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watkinsirish1 · 2025-04-30T22:48:30-0400

We opened our pool this pass weekend and have filter problems. While we are awaiting parts I am staring at thus green cess pool. Is it OK to add chlorine without the pump running?

mknauss · 2025-04-30T22:44:49-0400

EndlessSummerAZ said:
Any concerns about pools popping out here?

Hate to never say never - but you are as close to never as you could get.

EndlessSummerAZ · 2025-04-30T22:42:53-0400

proavia said:
With our high CH water in the PHX area, you will need to do a full drain/refill every year or two.
That's is why many of us have our water softener plumbed to our autofill.

You refill the empty pool with straight tap water (unsoftened) then use softened water for the autofill (evaporation and top offs).

You will evaporate at least 1.5 to 2 times your pool volume yearly.

What is the current pH, TA and CH of your fill water?
It can change a bit during the year, but it's good to have a base line.

This weekend - Sunday and Monday - the temps are supposed to be below 80. A great time to drain.
If you don't have a sump pump to drain your pool, Home Depot rents them - or you can purchase one from Harbor Freight. Amazon also has them if the timeline for delivery fits.
Check with the city you are in to see what their pool draining requirements are. Here in Chandler, we are required to drain to the sanitary sewer cleanout in the front yard or to retain the water on property.

I still need to actually test the fill water. I just did a quick look from the city water reports. I do have a water softener on the house so I’ll have to look into running a line to the autofill - seems to be the best solution.

EndlessSummerAZ · 2025-04-30T22:40:41-0400

TinFoilHat said:
I agree, this might be the last really good weekend to do the drain. I too drain into my cleanout. I use the HD rental which gets the job done in 4-5 hours. Rent it for the day. They will give you two 25' 2" hoses. The problem with Harbor Freight is that I don't think they even have a 2" pump to buy, at least not when I looked a month ago.

Any concerns about pools popping out here?

PoolDirector · 2025-04-30T22:37:10-0400

Kazzie said:
Hi! Same issue here occurred 3 months ago (booster pump just 3 yrs old) and still waiting for the Polaris replacement body part but it’s been out of stock since I ordered it. Do you know the compatible part they have been switching them out with? I’d like to see if I can purchase that instead. Thanks!

How long did it take for replacement? Thx

ajw22 · 2025-04-30T22:36:18-0400

That rust does not happen in a few weeks.

ajw22 · 2025-04-30T22:35:25-0400

Check if your gas meter and pipe can handle a larger 400K gas heater.

howdy! · 2025-04-30T22:34:07-0400

That’s crossed my mind, honestly.
Was thinking of either adding one of those rubber plugs at the junction box end of the conduit. In addition to some sealant.

What still baffles me is why this is just now showing up. I work near this equipment every week when I do my weekly pool maintenance and have never noticed it before. I initially thought it had only been going on for a few days. But it might have been a week or two.

We have had some hard freezes a few months back and that area would have frozen I would assume if it had been leaking.

But why is it just now showing the flaw in junction box Heigh placement? The pool is almost 3 years old.

mknauss · 2025-04-30T22:33:52-0400

Check for ammonia - Ammonia - Further Reading
No FC, no CYA, high CC.

ajw22 · 2025-04-30T22:33:20-0400

Pentair MasterTemp is a fine heater.

Heater Bypass - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

HermanTX · 2025-04-30T22:32:18-0400

Is the pump basket completely full of water? No air in pump basket (at full speed)?
Air in a return usually means a suction side leak. Check the pump lid, drain plug on the pump.

There is an off chance that a small Leak could be on a return pipe and the flow is drawing in a small bit of air but I would focus on the suction side first.

TwinsPool · 2025-04-30T22:28:06-0400

Yes, I turned off the power to the pump before sticking my hand in there.

The impeller seemed clear and could be turned. The two pump drain o-rings were compressed but not cracked or broken, but I went to the hardware store and got new ones, lubed them and installed. Put a bit of lube on the pump surface that meets the lid's large O-ring and installed the lid.

Added water to the basket, started a new prime and...

IT WORKED!!! :party:

I think it must have been the drain o-rings! No air at all in the basket now! I am SO relieved that it is not an underground leak!

Thank you all so much for hanging in there with me to solve this problem! I appreciate your help so much! :salut:

I'm going to make a new donation to TFP!

stillios · 2025-04-30T22:27:36-0400

Thanks so much to both of you for your help with this. I will check all of those things and then head to the local pool store that sold and later repaired our robot under warranty. They were helpful and competent then and may have someone that works on Hayward heaters. If we decide to replace this heater, would it be terrible to replace it with the same thing to minimize other changes needed? Based on everything I've read lately, it is undersized for our 33,000 gallon pool. But we are now used to heating the pool a couple days in advance for a sunny weekend in April in Ohio, so maybe it doesn't matter. We don't use it in the summer. I'm just grateful I heated the pool to 80 degrees from 50 degrees before this happened. I know the water is about 70 degrees now, but my kids don't seem to mind.

PoolDirector · 2025-04-30T22:26:29-0400

I had a housing leak on the side, ordered This $22 one and will post the outcome and how long it lasts. Fingers crossed

Pas_pool · 2025-04-30T22:25:56-0400

PoolStored said:
Read the section on "pump runtimes" here:

Pump Basics - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

I did read that. Doesn’t really give guidance to a run time schedule.

Enzodast · 2025-04-30T22:25:46-0400

Bill1974 said:
Not to preach, but pool stores are not always accurate in there reading. I took the same sample to 3 stores the same day and got different reading from all of them and from testing myself. The time it takes to drive to the pool store you could have tested already. If you want to continue to use a pool store, please double check by testing yourself or with other stores to see if they are providing accurate results.

You can open either way. I would get everything installed and not use the SWG to start. Get the pool running and the water clear and chemistry in check. Then check the salt level and start adding salt to get to the level your SWG requires. Don't add all at once. I add 50% of what I think I need and check the salt level to see if its gone up half way to where it needs to be. I then add 80-90% of what is recommended and recheck. If you start early you can do it in a day, or you can stretch it over a few days. At this point you should be at the lower end of the salt range and can add a bag or two or three to get to the ideal level. For me the SWG and my testing don't match, I try to keep the middle of the range based on the what the SWG reads, but will skew it higher or lower depending on what the Taylor kit result are.

At this point start using the SWG for chlorine and figure out what amount of time it needs to run. Take a few days of trial and error and I will add LC if need to keep the FC in the safe range.

appreciate everyone's input thank you. i've officially decided to dive all the way into the proverbial deep end. Tf-Pro Salt and instruction manual have already been shipped and are on their way to me. Just can't wait to open the pool...been stalling because the company i'm buying the heat pump from is taking care of everything (including pump and SWG install)...they can't give me an install date until it actually ships and it's been a few days waiting.

JJ_Tex · 2025-04-30T22:24:58-0400

I picked up a S1 a few weeks ago and have been very impressed. It cleans just as good as my old Maytronics, for half the price and no cord.

Going from corded to cordless has some differences so far. I like the fact that there is no cord to interfere with leaves and surface debris. Fishing the thing out with a hook is a little odd, but I've learned it generally stops around the wall where I drop it in so I can somewhat plan where I get to fish it out. In the early spring when my live oak rains leaves into my pool for a few weeks may be a bit challenging, since I have to add an extra step of recharging for 2-3 hours in between runs. Not ideal, but did I mention it was half price

I can also get a solar skimmer I guess in the fall to help out.

A tip, my local Walmart carries these for under $500, and you can get the 3-year service plan for a measly $38 dollars so if it dies early I should be covered.

chrisjarmstrong · 2025-04-30T22:21:20-0400

Will that save the settings of the toggle throw if I reverse them on each? I’m familiar to how to manually toggle them to each direction.

PoolStored · 2025-04-30T22:19:50-0400

Read the section on "pump runtimes" here:

Pump Basics - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Pas_pool · 2025-04-30T22:17:38-0400

PoolStored said:
I see your signature. Thanks!

You have a variable speed pump. No reason to run at high speed. You run your pump for a reason.

Read the section on "pump runtimes" here:

Pump Basics - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Make sure she knows how to decode chlorine production dates to ensure quality. Have her observe where it is being stored.

Chlorine Date Code Decoder - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Breakdown of Bleach Over Time by Storage Temp - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

So what would you recommend for run times? Medium instead of high from 8-10am? I saw in that article that some run their pump on low 24/7

HermanTX · 2025-04-30T22:12:12-0400

Good review. Thanks. My Aiper box was in another plain box so it was not evident to see the product on the box.

sirhicksalot said:
Anyway, I got tired of manually vacuuming the pool, and having the cartridge get clogged up often because of it. It was getting to the point that as I was vacuuming I could see debris coming out of the returns. Just frustrating. Maybe I'm doing something wrong or my cartridge isn't functioning properly. Or maybe that's just par for the course with vacuuming directly into the pump.

What size cartridge filter do you have? Add that info to your signature data. Most members only clean their cartridge filter 1x or 2x a year. The bigger the filter usually it prolongs the time between filter cleaning.

Dirt / debris should not pass through the filter cartridge. You may want to ensure there is no tear in the cartridge itself.

MSchutzer · 2025-04-30T22:10:22-0400

Sounds like you need to flip the toggle switch on the bottom of those actuators to the other position. That will reverse the throw of the actuator.

PoolStored · 2025-04-30T22:05:28-0400

I see your signature. Thanks!

You have a variable speed pump. No reason to run at high speed. You run your pump for a reason.

Read the section on "pump runtimes" here:

Pump Basics - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Pas_pool said:
I’ll have my wife go out and get some liquid chlorine at the local pool store tomorrow.

Make sure she knows how to decode chlorine production dates to ensure quality. Have her observe where it is being stored.

Chlorine Date Code Decoder - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Breakdown of Bleach Over Time by Storage Temp - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Pas_pool · 2025-04-30T21:59:21-0400

PoolStored said:
You have low CYA. I have no idea what cell you have or output capacity or pump runtime. It is highly unlikely, even if you run a 2x cell size your pool volume you will not exceed SLAM level FC running for 24 hours at 80%.
Chorine is king. Creating chlorine will stave off any algae growth you have.
I chose 80%, because running at 100% is one of the quickest ways to kill a cell.
For OCLT you need at least 3 FC.
You are at 2.5. with CYA of *mabye* 20.
Slam level fc with cya of 20 is 8.
Likely your cell at 80% *might* increase your FC from 2.5 to 8 maybe not.
Fill out your signature, and post your pump runtimes.

I just added my signature with all details of equipment. I was confused why I had to add it there as it lists it under my name when I post because I updated my profile on here.
I’ll have my wife go out and get some liquid chlorine at the local pool store tomorrow.

As for pump run times the pump is set for:
8-10am is high speed
10am-8pm is low speed
8pm-10pm on medium speed
10pm - 8am is off

PoolStored · 2025-04-30T21:55:44-0400

You have low CYA. I have no idea what cell you have or output capacity or pump runtime. It is highly unlikely, even if you run a 2x cell size your pool volume you will not exceed SLAM level FC running for 24 hours at 80%.
Chorine is king. Creating chlorine will stave off any algae growth you have.
I chose 80%, because running at 100% is one of the quickest ways to kill a cell.
For OCLT you need at least 3 FC.
You are at 2.5. with CYA of *mabye* 20.
Slam level fc with cya of 20 is 8.
Likely your cell at 80% *might* increase your FC from 2.5 to 8 maybe not.
Fill out your signature, and post your pump runtimes.

Bperry · 2025-04-30T21:48:54-0400

Newdude said:
I don't believe the CCs. It takes FC to make CCs and they burn off rather quickly.

Have you been adding FC ?

Is the cell working yet or is it still too cold ?

Are you sure the chemicals above are all the pool guys added to the pool ?

X2.

Pas_pool · 2025-04-30T21:48:35-0400

PoolStored said:
Pool Essentials Liquid Chorine from Walmart.

Sure, you can up the SWG % tomorrow. Are you running 24/7? If so, set it to 80% output.

Still need your signature to know your cell and output% and pump runtime to help you. Fill out your signature.

Why so high if you don’t mind me asking? Won’t the FC shoot really high at 80%. What is normal run %?

I’ll fill out that signature now

Pas_pool · 2025-04-30T21:47:56-0400

Newdude said:
Walmart is probably your best bet up north. There will be a # stamped on the bottle like milk. 25 (2025) 023 (made on the 23rd day of 2025) and then other #s we don't care about.

View attachment 642000

Do simple math in the aisle with 30 day months. 25 100 is 3 full months plus 10 days, so April 10th, 2025.

You want 3 months or less old, the fresher the better. Dig in the back of the shelf, also like milk.

Makes sense. I’ll get a couple gallons.

Bperry · 2025-04-30T21:46:54-0400

kbenedek said:
Hello, we recently had our pool opened and discovered that we had a break in one of the lines. We are in the St Louis area so a freeze break could be a possibility. I am posting the break for any input. Thank you.

Is the pipe inside the 45 fitting also broken or just the 45?

PoolStored · 2025-04-30T21:45:49-0400

Pas_pool said:
What liquid chlorine do you recommend when I have more time to get it?

Pool Essentials Liquid Chorine from Walmart.

Pas_pool said:
Also, instead of liquid chlorine, can’t I just up the percentage on my SWG. I lowered it a couple days ago to 20% from 40% after analyzing a test strip. Should I put it back to 40% tomorrow when I turn my SWG back on from adding the salt tonight?

Sure, you can up the SWG % tomorrow. Are you running 24/7? If so, set it to 80% output.

Still need your signature to know your cell and output% and pump runtime to help you. Fill out your signature.

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