Looking for chlorine again... as usual... Help me switch to SWG!

The higher the chlorine percentage the more unstable it is. Given the time it takes to get from the manufacturing plant to your home even if they can make 20% it would still be about 12.5% once you poured it in the pool. On top of that the escaped chlorine gas would do a number on the trucks it was transported in.

Granular is more efficient, in that there is no water weight, but given that it costs more per PPM of chlorine and/or adds CYA or calcium to the water it is far from more efficient to use. Using a product that will require thousands of gallons to be dumped and replaced is not my idea of less wasteful. Also this is not a case of "they add CYA to the powder", the powder is trichlor or dichlor, a chemical composition that includes both CYA molecules and chlorine. If you can figure out a way to bind chlorine to something other than CYA, calcium, or lithium to create a stable solid form then that patent would be worth quite a fortune. Assuming the chemical you bind it to is safe to be allowed to build up in a swimming pool, that is.

If you are concerned about waste you will want to install an SWG and avoid SLAMing in the future. On-site chlorine production, when managed properly, virtually eliminates the need for additional chlorine sources.
I feel like all I'm ever doing is SLAMing - I get the pool great, slack off for one minute, then we are back to SLAMing. I would L O V E to switch to a SWG system - Could you please point me in the right direction on how to do the switchover? DIY is how we would do it. Thank you!!

The journey begins, pool dig starting after Labor day, posting photos of the process.

After Labor day we start the dig for 13x31 fiberglass pool. 5' flat depth with tanning ledge, salt water, Rheem heat pump heater, auto cover, Jandy pump & cartridge filter, Polaris auto cleaner
It will look like this one
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Marking out the location
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Removing the existing slate patio, going to reuse it who knows where.
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will post pics of the hole next week along with placing the fiberglass pool

Bonding a steel wall pool that has everything else plastic

I am in the market for a new ABG. I am going back and forth between an ALL resin (Saltwater Aurora) or a resin everything except for the wall (Saltwater 8000).

With a Aurora, you bond nothing on the pool structure, since it is all resin.

On a pool like I have now, you bond the uprights in 4 locations since they are all metal and it is connected with the wall (in theory)

What do you do with something like the Saltwater 8000? I gather you bond it at the seams (or actually two seams, since it has a stainless steel panel in it for the skimmer and return). But how do you get the rest of the bonding points to the wall. I guess I could drill a hole bolt it though behind the foam cove, but that is something I really do not want to do, it would compromise the structure (which is kind of why I am putting in a new pool - the old one is getting compromised by rust)

Help with grub worms

We just recently moved into a home in April that has an in ground pool. It's definitely been a huge learning experience and we finally thought we had it all figured out. That is until we keep finding grub worms from the looks of it. Now we need help figuring out how to get rid of them completely because at this point for the last month I haven't let my kids in the pool at all. No matter how many times we shock the pool, put chemicals in, and use our robot vacuum these nasty grub worms keep coming back. I am afraid to close the pool without fixing the issue knowing that it will end up way nastier at opening. Does anybody know how to keep them away?

Do Premium Robots Actually Do a Better Job?

I have a Nautilus CC Plus which I have had for about 4 years. Like others have said on here, the robot just moves aimlessly throughout the pool during a cleaning cycle going over the same area multiple times while missing somewhere between 20-40% of the pool. I have to run it through about 7 cycles to get my ~30x20 foot 35000 gallon pool somewhere close to 100% clean. Do the newer models like the Sigma not miss so many spots, or is it better to just get the cheapest cleaner with a manual control option?

New Pool / Propane Heat Question

Hi All! Question from a new pool + spa owner (currently in the middle of construction). We have a 400k BTU Raypak heater in place, and the current plan is to have it connected to our 1000 gallon propane tank that serves the house. The run from heater to tank is about 60-75 feet, and I'm curious what thoughts are on going with the plan as-is, or installing a dedicated 320 / 500 gallon propane tank just for the pool/spa? We'd likely be running the spa in the winter, as we're told we can do this (possibly a question for a different post!), and then run the heater for the main pool to extend the season by a month or so on each end. We are in the north east region of Maryland.

Shallow end cliff

Hey Guys,

Any thoughts with this L shape design and just doing a straight cliff at the dotted lined.

I’m installing a type 1 pool / diving board which requires 29ft of length and 12ft wide. I finally found a smaller envelope for slides installed around DBs (attached as well). Long story short I can put anywhere after 14.6 out from the board…

This would create a large and separated shallow end. Type 1 pool can reach 3.5ft after 20.5ft out from board so I don’t have many options to use that area by the slide.

Thoughts?

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J4 comm port MasterTemp

My buddy is installing his equipment, he has the newest Master temp with the RS 485 connections. Intellicenter.

The instructions are horrible. We found the ground and serial communication ports of the RS 485 connection, but cannot figure out where to connect the red wire. The instructions say pin one on Port j4, but we have no idea where that is.

Also, has anybody successfully connected to the heater bypass valve?

Pentair IC40 DC issues

Hi all, went out to the pool this morning and noticed it wasn't nice and clear. Went to look at the SWG and it had no lights on.... Fun fun fun.... I've got proper voltage on the transformer output (33VAC)...a green light on the mother board... But no DC output.... I've read here that it's probably a 5 dollar part.... But I don't know which one. (I won't be soldering I'll got guys at work who really know how's to do that stuff)..... So I've enclosed a picture of the motherboard, and hopefully one of you guys can tell me where the bridge rectifier is..... Thanks in advance guys.

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Dimensions of TF Test Kit Bottles

Weird question for anyone with some troublefreetest kit 1oz and 2 oz bottles, and a pair of calipers. I'm building a storage box for all my testing supplies, and am looking for the dimensions of the reagent bottles. I have the Taylor bottles to measure, but don't have any of the TF bottles yet.

Specifically I'm looking for the diameter of the bottles, the total height of the bottles, and the height of the bottles to bottom of the cap. If you happen to have the 10 g container of their DPD powder, dimensions on that would be appreciated too. If you have it in millimeters, fantastic (but I can convert, lol).

I know, this is a weirdly specific request. Thanks!

Intermatic T1004RT1 enclosure timer switch stuck

I have a puzzling one. I have an Intermatic T1004RT1 enclosure with a timer inside.

The switch will not turn to the ON position, not even manually.

I checked the breakers, they are fine and getting power. Even the timer I can hear the tick tick tick. The dial is moving and the time is correct. But it will not turn the pump on. I tried to throw the switch on manually, the switch will not move! It appears to be stuck. Any ideas?

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Add gas heater?

I have a 20K gallon in-ground pool, with an electric heater - live in Upstate NY. Kids/wife like the temp around 80-82. The Electricity bill is killing me!!
Hear me out....If I add a gas heater - I can keep the thermostat at 70, and then use the gas heater to bring it to 80 on the days we use the pool (3-4/week) - I will need the gas heater about 6 hrs before we swim, and turn off right after. Will this save me $ (spent $300-350 in July-Aug - likely a lot more in Sep)

Help with pool light

Hi everyone!

First time pool owner and the light doesn’t work.
See pictures but it looks like it’s a sta-rite 12V 1?0 watt lamp.

It also looks like water has gotten into the chamber so the fixture might need to be replaced.

Any thoughts on a replacement bulb, or just new fixture overall? Which ones are best these days? I’m in the Tampa Bay Area and it’s an uncovered pool.

Thanks!IMG_6972.jpeg

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Simple Closing Question

First of all, let me get this out of the way.... the pool company that was hired by our HOA some years ago is lame and I'm working on getting them replaced. They shut down the pool equipment a couple weeks ago and the pool is sitting uncovered waiting for them to return to lower water level and cover. This is not unusual, but it is longer then normal this year. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep the pool somewhat clean.... running the vacuum, skimming, etc. I'm also starting to see some algae accumulate.

The pool is drained and cleaned each year. We have a mesh cover and the water is pretty putrid when it's open in the spring.
So....am I just wasting my time given that the pool will be drained in the spring? I've contemplated dumping some chlorine in it and doing some brushing (while keeping the vacuum running daily), but without the filter running I figure I'm probably just fighting a losing battle. I always tried to close my own pool as clean as possible. Should I just let this go.... or is there some merit in trying to keep it as clean as possible until it's covered?

New pool owner

We just recently moved into a home in April that has an in ground pool. It's definitely been a huge learning experience and we finally thought we had it all figured out. That is until we keep finding grub worms from the looks of it. Now we need help figuring out how to get rid of them completely because at this point for the last month I haven't let my kids in the pool at all. No matter how many times we shock the pool, put chemicals in, and use our robot vacuum these nasty grub worms keep coming back. I am afraid to close the pool without fixing the issue knowing that it will end up way nastier at opening. Does anybody know how to keep them away?

Broken Tabs on Waterway Jet

After my pool and spa were opened, I noticed my in-ground WhiteWave spillover spa wasn’t working correctly. After reviewing this forum, I figured out it was because my pool guy likely didn’t screw one of the jets in all the way. I got in and proceeded to screw them all in with the jet tool. Unfortunately, I was a tad too strong with one of the jets and proceeded to break all four tabs off. I know it will have to come off before I winterize it in the fall, but I’d like to game plan a solution now. You can see the picture below of what the housing looks like and what a brand new jet with all four tabs looks like. I was thinking of drilling two small holes along the perimeter of the jet and screwing in two long screws. From there I could clamp them down with two pieces of wood, maybe a 1x2, and screw the jet off that way, assuming the screws hold in place. My other thought was to use the Waterway Poly Jet Wrench (pic attached) to remove the jet face plate, but that makes me nervous. Any thoughts or suggestions?

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SWG's are awesome!

Can't believe it's been 2 months since I tested the water! I swim 2-3 times per week, and summer has just flown by. I was really surprised things weren't bad at all. FC is high for the lower CYA level, I guess heat burns stabilizer off (I haven't replaced much water other than evaporation). Just need to turn my SWG down 1 notch and add 5# of stabilizer, although I may put that off until next year. I haven't added anything for 2 months (other than what the SWG adds, and about 4 oz per day of MA via Stenner pump), so nothing manually. I also haven't spent a dime on chlorine!

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Pump died, need help! New pool owner

Welp, I think my pump died today. RIP. It started making a high pitch noise last night, so I turned it off. When I tried to prime it today, it started making a terrible and loud screeching noise. I'm not really interested in trying to fix it since it's 10 years old and single-speed, so seems like it's time for a replacement.

Three main issues I could use help with:

1) Electricity: I'm a total newb in this area. How do I figure out what voltage I have? I think I remember the pool guy saying I only have 115V, but I'm not sure. My current pump works on either 115 or 230, so that info doesn't help. Attached are some photos of the wiring, in case you can tell based on that.

2) What pump to buy? Perhaps an important factor is that the equipment pad is far away from the pool -- maybe like 65 feet away -- and also elevated several feet above pool level. Priming is difficult. I've never been able to prime it without significant manual intervention (water in basket, closing all but one suction line to start, hose in skimmer, etc), so the pump has been running 24/7. Not sure to what extent the priming issues are because of the pump itself or the lid versus an air leak somewhere else versus it just being difficult because of the long run from the pool. Some additional info about matching the pump to my equipment: I recently purchased a CCP 320 cartridge filter, but I haven't installed it yet. And my plumbing, at least at the equipment pad, is 1.5". Not sure about the suction and returns, but I've been told it's probably flex pvc because of the age of the pool (built 1987) and the builder (Sylvan).

3) Plumbing: You'll see in the photos that whoever did the pump previously patched it together with puddy or something. There are no unions and not much pipe remaining to work with, as far as I can tell. Where do I even cut to start working on installing the new pump?

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Adding a large amount of calcium hardness increaser to a cold pool

I need to add a large amount of calcium hardness increaser to my fiberglass pool because my manufacturer tells me that the chalking we’ve been experiencing is likely due to low calcium since the level is only 80. They recommend that I get it up to 250-300. The water temperature is only 70 degrees right now and is falling so I need to know the best way to add it to my pool so it will dissolve quickly. I know that calcium gets hot when added to water so I worry that the calcium could damage or stain the gelcoat if it clumps up on the bottom of the pool. If I need to dissolve it in a bucket of water first since the water is cold, I need to know how much to add each time so I don’t melt the bucket or burn myself when adding it. If I need to just broadcast it around the pool, I need to know how much to add each time so it will dissolve well and won’t clump on the bottom. I’d like to get all of the calcium into the pool at one time so I can close my pool soon, but I’d be willing to add it over several days if that would be the best way to add it.

1st time closing - water in pool light conduit - any concern?

Hello, this will be my first season winterizing, I'm wondering about the water that is in the pool light conduit. I assume it will freeze since the conduit is under the concrete pool deck, and just below the pool's water level, is there a concern, or will the ice simply expand along the conduit and not rupture the pipe since it's basically open at the junction box and not sealed off? TIA.

Stuck loop-loc cover anchors

The pool professional who closes our pool wants to drill 6 new holes in our concrete deck because 6 of our loop loc cover anchors are stuck. Three of them have bolts that are stripped. Two appear to have been tightened too tightly so they won't budge. One bolt just spins when you try to loosen it but the anchor won't come out of the concrete. He tried spraying them with penetrating oil and WD-40 and it didn't help. He spent almost an hour trying to remove the bolts from the concrete with the tools that he had on his truck and he couldn't get them out. A few weeks later, I sprayed them again with penetrating oil and WD-40 and tried to get them out with various tools that I had in the garage and I couldn't get them out either. We just used the cover with those 6 anchors unattached last winter without any issues, but we would like to get it fixed this year, if possible. Are there any tools that I could buy to get the anchors out so I wouldn't have to get 6 new holes drilled into the concrete deck? Does anyone sell an anchor removal kit that has all the tools you would need to remove stuck anchors and detailed instructions on how to do it? If nobody sells a kit like this, could someone give me a detailed tool list for what I would need to purchase to remove these stuck anchors?

Vinyl Liner installation

Hi there,
We have a in ground kidney bean shaped pool with sloping sides and a gradient from the shallow end to the deeper end. We just had a new vinyl liner installed last week and the pool is now full of water but we already seems to be having some issues (liner floating away from the sides - and already coming out of the track). Installers tell us this is ‘fine’ - I’m not so sure.
The new liner never sat flush to the walls, I noticed that it was baggy when the pool was being filled up - is this normal? It seems like it would be so easy to rip the liner by accident…
The installer told us that we had an irregular shaped pool and they came back several times to measure the pool before ordering the liner. I can’t help but wonder if the liner is simply the wrong size… This replacement was a rather expensive undertaking for us so want to make sure it’s done properly.
Any advice most gratefully received!

Hayward Equivalent of Pentair Products

Anyone know the Hayward equivalent product of the Pentair ones listed below? TIA.

Pentair IntelliClor IC 60
PEN ACU-Drive 5HP - 3HP /460/V (POOL)
LMI,AD211-91BSI, MAX FEED Rate 5GPD, 1/4 Outlet
RAYPAK, Digital ASME BR-R407A, 399,000BTU/HR, 3/4 Gas, Low NOX
Pentair Clean & Clear 420 SQF
Pentair Microbrite LED 100ft 12v
Intermatic Transformer 300w
Pentair Intelicenter I-8
Pen. Intelliflow 3hp / 1.5hp (SPA)
Butterfly valves 2" inches (POOL & SPA)
Blower 2HP 240V
White Bermuda Skymer 2"S
White Channel Drain 12x12 and suction covers
White Fitting For Return and LIG
White Fitting for Return and LIG
Water power Storm TEE Body - White Directional Jet - Internal

WINTERIZING ABOVE GROUND VINYL POOLS IN OHIO

How do we winterize an above ground pool I OHIO? WHERE WE HAVE MANY DAYS OF BELOW FREEZING WEATHER? POOL HEATER? POOL PILLOW? COVER OR TARP? I SEEN PEOPLE USE THAT PLASTIC WRAP LIKE U USE FOR FOOD LOL DOES THAT WORK IN OHIO?
I KNOW THE WINTERIZING KIT WITH CHEMICALS ARE REQUIRED BUT THATS FOR PLACES WITH OUT FREEZING WEATHER SO I KNOW WE NEED THAT BUT SO MUCH MORE. BUT WHAT? I HAVE AN 18FT BY 48IN POOL AND I CANT AFFORD TO FILL IT OR REPLACE IT EVER SUMMER WHAT DO I DO? PLEASE ONLY RESPOND IF UR FAMILIAR WOTH THIS IN STATES THAT NEED THIS KIND OF WINTERIZING. TELLING PEOPLE HOW TO WINTERIZE LIKE WE ARE IN TEXAS DOESN'T woRK FOR OHIO LOL.

Is Pentair SWG installed correctly?

Hi Friends,
We got our new vinyl pool started up and we love it but our Pentair IC-40 SWG can’t seem to get above 3000. According to the manual we should be at 3600-4000 but we are at 2980. They already replaced the salt cell once and said the first one was “bad” but I’m beginning to wonder if it’s not installed correctly when I look at the manual. We do have a booster pump Polaris cleaner so that does apply. Am I crazy or did they not install this correctly per the manual? This is all Greek to me but I don’t see the booster pump being on its own return line and the salt cell looks like it is installed horizontally not vertically. It’s also quite close to the heater. We have one payment left to give them so if this needs to be fixed, now is our opportunity.

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