Hi All,

I just had my pool plastered with stonescapes mini. It has been a little over a week and I am developing a brown staining throughout the plaster that is spreading.

I filled the pool with city water and scrubbing as recommended

Currently the pool chemistry is

2 chlorine
7.2 PH
CYA 20
TA 60
CH 125

Any suggestions on how to fix?

Took over the pool from the previous owner and now that the weather is getting a little bit cooler I want to look at water replacement options to reduce my CYA, currently at 120. I can either purchase/rent a submersible pump, use backwash to waste through my DE filter, or fill and use to overflow for a no drain approach. Thoughts on the best route to take?

Hey all! I have a brand new 110 volt variable speed pump for the above ground pool. Here is the pump I have


and the GFCI outlet I have


I have a dedicated circuit for this pump so nothing else is connected to it. Meaning it's a single 3 wire pull to the pump. Here is the wiring setup I currently have

Breaker box->Regular Breaker->110 volt gfci outlet->Pump

This ran perfectly for about four years or so with a single speed Hayward pump. Now I did swap out the plug and cover 2 weeks ago before changing to a new pump. I did not note what the previous plug was but I do remember getting it from Lowes. Is it possible this GFCI outlet may be extremely sensitive to the amp draw changes from the variable speed pump and that's what's causing it to kick? Is there a recommended setup for this pump or any recommended outlets/breakers? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Edit: I also have this on hand (not currently installed) but remember having issues with it initially tripping also


Edit 2: Here is the breaker I currently have. Any idea on what the GFCI breaker version of this would be?

We have a saltwater in ground pool and am looking for help and advice.

It takes 12 hrs of pool pump running at 25gpm (1800rpm) with SWCG running at 100% to maintain chlorine level on covered pool!!! that doesn't sound right?

In past summers (owned house since 2018 and all new equipment was installed) I might get up to 95% swcg with 8hrs of pump run time.

Around mid July there was one day where I was wearing goggles in pool and it seemed like the water was reflecting greenish and just ever so slightly cloudy (if I were to reach), but didn't think anything of it. It almost seemed like an optical illusion, but maybe the start of green algae (?). There has never been anything growing on the walls like slime, dirt, brown, green, etc. But the next time I got in the pool a couple weeks later that greenish look wasn't there and it was crystal clear.

The pool started dropping to 0fC without being able to catch up so decided to look into SLAMing. The COVERED pool has been at CYA 35 and now the free chlorine has been around 14-18fC for just shy of a month. It is currently stable, but I would have figured the chlorine level should be sky rocketing, not maintaining day over day.

Check signature for pool/equipment details. Pool is covered all day (no light). No water auto-fill. Manual fill only. And since it is covered I might only add one inch of water every month or two during summer. Definitely no major leaks.

And I have a pool service guy that comes weekly. He maintain salt, CYA, pH, and adjust SWCG % as needed (pool pump schedule stays the same). Standard stuff. His main purpose is to keep an eye on our pool when I forget to monitor. I do take my own measurements every few weeks.

Normal peak summer Pump schedule (SWCG 95%)
----------------------------------
8am to 5pm at 1800rpm (25gpm), with 1.75 hrs of 2850 rpm (55gpm) runtime throughout that window of time.

Events ( by the way I test the pool at about 10am each morning which is 2 hours after the pump starts):
----------------------------------
7/26 pool was maintaining around 3-4fC with pump running 8hrs a day running 95% SWCG, and pool service sent me text the pH was at 7.4 and hasn't risen in a month which he found odd.
8/6 big pool party. water temp was 87F. HAVEN'T USED POOL since this date. It has been covered all day except for servicing even until today.
8/8 pool was 0fC so I watched service guy dump 1 gallon of 12.5% chlorine in pool, which brought it up to ~3.4fC later in the day
8/15 pool is 0.2fC
8/17 I tested CYA, it was below 30 (past last line on test kit). Added 2.5 gallons of 10% chlorine. Pool now 12-15fC after 4 hours of mixing at "high" speed (2850rpm/55gpm)
8/18 pool 7fC, so it dropped about half overnight. Pump is now running for 12 hrs each day at 100% SWCG at 2850rpm/55gpm. Tested for chloramines and there were none.
8/19 Pool 5.5fC
8/21 Pool 5.5fC
8/22 service guy confirmed CYA is 25. He added 2.5lbs of CYA, which made the pool rise to 35 CYA. Dumped a bunch of liquid chlorine in pool. brought it up to 16fC
8/23 pool 14fC
8/24 pool 13.5fC Decreased pump run speed back to 1800rpm/25gpm (still runs at 2850rpm/55gpm 1.75hr/day)
8/25 pool 14fC. Decided to increase runtime. pump running 12am to 5pm (17hours) at 100% SWCG
8/26 pool 15fC
8/27 pool 16fC
8/28 pool 17.5fC. Reverted schedule back to 12hrs per day at 100%
8/31 started manually running pool water through solar panels at night time from 8pm to 8am (as not to actually warm up the water/
9/5 pool 18fC
9/13 pool 18fC. Pool is still running at 100% SWCH for 12 hours. why would it take that much running to maintain the same level of chlorine especially when the pool is at SLAM levels?

Current stats:
----------------------------------
Free Chlorine 18fC. (I only tested for chloramines starting 8/18, and have not had any since then)
pH: 7.4. It takes 3-4 weeks to rise to 7.6, which is strange because its usually like clockwork rising from 7.4 to 7.6/7.7 each week (before this summer)
CYA: 35 ( matches service guy's reading). Pool guy said he brought CYA up to 60CYA with 6lbs on 4/11/2023. All I can do is believe him. I didn't verify until the chlorine problem started occurring. Either something consumed the CYA or it was never brought up. But I talk to the service guy a lot and believe he actually did it considering how weird the pool is now.
Ammonia: (which I read can deplete CYA?) with new strips, and it was a 0.
total alkalinity: 105-110
Calcium Hardness pool=500. Tap water=240
Salt:3600 (taylor kit)
Pool temp:78;
TDS Measurement: 5300 - Salt 3600= 1700ppm

Other notes:
----------------------------------
I replaced SWCG in April 2022 after it started giving errors. Borrowed a brand new SWCG 3 weeks ago to try to prove SWCG is not the problem. Tt produced the exact same level of free Chlorine in the return line to the pool. At 25gpm the difference between the pool fC and the return fC was about 1.8ppm, which seems right? With my SWCG, every time I look at the pool, champagne bubbles are coming out of the returned. If I set the SWCG to 0%, the bubbles stop. I set the SWCG % to 100% and the bubbles start. I am pretty confident the SWCG is working as expected.

Original cartridge filters ( I cleaned them at the start of summer using this process How to Clean a Pool Cartridge Filter System ) They had a fine layer of brown clay-like slime on them. Got most of that out.


Moving forward
---------------------------------
Pool service guy has no more ideas what could be going. He originally thought it was because the pump was running at too low of speed, but I tried to run the pump at 2850rpm/55gpm for a week straight and that did nothing. He has no idea why/how CYA dropped from 60 to 25 from 4/11 to 8/17 unless he completely blew it. But that shouldn't really matter since its a 100% covered pool, so the chlorine shouldn't be burning up because of the sun. He hasn't tested for Phosphates recently but did a phosphate removal program in spring (multiple weeks), even though there wasn't much phosphates then anyways. and I haven't tested for Copper or Iron.

Today I am going to set the SWCG to 0% with pump running 12hours per day and see how many days it takes to get down to 5-6fC.

For the future, I guess I will just run the pump at 100% SWCG for 12 hours a day at 5-6ppm+ fC for the rest of September until the weather cools down.

Any thoughts? Did I leave out any pertinent details? Should I be doing something differently?











So during the middle of summer the service company said

Hello

After a year, I finally had my dream pool plastered today. Went with quartz capes. It is a very large pool(48k gallons) I am filling and in repositioning the hoses, I noticed that there were hairline cracks. When I tap on the area there is a hollow sound. Like really hollow. I can move 6inches to a foot over and there is no hollow sound. Installer is telling me it just hasn't finished curing yet and that when the pool fills the water will expand those areas and the hollow sounds will go away. i posted a photo of the cracking. there is more but this one stands out the most.

Thanks for any insight.

My original pool deck order was canceled so my back to deciding what to get… considering shellock (ivory) or leathered marble (fantastic royal).

Have children, have had a stroke (balance issues), salt water pool & half of lanai deck will be covered.

Looking for:
-not slippery
-not a ton of maintenance
-not stain easy or can clean easier
-not hot

Was told sealing either will make them slippery… thoughts on that too?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

So - Minnesota. For the last 25 years I've closed the pool using my trusty air compressor into the pump pot to blow out all the lines. It has pressure, but not a lot of volume. Usually run it pretty high (80 psi) at the compressor, figuring as it expands when hitting the pipes the pressure drops significantly. I usually have to redo each skimmer/outlet two to four times before it stops burping any water. Since there is doubt, I've always used a screw in elbow and length of pipe to funnel in a couple gallons of -70 antifreeze into each line, except the main drain.
Because of filter/plumbing changes, using the compressor gets a more complicated this year. So the Cyclone blower is coming. Yea! Volume of air, without high pressure.

Don't know what the pool companies do, and the lawn sprinkler guys definitely don't do antifreeze

Yes, we can have periods of a week at -20 or -30F at night, and from about Xmas to March are pretty much always below, or well below, 32. Frost line can be from 3 to 4 feet. So if something can break from trapped freezing water, it will.

So - keep on adding the antifreeze, or will using the Cyclone do a better job of getting out the water, and I can skip that step?

So I bought a house with a chlorine pool that has Vinyl liner. It is attached to Sand filter and and pentair variable speed pump.
There are 3 PVC lines connected to the pump. Skimmer, Main, and Well point.

I was told that since i live in a low country in SC with a high water table and clay that I should run the well point during heavy rainfall.

I tried to do this yesterday for the first time..I turned my pump off and set the skimmer and main to OFF. I then set my filter to waste and turned the well point on. When I put the pump on and let it ran for 20 minutes no water came out into the pump. I was scared of burning the pump so I turned it off.

This morning I noticed my pool liner had bumps underneath it . It did not dislodge from the sides because I added last week a Pool liner lock.. Although I do see some bulging on the sides.

This morning I tried the well point again. but this time I primed the Pentiar pump. Now I see water coming out...

So when I run the well point do I always have to Prime it? Also when should i run the well point? In the middle of heavy rainfall? That will get me soaked? Do I run the well point before it rains even if it is NOT drawing water into the pump basket?

So confused on when and how I should run the well point.

I have a inground 30,000 gal vinyl pool and a week ago my pump stopped running. I want to close now and put a new pump in come spring. It is starting to turn green. Of course I would like to close clean. What do you suggest? More chlorine? And algicide?
Thank you in advance

I'm at a loss. For the 2nd time in just over a year, the motherboard I guess that's what you'd call it - i think it's the "drive" is fried due to lightning. I was able to find just the drive without the pump online last time (for $1000). Found it the same place this time, but they say it's out of stock and won't be in for 8-12 WEEKS. My pool will be a cesspool by then. So my only option seems to buy the whole thing together for about $2000. The salt cell system controller that I got with it when the pool was installed has never worked great in the first place, and the wifi connectivity of the pump controller has been spotty at best for trying to connect to change run-times and schedules. The whole system basically sucks.

My question is, there is a way I can replace the pump with something altogether different and simpler (not a variable speed?) and perhaps with a simple on/off switch and a timer? Is that a thing? Is anything out there compatible? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Currently have a manual valve to turn on/off flow to my water features ( two fountains and 5 spitters). I want to add a Pentair actuator valve and automate this process. I’ve looked at installation of these valves as well as how to connect to my Intellitouch I5 Easy Touch control center. This doesn’t look that complicated, however, I need advice on how to change my Intelliflo VSP settings once the valve is in. I plan on having the “on” control my return jets and water features as above (as it is currently runs at around 2800). However, the “off” position I plan on only having the return jets on. Can someone help explain how to lower my flow rate for this function only? I plan on running my “on” water feature only for 2-4 hours since I’m dealing with higher pH from the aeration. I do have a SWG so I know I will need to maintain some minimal flow for this as well. Any information is helpful.

I purchased the bungee type plugs (Aqua Group) last year for closing off my return lines into the pool and like the concept but my large shopvac had a very hard time creating enough force to open them so that the water can be blown out of the line. I now see Anderson makes a "winter duck plug" that operates on a somewhat similar principal.

Would greatly appreciate any comments on the use of these plugs. I think i read something last year about soaking the bungee plugs in hot water right before using them in order to soften up the rubber to make them stretch easier. Would also consider switching to the duck type plug although i see some reviews where people said they leaked, others said they have used them for 20 years with no issues. Of course this is a critical device and must be foolproof because of the obvious downside of potential frozen pipes if they leak.

Thanks. John

It appears that an electrical issue has affected my control board's ability to communicate with both my ICP and my nodejs-poolController. Somehow my RS-485 USB adapter developed a short between D+ and D- and now there is no communication between the ICP and the board, even after disconnecting my nodejs-poolController.

The board is c. 2014 and has 520165 version 1170 on it. Has anyone been able to repair one of these boards? I am not at my main home and don't have my electronics tools with me - it seems that this may just be a bad serial chip. Failing that, does anyone have a source for these boards? I assume that the part numbers have changed with newer releases.

Thanks for your help!

Hello all,

Having a hard time finding chlorine locally, does anybody have any suggestions for ordering liquid chlorine online?

Also can somebody give me a crash course, or direct me to a thread detailing use of different strengths of chlorine? Thanks in advance!

Mimi Pool said:

Thanks for the suggestion but I don't think that will move the issue forward, only confirm what I've already stated. I'm going to try and contact Polaris and see what they say - I think leaking at the three swivel joints plus constant flow from the pressure release valve at the sidewall are the best clue. I'll report back here.

Click to expand...

What did you find out? I’m having a similar problem

Hey, I checked my omnilogic firmware and found attached. Any help on how to update my Omnilogic is Awesome. What on this list needs to be updated? can I just USB update to 4.0 and let the software update the rest? Or should I go step by step through the list?

thanks,

Carl

Hello,

Just finished our first pool! We’re so excited to use it, but I cannot remove the tops off of these brass pool sleeves to put in our umbrellas!! Anyone have any ideas?? It’s like it’s stuck on there.

Second newbie question is: my rectangular pool has two skimmers one on a long side and one on a short side, but the jets on the side of the pool really don’t create a circular current at all, they just sort of shoot into the center of the pool. Is that normal? Or do I need to find a way to adjust them so that there is a current directing flow towards the skimmers? Thanks in advance for the help!

Loosing my mind...
I updated my router and lost connectivity with my Acqualink have been watching videos and can't correct the problem.
I had two working antennas one worked with my PDA and one worked with my cell phone. The PDA one was the wired wifi switch and the phone one has the learn switch. I've found videos on the wired wifi procedure not on the learn one. Of course my router doesn't have a WPS feature. Does someone know a step by step procedure for both.

Hi everyone,

Which should I remove first, copper or iron stains or does it matter?

Thank you,
D

My last work has lasted for about 5 years. Short of redoing the whole pool plumbing I want to redo my equipment pad with some upgrades. VS speed pump. New filter and a heat pump. As of today I have plastic barbed connections going into the original/existing plumbing. I found the drips at a few connections and I wanted some feedback on how I can do it better. Thanks in advance.

I'm excited to day that we just got our hayward aquarite 40k installed. I was hoping to get some step by step instructions from this community before I turn it on. Here are my current readings, my understanding is that I'll need to get my CYA up to the 50 range as it will produce enough to maintain 8ppm FC - Is that correct? I'm also seeing different calculations for how much salt I should add, and how long after adding I should turn the cell on. Any advice appareciated! Ideally im looking for the ideal order of operations to follow before and after I turn the cell on

Salt - 800ppm

FC - 5ppm

PH 7.8

CYA - 20

Obviously you can set up the IntelliCenter to turn on a MasterTemp heater and change the speed of an Intelliflo VSF pump.

With those three components will it work the other way around? Meaning if you turn the heater on or off from the panel on the heater will the IntelliCenter change the pump speed automatically?

I need to be sure that I don’t make things too complicated for my wife.

I've read lots of conflicting opinions on what chemicals to use. It seems the most important thing is to get the temp below 60 and open pool before it gets above 60.
I've had some severe algae problems after opening the pool 4 of the last 5 years so want to make sure I get it right this time. Here is what I am am planning on doing:


1. Get the temp below 60.
2. Get FC level up to half-slam level.
3. Add the normal start-up level of polyquat 60 and run pump for 24 hours.
(I'd like to add a quarter of metal sequestrant as well)
4. Get PH between 7.2 and 7.6
5. I'd like to put some trichlor pucks in a floater for good measure. (This also keeps my CYA from getting to low since I have a SWG)
6. Blow out lines
I can't lower my water below the jet returns. It's a fiberglass pool and they are too low.
7. Insert plugs and blow until nothing but air comes out of each line.
7. pour antifreeze in skimmer line and gently blow into pipes
8. pour antifreeze down maindrain line, blow and plug. (this part is tricky because I don't have a valve. I have to blow and plug when I see antifreeze going out the main drain. )
I use a cyclone blower with a pipe screwed into my skimmer line to blow-out the lines.

Am I missing anything or doing anything?

18,000 gal pool with built in spa constructed by cody pools. Finished construction Aug '22 and I've been handling maintenance and things have been going surprisingly smoothly. A couple questions that have come up:

CYA is creeping up. Currently over 100ppm but less than 150. Drained a decent amount of water and refilled with hose but looking for guidance on how much more I should I do. Should I switch away from the chlorine tabs for a bit?

Pool brushing... how important is that and what happens if you don't brush? We have the small pebble material.

Hello everyone. I have been reading the advice from this community for a few years now. I have an above ground pool 18' round 52" deep. Using the advice and suggestions from this community has saved me from numerous headaches. I just downloaded the pool math app. Thank you so much for all of the helpful information!

What a first world problem... my Core 55 has been doing great. Last evening, my FC was 11 and I turned the unit off. Checked this morning and I'm sure there was a little error, as FC was 8.5.
I left SWCG off all day, and at 7pm tonight, FC was still 9.5.
I just keep my VSP on 1000 all the time, so guess maybe it's time to look at a timer lol. One thing though.... I do not miss jug lugging!!!!!

Just went to go test my pool and there is no chlorine! I noticed something was off when some of the pool corner looked yellow. My SWG sensor measures 1700 and I am measuring 3200 ppm with the Taylor test. The SWG shutoff automatically and my system has "very low salt".

Do you guys think it's the SWG or test kit? In the past it has been close but it's off by quite a bit. I guess I can get a different type of test to verify. I just noticed amazon sells these electronic testers and some have good reviews. I think I'm going to order one of those to see what it reads.

Hi..our pool is in Michigan . has a new VS Hayward pump, new AVIA Raypak Heater and new Coversafe cover replacing the 20 year old one . 40 by 20 in ground pool with DE Sta Rite 37 sq feet Grid S75D model System 3. Added a new Hayward Chlorinator in line last year. Just closed pool today.

My pool CYA is at 45 ppm. According to "trouble-free pool recommended FC levels" (Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship Explained) I'm supposed to maintain at least 6 ppm FC. Now, on a sunny day, I lose about 3 ppm FC. Therefore, when adding chlorine every other day, my target FC is 6 + 3 + 3 = 12 ppm. It's a high concentration, and that's what I'm curious about.

I'd like to know what is the maximum free chlorine that you folks would allow your visitors to swim in. I've read a number of comments on this website from people who are not at all concerned about swimming in higher FC concentrations -- up to and including SLAM levels.

So what is your personal max FC ppm, and why?