My pool has the skimmer and bottom drain connected and there is a pressure compensation bypass created by a skimmer venturi. If I understand this correct from a pool builder in the area. Very atypical in his words but he has seen this before. Result... no suction in the suction port for the suction-side cleaner (brand new Polaris Maxx). There is no option to manually connect to skimmer. In other words the main pump is not connectible to the suction side cleaner.


Option B?.... Can I add a small cartridge or even sand filter to the wayerfall.pump and plug into the waterfall pickup in the pool? If so, any suggestions? My WF is a Pentair Dynamo Punp on a Century 1.0HP single speed motor.

Option C?.... if Option B is a bad idea or not going to work, is there a single unit (all in one) that has a pump and filter that i can use as needed to clean and then put away when not needed? Like above ground equipment? If so, any suggestions?

Trying to avoid adding another 1000 for a robot on top of the 550 i already paid for the Polaris Maxx. Which I can't give away for 300 even though it's brand new.

I replaced a very old Kreepy Krauly with a Polaris 280 and the 280 had such a small vacuum opening, the oak leaves just plugged it up easily. So I went back to the 25 year old Kreepy Krauly with a larger mouth opening, and it still worked ok. But its wheel rubber is wearing down and it struggles due to age. Can anyone recommend a reasonable side pressure crawling cleaner with a wide mouth and large bag like my old Kreepy Krauly. Does the current Kreepy Krauly have the same mouth and bag size design? I have a rough pebble bottom with odd stairs and places to get trapped. So in an ideal world, it would have a large mouth, large bag and 4 wheel drive. The Pentair 280 had 3 wheel drive and did not work well and got stuck frequently. Ideas, opinions?

My pool was built 4 years ago. It was filled then and hasn't been completely drained since. It's an in-ground, (from my estimate) 11000 gallons, pebble finish, with a SWG and a DE filter. Up until recently I was just using the home depot test kit and adding acid when necessary to decrease pH and adding salt when the SWG reported a low amount. Now I have a K-2006 test kit and a subscription to the pool math app, and I have been properly checking everything and trying to do things right.

My current levels are:
5.8ppm FC
pH of 7.8
80ppm TA
70ppm CYA
Calcium Hardness of 1100ppm

My calcium hardness is through the roof. After some reading of TFP and the K-2006 manual I did the various versions of the CH test to make sure I was getting an accurate reading. My sample is turning purple and then blue, but it never turns back to pink so I think that's correct.

So, now I'm thinking I need to drain and refill. That might be slightly overkill just for the hardness, but we also had very bad wildfires here in the Los Angeles area (as you may have seen on the news) and that left a LOT of ash in my pool. Now I worried about heavy metals and other toxic junk that may have come from the ash that I don't want to be swimming in.

My question is, what should I do while the pool is drained? Should I have it acid washed? I've heard lots of mixed things about this and I'm leaning toward not doing it. If not acid wash should I clean it some other way? Is there anything I should inspect while the pool is drained?

When I do refill I'm going to use part city water and part water from my home softener. I tested the water from the city using the same CH test and I got 320ppm, so with about 2000 gallons from my softener I'm thinking to dropping that down to about 260ppm which will give plenty of room for the level to rise with evaporation.

Thanks in advance.

TL;DR
4 year old pool, 11000 gallons, pebble finish, SWG
Hasn't been drained since it was built
Calcium hardness is very high, 1100ppm
Lots of ash from wild fires
Thinking about draining and refilling
Should I drain and refill?
If so, what should I do while the pool is empty?

I have been a pool owner and self-maintainer for over 20 years, but we recently moved into a new house with a pool. My old equipment was Pentair with a Hayward SCG and I was very familiar with that setup. This house has all Jandy equipment, including AquaLink and a AquaPure 1400 SWG. It has been cool recently in SoCal and I had not run a water test in about 3 weeks. I ran one a few days ago and got zero FC. All of the other water parameters looks pretty good, at least those that would affect FC generation (CYA = 60, pH=7.3, NaCl=3800, TA=55). I also took a water sample directly from one of the returns using a small hose and also got zero FC. I have cleaned the cell.

There are no error codes on the panel at all. It shows active flow, 80% chlorine production, and 3700ppm salt. After reading several threads here and elsewhere, I ran some voltage tests at the cell and got less than 1 VDC. When I test the voltage at the board, I get 8.4 VDC with the chlorine production set at 100%. I have read that these values are supposed to be 22 to 28 VDC.

Any ideas what is going on? I called Jandy tech support, and once I told them there were no error codes, they couldn't help anymore, as I am not a contractor or pool professional.

Looking forward to perusing the forums. Grew up with pools, managed pools in my younger years but I've been out of the game for twenty years and now have a house with a pool and the newer technology. This will be my first summer trying to manage this things and have already found a wealth of information on the site. Here's to everyone having a healthy and safe 2025 pool season!

My IntelliChlor IC60 has been running for 6 years, and now with about 20% life remaining.

Last week it showed error message "Clean Salt Cell" and one green light was blinking. Did cleaning with diluted muriatic acid, but the error message remains.

Is there a way to reset the error message on this machine?

Is there a different brand but cheaper with identical form and factor, so I can just drop in to replace without changing existing plumbing? This thing now costs nearly 2x of what I paid 6 years ago.

Thanks!

Looking for any recommendations on what to do here. So in the process of changing my igniter on my Max Etherm 333 the metal around the igniter failed. As you can see in the photo there is now a small maybe quarter inch gap allowing heat to escape. The heater is working now but i'm afraid this heat could damage the wires above. The pool repair man said due to the labor involved in changing the plate he'd rather not deal with it but recommended maybe some high temp silicone. Any thoughts.

Hello All,
I am in need of a new pump for the upcoming season. My old pump was a Hayward Power Max, 1.5hp, single speed. The pool is above ground, 33' round ~33,000 gallons.
I had no problem with the Hayward for quite a few years until it started screaming and just gave up. Ran it maybe 12 hours per day. The line to the pump is 120ac on a 20amp.
I need some help as I know I am getting to the point of analysis paralysis. I would like to put in a vs pump to reduce the costs, electric is insane here, but the vs pumps all seem to be made for inground pools. Can I use an in ground pump?
Another item is that I would like to install a small solar system this spring. This of course raises the question of having enough flow.

Overall, I am happy with a 1.5hp provided it can run the pool and the solar system. I would also love to knock some of those electric costs.

Pray tell, what are your thoughts? Really appreciate it.

Steve

I don't come here often, but I have lost my wireless connection to control my pool. I can log in to the app remotely, but none of the info populates and I cannot control anything. I have tried resetting and the basic fixes. Any other ideas?

@ogdento Tom I have the 8 button indoor panel that I believe is fried. Can you please advise on how to get it repaired?

Team --

We have been fighting terrible plaster issues since the initial pour about two years ago. The PB (who also "maintains" the pool, for now) is currently unresponsive. Most recently, within the last year, we have had white deposits appear all over the pool - it looks like bird poop but its not. The PB had someone come out w/ a pumice stone and rub them off and they were back and worse within a week.

Can anything be done to clean this up or is this a full re-plaster situation?

Last two chemistry readings for reference:

Apr 3 2025
READINGS
3 ppm chlorine
9.0 pH
90 ppm total alkalinity
60 ppm cyanuric acid
300 ppm calcium hardness
3200 ppm salt
25 % panel salt production (0-100%)
CHEMICALS ADDED
½ gal pH ↓
6 lbs cyanuric acid

27 March 2025
READINGS
1 ppm chlorine
7.8 pH
110 ppm total alkalinity
60 ppm cyanuric acid
3100 ppm salt
10 % panel salt production (0-100%)
CHEMICALS ADDED
½ gal pH ↓

Sorry if this is a stupid question. We had an above ground pool installed last year. We drained the water past the skimmer and return hoses, detached all hoses and removed the filter in the fall before covering it. During the winter we’ve had a large accumulation of water on the cover. It looks pretty clear but there are decomposed leaves on the bottom so organic debris is present. Should we refill the water in the pool with fresh water or use the water from the cover? We live in an area where we pay a high price for water usage. I realize it will require extra chemicals if we use the water on the cover. What do most people do?

Our new pool construction is complete (as of about 2 weeks ago) and our "pool guy" is coming out this afternoon for the standard tutorial. I've been lurking here for a while reading up on things to know ahead of our construction as well as during our construction, but I figured now that the pool is finished and the real fun is getting ready to start, I'd join in on the fun here. I've already learned a lot from this site, but hope to learn even more going forward.

My ScreenLogic stopped working today. Sometimes the app shows the normal screen but with no values such as temperature and doesn't control anything. I'm unable to login to Configure ScreenLogic from my locally connected PC. Maybe a coincidence but my router was replaced today but all network connections and all devices are working properly except for ScreenLogic. The only thing I did during the router replacement was to unplug ScreenLogic. The new router is configured the same as the old. Sometimes after rebooting the router the ScreenLogic app will look normal with values but it won't control anything. The values shown are frozen are likely from the last time ScreenLogic worked.

I've cycled power many times on everything but no go. I've called Pentair Support but the rep was of no help. The red light is illuminated on the protocol converter and the green power light on ScreenLogic is flashing rapidly. The green power light under the hood on the receiver/transmitter outside is on.

Any suggestions?

So I didn't want to spend the extra $3k for an omni pl system from Pool Builder. I was ok using my SWG app, and Wifi control for heater, and thought that would be good enough. Well, Now of course I want to be able to at least turn on and off, and see if if its actually on or off with some sort of aftermarket control. I don't NEED it, but it would be nice. I do have an old school intermatic control panel with timer, but that's basic obviously. I was looking at the Pentair EC-523317, but that seems like it wont work with a Hayward pump. Only option seems like the omni PL system, which I am not about to install. Its not the end of the world, just looking for a reasonable way of adding automation to the pump.

I am starting my 6th year here with a 21k 30’ pool. I originally had a saltron retro system, and I think I have replaced a power supply once, and the salt cell twice, and now it appears the salt cell needs replacing.
For $399-$499 for the whole system, but only about $200-299 for replacement parts - it think it has served me decently.
I was going to turn around and by another - but wanted to check with this group and see if anything new is more economical. As always, thanks for your suggestions!

I have been a pool owner since 2019. I have opened / closed and done the weekly chemistry on my pool on my own. I got all my info from friends with pools and the pool store prior to me finding this place and getting super dialed in.

I purchased my Dolphin Nautilus CC plus summer of 2019. And for perspective I have my pool open mid April -mid September. I open my pool and scoop all I can with my net and then run the robot with standard filters 3x and switch over to fine filters and run until the filters come back clean. I’d say 5-7 cycles get me there. After the opening I run the robot every Saturday and Sunday early AM so the pool is perfect for when the family wakes. That’s it. So it is 40 cycles per regular season and maybe 10 on opening. So approximately 50 cycles per season.

I never leave the robot in the pool much past the end of the cycle. I always take the hose and rinse the filters, filter housings robot and cord every time. I take the propeller cover off monthly to clean in there but I hose the top each time , bottom, climb wheels tread, every opening and sides each time. I hose off the swivel and 2 blue floats.

When I wind up the cords I lay it out flat and coil it. If I get resistance I don’t force it. I lay coil down and get the kinks out of the rest of the cord and continue. I store the robot on a Maytronics caddy in my garage.

So why do I tell you this ? I hate to say it out loud bc it ensures a problem is headed my way but I think my OCD maintenance routine which took me longer to write bc it only takes a few extra minutes to do, saves me $ by keeping my Robot healthy and running.

Shared for others who have issues with current robots to consider with their new equipment.

Good luck and happy auto pool cleaning to all of us.

I am needing advice on if i can even repair this liner or if i just need to replace it. It's brand new installed around September. Im not even sure what caused it. I did find a dead possum floating in my pool so maybe it could've ripped the liner trying to escape but i don't see any scratch marks or punctures near the rip. I do think that the side the tears are on is in the side i felt i had to stretch the liner more because it was a little deeper on that side. When i do another liner in getting rid of the foam coves and going to go with sand coves. Any advice for this newbie would definitely help.

Hi all -
Was working on the pool this weekend and one of the things I did was pull my IC-40 and acid wash it. It wasn't bad but had quite a bit of pollen that made it past the filter in there. It cleaned up well and after I put it all back together I had a small drip on the pool side of the SWCG at the union. I pulled it off again, pulled, cleaned and lubed the o-rings and I think I've got the leak stopped. All that said, I now notice a steady stream of bubbles from one of my returns. I wouldn't think a small leak on the pressure side would cause air but other than that I don't notice anything wrong. Pool is full to half way up the skimmer (not sucking air), filter baskets are clean and only a tiny little bubble hanging out at the top of the pump basket. Any clue what to start looking at? Here's a pic of my pump setup and one of the leak (zoom in on the palm tree reflection and you can see the bubbles):

Hi, I’d like to introduce myself. I am a new inflatable small volume hot tub owner trying to get it right as quickly as possible. We went with bromine and I’ve been fussing with things like alkalinity, which have been a problem from the start and I think due to my hard water. Hoping this app in this forum/community will be helpful

Hello, The annoying red light is blinking. Usually this stops after cleaning the filters or putting in the adequate chemicals ie salt. I checked all the filters (3 of them) and they are all clean. The tri flow sensor has been replaced about two years ago and the cell about two years. I noticed that the computer is reading 0 volts (11.4 amps) on the cell? May be the cable to the cell?Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you

I’ve recently started having issues switching to spa mode on my pool. When I switch to spa mode the return valve is slow to respond. The intake valve starts moving immediately but the return valve is delayed. Sometimes it’s just a few seconds but other times it’s minutes. A couple of time I turned on spa mode only to go out later and find my spa was half empty before the valve finally switched. Any suggestions? Jandy automation system. I’ll attach an image of the valve.

Thank you all for the information in this thread. I've been looking at the Calimar to replace my Superpump. I don't have any automation, fountains, etc, so it seems like a good fit for my 30K gallon pool. I've got 1.5" pipes so I just wanted to make sure there's no issues using it. Thanks!

Hello everyone, I have recently had my pool servicer install a SWG and I am curious how to read/interpret what's going on with the IC40.

For reference, here is how my system is plumbed:

Pool Water Return -> Pump -> Filter -> Heater -> Check Valve -> IC40 SWG -> Pool Water Send

Note: At Pool Water Return I have 3-way valve that will turn this into Spa Water Return; the same situation at Pool Water Send, I have a 3-way valve that will this into Spa Water Send.

Questions:

1. My servicer installed the SWG downstream of the heater, which I believe is the correction orientation. This prevents highly concentrated salt water generator outputs from entering directly into the heating elements in the heater and prolongs the life of the heater. Is this correct?

2. My servicer installed a 1-way spring door check valve that allows flow from the heater through the IC40 SWG, but stops reverse flow. This is also to keep highly concentrated salt water generator outputs from entering the heater via backflow. Is this correct?

I have my pump set to 2 different schedules. 0800-1100 @2800RPM and 1100-1600 @1500RPM. Other than those schedules, the pump is off. When the pump is running at 2800RPM the IC40 seems to be running okay with all lights/functions working normally and the check valve is open a good amount, letting me know visually that water is flowing through the system appropriately.

3. At 1500RPM, the check valve is not fully open but water seems to be flowing since I see bubbles at the top of the check valve window. The IC40 has a red light for flow, meaning that the IC40 isn't receiving enough water to flow appropriately. Is this situation okay for 1100-1600 @1500RPM? Any adjustments needed?

4. When the pump is fully off, the IC40 has flashing red and green lights in the Salt Level readout section. But the pool has been verified to have appropriate salt content. Is this okay? Or should the pump be running to provide flow at all times?

5. The IC40 seems to be performing and doing its job when the pump is running the 0800-1100 @2800RPM schedule. Will 3 hours per day of appropriate function be enough to keep the pool in check?

I am new to the homeowner and pool life. Any tips or help is appreciated. I've lurked this forum a little bit and happy to be a member now!

Installed a new evo vgreen variable speed motor with a new seal plate (that came with shaft seal pre-installed). The pump is a whisperflo .75 (WFE-3).

It's leaking bad from the connection between motor and seal plate. Photo attached - water is pouring out where the arrow points.

Replace shaft seal?

I have a Gunite pool that hasn't been opened in 16 years. What is the appropriate plan of attack? I am assuming all new equipment, plumbing, tiles, coping, etc ...???

Hi - Just had new Pebble Sheen installed. The manufacturers start up procedure says to lower the TA to 80 - 100 (ours is currently at 120) before lowering the PH. Our PH is off the charts and cannot be measured. I used Pool Math to see how much acid I should add to lower the TA but it doesn't calculate and just says to lower the PH first.

Pool Math says to add 96 oz of acid to get the PH in balance. Just seems so much so am going to start slower with maybe 32 oz. Of course the pool start up company my plasterer hired has not done anything except dump in some sequestering agent (which I don't use anyway) so I am taking back control of this.

The manufactuer says to pre-dilute the acid in a 5 gallon bucket but doesn't say how to disperse. Should I evenly distribute it around the pool instead of just dumping it all in front of a jet. Any opinions are appreciated. Thank you.

Hey all, just to share as unfortunately the camera wasn't recording at the time.

I looked out the other day while Mr. Flowboto, our Polaris pressure side cleaner, was running. A big ripple was on the surface everywhere he went, and when I looked, I must not have gotten the bag on tight as it was mostly caught up in his wheel and all the flow was just pushing debris up to the surface. In a hurry to get to school carpool, I pulled the hose over to reattach it and wasn't thinking. Pulled him out of the water and, forgetting how he actually works, (insert America's Funniest Home Video here of a guy looking into the hose waiting for the water to come out) I got a violent and aggressive sinus wash / neti pot, my hat blown off into the landscaping, and just barely escaped a salty emergency eye wash as well.

Anyway, they're cute, they work hard, but know they are hiding in plain sight (just below the surface ) to attack!

How complicated is it to install a pool overflow drain. From what I have seen, you install a little grate next to the skimmer and run a pipe from that to the curb where the pop up drain will be. I am only doing this because my HOA requires it. My plumber is saying it is an additional 2k, but I already have existing French drains with a pop up at the street as well. Would it really be 2k? Or is it as simple as either running a pipe to the curb or tapping into the existing lines from the French drain?

Finishing final phase of construction on a chlorine gunite pool with loveseat grotto water feature. Need some help please selecting the right thickness of slab to span this bonded beam loveseat. Wanting to use oklahoma flagstone to match the coping. Max distance at the widest point is 7’. Local stone supply has slabs from 1” up to 8” or thicker. Don’t want to go too thin and risk cracking the slab (on top of someone’s head potentially), don’t want to go too thick and risk cracking the gunite. Anyone have experience sizing a grotto waterfall slab?