Updating/Upgrading Pool Systems

First, I apologize for the length of this post!

I'm making my way through the vast amounts of information on TFP and it's been eye opening. Previous home was saltwater pool maintained by local national company. Our goal is to get to a point to maintain pool ourselves at new house. However, to get to that point, I think our equipment needs updating/upgrading as it appears the previous owner did some not-so-stellar DIY. Current SWG isn't working so pool guy is treating it like a normal chlorine pool. Working with a local, independent pool service, he's making some recommendations for equipment: Hayward TriStar VS 950 & 3-way valve for $2400, Hayward w/Omni Control SWG for $3200, Hayward 200 level filter. He doesn't mention the level of the cell or filter so I need to speak with him more about his plans. The salt cell looks to be a generic model since there's no type of writing on it at all. Attached are pictures of current setup and a brand new pool pump left by previous owner. I do want to get to some level of automation. The local guy doesn't want anything to do with "Amazon parts" so is avoiding the new CicuPool pump that was left by previous owner. Is the local guy charging too much? Are the items he is recommending overkill for the size of my pool? Hayward vs Pentair is like Ford vs Chevy... Also, I will be purchasing the TFP recommended pool test kit.

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Removing old breaker

But since it was electrical
Did they prove the breaker was bad, or just want you to spend $150 plus labor on 'it might work and its cheaper than a new pump' ?


Haha very appropriate question
Nobody is dying today from something stupid if we have anything to say about it. :hug:

James covered you above. Make sure the house breaker is off too and confirm the panel is dead with a handheld voltage detector.
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Do I even need a valve?

How do you plan to winterize? This decision will help you formulate your plans.
I remove all my plumbing and plug the returns with screw in plugs and leave the equipment outside fully drained, plugs out. The only thing I leave attached is the piece between the pump & filter.
I leave the valve under the skimmer open without anything attached to it after.

Yes, unions in the right places do a couple things:
Make it easy to remove a piece of equipment or plumbing without cutting
&
Allow you to screw on fittings without undoing whats down the line

Salt Water test level’s wacky

Welcome to TFP!!!
Cya will be low in spring as it degrades over the winter.
As for FC...
Your SWG is set for normal sun and you have had cover on, so FC rose, OR
Your reagents are old/degraded. When they are old degraded, it takes more drops for the reaction to occur, OR
You *might* have a little static charge on the tip, making the drops smaller. Wipe the tip once with wet paper towel before using liquid reagent.

How have you been chlorinating so far?
I just added salt after a pool company opened it from winterization. The SWG has been doing all the work. Other than the two bottles of Bioguard chlorinator and the algae prevention the pool company put in and about 40 pounds of salt which the display told me to add I haven’t done anything. Total newbie so sorry if I’m not being clear.

Removing old breaker

To install, the breaker has a back hook that hooks over a tab and then you push the breaker back into the bus bars.

To remove, rotate the top forward and this will disconnect the top from the bus bars and then you can lift it off the hook.

You can grab it with some big Channel Lock Pliers if you need more leverage.

Make sure all power to the subpanel is off.

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New to Intex salt water sytems....

Hello and thanks in advance for any advice you may have . We had the older version of the 12x24 (10x23 then) Intex pools for 16 years, ours actually were labeled as "Zodiac" back when we purchased ours. It was cartridge filter with oversized pump which helped but still required constant attention to maintain proper levels etc. We took it down three years ago as its life cycle had ended......

So, our daughter has convinced us we need to continue teaching our newest grandchildren to swim as we did with her first, so we entered the game again with a new 12x24 with the sand/saltwater system. I have already found many posts on here that have helped me from set up to now and this site has been VERY helpful!!

As many have stated the Intex instructions for startup and daily maintenance are vague at best. My current dilemma is How long do I run the chlorinator for each day? And do I have to also run a filter mode for a separate set of hours or does the chlorinator cycle also cover the needed filter cycle as it is filtering as it chlorinates?

I finally figured out the Boost mode after three days and after running it last night until this morning I actually have chlorine in the pool, so the process is working :)

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Filter