PH always high

I know this topic has been discussed a lot, but since every pool is different I thought I’d try to get some advice for my pool. My above-ground pool is 9500 gals. TA is at 70. PH seems to like to be around 8. I try to maintain it at 7.6 with muriatic acid, but after a couple of days it will be right back to 8+. I was thinking about lowering TA until PH stops climbing. As an added note: I plan to add some type of fountain/sprayer and run it at night to reduce the water temperature, as the pool becomes unpleasant in late July. I understand that spraying water will also raise the PH, which will make my battle with it even worse. Any suggestions?

Vacuum is shy and won’t leave home

Check that your Polaris hose flats and swivels are as specified in the diagram.

Show us pictures of the way your Polaris sits in the pool and its hose and tail.

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A belated post to thank you for the advice. I'm following up to close the loop for anyone who searches for this problem.

There were several issues I had to correct -- the diagram was a great starting point.

The hose was too long and I trimmed it, but it was pretty worn out so I decided to replace the entire hose assembly. Trimmed it to the right length and that significantly improved things. But it still wasn't back to 100% coverage.

I found this video to be incredibly helpful on how to adjust the thrust jet and ballast float. Both of those helped a lot.

Lastly, there was a *lot* of water coming out of the pressure relief valve on the new hose. While I know some water flowing out of the valve is expected, this was much greater than with my previous hose. Once I tightened the valve so that less water came out, the vacuum's performance increased dramatically, and now runs perfectly.

Trying to Get Rid of the Pool Cleaning Blues with Robotic Cleaner

That is dead algae from using HTH green-to-blue kit on bottom of pool in the photo. Pool water is clear and all of my levels (cya, free chlorine, alkalinity, ph) are in range. I wanted
a pool robot because constant vacuuming was using up my pool water and I would usually lose vacuum after 10 or 15 minutes (No holes in piping.) I want to be able to get up most of the debris
with robot and then vacuum any remaining residue if necessary.

Pool Opening Spring 2025 - Removing the Leaking Heater Manifold

When I reconnected the Fireman's switch wires in the electrical box, I saw that a red wire was unconnected.

Pentair MasterTemp Loose Blower Wire.jpg

There was no obvious terminal missing a wire, so I figured, let's move on, put it all together, and see what happens when we start the heater.

That led to the SERVICE HEATER LED. I removed the four wing nuts on the cover, which let me flip the cover over and see the diagnostic LEDs. Sure enough, the AFS LED was on. This made sense since the blower did not start.

Now, we need to figure out why. With the cover off, checking the airflow switch and its connections was easy. They all looked good.

Now for that loose red wire. With the cover off, I could follow the wire out of the electrical box and see it connected to the blower motor.

Pentair was smart enough to put the entire electrical connection diagram inside the door. That let me see that the blower's red wire in its harness connected to the right-side terminal bar. On that terminal bar, there should be two white wires and two red wires. Sure enough, one red wire was missing.

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I put the red wire on the terminal block, closed it up, and the heater started.

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While I was renovating the heater, I replaced all the missing nut plates and screws that got lost over the years that hold the side panels on. I got the top cover and side panels closed up and installed the new thermal regulator.

It has been three weeks since the pool was opened, and I think I have all the problems fixed.

Next is to update my IntelliCenter to Version 3 firmware.

Chlorine pricing 2025

This the current thread :


Intellicenter app problem

Quick question. Should there be more than a single light on at the base unit? I am actually hard wired from this unit to my Wi-Fi, thinking it is the base or antenna? Base pick shows one light, antenna has two lights blinking, looks like it is normal. have reset everything and still have no internet. Could base unit be bad?

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2nd Time Pool Owner

Am targeting FC of 5 with a CYA level of 70.
I would aim a bit higher so that if you have a high demand day (swimmers, organics etc), you will stay in range.
but I do see green
Visible Algae = SLAM.
What is a good test schedule ? Daily / Weekly / Monthly once things are in steady state ?
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2nd Time Pool Owner

So a couple of updates....

Got the TF-Pro Salt kit. Was traveling last week so FC tested at zero. I have / had the issue with my SWG not working on one polarity, but I believe i have fixed that by replacing the PCB in the Breeze controller. I will monitor this but if It can get me through this year, great. Otherwise I'm good buying a new SWG.

Added liquid chlorine and have the FC at 4.5. Ran an OCLT and FC did not drop. CC was at 0.5 - was very faint and one drop cleared it completely. Am targeting FC of 5 with a CYA level of 70. By reading I don't need to SLAM, but I do see green when I brush the bench / steps. If I need to SLAM it will need to wait as I am traveling again this week.

What is a good test schedule ? Daily / Weekly / Monthly once things are in steady state ?

Also, I got the EVO 614IQ with the fine filter (I have both filters). So far I am a little unimpressed - there's a fair amount still on the bottom after multiple runs. Also, the Lift function doesn't seem to be working - it starts to climb the wall but won't make it to the waterline. Same if I run the walls and floor cycle. It worked when I first started it. Am I doing something wrong ?

Thanks all.

Trying to Get Rid of the Pool Cleaning Blues with Robotic Cleaner

You need a proper test kit to clear the pool. Here are our recommendations...Link-->Test Kits Compared
I recommend this kit. TF-Pro
To clear the algae in the pool, follow the SLAM process. Link-->SLAM Process
You cannot SLAM without your own kit.
The robot can help you clear debris, but it will not kill algae. You need to follow the SLAM process.

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Pool Opening Spring 2025 - Removing the Leaking Heater Manifold

I am pleased to report my heater is now back together and working like new. It took around eight hours of work over three days, $600 in genuine Pentair parts, and about $150 in new tools.

If you had all the parts and tools and no broken stuck bolts the repair could have been done in under four hours.

The Manifold Replacement instructions contain this warning to be careful once the bolts are removed to not push the tube sheet into the combustion chamber.

To get the stuck bolt out it took some drilling and then tapping the threads to clean it up and take a new bolt.

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I was concerned the work risked pushing the tube sheet into the chamber which would complicate things.

I bought some nuts that fit on the removed bolts and used them to secure the tube sheet from moving. Pentair should recommend that in the instructions.

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Heater with Bolts.jpg

With the heat exchanger tube sheet being secured, the stuck bolt was removed, and the area was cleaned as the instructions specified.

From there it was all downhill, installing the new manifold and torquing the bolts. We went over the bolt sequence over a dozen times until the torque wrench clicked on every bolt.

Got the heater back in place, and reconnected the electrical wires, gas line, and water pipes. Started the pump to get water flowing through the manifold to check for leaks. Oops, needed to tighten up the thermal regulator cap and drain plug.

And then as @Lake Placid warned Pentairs QC was not perfect. There was a drip from the 3/4" drain plug on the side. Wrenched that out and saw that the threads were hardly wrapped with Teflon tape. Removed Pentairs tape and put two good wraps of Telon tape, reinstalled, and no drips.

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Time to flip on the breaker, power up the heater, and see if it will light.

Pushed the buttons, the control panel lit up, and I got SERVICE HEATER without the blower starting.

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Heater with Bolts.jpg

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