I have a mix of all 3 - flex pvc, rigid pvc, and hoses.
This is mainly due to the orientation of my pump/filter in relation to my pool,deck, and swcg.
I like being able to remove the hoses and pipes easily for the winter and have them tucked under the deck while in use but also not be in the way of my swg box or my storage area.
There’s no wrong answer- just do what works for you.

I worked in product development in another industry. When a new product was launched, it was all hands on deck if there was a fault. It seems Pentair product development or technology group is not aware of the issue with a new product and the warranty department is just quoting their policy.

One idea - do you have a neighbor that uses a pool service? Ask them to stop by and for $50 cash, see if they will write up an error report.

rdelisa said:

Mine was clear, but had al algae ring around it. The FC was just 1.5PPM. I went a little bit overboard wanting to avoid an Algae bloom and SLAMMED it with 3 x 121oz jugs of 7.5% chlorine and 2 x 1lb bags of 58% Cal-Hypo.
After overnight the FC is now 33PPM. The PH is sky high at about 8.5.. That's okay. It'll take a couple of weeks anyway to get it vacuumed and temp up to swimming levels. The water is about 57 degrees.

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Is your cya above 80? If not it sounds like a bombing not a Slam. Not more effective just more risky and more expensive. Just trying to clarify for other readers that this is not recommended.
* The phenol red Ph test is inaccurate at fc levels above 10ppm so do not adjust until fc comes down.

Lake Placid said:

Does your pool have a main drain and skimmers, or just skimmers?

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It has skimmers but not sure bout a main drain

Turbo1Ton said:

I think I would call them back and escalate to the next tier. Ask them to provide you the warranty language where it states that the cell must be diagnosed by a professional.

--Jeff

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I made it to their level 2 support, a domestic (USA) person who said sorry, because this is a courtesy unit that was sent to you and you only have a 60 day parts only warranty there is nothing they can do to help, but that parts warranty only applies if a professional comes to diagnosis the issue. I do not have a typical warranty on the unit because I did not buy it from a "pool professional".

I told him the error that was on the unit, which is also in the manual, and he said sorry, unless you are a pool professional who diagnosis the problem there is nothing we can do for you, and that cost is on me. So it sounds like I have to spend the $100 to have someone come out and then tell me the error code that is on the unit so I can call them to say the same thing but because they have an LLC or whatever their words carry more weight with Pentair.

I have since sent emails to a few of their higher ups I have from before letting them know and also contacted their social media accounts which sometimes do respond.

Please read the section on Flex PVC in this article.

If all the flex pipe is above ground then you should be able to inspect and monitor it properly. So do what is easier for you.

I would try the patch, it can't hurt. Something I have had good success with is the Gorilla waterproof tape. I used it on an old plastic ladder and it stayed good for a few years until we got rid of it. It stayed underwater fine for the repair I used it for; took the ladder out of the water at end of season and then back in the start of season and it didn't come loose.

I would use a pool patch then use the Gorilla tape over that. Or use 1 patch over the tear then another patch over the patch. Either way overlap the top layer to keep the bottom layer sealed.

This does not seem like their usual MO on the IntelliChlor units. From what I typically see here is people call in with an issue, they walk them through troubleshooting steps, and determine it is a bad part (traditionally a flow switch because that was basically all their was on the old units), then send a new one out or a tech out to swap them. I wouldn't expect them to send a tech in this case since it is a unit that was already sent out because of warranty, but I am surprised they are not doing that.

Unless something has changed with the warranty, replacement cell warranty's are fully available to the homeowner. It is just the system as a whole that is only warrantied if installed by a professional.

I think I would call them back and escalate to the next tier. Ask them to provide you the warranty language where it states that the cell must be diagnosed by a professional.

--Jeff

TinFoilHat said:

Well, the site is here to guide you on science based pool care but you can operate your pool however you want. We all do to some degree anyway.

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Yep, that’s why I’m here. What are the downsides of the tablet chlorinator feeder?

Mine was clear, but had al algae ring around it. The FC was just 1.5PPM. I went a little bit overboard wanting to avoid an Algae bloom and SLAMMED it with 3 x 121oz jugs of 7.5% chlorine and 2 x 1lb bags of 58% Cal-Hypo.
After overnight the FC is now 33PPM. The PH is sky high at about 8.5.. That's okay. It'll take a couple of weeks anyway to get it vacuumed and temp up to swimming levels. The water is about 57 degrees.

To elaborate a little more & explain the why,
If your ph is really 7.9 you absolutely do not need 2 GALLONS of acid.
The chlor brite will only lower ph more and increase cya more further increasing your problems.
The cal hypo will add calcium you really don’t need and may cause further cloudiness.
The contraption in your skimmer will likely not reduce your cya by any appreciable amount just lighten your wallet.
We can help you but please follow the instructions in my post above.

Newdude said:

+1. Was the original unit close to being out of warranty that this one basically has none ? Thats the only way this makes sense to me.

They all (every industry) use the original date for the replacement and it burns me. They can give you another lemon and its suddenly ok that they're giving lemons.

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Yup, that's exactly it. This was sent as "a courtesy replacement" for the older one which failed right out of warranty. Because of that this one only has a 60 day parts warranty but as a homeowner I am not allowed to diagnose my own problem so need to pay a "pool professional" to come out and write them up a diagnosis before they will send any replacement parts. That's from their supervisor / second tier support staff. I have two calls out to get someone here, its going to cost me $100 at least to have them come out and look at the error code. I'm annoyed I gave them free press on here but I was excited to have one and wanted to show it off. Made sure to edit the first post so at least folks who stumble on this thread from Google will read first thing how quickly the unit failed.

I must say I am really bummed this happened, I know jokes were made here about it but in no way did I actually expect this thing to break so quickly. Especially if this really was one of the first units ever sent out to the general public. Not being able to tell them the error code and that I did what the manual tells me to do to troubleshoot is also bad.

Does anyone know of any SWG manufacturers that actually work with homeowners or is it like the HVAC market where they only deal with pros? Someone needs to make a direct to consumer unit and shake up the system.

Fixed!

Really stupid on my part. The double o-ring needs to be facing the wholes. That is what helps seal it. I have had it wrong for 2 or 3 years now!

DrewPool said:

Where did you get your solar cover from?

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Hi there, I got out cover through our pool installer. Was just easier to do that and the price seemed fine.

Nope. Add the chlorine each day. Sure backwash.

Mdragger88 said:

No, you’re simply adding 5ppm worth to the pool to account for daily losses while you wait. Not trying to maintain a specific fc level.
View attachment 644288
Thats a dab under a gallon- it doesn’t have to be exact, a gallon a day of 10% strength will do!
Put that robot to work !

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There is now visible algae floating in my pool. Anything else I should be doing? I'm doing 1 gal per day, brushing the sides every day, keeping the robot vacuum running. I haven't backwashed yet, but pressure is fine. Maybe I'll do that today just to clean everything out and top off the pool.

Go Kit 79 is correct if pump mfd before 2015.you need this:

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I have had my 614IQ for 1 week now, and WOW! I was coming from Pentair Racer pressure side cleaner that came with the pool. The racer has been broken for the past 1-2 months so I was excited to get the Evo in the pool. Immediately as it ran across the floor of the pool we could see a clean, clear path that was left in its wake. We are in Oklahoma and had a bunch of windy, dustbowl days. I've run 'Kreature' 4 times now; 3 times with the regular filter and 1 time with the fine filter basket. I'm more than impressed and kicking myself for limping along with the Racer for the past 3 years. Thank you for this thread and to Marina Pools.

mwalker85 said:

Hi,
I don’t always use the same temp setting , but usually somewhere around 88 degrees. The intellicenter had been reading about 2 degrees cooler than the heater reading. I had already adjusted the calibration of the intellicenter to match the temp of the heater previously.

However, I believe the issue I have been experiencing is independent of the discrepancy between the temp reads. I am not sure, but I had read somewhere that when connected via rs485 the temp set point is sent to the heater and then the thermostat of the heater is performing the temp regulation, not the intellicenter (which seems logical to me). This is also supported by the fact that the LCD of the MasterTemp will show whatever temp setting I input into the intellicenter (as well as the current water temp).

So when the heater shuts off, it needs to report its status back to the intellicenter which would then show as “idle”, then it would ramp the pump back down to its normal speed.

All this being said… my intellicenter finally went back to idle and ramped my pump down. I have not changed any settings yet so… I don’t know what was going on. FM? Perhaps I had not waited long enough and the heater cool down timer was still active?

Anyway, I truly do appreciate you taking the time to respond. Thank You! I will report back if the system exhibits this behavior again.

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I had this issue and I made the Intellicenter temp 1 degree higher than the heater temp. The lag difference in the two readings is likely why it took a while to shut down.

I agree with your operational narrative, but unfortunately that is not how Pentair programmed it to operate. Call Pentair and complain about the operation and advise them that the Intellicenter should read the Mastertemp temperature for it's control point.

--Jeff

brcyk5 said:

Hi and thank you. I was able to get rid of the green and there is definitely next to no chlorine. I read the above article but can't seem to interpret the best way to fix this with my SWG. Do I add more liquid chlorine, add salt too. I don't want to just keep dumping.

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Like said above, you can safely add 5ppm of liquid chlorine only while you wait on a better testing kit. The SWG is good at maintaining chlorine levels but not raising them quickly and you need chlorine quickly to keep it from getting worse.

KBreuer15 said:

Thank you! Gallon added and robot putting that work in.

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Some algae starting to float in the pool when I check it the AM. Anything else I should be doing before we get the test kit?

Program 2 and 3 are very similar except for time duration.
I would delete one of them and make the other 9am to 9am (24 hrs)

Most VS pump programs will only run the highest speed when there is an overlap of schedules.
So what I expect to happen is as follows
9am Pump is on at 28%
10am pump speed ramps up to 65% for 1 hr then goes back down to 28%
At 10pm pump speed ramps up to 65% for 1 hr then goes back down to 28%

Let us know if this works.
I am not sure but the 24 hr low speed schedule may need to be Program 1.

Mdragger88 said:

Follow these extended directions & see how you fare

Calcium Hardness

A drop-based test that measures the hardness in your water. Once measured, it is used … Read more…

www.troublefreepool.com

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I went for the more precise method of adding 25 mL of pool water. The water was still more pink than red but slightly darker and it changed at the same levels as when I did it the routine way. The water is definitely blue If you look closely it’s just a very, very faded blue I think part of the problem was I was using the light on my magnetic stirrer and it sort of drowned it out the blue color when I turned the light off it’s more obvious. I don’t know why a few years ago when I did this test I remember the blue being more obvious. It’s very very light, but it is definitely blue and since I got the same number doing the routine way and the 25 mL way I’m just gonna go with it. Thanks for your help!

I took out the cartridges this morning and ran the filter but that did not work.

This is the valve coming from the filter heading back to the pool. It is set at 1/2 (unless I have it backwards). The other settings are Full Port 1 (left), Full Port 2 (right), and OFF (bottom). When I set it to Full Port 1 the working return still works. When I set it to Full Port 2 none of the returns work. The other ball valve is set in the same position and water is flowing normally into the pump.

The working return is circled in red. The ones not working are circled in yellow. My pump/filter is on the side of the working return. (We've had a lot rain and thunderstorms this week in MA so the pool is even messier than usual)