Hello everyone, I have been doing a lot of lurking and information gathering in plans to get a pool installed. I am located in South Carolina. I have four different bids varying in price, but each contractor uses different equipment from the big names. I am still gathering information on specific models, but below is what I have acquired so far. Does anything stand out to you as being the best or concerning? We are going to go larger on concrete no matter who we go with as we are blending this into a covered patio we are also doing. Contractor B also provided a bid for a porch and was extremely competitive for that piece, but more expensive for the pool. I would say Contractor A has been our favorite, but also is one of the cheapest. Contractor A came very well recommended and was the only ones to mark our yard of a potential layout. They took a lot of time chatting, and turned around a quote quickly.

Best communication: A and D

18x36 rectangle 8ft deep
Wedding Cake Steps
Deep end bench full width
vinyl over stair
All are metal pool walls
Salt

Contractor A - $56,300 and 5% off by April 30
Pump: Pentair IntelliFlo3 VSF 3hp Pump 011077
Filter: Pentair C&C SD80 sand filter 145333
Lights: Pentair Microbrite ($1000 each to add more)
Salt System: Pentair Intellichlor IC40 520555
Vinyl: Latham liners
Steps: Vinyl
Coping: Cantilever edge
Concrete Included: 8x8x4x4
2 drains
1 skimmer
2 or 3 returns
1 led light included, we are going to do 3
Umbrella mounts are $25 a piece
Not included in price -Dirt removal $150 an hour, the estimate is 8 hours so $1200~

Contractor D - $59,105
Pump: Pump: TriStar® VS 900 Variable Speed Pump 1.85HP 115/230V #HAY-10-3234
Filter: Hayward 244T
Lights: 3 Hayward Spa lights
Salt System: Hayward AquaRite S3 Omni
Vinyl: Latham liners
Steps: Vinyl
Coping: Concrete cantilever
Concrete Included: 950 sqft
2 drains
1 skimmer, but can do 2 if requested
2 or 3 returns
3 led light included
2 concrete umbrella mounts if wanted free
Not included in price - Extra dirt removal is $400 per truck. They estimate 10 truckloads so about $4,000
Polaris 8642IQ pool robot

Contractor F - Waiting on quote



Contractor B - $68,500
Pump: Jandy VS Flopro 1.85HP
Filter: Jandy Pro series sand filter top mount w 2” valve SFTM24-2.0
Lights: Jandy Pro Series LED underwater 12W 100; cord ($1000 each to add more)
Salt System: Jandy Truclear
Vinyl: Tara or Merlin liners
Steps: Vinyl
Coping: Cantilever edge
Concrete Included: 4x4x4x4
2 drains
1 skimmer
returns?
1 led light included
Not included in price - Dirt removal is $400 per truck, estimate is 15 trucks so $6000~

Contractor C - $73,500
Pump: Pentair Superflo VS 2hp
Filter: Pentair C&C SD 60 Sand
Lights: Pentair Microbrite
Salt System: IntelliCenter i5P w/SALT
Vinyl: Tara or Merlin liners
Steps: Vinyl
Coping: Gray aluminum, can change to cantilever
Concrete Included: 4x4x8x8
2 drains
2 skimmer
1 overflow
returns?
3 led light included

Contractor E - $89,592
Not sure on models
Pump: Pentair
Filter: Pentair Cartridge FIlter
Lights: Pentair Microbrite
Salt System: Pentair
Vinyl: Latham liners
Steps: Vinyl
Coping: Cantilever edge
Concrete Included: 8x8x4x4
2 drains
1 skimmer
3 returns
3 led 1.5" lights
Not included in price -Dirt removal $500 per load

I have a 4 year old Anchor Solid Vinyl pool cover that keeps tearing. I use gorilla tape to patch some holes and vinyl patches to repair tears on the bottom and top. Does anyone know of a product that I can put on the cover that will wear better. I have 2 border collies that run across it because that is what they like to do.

Hello All,
Just coming to get some opinions on my current dilemma. Long story short the partner of my late grandfather whom we've basically been taking care of since he passed the last 10 years or so and was a bit of a hermit was nearing 90 and showing some memory issues and her children finally decided it was time to come pick up mom and move her across country with her. This leaves me to deal with my late grandfathers house that she was living in and has a fairly nice pool that was never used. I have experience properly keeping up a pool with Taylor test kits, cartridge filters, and liquid chlorine and other chems to maintain as perfect levels as possible and as easily as possible ( surprise - all thanks to TFP!). However this setup is a little bit different than I am used to, but no worries there, I will brush up on the TFP guides and surely be ahead of the game.

Since I will only be visiting the house once a week I see no reason to continue paying the pool company to come open the pool and another ~$400 a month to maintain it throughout the spring/summer/fall season. All they were doing is coming by once a week to empty the skimmer, drop in 3-5 tabs (according to old invoices), and brush it - I assume anyways. My plan is to spend around $900 on a skimmer and brush robot like my old pool and call it a day and drop some tabs in once a week when I go get groceries over near that area and other chems as needed. Ultimately pretty simple stuff. Would love to do liquid but I wont be there that often.

Anyways to the meat of the question - as far as I can tell the pump has no timer to run it. That seemed like such a standard piece of equipment to me that I am a bit baffled to be honest. My late grandfathers partner certainly wasn't going out every single day and manually running the pump all these years, did the pool maintenance company just allow the pump to run 24/7 or am I blind and missing a timer right in front of my face? I'll attach pictures but I've traced the electric from the pump to all the electric on the wall and do not see anything resembling a timer - mind you there is a black "TORO" box but I think that runs the lights right above it, I haven't cracked it open to look yet though as its taped shut, very slim chance thats a timer running the pool in there but that would be the only place, I'll investigate further later this week when I have time. Pool is currently closed down still from winter.

With no timer is my only option to just leave the pump running 24/7 for the next 5 months? A bit of a rhetorical question I suppose because if there is truly no timer it would make sense to just pay the money to have one installed(I don't want to spend more than I have to since we have a time limit in which we now have to sell the house, but of course it would be nice for the next owner to have it set up properly - I'd love to redo the whole area if I could its a bit dated), I'm just baffled and wonder if that's how its been running this whole time.

Anyways any input would be appreciated!

[Update: My technique was wrong - tftestkit 50ppm CYA sample was a big help. See my follow-up post below if interested in this subject; otherwise ignore this post.]

I purchased a bottle of CYA 50ppm water sample from tftestkits and did the block dot tests several times as a sanity check. Fail. The dot was clearly visible at 50ppm (at the "half way" mark). My reading came closer to 20-30ppm.

I'm going to reach out to them to be sure I'm doing this right (following all instructions here and on their site) and/or to find out if the sample may have been bad.

I don't want to whine about the CYA test here; I get the variances in eyes, lighting, etc., this is just an FYI in case others have tried this route to check your block dot skills.


My results:
Black dot test with CYA 50ppm sample: I get around 20-30ppm
Black dot test with my pool water: 60ppm (all other tests (FC/CC, pH, CH, TA etc.) within proper ranges)
Leslie's pool store test with my pool water: 78ppm <-- this was just for fun, I was comparing all of my tests to theirs for fun (mostly for salt before my refills arrived) but ignoring theirs.

Folks, I have ants in my Aqualink RS box!! How do I clean them out?? Can’t spray because of electronics..

I bought a pressure gauge from TFTestKits and want to replace the existing pressure gauge in my Jandy DEV60. The new gauge is bigger than the original one and I can’t use the original plastic cover and am not sure I’m getting enough threads installing the new one. Can this new gauge be used on this filter without the plastic cover?

If I wanted a preventative algacide, what might you recommend? There are pools I care for that have some degree of volatility where one would help. What do you use to treat an algal bloom? Mustard? Green? BLACK!? As stated I need to veer away from metal based products.

Hi all, had a quick question for the group regarding our current water level. We're located in the KC metro area, and have our fair share of rain this spring season so far. The water level is getting high and the mesh safety cover is sitting in the water. We're scheduled to open our pool on May 19th, but I'm wanting to know if we should be draining off any water prior to this, or if it's a moot point. We have a submersible pump from the winter that we could use. Attached a photo for reference. Thank you for any and all feedback/advice!

I was brushing the pool and when I was really up close to the edge of the pool, I can see some hairline cracks in the fiberglass (gel coat?)

These are super small, but the pool is only 1 year old.

Manufacture closed this year (owner died), they have been in business for 40 years I trusted them, but now I got no warranty.

Is this something that happens on FG pools regularly (hairline cracks?)

Should I monitor it closely?

At least it is not a crack submerged in water.

thanks again

We are replacing our vinyl liner and sand filter (c1993). We are strongly considering installing a SWG. Are there problems with salt and a vinyl liner (corrosion, holes, etc). I have no idea how the SWG works, but I understand you initially put in a lot of salt for the start-up. Any recs for type or brands of SWG? We will hire a pool company to do all the installs. Thanks for any advice.

Meet Marshmallow (not sold on the name yet but it’s growing on me …) -



She is Meringues little sister (from the same parents) -



As you can see, they are spitting images of one another. Marshmallow still has her puppy fur which is a bit darker than Meringue’s so we’ll see how that changes as she grows. But, for now , Meringue has been introducing her new sister to all her favorite toys and they got to play fetch outside … Marshmallow likes to nip at Meringue but Meringue knows how to give her a good hip-check to put the little squirt in her place. Marshmallow seems like she’ll probably be bigger and a bit more stout than Meringue as Meringue is considered small for her breed. They are both Goldendoodles.

I guess I won’t be getting much sleep again … 🫩

Hi all! Need some guidance here. I’m a pool newbie. We got our pool a year ago. We live in SC and never close the pool. It’s an 11k gal fiberglass I ground pool.

In Feb I started noticing dark spots on the walls and would scrub it off and then it’d come back. Every weekend I’d clean out the pool and scrub the walls. And now I’m at the point where every other day it comes back worse than before. So I’m aware (now) I have an algae problem and I’m trying to get the pool healthy. Be gentle as I’m a newbie here and know that I’ve not done anything right. But I want to learn so I can keep it nice going forward.

4/22
pH: 7.7
FC: 0.62
(never occurred to me to check CYA) until I started admitting I had a problem and started researching and realized this is a key component of a healthy pool.

4/26 12pm
pH:7.17
FC:0.62
TA:108
CYA:14
Added 2 lbs stabilizer

4/26 8pm
CYA: 24

4/27 8am
FC: 3.9
CYA: 27
Added 1.25 gal liquid chlorine

4/27 12pm
FC: 3.8
CYA: 23
Added 1.25 gal liquid chlorine

4/27 145pm
FC: 2.91
CYA: 24

I’m not sure what to focus on. CYA or FC. And why do they keep dropping even though I’m adding chemicals.

I watched the TFP videos and read the forums and documents.

I just want to make sure I dont send myself into a counteractive spiral where I’m fighting myself and spending tons of money on chemicals because of my lack of knowledge.

The SLAM process makes sense to me but my pool is t reacting in a way that makes sense (to me).

What am I doing wrong?
Thank you in advance!
Dawn

Hi, my family is building a pool for the 1st time and could use some help from the knowledgeable folks on this forum to finalize plumbing and equipment plans.

Since we’ve started working with our pool builder, we’ve come to learn it’s important to double-check their plans as there often isn’t much thought behind those plans other than, “this is what we did on the last build where no one asked questions” . And so as we’ve started to look into details and recommendations in forums like this, we’ve become worried that the pool builder’s plumbing plan is not a deeply-thought-out one…

For example, the pool– 15.5 x 35’, IG fiberglass, 3.5 - 6’ in depth, approximately 16.5k gallons – is oriented with the deep end to the north and the shallow end to the south. Local summer winds come from the NW (pushing surface debris to the SE); in other seasons, the winds come from the S (pushing surface debris to the N). But the builder planned a single skimmer on the NE end of the pool ("since it will be easy to install there"), which seems like a suboptimal location (and not a good reason)…

The rest of the builder’s plumbing plans include:

• All 2” hard PVC pipe
• 2 main drains in the deep end wall + 3 returns
• IntelliCenter + IC40 SWG + Intelliflo3 VSF 1.5HP
• Clean and Clear Plus 420 SF cartridge filter & 400k BTU NG heater

The pool equipment pad will be approximately 95’ west of the pool (placed close to gas and electrical service), so most pipe runs will be >100’. The pool will have an automatic safety cover that we will keep closed when the pool is not in use.

Here's a drawing (by us) showing our understanding of the builder’s plumbing plans. Concerns include:

• Only 1 skimmer in a location that doesn’t match any season’s wind directions
• Long (>100’) plumbing runs + 1.5HP pump-- will 2" pipes + a 1.5 HP pump be sufficient?
• 3 returns -- will that be enough for good circulation with the length of the pool?

And here's an adjusted drawing showing what I’m thinking we should push for instead (after reading various forum posts and articles):

• 2 skimmers, 1 on each end of the pool to handle both seasonal wind directions and offer some redundancy
• Upsize to 2.5” pipes for at least the suction lines
• Add some more returns on at least 2 separate lines
• Maybe upsize to a 2.5-3 HP VS pump? (more notes on this below)

Are we on the right track? Anything major that looks off here or that we might regret not asking for?

When I follow pool plumbing guides, I think we should be fine in terms of flow rates (11-45 GPM for 24-6 hr turnover rates) and water velocities (1.77 inch pipe at 45 GPM + 6 fps). I’m less sure on TDH and pump sizing, though. It seems difficult to get an accurate TDH number without knowing all the fitting details, but maybe a TDH in the 40’ range (at 45 GPM) would be a reasonable assumption with our planned equipment and longer plumbing runs (?).

If so, then with up to 45 GPM flow rates and 40’ TDH, looking at Intelliflo3 pump curves, that looks like ~65% speed on the 3HP model, or ~80% speed on the 1.5HP model. Is there a way to go from pump chart speeds to energy usage and in turn decide which would be a more cost effective pump over a few years of operation?

If we went with Hayward instead, the Tristar XL looks like one of their top 3HP models, where it’d run at 2400 RPM. For 1.5HP models, the MaxFlo VS 500 (with a claimed >10 WEF) would run closer to 3000 RPM. It’s also unclear how to evaluate the relative cost effectiveness of these options…

Can others with some more pool ownership experience help guide us in a good direction here?

I’d sincerely appreciate any feedback you can share. Thank you so much!

Hello, so my pool was built or repair unconditionally. The walls are vinyl and the floor is concrete or fiberglass (no-one seems to be able to tell me). The connection between the floor and the walls has separated and the pool is leaking all around the bottom circumference of the floor. As you can imagine no-one wants to repairs it (high liability) and starting over is a $140K job. So I found one pool contractor that is willing to help me and his solutions (which he says he has never tried) is to seal the gabs in the floor using epoxy; then paint the whole pool with epoxy paint. Then we pray that this solution will hold for a couple years. Does anyone have any experience using epoxy in this way to seal pool leaks? If so, what was the severity of the leaks and how long has the solution lasted? Does anyone have another solutions that you may recommend? We've consider a putting a liner but no-one is willing to do the job. Thanks in advance...

I wonder if anyone has experienced this, my water is balanced, other hottub users don't have an itching problem, I don't have an itching problem other than on my central back area which is suspiciously in the area where the jets provide the most massage effect (and is the most difficult area to scratch ).

The tub is a new Hotspring relay with the salt system, been running it for a month as a test before I Aahsome purge, drain and refill in the next few days, I maintain chlorine above 3ppm, I shock after use with additional Sodium Hypochlorate 14% and use the dichlor to bleach method (CYA is at 50 from first fill having gone a tad too far with the dichlor).

I can measure fCl, tCl and CCl using my Pool Lab 2.0 and notice that CCl's range from 0.8 to 2.0 after a soak, so I then shock up to 10ppm chlorine which brings it down, but I haven't managed to get it below 0.8 CCl so far. I haven't used any other oxidisers other than bleach, should I try something to get the CCl to zero?

The itching is localised which makes me think it's something to do with the water jets, it could be just a sensitive back that I have or it could be the water pressure pitting my back with nasties or chlorine, the tub will be squeaky clean after the next drain, I had a break of about 16 months from hottubing from the last hottub before this new Relay and didn't have an issue before (the tub before was not water balanced as well as this one is), any thoughts or experiences from you guys ?

I have recently replaced the gas valve on my Hayward Heater. The solenoid just failed.

I cannot find any major literature on why these fail. This may be a dense question and I am asking more out of my own curiosity. This was a 4 year old valve. Any idea generally why these fail?

Do I have to empty water from filter before I remove clamps to readjust them? I have 2 clamps where I see drips and would prefer not to waste water but I also don't want to create more damage! Thanks!

Just thought I’d ask the other Brits where you’re all buying test kits etc from in case I’m missing a trick

G'day all,

I have purged and started with fresh water in my Hotspring Relay with Freshwater Salt System (1290L/350 Gallons), it's a new tub but the amount of gunk that Ahhsome pulled out is quite outstanding, highly recommended for anyone with a new tub to get squeaky clean.

I could do with some views on water chemistry, particularly LSI vs Hotspring recommended ranges, reading around it appears that the thinking on fixed ranges has moved on in the context of LSI/CSI for pools and spas, I also note that most recommendations for CH are way above the Hotspring recommended levels.

Hotspring have a recommended range for CH of 25-75ppm target 50ppm (presumably to reduce Salt system scaling), the tub came with a water softener (we have 500ppm CaCO3 tap water in these parts so it's needed), it also came with their magic Calcium remover bag. When the tub was initially filled on delivery the CH looked to be in range according to their test strip (I don't yet have the means to get a more accurate CH test so I am relying on the test strip). I regenerated the water softener, measured it's output for hardness and filled the tub, the CH now looks to be around 100ppm, so the softener appears to have run out of steam (or the water is harder than a month ago) on this fill.

Hotspring Salt range is 1500-2000ppm, target 1750.

I have balanced the water but not yet added salt, I am balancing to get LSI in range and the numbers are very close to Hotspring recommendations apart from CH, here are my numbers today:

Temp: 39 C
pH 7.5 (Ceiling is 8.2/8.3)
TA 85
CH 100
CL 10, initial shock
CYA 12 (aiming for 30 at next Dichlor addition), no Hotspring recommendation for CYA.
Salt 0
LSI -0.25 no Hotspring recommendation for LSI

I want to be lazy and contain pH by letting it freerise to it's ceiling (also based on latest thinking related to pH levels)

When I increase the CYA to 30ppm and CH stays at 100ppm and I add salt to 1600ppm and if I let the pH free rise to its ceiling of 8.2 the LSI will change to 0.19.
If I do the above but reduce CH to 50ppm (presumably by using their magic bag rather than dilute the water) the LSI is -0.11.

Given the above would LSI of -0.11 create less scaling on the salt generator than 0.19? Is there much difference in the context of Calcium scaling between these two LSI readings?

As a separate note, we have higher than 2.5ppm Phosphates in the tap water here, so I treat that separately to get into the Hotspring range of under 150ppb (although I will start a separate thread for Phosphate removal as I am sure to have questions ).

As usual, thanks for your thoughts

Hi,

This past week I’ve been dealing with a couple of issues with my Pentair Easytouch system and the 011018 pump.

The scheduling of the Easytouch seems to be malfunctioning: whenever I change the start or end time of a schedule while it’s running, the schedules randomly turn off afer a few hours. However if I adjust the schedule before it starts, everything works fine. While troubleshooting I found an Easytouch motherboard for $400, which I think is a good price, thinking I might need to replace it. But since adjusting the schedule before it starts works, I’m not planning on replacing it for now.

Also my Pentair 010018 Pump started making a loud squealing noise. Not always, but intermittently. After reading in this forum it seems that pump replacement might be the best option. However, before I replace it I want to use the current pump for as long as possible. I found that the discontinued VS 011028 pump could be a drop-in replacement, but I can’t find it at a reasonable price. The next option I’m considering is the Intelliflo 3 VSF. From my research, it looks like for it to work with all features my Easytouch needs to be on firmware version 2.16. Currently I’m on 2.13, but the motherboard I purchased is at 2.18. I still have time to return it, should I keep it for when I replace the pump, or is there a better plan? I don’t know how difficult it is to update the firmware of the Easytouch. I don’t have screen logic and I’m not planning on putting it in, unless I really need to or makes sense for the price.

I have the pump on 24/7 at 1700 RPMs, with 5 hours at mid day at 2700, I’ll reduce the 5 hours to 2, in hopes to elongate its life.

Any advice or suggestions will be as always appreciated!

Thanks!
Roger

Our MasterTemp model 460805 is 15 years old. I took the manifold apart to remove a piece of plastic lodged in there and discoverd my heater does not have a thermal regulator.

Was the thermal regulator optional in 2010 or did I just forget to put one in during setup in June 2010?

Is there a way to control the relays on the i/o board when using the external control programs? The only settings i see are speed/flow percentage settings... would be nice if it is possible... right now there is a 4 way air switch that turns the pump pump on and off by cutting the power, because i am using the relays to turn on the heat pump and the 1/2 hp pump where the heat pump is connected to. If i use the digital input than the only option is to cut the power of the heat pump completely, but i am not sure if that is a good thing to do ( i guess not)

Hello,
I will be redoing my pool plumbing to install a heater.
Does this setup make sense? I'm new to this, so I would need some advice.
I read that the check valve should be at least 12 inches away from the heater's "water out" port.
The blue line is the water into the 3-way and the red line is back to the pool.
Thank you! : )

Hi I have a 30000 gallon pool the old liner has been removed and they have a well point going and 4 sump pumps but can’t stop the ground water in 4 holes in the bottom. The pool company says they aren’t coming back until it dries. I don’t see this happening. Is there something I can do to stop the leak through the holes

The title is pretty self-explanatory here. I had my water tested at Leslie’s at my copper is at 1.6, which even TFP says is too high. The article I read said that the only way to remove copper permanently is to drain and refill, but I also have a well and I’m worried that is contributing to the copper levels. Leslie’s recommendation is either drain and refill or a “no metal” chemical.

Does the “no metal” actually work to reduce levels? Should I just bite the bullet and drain/ refill?

Hello! This is our second summer with our above ground 15x30 oval pool. Last year we kind of got #poolstored with the chemicals that came with the pool package, and knowing nothing, we just kept using them. The chemicals seemed rather pricey and when we went on vacation we started growing algae and never got it back under control. Most of the summer I didn't even check the water with the strips because it was crystal clear with our chemical schedule. I know we can do better and TFP looks like an amazing resource. Can't wait to get a test kit and open the pool!

I'd like to change mine but am afraid it will wipe out all the settings and configurations? I have never changed it before but likely need to. I also have the 9-volt changed with fresh battery already in place.

Is it really possible that my green swamp only needs 3 1/2 cups of chlorine to clear it up? Fc level .5 cya 30

Just checking in on how you guys like this system so far? I can't find much info online about it, what information does the bare system display on the app without the future addons. Does it have ability to control VSP, and does it use the same replacement cell as the regular core 55? Thanks!

Having an entire remodel done and they suggested adding concrete to top of spa wall to bring it up even with the deck elevation. This will be an approximately 4" tall and 7" wide addition. Should they be using some fiberglass rebar at the top or to side of the existing wall to help secure or is that even possible? I'm concerned about just having a floating piece of concrete there without any mechanical adhesion. I believe they plan on building the form and pouring without any rebar.