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?

How does one know when this has gone bad? or is malfunctioning?

Rectangular outside and round inside.
Never had a basket or weir door.

I think i remember previous owner mentioning something about a round cover to seperate skimmer from pool.

Our pool pad has only one pipe in from pool. We don't have a diverter to choose drain or skimmer. When the pump is running it seems to suck from the suction line (makes sense).

Is there a round plate cover thing that forces water into the suction line from the main drain? Or how do i get that circulation from main drain moving?

And . Any idea on weir door setup based on my photos, or is that even needed?

Thanks bunches

new member here, going through pool quotes at this time. Looking at a 15 by 30 pool 3 feet to 6 feet deep. Choices of equipment are pentair or jandy. Also, have a hot tub going in that is 8 by 8 and a sunshelf with bubbler. Can any experts here point me in the right direction for pool equipment. I do not want to be underpowered or have issues running pool cleaner. I am leaning towards cartridge filter, intelliflow variable pool pump, any suggestions would be appreciated since this is not my expertise. I just want clear water and good engineering with equipment that works well with good design. thanks in advance.

I bought a house in November and just opened the pool and have not had one before. The previous owner's settings are no longer available so I am attempting to set up the epump speeds myself. My pump is a jandy epump vsfhp165qut and the heater is a jandy jxi260n. I think I have 2 inch pipes with 3 incoming and 2 returns. Images are included.

Everything is controlled through iAquaLink so need to figure out what speeds to program for when heater is on vs not on.

~23000 gallon 40x20 salt water pool.

Any help is very much appreciated

23k gal IG vinal salt water pool, Jandy VSFloPro pump, JXi Heater, Sand Filter, IAquaLink automation, Test with a combination of TF-Pro Salt and Leslie's..

Just started draining my pool today for a refill due to high CYA and high CH. During the process, I noticed some failing grout around the skimmer box throat….see picture. What is the best material to repair this area? Thanks.

Hello, just built a deck 10x12 by my pool. What type of paint do you guys recommend? I heard there is paint with sand that prevents slippage. I'm just trying to prevent people from slipping and getting hurt. Thanks!

Opened the pool a few weeks ago but it looks like I'll be getting a few hours of mid-to-high 20s tonight. I plan on running the pump over night. Is there anything else I should do to protect my system as much as possible?

Thanks!

I have an above ground pool. These are my current readings.

Fc 3.8
Cc .4
Ch 60
Ph 7.4
Ta 100
Cya 90

I am not losing chlorine overnight, possibly because my CYA is so high? Idk, at a loss for the first time in years. From everything I can tell over the past 12 years of having this pool CH is the only thing I normally ignore. There does seem to be a bit of some left over “something” organic in the bottom that I have not been able to get to, bc it is too cold for me to willingly get in and vacuum. Hopefully that is why it is still cloudy?

Hello TFPers,

I’ve started collecting quotes to resurface my plaster pool here in Southern California. It’s a 25,000-gallon pool, and so far, the estimates I’ve received are around $19,000 for plaster and $22,000 for either pebble or fiberglass composite.
The scope of work includes
- Resurfacing
- New tile,
- Splitting the drains
- New expansion sealer
- And startup
I plan to keep the existing coping. From what I can tell, the plumbing is copper, and one contractor mentioned that fiberglass composite might be the best option since it would prevent any copper from leaching into the surface.

I’ve heard of pre-made fiberglass pools, but not fiberglass composite surfaces.

I’m mainly wondering if these prices sound reasonable for Southern California, and whether fiberglass composite is a smart choice compared to plaster or pebble. Is maintenance harder than pebble?

thx

Hi everyone. My name is Bob. Semi new pool owner here. I owned an above ground pool last summer to hold the family over since this inground pool process took about a year and a half to break ground. So that was a crash course for me. I’ve never dealt with a salt system. And that’s what this one is. But I do have the pool math app. Which helped with the above ground setup. I just need to do my homework regarding salt systems. Waiting on French drain, concrete, electric. But the pool is in. So we’re excited over here.

Here’s what I have:

Corinthian 16 -16x40 fiberglass pool
Jandy JXi260N - 260,000 BTU natural gas heater
Jandy VS FLOPRO 1.85 HP Variable speed pump
Jandy Top mount sand filter
Jandy TruClear salt chlorinator
2 Deck jets
Test kit K-2006 salt

but I've been making a mess of my pools for years! Maybe this year will be different.

Hi all,

I have a Prologic chlorination system (PL-P-4 model). I am looking to upgrade my salt cell at some point in the next 1-2 years. I want to upgrade with a Hayward product again. I have a turbocell T-9 now but want to upgrade to T-15 (40,000 gallon capacity). I notice that there are now multiple models to choose from and am not sure what are compatible with my prologic system. From what I can tell on the Hayward page, they all "could" be compatible with change in configuration at my control box.

My question - does anyone have any experience with the different models of salt cell and pros and cons of each:

model cell940 - 40000 gallons extended use


TcellS340 - 40000 clear view cell

W3t-cell-15 40000 standard - I think closest to what I have

Thanks

Hi, I'm getting Sand coming out of the return. I ordered a new lateral assembly. Does anyone know how those elbows remove from the bulkheads to get to the lateral assembly? There is zero info on You Tube or here on the S311SX Side Mount. The pool was installed in '10 and as far as I know, original sand. It looks like there are screws in the elbows, but really don't know, I didn't open it up yet. If I start to break things because they are probably brittle, I'll send back the assembly and just buy a new Pentair sand filter. I ordered 350lbs.of Mystic White II sand from Home Depot. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

My 2 year old Maytronics Dolphin now seems to move about 12" (6" when climbing wall) and pauses. When it pauses, the pump/suction stops too. Then everything starts again. This is kinda OK for the floor but prevents it from climbing the walls as it keeps sliding down and then forever gets stuck in that spot, going 6" forward, slide back down, repeat. Not sure what the issue is. Could it be a dirt sensor issue? I've tried thorough cleaning of the basket and even the impeller, and cycling power. Any clues would be helpful. First minute or two it seems fine, moving forward at normal pace and length.

Hi all! I just purchased a home and have started my journey of educating myself on poolchem.

I am really grateful for the guides here, especially the Ascorbic Acid guide.... See pics below for how it transformed my 30year old pool that had iron slowly deposit over the years.



Before pic, I noticed the equipment (nozzles) had an orange tint to them, and thought it was odd. I did a little test to see if it was Iron, by using an Emergen-C packet, and pouring it on one of the steps.




You can clearly see the blue circle where the vitamin C cleared the iron off. Mind you, this pools water is perfect, and I had scrubbed it with a brush. We were told by the sellers to get it replastered as "it was due".
Seeing the vitamin C work, I sourced and ordered about 4lhs of it, and using the Ascorbic Acid guide on TFP, I started the process.



At this point, I ran out of Ascorbic acid, and had to order another 4lbs. The iron stains were old and severe. I applied the second bucket, and make the decision to drain and refill after 24hrs instead of using a sequestering agent to contain the iron in solution. So, I drained the pool, rinsed it out, and patched a thin spot or two on the plaster, then refilled it.


When I got home from work yesterday, the pool was nearly filled, and honestly I was completely shocked by how severe the iron contamination was.



After the water filled, I balanced ph, added CYA, Chlorine, and salt. Today I'll check those balances, then add some calcium and call it good.


My next project will be replacing the 35 year old equipment, so I'll be taking some pics and making a thread for advice on that. Fortunately the previous owners kept all the documents for the pool, blueprints, dimensions, pipe sizes etc so that really takes out much of the guessing work. I'm aiming to either replace my SWC or upgrade the whole unit, replace the pump with a variable speed one, and am looking at if I need to replace the filter assembly or not.

Thanks for the guides here!

Hello all,

We opened our pool the other day and there is a crack inside the heat pump. Water began pouring out as soon as we turned it on. See attached photos and video.

VIDEO: IMG_3874.MOV

We do open/close it ourselves and have done so for the past few years without issue. I'm guessing we didn't drain the heater properly and it froze over the winter. Pool was installed in 2020.

I was able to find the part that is cracked, which appears to be the manifold bypass (also attached).

My question is - Do you think it's worth having that part replaced (quoted 1K) or could there be additional damage in other places from the freeze? Called one pool company and they quoted us almost 6k to replace the entire unit.

Thanks!

I have my pressure washer and detergent ready to go. I have my stain picked out. The problem is there’s pollen everywhere. I’ll obviously get most of it up when I wash, but there’s going to be a layer on it the next day.

Think I should wait until the pollen is better or is it not enough to cause adherence or drying issues?

Hi, looking for advice. You guys have been great with guidance before.

Recently our LX220 seems to get the signal that it’s reached the temp at which to open the valve so pool water gets pumped to our black collectors on our roof, but it seems that only a minute or two after the valve is opened, the green solar indicator light on the LX220 goes out, the valve closes and water drains back down rather than getting heated. I see no red lights lit on the LX220 to indicate that sensors need service, but I suspect that the one on the roof may be at fault. But I don’t know for sure that this is the problem. Wondering if anyone reading this has dealt with this issue before? Do you know what could be causing this? What might I try to correct it? Any other cause for this valve behavior? Bad roof/sun sensor? Time to replace that one? Or some other fix? The manual override position does activate the valve and get the water up there, but I want it to work as designed and turn on and off automatically according to air/water temps. SO APPREDIATIVE OF ANY ADVICE!!

HOWONURTH

Thank you SO MUCH!! You guys are great!!

Howard Gindoff

I have a rental, and use Alexa for the renters to access the spa (I do not want to give them full ScreenLogic access). Today, the Alexa skill stopped working. I had this 3 months ago, and I fixed it by delinking and relinking my account. I tried that today, and the Skill was attempting to access the pentairpoolsso.com site, which was gone (for sale by GoDaddy!). Any thoughts on what is going on or what I should do? It appears to be an issue on the Pentair side.

For full disclosure, my set up Pentair Easy Touch = > Wireless to a Screen Logic 2 (use the app to control) <=> Alexa Pentair ScreenLogic Skill

As a secondary question, the Alexa link is nice but not always robust, are there any other suggestions of a better configuration for my setup?

Thanks!

So i live in middle georgia. Area is pretty hot and ill be adding water to pool every year. Im in the process of adding gutter to the house. I was thinking of directing gutter into a few rain barrels. The rain barrel will have overflow hose, and I want to direct the overflow hose into the pool. Im not concern about sediment as that will settle at the bottom of the rain barrel. Is this a good idea? My biggest concern is having to balance the pool after a big rain. Would the chemical cost outweight the water saving. I got a saltwater system.

Secondly, i want to move water away from my lawn. My lawn drainage suck and if I dont do this, then i will end up installing a french drain and directing the rain barrel overflow into the french drain.

My pool has those under water propellers that push water into the filter, but in some sections where it doesn't cover I end up with clay/fine dirt. I live somewhere where there is a lot of construction happening. I already tested for algae and everything is good. I know it's fine dirt, since I can see my backyard window covered with dirt and also the pool cover I put on top will gather dirt on top of it too.

I have a 5 galloon vacuum that I'm using right now just to vacuum the debris, but I was wondering of any other recommendation for it? I have the dolphin e30 and that works but doesn't catch all of it.

Thank you

We have had our pool for for a little over a year now and I just realized our skimmer does not have a weir door flap? Is this a problem?

Is there a way to add one? If so how would I found a proper door to fit it?

Hello everyone! First time pool owner and looking for helpful forums to navigate owning and maintaining a pool. I am also looking for tips to maintaining my own pool.

My prowler 930 finally kicked the bucket after 6 years of excellent service. It was the go to at the time on here. Purchased from Marina Pool and Spa. What the go to now? And store to purchase it? Thank you.

I had to replace the cell but whoever first installed it had the union joints flush against the pad so it is impossible to tighten or loosen by hand. Also, the fittings leak unless you over torque them with channel locks. The installer must have had the same issue because he used thread compound. The new cell came with unions so I plan to redo this mess and replace five elbows with only two and mount the cell vertically above a check valve in line above the pump outlet. Then loop back with two elbows to the return. I'll have to dig out to add a coupling at ground level.
This is coming from the Dejoyaux filter which has a two speed pump and a bypass loop.
My other question is, what's the point of this Heyward pump since the system included the two speed? The problem is when the main pump is on high speed, the Hayward has to be running as well or else the pressure blows out the strainer pot gasket.

I’m doing a lap pool that is long and narrow, so I need feedback on which of the two approaches below is better for the locations of the skimmers and returns. My main hesitation with approach B is that after about 20 feet, the water flow from the return will spread out to a lot of the narrow width of the pool, and run directly into and up against the water coming from the return on the opposite end. If so, it seems the flow (and the leaves) wouldn’t reach the skimmer on the opposite end, and too many leaves would get stuck at the center of the pool where the two currents meet. Any thoughts on that or other issues with layout B?

My question with layout A is if any issues may occur if the flow is going only in 1 direction, or if there’s no skimmer on one end? I’m going to get a soft-sided above ground pool, and the cutouts will need to be done in advance by a factory. The dimensions will be about 44’ long by 8’ to 9’ wide by 46” deep water. I can’t go much wider since the spot in my yard is narrow. I really appreciate advice or feedback. Thanks

Has anyone found a way in 2025 to integrate the OmniPL with Google Home as Hayward said from release that would be possible? I called support, they said that someone would call me back which never happened, I searched for it, nothing. There are some instructions on how you may integrate it with Home Assistant but it seems cumbersome and a bit of a long shot.

Logging into https://haywardomnilogic.com you can still go to Settings > Nest (Works with Nest) and click Login to Nest, but Nest has been gone for a long time. So this also tells me that Hayward is not putting any effort whatsoever into this interface, I mean it would have a 10 year old 5 minutes to hide a button and tab.

Anyway, any ideas or should I let go of this?

First question. I use a Taylor test kit and Taylor reagents. How critical are the expiration dates that are printed on each bottle for getting accurate test results?

Next situation. I am helping a buddy out with his pool. His pool deck is faux rock which also goes into the pool a little bit (typical rock pool). Lots of algae on the faux rock that is under water. I went over there with my test kit this afternoon. Here are the results:

He estimates it to be a 14,000 gallon pool. This includes the spa.
FC- 4.0
CC- 0
pH- off the charts. I had to add 12 drops to get it to 7.4
TA- 300
CH- 900
CYA- 110

Using the Taylor booklet to calculate how much chemicals to add I came up with this:
2 gallons of 10% chlorine which should get it to 11ppm (to compensate for the 110 CYA)
2 1/2 gallons of 14.50% muriatic acid to get the pH down to 7.4
Does this seem correct?

I told him to add the 2 gallons of chlorine very slowly all at once (starting tomorrow). I asked him to spread the acid out by only adding a half gallon per day (good or bad advice?). I also told him he needed to brush the pool everyday.

Input on any or all the above would be much appreciated. Thanks!

~Mike

Anyone know where you can’t get parts for climate like shaft seals, impellers, fans etc?