My family move into this house last year April. Although it is not on our wishlist, but there is an inground pool in backyard. In last summer, we use tons of pucks to keep water in blue. To be honest, I still thought it is made by cal-hypo until I found this forum two weeks ago. Yes may be you guessed I'm not a English native speaker so that I can not recognize the words on the ingredients list. Just stupidly brought it from Costco's shelf to home because puck is the product which contain highest chlorine I can found in wholesale. Things are getting worse day by days. We ended up with a green pool and give it up.
Luckly I found TPF when I searched what is Trichloro-s-triazinetrione. I was shock and realized I mess up the water in my pool. After I read the SLAM in TPF, I realized I had found a treasure! I believe this will definitely solve the problem. Acutally I am not completely ignorant about water chemistry because I majored in Aquaculture in university and learned water chemistry to maintain fishpond water. But it's still first time to manage pool water for me. I still make a lot of stupid mistakes during my first SLAM and haven't finish it yet (started at June 15).

I am using a hayward cartridge filter, thought I would try one when my sand filter gave up the ghost. (I like sand MUCH better)
The problem - (this also happened last year when the cartridge was new and the pool was sparkling clean)
My filter makes this really, really loud vibration noise. I have taken out the cartridge and cleaned the heck out of it (it is a fairly new cartridge), tried opening up the bleeder valve and just letting the water fill by itself and also tried turning on the pump and filling it that way.
I leave the bleeder valve open for quite some time, trying to make sure I get all of the air out.

If there is no pressure on the outlet, the filter "howls" really loud - fortunately I live in the country and have few neighbors)
If I hook up my polaris cleaner and set it so there is some "back pressure" the noise will stop. Same if I put my hand in front of the jet and "push" back the water coming out.
It has great pressure coming out - but the howling noise makes it sound like the filter is going to explode from the pressure.
The only way to make the noise stop is to put pressure on the outlet jet.....

I have tried googling this problem, but I mainly get results talking about pump noise. I have found some posts with a similar problem, but the answers were to make sure the cartridge was good (mine is) and make sure you leave the bleeder valve open to rid all of the air....
not really a whole lot left.

I am trying to clean my pool, BBB style, but hate leaving the pump running over night because if for some reason the back pressure from the polaris lets off, it seriously sounds like the filter is going to explode.....
All I can think of is there is air in the system, but I have tried taking out and putting the cartridge back in a dozen times in the past 2 days. Is driving me nuts....
thanks for any info anyone can give me.....
Oh, forgot, i thought maybe the seal around the top housing may be bad, but i checked it out and it looks fine. The housing is just now going on it's 3rd year, so am thinking the seal should still be good and not worn down any yet (is just a big rubber o-ring that fits around the top housing). I did "grease" it up when i checked it out - no help - filter housing still vibrates like mad....

Sadly, these stories happen every year -


Pool chemicals, no matter what they are, should NEVER be mixed inside a house. Hopefully the family recovers.

Cracked tiles appeared last year in two areas along one wall. Our pool is 11 years old and otherwise in very good shape. So I started conversations with our builder who is available but not building pools any longer. We weren't able to determine the cause until the area was demolished down to solid shell concrete. The two causes could have been expansion of the concrete deck along that side, which is 12' wide, expanding into the coping/top of the shell, or bond beam rot. The reason deck expansion was possible even though there was an expansion gap, was that the gap was much smaller along that side versus the other 3 sides of the pool. On the day they poured the deck, there was not enough of the thicker foam available to provide the gap, so they used thinner foam. The other possible cause was bond beam rot. This is most often caused by using rebound (gunite that fell to the floor that is picked up and placed on the shell but lacks the compacting element of it being shot from the nozzle) at the top of the shell. Another cause can be water infiltration and the repeated freeze cycle eventually weakens the concrete structure.

Upon demo, they used a hammer drill with a star bit and worked their way into the bond beam. It had occasional chunks but was much more so sandy/gravelly in nature, pointing to bond beam rot. Long story short is that we agreed it would be much more straightforward to have a crew he new was very competent do the work and not try and pursue the issue with the gunite company. Since my mastic was also overdue for being replaced (also 11 years old), that could have played a factor. The cracking areas were adjacent to each other on the upper side of the pool. Though tiles on the opposite side also have some hollow sounds, we opted not to address what was not presenting as a cosmetic issue. If there's already an underlying issue, the fix will be the same regardless if it is done now or later - mobilization for the job is minimal as are water costs. So we'll leave well enough alone on that side.

Our tile was also no longer available so we chose something close and opted not to go with a full tile replacement. The time will come in the next handful of years or more/less where it all needs replaced and perhaps additional bond beam rebuilding will take place then also. At that point, we would also get the plaster replaced, whereas now it's still quite smooth for plain plaster after 11 years. In frost zones, tile doesn't last forever in most cases. So the tile is mismatched, but its not a big deal. We aren't perfectionists.

Original views of a cracked tile area and of an adjacent area where I pulled off the tiles to reveal a crack (click to expand). The crack is not flat on the surface, but pushed out about 1/8", causing the cracked/loose tiles.



Here's the in process shot. Much happened after day one while I was not on site. A complicating factor was the autocover track crossing the area. They did the repair in two sections so the track could remain supported. They epoxied in fiberglass coated rebar to join the old and new concrete.



And the finished product...again, the tile mismatch is what it is. I was very pleased with the quality of work and jobsite cleanliness.




One water truck is coming today so I don't put the full refill responsibility on my well. Now I just need a caulking guy to call me back. $4K labor and material.

I posted this in another thread from May and got no response so thought I'd post it here.

I'm adding the Diamond Crystals from Home Depot to get up to level for my new SWG. I have a vinyl liner so haven't been excited to find lots of rocks/pebbles from the bags I've added so far. I used net to get the ones pictured out. I hope vacuum gets the rest. MITBeta f( in another thread) gave me an idea . Instead of hanging a bucket like he did, I'm going to line up all the buckets I have alongside the pool and dissolve my next 10 bags that way. Any better ideas? The last thing I need is a leak
.

Hey folks, wasn't sure what thread to put this under but I was working on a dead Intelliph and discovered some interesting things... but first, here's a rough (and I do mean rough) schematic that I drew:



What I noticed is that not only were the comm chip (U5), protection diodes (D3, D4) and relay (RL1) blown, but also transistor Q5 that switches power from the primary voltage regulator (U1) to the secondary voltage regulator (U2). U1 is working fine and outputs ~11volts, but U2 was also blown... it doesn't actually regulate anymore.

U2 is supposed to generate 5-volts for the PIC microcontroller (U3) but in my case - and I don't know how, but the microcontroller still actually works! - U2 basically spits out the input voltage (minus a small drop). This is bad because the PIC microcontroller expects 5v but U2 was outputting around 10.

Now, the PIC in this other thread suffered a catastrophic failure, and while @generessler initially thought the blown pins were GPIO pins, they're actually the supply voltage pins (Vcc and Vss)... pin1 for the chip is actually right next to the U3 label, so the burned pins are 6 and 7. So I wonder if regulator U2 was also dead on that board, and fed way too much voltage to U3??


Anyway, I'd be curious what @generessler @Dirk and some of the other guys think?

I have been meaning to hard plumb my pool for ages. Due to a breakage my hand was forced and today I finally got it done.
As there are always loads of questions on this topic and complaints that the photo links are dead. I thought I should document the process with lots of embedded photos that will remain with the post.

First go to Lowes to the electrical aisle and get a 1-1/2" box connector made by Carlon (E996H) for each connection you need to make. See photo 1
[attachment=1:mlgb9yk7]collage 1.jpg[/attachment:mlgb9yk7]


I believe the is also an identical item made by Cantex, this may be the E950HG adapter from Home Depot.

When you get these home you will seem some raised lettering on the flanged end(Photo 2)
Lay a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface and rub the adapter up and down a few times tosmoothe the flange surface. I'm not sure whether this is strictly necessary but won't do any harm and may prevent a leak(Photo 3)

Next cut the hose nuts from your Intex hose (Photo 4)if you are using the one piece nuts. Obviously if you are using the 2 piece ones just unscrew them.
[attachment=0:mlgb9yk7]Collage 2.jpg[/attachment:mlgb9yk7]

You are now ready to glue the adapter into the fitting or coupling you are using m In photo 5 I am gluing it into a 90 degree elbow. Just remember to thread the adapter through the nut before you glue it! You also will want to leave a small gap that you can slip a saw into to cut the nut free should you ever need to re-plumb for any reason.

Next remove the old plunger valve from the pool and screw on the new adapter/fitting assembly using the black "L" gasket from the old valve (Photo 6). I managed to swap it out without much water loss by placing a thin plastic bag over the outlet inside the pool.

In the final picture the pipes are all assembled but are not yet glued.
[attachment=2:mlgb9yk7]finished product.jpg[/attachment:mlgb9yk7]
Amazingly when I turned the pump on there were no leaks nor did there seem to be any air being sucked into the lines. It looked like it may be difficult to re-attach once everything was glued up, so given thatthis is on suction side, I am debating whether to leave it as is. Some of the parts I am not even sure if I can get apart to glue even if I want to.

I hope this has been helpful, feel free to ask for clarification.

Jeremy.

Well, have an offer on a house, and the yard might fit a plunge pool rather nicely. I like deep pools (for endless wave style swimming)....and in such a small pool I don't want a lot of steps or ledges. I had been focused on fiberglass, but ran across an interesting concept: Precast cement/tile pools, built by Soake Pool in NH. Not sure how I'd get one to OH, but that's a different problem.

Anyone heard of or have them? They look beautiful.

Soake Pools

Afternoon all, been a while but I am ready to go ahead and replace my blown pump but had a few questions for the experts @ogdento and others here.

I have

Pentair 011018 IntelliFlo Variable Speed High Performance Pool Pump, 3 Horsepower​

I am looking for comparable to replace it with. I think @ogdento told me at least one version is not compatible with automation panels but I cannot find the information. Also, my pool being 17K inground, is 3HP right or can I go down to 1.5? I tend to go up but god the price now is ridiculous. Appreciate any help, I am ready to go. I have been running just on the timer off the pump but it does this odd thing where I go out to check at random times and it is not running but the schedule is on and it just shows 0 RPM. Hard to keep it clean that way especially with Summer coming.

thanks!

The blue 7-segment LED modules on my Max-Flo VS (SP2300ZLV) display have aged and become unreadable. This made programming the unit virtually impossible. Fortunately, replacement LED modules are cheap and readily available! The existing modules are attached via plug-in sockets. Replacement took about 15 minutes.

The obsolete part number on the existing modules is ELS-431UBWA. I researched a substitute and ordered the parts from Digikey PN: 732-157119B12701-ND.
You will need 5 modules, total cost...$12.75.

There is a 3V, CR-1632 lithium battery installed on the programming board I suspect is for retaining the programming. I replaced this as well.

Hi, I recently opened my pool two weeks ago after a 3 year break due to brain surgeries and not being able to do things myself. So far, my water is clear this year, and I ordered the Taylor 2006 FAS DPD kit. According to that, my FC is 0.5 ppm and stabilizer is undetectable (bad haven't added this year or three years ago I think). I put in 1.5 gallons of 12.5% liquid chlorine last night (35K gallon pool approx), and this morning it again tested at 0.5. Would my issue be the lack of stabilizer, hence causing dramatic chlorine loss? What steps could I take to balance my pool, I'm not sure in what order to add chemicals.

@Leebo Why are these PM recommendations so different when calculating it with TA or from Effects of Adding?

This arose in this thread where 17 oz is not getting close to lowering pH by 0.5.

Folks,

Some of you may be familiar with my OB pool project that sort of started over two years ago with the house OB. Delayed it over a year due to covid then started the house and finished in Sep 2022. Then life happened with a number of health issues for my wife. Finally made some progress on that front and I started the pool in Feb. Lost a month of construction due to health matters during the build and now have had water in the pool with both pumps running on manual. So now I'm hooking everything up and starting to implement the RPi solution that I've read about for years with envy and hope that I could figure out enough myself and get a lot of help from experts here to make it work. The purpose of this separate thread is to describe how I'm doing this and give people roadmap that anybody can follow to do this themselves. I thought about adding this to the build thread but that's mostly about a design, construction, and startup project (here's a like if you want info on the pool project). I'd like to make sure this is the place where searches for the automation aspects land and people don't have to read through the 1000 plus entries to get the automation "meat". I've gotten a huge amount of help already from @Katodude, @MyAZPool, @rstrouse, @newdude, @ajw22 @James @mas985 and others on automation and I'm hoping to attract suggestions, help, and even a little entertainment from others. I'm already benefitting a lot from the work several of you have done to document how to do this here and at github. Next post from me will describe automation plan, status and next steps, what has me stumped right now plus include a few photos.

Chris

Hey guys I havve a low hrs Calimar VSP pool pump that is not turning on. It has no errors and has power and it looks fine it’s just not starting up. No noise no clicks nothing when I try manual mode or wuick clean.
I believe this is the common controler to Black and Decker and various other units.

Suggestions? Is there some sore of reset I can try? I did shut the mains of and turened it back on…no dice.

Thanks Nochain

12K gal.
13.5w’x33’ Lx 3.5’-5.5’ water depth
6’x8’spa
SWG
Pump: Pentair Intelliflow 3 VSF
Filter: Pentair Clean&Clear 420
Intellicenter I5
Light: Pentair Microbrite color 100
SPA Heater: Pentair Mastertemp 400HD salt system
Coping: Travertine
Plaster: Pebble finish
Finally they started digging today! I will be posting pictures and I would appreciate your comments and feedback as this process seems to be moving forward really fast and finish(digging , stub up, gunite, etc.) in the next 3-4 day

I always tell members that just because you don't see water leaking out doesn't mean there's not a leak. Today is a classic example. For the past couple weeks, when I would remove my pump lid with all valves closed, the water level would drop in the pot. I know that means air is getting in from somewhere. Today I decided to get knee deep into the pad. As I've told members here many times, take that 3-way valve apart. This is the valve on my pressure side. Surely water would squirt out if there was a bad o-ring right? Nope. I replaced that o-ring from the stem handle and all is good.

Hello, I’m a very new pool owner so please forgive my ignorance. My pool was just completed Memorial Day weekend. I took a sample of water to my local pool store and it showed I had 8.3ph and 197 TA. The pool store recommended I put 44lbs of dry acid in my pool but on the advice of some TFP members I bought a couple of gallons of MA instead.
I’m happy to say that after a couple of days and adding a gallon of MA to my pool my pH dropped to 7.6 and the TA dropped to 165. I understand that I need to continue to lower my pH and then raise it back up/repeat the cycle in order to keep lowering my TA.
However here’s my concern. The level of my pool has dropped (probably due to evaporation) and I Need to add an inch or 2 of water. I’m afraid to do this while I’m in the cycle of lowering my TA but I’m going to have to add water soon in order to keep it above the skimmer line.
Am I over thinking this or will adding water totally throw off the chemistry? Please let me know what you think! Side note: I ordered the TF-Pro salt testing kit today and it should be here by Thursday so I don’t have to rely on the pool store anymore. Thanks in advance!

Hi! I’ve been an above ground pool owner since 2016 and joined TFP IN 2018 but never really looked at it until a few weeks ago. As I do every season I buy chlorine tabs and cal hypo shock and whatever else Leslie’s Pools tell me I need to maintain my pool. I finally took the time to read pool school and use pool math. Just got my TF-pro testing kit the other day and I’m loving it. I feel so foolish because I’ve literally been throwing hundreds and hundreds of dollars away every season. I’m so grateful for this forum. Just learning the FC/CYA ratio is saving me money. Leslie’s always said shock your pool once a week!!! I have an above ground 24 ft round 13,600 gallon pool. I just wanted to say thank you.

My current numbers from TF pro test kit are:
FC: 5
CC: 0
PH: 7.2
TA: 100
CYA: 20-25 still seeing the black dot at bottom of tube so this is a guess
CH: 100

Hello,

This spring/summer I am looking to add a slide to my pool. The company that has been recommended to purchase the slide from is SR SMITH. Has anyone dealt with them before, pros/cons? I have 3 and 5 y/o girls that will be using the slide so it was recommended that I get the ones with enclosed stairs. I also want it to be fun for adults though . I am looking at the Turbo Twister, the link to it is below, along with another one (Typhoon) that peaks my interest. I know the Turbo Twister is kind of high for small children but I really do not want to have to buy a smaller one to then replace down the road. The pool shop suggested that you can buy foam mats to place underneath the stairs or around the slide in case someone we to fall it would at least soften the blow. Has anyone ever placed mats below their slide? If so, we they just a slip hazard and not worth it or do they make something for this?

TurboTwister Pool Slide | Official S.R. Smith Products 8ft 7 inches high

Typhoon Pool Slide | Official S.R.Smith Products 7ft 4 inches high

Thanks in advance,

Greg Gammon

Ultra XTR Intex 32 x 16 x 52 Intex Rectangular Pool with salt water system

Love this forum! Thank you all for your help.

I read the useful links for new Intex pool owners.
(Useful links for fellow Intex Pool Owners)
Already thinking about some mods but want to get it set up first.

We have cleared all the grass, dug down to hard packed soil, dug out lots of rocks, broken pots, clay chimney liner, nails, bricks, a bath mat, buried empty PVC pipes, broken plastic Easter eggs, old phone and cable lines, more roots than I care to talk about, etc.

After 2 weeks of work (off and on because of school - I'm a teacher and both kids are working), we are finishing up the leveling the interior area and I am ready to start placing the 16x16x4 concrete pavers for supports.

Plans & Questions:
1) We plan to place 1/2" EPS foam board (FOAMULAR brand) under pool, triple tape, -

* Does the tarp go over or under the EPS?
* Should I leave the pavers 1/2" proud of the surface to be level with the 1/2" EPS?

2) I'd like to place the blocks before I open the box and start spilling stuff out. I find some references to it in other posts but the links referenced were broken. When I searched I didn't see anything that would show the distances of the pavers.

* Does anyone have a template with center-to-center measurements for the pavers of this pool?

Hi everyone, bought a house with a pool, never had one before. About to start SLAM tomorrow, bought everything i need.

Tested the water and everything is non existent. water is green.
0 FC
6.8 Ph
0 CYA

Spent most of the day topping up the pool since it was low, to reach the skimmer so i can start the pump.

Will start SLAM tomorrow early morning.
My question is do i add CYA first, wait then add Ph to raise it to 7.2 and after that add Liquid Chlorine? Thats whats confusing me. CYA- Ph and then chlorine? And if so how long should i wait in between? After adding the chlorine, start vacuuming right away? Or wait?

No clue what im doing, but i have read alot here and learning ..

Thank you all.

I've embarked on the project of a lifetime... self-installing a fiberglass pool for my family (wife and 2 kids under 3 yrs old) here in southern Indiana. I spent countless hours researching different types, shapes, and manufacturers of all kinds of pools and settled on a 16x40 Aspen by Thursday Pools. I found a dealer that would order the shell for me without doing the whole install and made the 50% deposit to get the order going.

I then researched, selected, and purchased all of our equipment - mostly Hayward, plus a Circupool SWG. Then I began electrical work: a 50A subpanel at the back corner of the house, a 2-sided control panel for my equipment pad (subpanel on one side, and equipment controllers on the other), lots of conduit for receptacles, pool lights, switches, autocover, and autocover touchpad. As well as a 50ft gas line for the NG heater.

Right about as I finished up the electrical work, I got the call scheduling the pool delivery (about 2 weeks earlier than expected!)

I decided to get the equipment pad poured and have all the equipment set (and wired) prior to the pool arrival so I could get it hooked up and running quickly.

Then, a friend came over on a Saturday to help out with the excavation (pool to be delivered the following wednesday). Excavation went really well and took about 4 hrs:


All was well until Tuesday brought a MASSIVE thunderstorm. My yard gets quite a bit of runoff from the neighbors on each side, so my swimming pool excavation quickly became a pond:

I left work and rented a trash pump to pump it out and spent the whole afternoon/evening shoveling mud out of the hole and re-screeding the gravel base.

Finally, Wednesday came around and the pool arrived precisely on schedule!

A little rigging and planning, and we had the pool in the air, over the truck, around the house, and in the hole.

Spent about an hr checking, double checking, and triple checking for level - the whole shell was within 1/2" right off the bat! I took this opportunity to install the bubblers I had planned for the tanning ledge (since I could get under there easily. I just used CMP fiberglass return fittings and plumbed them out to the edge of the pool where I teed them together. Then...time for water and backfill (I used #11 crushed stone on the base, and #8's for the backfill). A couple trucks of water and 3 garden hoses got us to about 15" below the top lip by the end of the day.



Then I spent about two full days installing 3 returns , 5 lights, and the skimmer, and plumbing them all to one corner of the pool, where they would then extend up to the equipment pad. At the end of day 2 of plumbing/wiring, I gave the lights a try :

Hi all,

I have had a recalcitrant algae issue.

I've been going to Leslie's for the last year or so after our local family owned store stopped servicing retail. I swear we have had consistent algae issue since we started going there! Plus we run through filters in a matter of weeks which is annoying and expensive.

We had some family emergencies and didn't treat the pool over the winter. We developed significant algae. After the emergencies passed Leslie's had us use a bottle of algaecide and super shock with Power Powder.

The pool turned blue but was very cloudy. They had us then treat the pool with Chlorbrite. We went to my mother in law's for a weekend and when we returned we had algae again! Ahhh!!! Leslie's had us treat with yet another round of algaecide and power powder which did squat all.

I googled how to resolve mustard algae (which is what Leslie's has said it is (but now I seriously doubt) and that's how I found this forum. Everything I've read aligns more to what the family pool store told us but then Leslie's told us was wrong.

Anyway, I bought a Taylor K2006 and it was delivered today. I've read a bunch of the slam resources multiple times. Here are my test results:

Chlorine - 0 (I didn't treat while I was waiting for the test kit)
pH - 7.4
Alkalinity - 70
Calcium - 420
Cyanuric Acid - <30

Based on what I read I should bring up the Cya to 30 before starting the slam.

Then bring the chlorine up to 10 (per Pool Math) which is 192 oz of 10%, and sustain this until the issue is resolved, checking 3x/day. Am I understanding the process correctly?

I also read the article about cartridge cleaning and learned about the 1:20 mix of muriatic acid to water so I bought a bin to soak the cartridge in. Question - how do I know whether I need to use TPD first?

Leslie's said never to put the robot in the pool when the chlorine is high - I see that is recommended during slam so is there a particular chlorine threshold I need to be worried about breaking my robot? Also how much do I have to worry about algae sticking around in the robot?

What else should I be considering? I'd like to really kick this quickly though based on some other algae issues I've been reading about it can take a while.

I put my pool details in the app and allowed it to be shared so hopefully it shared correctly but if not I have a 15,000 gallon in ground with gunnite and not saltwater (a SWG is on the list of things but we just recently replaced the leaky skimmer - this is a new house for us). We're located in Palm Bay, FL.

I look forward to hearing your feedback on this mess and appreciate any help. I am so over Leslie's and I feel like I am starting from square one with my pool knowledge.

Well, I did not go out and buy one. Turns out a neighbor and friend just did. So I am borrowing it for a few days. Thats why this will only be a short term review.

It is slightly bigger and heavier than the S1. It also has WiFi and an app. We will see what those do. Downloading and setting up the app is fairly easy and straightforward.

It has a floor only mode, walls and floors, and a walls and floors X2

The charging stand is kind of nice and looks good.

It also comes with a hook for retrieval so I believe unlike the Pro model it will not come to the surface and wait to be extracted. I was really hoping that would be a feature.

Had a gorgeous 70-80° day yesterday at the end of April. Pool is still upper 40s / low 50s but I went ahead and opened.

It was pretty clear. Lots of debris on the bottom but so be it.

- Deep cleaned the sand filter. Went way longer than normal, a good 60-90 minutes of flushing it out. Got a lot of gunk out of it.

- Vacuumed up with a leaf vacuum first all around the pool, the anchors, the straps of the cover, the edge of the patio surrounding the pool to get rid of as many pine needles as possible. Only then used a leaf blower to move the rest. Seemed to help minimize what got in the pool during opening.

- Removed the pool cover. We tried to keep it out of the water as much as possible, but like last year, there was enough snowfall and rain to basically refill it to just above the skimmer opening. So it was pretty much impossible to keep out of the water. Luckily it was a very nice and sunny day so it dried off quickly on the grass and I was able to put it away pretty quickly.

- When I removed the plugs for the intake and the returns, I felt water rushing in behind the plugs. I figured this is a very good sign and meant that there was air behind them that was being pushed out through the pipes water filled the pipes behind where the plugs were.

- Pool gizmo in skimmer seemed to do its job and the antifreeze in the skimmer was all still there. So I’m pretty confident no plug leak there either.

- Put the two plugs back in the heater, the two plugs back in the pump, the salt cell in for the dummy, had previously put the plug for the filter back in before I deep cleaned it. Fired up the pump and while it took about five minutes it did prime the first time.

- Got the heater running and set it to 65° to warm the water overnight. Blew out the heater with the leaf blower and I got nice strong strong blue flame with no yellow/orange to indicate any sort of issue with the gas flow.

- Water was very clear. Lots of gunk on the bottom - leaves, pine needles, dust/dirt, and the steps were as nasty as always, but less debris than past years (I attribute this to using the leaf vacuum a couple of times to clean up during the winter).

- We also pulled all of the cover anchor inserts all the way out, cleaned them off, ran a brush / vacuum in the anchors in the pool deck, and lubed up the anchors with Super Lube (synthetic grease). Hoping this helps to prevent some of the problems we’ve had with them stripping out in the past. The threads on many were pretty worn down but they still work. Still, getting new anchors in case they’re needed.

- Only real hitch came during vacuuming. The basket support ring in the skimmer was cracked and so the basket was sucked down into the bottom half of the skimmer during vacuuming. I put it back best I could, ordered a new ring, and kept going. This time I had the 12-yo sit with his tablet by the skimmer opening and put constant slight pressure pulling on the vacuum hose going to the skimmer vacuum plate - he alerted me each time it had trouble with the suction holding the plate down. First time it was the pump basket filling (from when the skimmer basket fell through the ring, I assume). Second time we were puzzled a bit until I checked the PSI on the filter and saw it had gone from about 10 to about 17. Backwashed, better. Had to backwash twice during the vacuuming. Apparently the deep clean did its job so the filter could do its job.

- After vacuuming the pool was much cloudier, but that was to be expected and I will now let the pump and filter do their jobs.

- Threw the solar cover on to keep the heat in the pool and threw the robot in to do more cleaning work once the bottom was completely vacuumed.

Today I will grab a water sample to balance the chems. I learned last year that it can take a full day of mixing to really get the pool homogenous for a good sample.

We had a IntelliBrite 5G Color Underwater LED Pool Light that failed after three years of use.
It seems to be a very common failure, where gradually each color is lost until eventually the light stops working altogether.

We pulled apart the light and investigated what is going wrong, and we discovered that one of the chips that supplies the power to the LEDs overheats and eventually burns out and hence why the LEDs stop working.

We looked at a full Pentair replacement light, but that costs $1,000.
Even if you just replace the Pentair LED board inside the niche, it still costs $600 and it's likely to fail after 2-3 years.

My daughter is a SW & HW engineer, so she set out to design a low cost replacement, and we have just receive the first prototypes from the factory in China.

The design is still under going testing, but the initial testing is looking good.

You basically open the existing Light, remove the existing Pentair LED light PCB and replace it with board below.
It's as easy as undoing four screws, remove the two connectors, and replacing it with the prototype shown below.

I have been struggling with this dirt/silt issue for 4 years now, reading post after post, convincing myself that I had dead algae. I often slammed for weeks on end even though I would pass multiple OCLTs and I checked and scrubbed every nook and cranny possible. I added DE to my filter, changed out my weir door pads, pulled my ladder permanently but still to no avail. I even added a better edging to keep our mulch in that’s about 5 feet away from pools edge as it’s always windy here and I thought the dust may be blowing in. Nothing helped. Every day dust/dirt/silt in crevices and skimmer boxes. It felt like dirt when touched but I still wasn’t completely confident it wasn’t algae as it would cloud a bit when brushed.

Well this year my prowler died and I ended up getting an Aiper and a solar Betta skimmer for less than 1/2 the cost of replacing the prowler. Let me just say I love the skimmer to no end. I prefer keeping my pump on the lower end and never felt my pool skimmed well. To help, I had my returns slightly pointed upward which would often raise my PH but helped skim. Now that I had the Betta, I decided I was going to point my returns down more at a 45 toward the floor. And lo and behold, I have not had dirt in my seams for 2 days. This seriously is a miracle as I was brushing the pool non stop as I hated it collecting there. Granted, it’s only been 2 days but no dirt in the skimmer boxes either so I’m pretty confident this is the reason. Just wanted to pass on as I know it’s a problem many have struggled with. Hope this helps someone and hope it’s not a fluke on my end. Time will tell…..

I found 100 lbs of calcium hypochlorite 65% for $300. Shipping was free for me (Texas). Price looked too good to be true, but ordered anyways on 06/21/2023, and a big 100 lb tote of pool shock arrived at my doorstep today on 06/23/2023. Enjoy!

Hi everyone,

We are in the middle of a pool project in our yard and I have a few questions.

Pool project:

38x26 concrete pool
Grotto with 6ft concrete rock walls, slide and waterfall
8x8 hot tub with large spillover
10x7 tanning ledge
3 variable pumps, pentair
Propane heater, pentair
Heat pump, pentair
Salt
Intellitouch8
Travertine tumbled coping
Stonescapes midnight blue mini pebble

Few questions:

Is tumbled travertine slippery?

What is the best fencing to put around the pool equipment? It's on the side of my rv pad on the other side of the house

Does midnight blue mini pebble make the pool get too warm?

I know how difficult it was to find pictures of a black liner so I wanted to post my new built steal wall, concrete floor pool. Enjoy



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