're of a very small gauge, so I used a relay to solve for that. The current that the IpH pump motor draws runs through the relay. The current that runs through the flow switch and its wimpy wire is only what is required to close that relay.


I found a good spot for the flow switch, just in front of the IpH injector, and protected from anything that might snag its small wire.

Then I had to find a spot for the "IpH Winter Switch" (see above for the backside view). I needed a 4PDT switch (four-pole, double-throw), that was heavy duty and that could handle the current. It was kinda a honker. I thought about mounting it in the bottom of the ET, but that would have meant low voltage DC wiring in the high-voltage AC area of the ET, plus there are twelve wires involved, going back and forth between the switch and all those components in the low-voltage area. I didn't like that idea, and while I was loathe to punch through my ET's faceplate, that's what I ended up doing. I had to file down the switch handle, to clear the ET's door!



I chose that spot because of what was behind it, but also because it didn't look too bad. Unfortunately, I later upgraded my ET motherboard to an ET8, and replaced the faceplate. Not so OK-looking anymore. Oh well.



Lastly, I wired everything up, held my breath, turned it on and... it worked (for a while anyway, more on that in post #3 below). The next post goes into the details of the actual wiring, but the abridged version is the switch has three-positions:

In the middle position, power is disconnected from both the IC and the IpH, and the IpH pump motor is disconnected completely. It's like a stand-by mode, or "everything off" mode.

In the right position, the IpH and IC are connected to the IC Power Center and function normally together, as originally designed. This is the "Normal Mode" position.

In the left position, or "Winter Mode," power is disconnected from the IC and the IpH, and the IpH pump cable is re-routed. In Winter mode, the pump motor is connected to the Buck Converter through both the flow switch relay and one of my ET relays. The pump motor gets 24VDC only when three things are true: the Pool circuit is on, the ET's Aux 2 feature circuit is on (which closes the ET relay) and the flow switch is closed. I just schedule the Aux 2 feature circuit within my Pool circuit schedule, for the desired duration, and the IpH pump runs (1 minute minimum or longer, in 1 minute increments). This ran all winter with no issues and my pH stayed right where I want it without me having to manually pour acid. Nice.

The only safety feature missing from what the IpH normally provides, is the dispensing limit. In normal mode, the IpH will only dispense a limited amount of acid each hour. I don't know the exact amount, but it's like a few ounces (it's in the IpH manual somewhere). In my Winter mode, there is no limit. It'll pump whatever the ET schedule dictates. Potentially, the ET schedule could malfunction and empty the entire contents of the IpH into the pool. To be fair, theoretically, the IpH could also malfunction in that same way. Either way, it wouldn't be catastrophic for my pool. At most my IpH holds 2 gallons of 31% Muriatic acid, and of course it's not always full. Sometimes it's only a quart, or less. But even worse case, two gallons will only crash the pH for a short while, without causing any damage to the pool. Now folks that have built similar acid dispensing systems using Stenner pumps with 15+ gallon tanks are asking for trouble. Two gallons of acid poses no real threat.

Additionally, because Winter Mode disconnects power from both the IpH and the IC, I no longer have to do that physically. I used to pull the fuse from the Power Center so that the two weren't powered on for nothing all winter. Now that happens with the flip of the switch.

I could have simplified all this and just eliminated the IpH controller all together. Acid injection would occur all year long using just the ET relay and ET scheduling. No switch needed. But I like the fact that the IpH with its controller dispenses a small amount of acid hourly, all day long, and turns off the IC while it's injecting. To recreate all that, I'd need more ET scheduling slots than are available. I really like the way the IpH and IC work together most of the time, I just wanted the IpH to work in the winter, too.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the ladies of TFP! Hope you have a great day.

Best,
tstex

Hi I have been taking care of my pool now for ~2 months. After doing the SLAM process since my pool guy screwed up things have been well. I use 1 gallon of 10% chlorine every 4 days. so I use ~8 bottles per month and at $4 a pop its about $32 per month on chlorine.

I know the tablets add stabilizer, right now my CYA is at 70. if I do a half drain of my pool (maybe it will cost ~$100-150 in water) to refill it. The tablets cost ~$70 for 35lbs at my lowes. I think one tablet lasts ~1 week in my pool so this will last me for 1 yr. This would mean i spend only $70/yr on chlorine tablets vs. $360 on liquid chlorine. Its much easier and I can drain the pool once the CYA builds up again.

Any problems in my reasoning? Also how much does one 3" tablet increase CYA by? Thanks for the help.

I have looked at almost every aqua blue, blue granite, and blue surf pool color available on TFP. Leaning towards Blue Surf...Any new builds with these pebble sheen colors? =)

I am looking for a color similar to this...