Here is a pic of the setup. 4 pumps and salt cell

Enzodast said:

i'm still curious when at the donation section it says golf donors get money towards the tfp store. i can't find that store...if that's not tftestkit then what's the discount code go to?

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Some of the spots look like what is referred to as "spot etching", which is generally attributed to the quality of the plaster product or application by some people, but there are some people who blame it on the chemistry.

We would need reliable data on the chemistry from the initial fill to now to really be able to assess what caused the problem.

As far as I can tell, the chemistry is not maintained properly or regularly.

It looks like some copper stains, which can come from a heater corroding from bad chemistry or maybe algaecide or maybe mineral systems.

Yeah - those skinny O-rings can get stretched out easily.

Did you download and look thru the installation and maintenance guide available in the link I posted in post #4?

Maybe you can somehow seal the loose handle.

With the pump on, can you feel any water flow coming out of the in-pool port directly below where the in-deck canister is located?

Odd that there is no apparent way to adjust the flow to the venturi. The guide shows several plumbing diagrams with that valve. Post a few pics of your equipment pad from a few different angles so we can see everything. Are there any valve boxes or other covers on the deck or between the equipmemt pad and pool?

ajw22 said:

We cannot identify which wires go to the main pump, other pump, or SWG from the pictures.

You are on site.

If you can identify the wires, then we can probably suggest where to connect them.

You have three relays.

Nothing is wired to R1.

There are devices connected to R2 and R3. What are they?

View attachment 645196

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I have 2 other pumps. One for a waterfall and one for the spa blowers

Enzodast said:

i'm still curious when at the donation section it says golf donors get money towards the tfp store. i can't find that store...if that's not tftestkit then what's the discount code go to?

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TFP swag is at the TFP Store.

TFP store is at Trouble Free Pool Store

@Leebo should remove that from the donation section if there is not anything available anymore. There used to be.

So whatever the guy did last Friday where he tied the two sets of wires from the pumps and salt cell all together caused that wire nut to burn like that. I only realized something was wrong bc the main pump for the filter and the salt cell no longer have power but the other pump does somehow. I will try and get better pics that show which wires are coming from where. Appreciate the help. I unhooked the wires and turned the breakers off for now

Enzodast said:

also dumb question... on pool math to raise ph it says ph up/ soda ash/ washing soda. is washing soda baking soda? i have soda ash and it says i can add 1 lb 10.4 oz to get up to 7.6 ph

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Let your pH rise naturally. There are few times when you need to force it up as long as your TA is 50 or above.

Fooling around with these chemicals will put you on a yo-you with TA and pH changes more then you need.

• Baking Soda = big TA change, small pH change
• Borax = big pH change, small TA change
• Soda Ash/Washing Soda (Sodium Carbonate) = big pH change, big TA change. Probably more TA change than you want. It is never recommended for use.

OK, well today went significantly better than yesterday. My third-party filter plug shipped, but unfortunately it is now in the hands of USPS, which treats Amazon arrival dates as a mere suggestion. Fingers crossed.

I'm in the middle of my water exchange. That's going well. As I mentioned, this required that the pump be off all day, so the missing filter plug has so far not really cost me any real pump downtime that I wasn't going to have anyway.

Several years ago I meticulously tracked and recorded everything about a similar water exchange, so I now know that my pool is ~250 gallons per inch, at least in the top few feet or so, because the walls are all perfectly perpendicular to the surface. Which makes calculating how much to drain a cinch. I tested at CH 530 today, and targeted CH450, which is only a 15% exchange, because I fill the pool from my softener, which is virtually CH-zero. So 15% of 12300 gallons ÷ 250 gallon/inch = 7.38". I taped a ruler to the coping, aligned with the water level at 7.5":


Then I set up the sump pump and let'er rip. Didn't take long. I just kept an eye on the ruler, which I could do from my pool cam, and stopped the pump at 0".

Then I connected a hose to my dedicated pool-filling hose bib, located inside my pad's water meter box, took a pic of the time and of the water meter, and turned it on. The water meter is dedicated to my auto-filler, so I can track how much evaporation occurs throughout the year, but I also added a hose bib just after the water meter for this very water-exchange routine. I'm tracking how much water it'll take to replace the 7.5" I drained, which will fine-tune/confirm my 250 gallons/inch spec. Neat-o!



In addition to facilitating how much to drain, the meter and the ruler and the tracking all help me predict when the refill will be done (somewhere around midnight tonight). My pool can't overfill, but it will drain off excess fill, so I'll watch it tonight and run out there and turn it off when it's done (I can see both the ruler and the water meter from cams). Then record any new data points for next time.

I set up the sump pump to circulate the pool. I had a heck of a time controlling the output hose. Like that toy we used to have that you'd connect to your hose and it would fly around the lawn until the first kid got brained with it, the output hose was floppin' all around the pool. I tried to tie a rope around it, but that didn't really work. So then I grabbed a 3" SS bolt and some washers and nuts and did it right. I punched a hole through the walls of the hose, about 1" from the end, and threaded the hose onto the bolt, using extra nuts to keep the end of the hose open, like this: head of bolt -> washer -> hose wall -> washer -> nut -> 1.5" gap -> nut -> washer -> other hose wall -> washer -> nut. I tied the rope to the bolt instead of the hose, then tied the other end of the rope to a post. Works great! Hose stays put, near the bottom, and no kinks.



I had already tied the pump to the chair, for the draining, so that I could adjust it's position in the water. I set it at about 8 or 9 inches deep, so worse-case scenario the pump wouldn't drain more than that. You never know what might befall you during this process. Hanging the pump at a safe depth prevents accidentally draining your pool too much.

I'll circulate some chlorine tomorrow, and test the CH, too. Then cross my fingers that my filter plug shows up. But I've got it covered if it doesn't. I have so much going on right now in my garden that I doubt I'll be able to experiment with getting a valve on my filter drain hole. Maybe next year.

So... more than anyone needed to know, but maybe there's a tip or two here that others can use. The most valuable is the bit about tracking your drains and fills so that you can get a gallons per inch figure. That's really useful.

More tomorrow, no doubt!

ajw22 said:

Yup, it is linked to your profile and the button shows...

View attachment 645225

I never need to add liquid chlorine to my pool if my SWG is working correctly.

But I run my pump and SWG 24/7 to always add some chlorine to the pool.

Rain has little effect on the water chemistry of your FC level as long as your pump is running. The dilution is minimal unless your pool overflows out a drain.

If your pump is not running during the rain, you should not do any testing until it runs for a few hours and mixes the water well.

BTW, your CYA is 80, not 75. We always round up.

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thanks, i'm running 24 hours already. right now it's low maybe 1600 rpms for overnight cycle. i haven't set a full schedule yet, i've been doing manual speeds and leaving it in manual. I WISH it was wifi...but hopefully that upgrade is coming with the core control unit.

i'm still curious when at the donation section it says golf donors get money towards the tfp store. i can't find that store...if that's not tftestkit then what's the discount code go to?

Enzodast said:

also dumb question... on pool math to raise ph it says ph up/ soda ash/ washing soda. is washing soda baking soda? i have soda ash and it says i can add 1 lb 10.4 oz to get up to 7.6 ph

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pH will rise on its own. Unless your pH < 7, don't add anything to raise pH.

With a TA of 80, your pH will rise. With a TA of 60-80, don't lower your pH below 7.6, and I'd recommend letting your pH be 7.8 to 8.0. Only when pH gets above 8 (purple hues), then lower your pH to 7.8.

Enzodast said:

also i went into my profile in pool math and linked to my profile. can you see if you can see my logs now please?

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Yup, it is linked to your profile and the button shows...

Enzodast said:

also i haven't added any shock since slam finished, and we had rain. but SWG has been off. it'll be on in the am, should i throw in another gallon of chlorine in the morning you think also? then let SWG do it's thing? how often do you all typically add chlorine during a season when the swg is running? after a heavy rain typically is what i would do here...

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I never need to add liquid chlorine to my pool if my SWG is working correctly.

But I run my pump and SWG 24/7 to always add some chlorine to the pool.

Rain has little effect on the water chemistry of your FC level as long as your pump is running. The dilution is minimal unless your pool overflows out a drain.

If your pump is not running during the rain, you should not do any testing until it runs for a few hours and mixes the water well.

BTW, your CYA is 80, not 75. We always round up.

TFP is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit that is maintained by user donations.

The people who answer questions are volunteers.

If you find the site to be a good resource, please consider making a donation to help support the site.

Thanks.

Enzodast said:

what is the tf pool store.... is that tftestkits.com?

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One of our members started a business to repackage Taylor reagents, change the amount to better match the amount of testing we do (more FC, less TA and CH). Tend to be a better value (use vs. cost). That is TFtestkits.net

also dumb question... on pool math to raise ph it says ph up/ soda ash/ washing soda. is washing soda baking soda? i have soda ash and it says i can add 1 lb 10.4 oz to get up to 7.6 ph

PoolStored said:

redacted...

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huh?

also i'm looking at the donation page. what is the tf pool store.... is that tftestkits.com?

The promotion comes and goes seasonally. Now is high demand so they do regular pricing.
It will come back, all depends on when.

Newdude said:

The new core 55 is $3000

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There are two products.
Core 55 standalone (just the generator): $1995 discountsaltpool.com

And Core Control 55 which has minimal automation/app: $2500 circupool.com

Waterway has a few removal tools. Not sure if this one is it for you.

Waterway Poly Gunite Jet Wrench Tool, 218-1770

ajw22 said:

Use Long Deck Anchors or 9" Pipe Anchors that will go through the paver into the concrete below.

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+1

BigLebowski said:

3. We were going for a higher end look, it’s a classic, 100 year old property. A few folks have said that the sand base will not hold up well, will have issues with freeze/thaws, and will look sloppy for a more finished property.

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My opinion: You know what really looks sloppy? Stress cracks, popped tiles, and unnatural joint patterns that telegraph the substrate. Doing paver maintenance isn’t fun, but it is manageable and doable in bite sized chunks. (Also, I suspect they’re speaking to you about a traditional sand bed, not sand over concrete.)

Keep in mind your concrete and your pavers will have different expansion/contraction properties and that same freeze/thaw cycle is going to be imparting opposing forces against any thinset adhesive. Tile work is a much bigger PITA in my opinion, especially if the material has started to weather and you can’t match it.

We are back in business my friends! Indeed, I just had to pull and wiggle harder than I thought. I also took off the single pole breaker next to it first which gave me more grip and leverage, and off she came. New breaker popped right in and wire connections were piece of cake. The $$ for the electrician went to Mother's Day dinner instead. Thanks everyone!

ajw22 said:

To clarify...

That valve in the middle of the H manifold is a check valve with a 5 pound spring.

As that check valve is installed in the H configuration, it creates a bypass at high flow rates.

That check valve does not perform the functions other check valves in pool plumbing typically do.

Aquacal calls it a BYPASS KIT. The kit consists of the check valve in the manifold configuration as a bypass.

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i get it, but this is apparently what aquacal sent with the heater....

also i went into my profile in pool math and linked to my profile. can you see if you can see my logs now please?

also i haven't added any shock since slam finished, and we had rain. but SWG has been off. it'll be on in the am, should i throw in another gallon of chlorine in the morning you think also? then let SWG do it's thing? how often do you all typically add chlorine during a season when the swg is running? after a heavy rain typically is what i would do here...