I recently bought the Cyclone for this years closing, (first time) I have one concern regarding the cyclone, will it blow thru a a plug with the Blow Thru Stem if I buy the proper adapters?
I have a Paramount In Floor Pool 6 Port Module that uses the blow thru stem plug to lock the air. I can buy another compressor just for that at $180.00 or I kit I put together for adapting the cyclone at $44.00.
Thought on the cyclone pushing the air thru the Blow Thru Stem appreciated.
Thanks,
Drew

This is my first year as a pool owner. I have a 12-16' x 32' inground. I bought a set of two solar heating mats (each 2' x 20'). I set them up on the ground behind the pool to see if it made a difference and the answer was yes. Even with that area being partially shaded at times the pool gained about 8 degrees over the course of the week in early August. I ran this off a solar powered 15w pond pump, which worked great as there was no elevation change. If you have a good spot for a ground level system I would recommend this.

However, the mats aren't really in a good spot (partial shade, awkwardly obscuring the deck, unattractive). But now I know it works I'm going to move it to the roof. I'd like to use a separate pump because the available roof is on the opposite end of the pool from the main pump, also I don't want to void the warranty on my pump by messing with it.

My question is, would a 1/10 hp pump be enough power to lift the water 10'? I found one at harbor freight which has 320 gph with 3/4" in and out garden hose style connectors. It states i think 32' lift, and the solar mats are to be used wirh no more than 1/2 hp. Obviously I would use a heat tolerant hose for the outlet. The solar mats have 1 1/2" headers so I would need to use an adapter at the start of the system.

Any thoughts on my idea? Surely someone has rigged something like this before. Thank you!

I have the same problem, the stairs have water and they are too heavy to be removed. Last year I got 3 men to help remove them but I need to be able to do it for myself and easier way.

Pool temp has dropped to 84 degrees. Brrrr! New solar cover going on this afternoon.

Hi guys! I've been looking up what cya means and whether I need to keep an eye on it if I have an ionizer. I'm finding a lot of info here on ionizers not working. We've had our pool 6 weeks in hot weather and we're happy with our system so far. When is it that ionizers start to not work?

Hello friends,

Still in my first summer of owning a pool and I’ve learned a lot from TFP. Some recent rain, a lot of splashout and maybe a touch of inattentiveness and my test results seem out of whack. I’m re-reading the chemistry basics and I have the pool math app but I would appreciate any advice on these results from my Taylor k-2006c:

FC 15.5
Total combined Cl 1.5
CYA 45
pH 7.0
TA 40
Ca hardness 40
Salt 3400 (2900 reading on SwG)

The FC has been reading high since i started testing maybe 2 months ago. I have the Hayward aqua trol at 70% output and run the pump around 8 h a day. It’s been in the high 80s-90s here on Long Island.

Thanks for any advice you can provide!!

Hi TFP,

New to this forum and 6 months into owning my first pool.

I went to go clean the debris out my pentair inteliflo pump basket after a bad storm. I did it as I normally would, put into service mode using my Easytouch system, allow the air to clear out from the filter valve, and went to open the pump basket.

Normally, the water drains down and back into the pool, but this time water started overflowing out of the pump which never has happened. From my understanding, this usually happens if your pool is higher in elevation than your pool equipment, which mine is not. Could there be something else that could be causing it?

Luckily, I was able to put the lid back on as best I could. There is still a small amount of water leaking out of it, probably because the o-ring was not properly secured with all of the water flowing out of the pump.

Any ideas or insight? I can provide more information if needed.

Hello,
I have a frustrating problem with my Goldline ProLogic PS - 4 for the past few months. When the main power cycles, either with the breaker or during an electrical storm (many here in FL) it won't power back on.

I went through the troubleshooting guide, and it appears that the voltages etc. are OK. I can list my results here if needed.

The behavior is odd. If I turn on the power to the unit all I see is the main display panel blinking all the LED's rapidly. Nothing on the readout. I have been successful with a work around. If I leave the power off overnight and disconnect the remote wired control display (inside the house) then turn the main power back on it will fire up and function normally. Then I can plug the remote wired control panel back into the board and both work normally until the next power outage. I suspect it is something going on with the main board but can't be sure. Relay? Voltage regulator or cap?

I will provide additional info if needed.
Appreciate hearing if anyone else has experienced this weird glitch.

Thanks for any help.
Mark

I'm about to pull the trigger on a Pentair 011533 WhisperFlo VST pump 2.6HP to replace old bessie which was a 0.75HP single-speed. The problem that I am foreseeing though is the inlet looks to be threaded onto the valve. All of the videos I've seen include them sawing off a portion of the inlet PVC but in my case there is 0 amount to do so. I'm unsure how to remove the pump without rotating it to unthread it. I've attached some pictures of the situation.

​

I am just finishing up a SLAM. During the SLAM, I had to order more of the R-0871 reagent. There was a significant difference with the results of 1st bottle and the replacement. I have since run out of the first bottle and continued with the second bottle. Today I received a new bottle, and the results are as follows: Bottle in use FC 14 new bottle 20. All of these bottles have been purchased in the last 2 weeks. One bottle is from Taylor purchased on Amazon for fast delivery and the other bottle from TF testkits. Any thoughts? Thank you in advance for your opinions.
Pattie

Hi everyone, I'm looking at converting my ~15k usgal pool to salt water. I'm looking at the Circupool systems and trying to make my mind up. Here's my options:

RJ-30+: $1249 w/ max output of 1.5lb/day ($832/lb/day)
RJ-45+: $1449 w/ max output of 2lb/day ($724/lb/day)
RJ-60+: $1599 w/ max output of 3.1lb/day ($515/lb/day)
EDGE-25: $1049 w/ max output of 1.2lb/day ($874/lb/day)
EDGE-40: $1229 w/ max output of 1.7lb/day ($722/lb/day)

I believe any of these units will probably be able to keep up, but my question is whether the $/lb/day calculation that I've added above is actually a relevant thing to compare. I see that the RJ+ series is rated for 15k hours (at full capacity?). The EDGE series does not show a total hour rating (at least that I could find).

Assuming all else is equal and only considering the longevity of the cells vs the upfront cost, does it make sense to go with the RJ-60+ over the others? Say I'm using it to generate .75lb/day of Cl. Would that generation rate then theoretically increase the operating life (15000 rated hours) by a factor of 4 (3.1/.75 = 4.133). Obviously there's probably some other factors that go into that rating, but most of it should be directly affiliated with Cl generation, right?

tl;dr: which of the units listed above is the best value for a 15k gal pool?

Thanks for reading!

We are new pool owners. We were starting the SLAM process to our unmaintained pool when the return pipe from our filter started leaking. We've had to turn the filter off until we get it repaired. I'm not sure how long that will take since we will need to remove concrete from the deck to fix it. We have been brushing and running our sump pump to try and move the water. Our robot arrived yesterday so we are now running that daily and I've continued to add chlorine. Our CYA level is 0 and i'm not sure how to add it since I can't put it in the skimmer. Our calcium is also low so we have been using di-chlor and liquid chlorine so far. Should I just get some tri-chlor tabs to get the CYA up instead of adding pool conditioner? The FC is now at 8.5 and CC 0.5, but we still haven't got it up to SLAM level.

Should I give up on SLAM until we can run are filter and just keep add some chlorine to prevent the algae from getting worse until we can run the filter?

Thank you!

Mostly where the sun hits the pool walls the most. Is this normal? The pool store employee said I shouldn't get any if my water is balanced.

My alkalinity is just on the edge of being high but I can't imagine this is the cause. CYA is in range but on the low side.

FC is 5.5 (I boosted the chlorine a touch to see if it would help)
Drop is 6.0

SoCal pool, pebbletec, saltwater.

I currently am having a in ground pool installed. The soil is a heavy clay mix, and the pool builder is only backfilling the soil to the pool and is not compressing the fill at all. Originally I was going to have them do concrete around the pool but knowing that it would crumble without the soil being compact I decided to just live with the mud.

Is it a industry standard to just loosely backfill the overdig for the supports or does the fill usually get tamped down when it’s being put in?

I unfortunately will have to wait until next year for concrete since I know the un compressed clay soil will settle.

Last question- should the soil be compacted or would there be a reason it is not compacted?

Thank you for any insight in this very exciting but stressful life event.

So I am replacing my diving board (SR Smith Frontier II) and my bag with my bolt kit for attaching the base to the three bolt jig has been lost (kids!). So I need to get a new kit for bolting down the base. Looking at the kit (S.R. Smith 69-209-033-SS), they just look like regular bolts and nuts and washers. Buying the set of three bolts, nuts, etc. is close to $100, a lot for a few bolts, nuts, and washers. Can I go down to Ace Hardware and get the same bolts, nuts, etc. or is there something special about their bolt kit?

I have gone down a bit of a rabbit hole on looking at the quality of plumbing by several potential gunite pool builders in my area. The photos attached are from someone that comes recommended, but wanted to get input from this group. What I have found is that the builders around here vary wildly. I have really liked dealing with this particular builder but want to make sure I’m not stepping into potential issues down the road.

Hello everyone , new here to the forums and also a first time pool owner. I have been reading this site for the entire summer now and have learned a ton of information.

My pool is a 14ft x 8ft bestway pool with approx 1900 gallons in it. I have the TPF 100 pro-kit for testing and have been logging all my tests all year long as I’m a bit nuts. The pool has been just awesome. My kids love it. To my question. I have been struggling with keeping my FC chlorine in the range of 1-3ppm all year long. I had been given 3” tablets which I was breaking up into smaller pieces to fit into the self chlorinator that the pool comes with but it’s all over the place. I just recently got a pool floater as of about 2 1/2 weeks ago and just put one tablet in with just half of one slot open. Now I can’t keep the levels below about 6ppm. I can’t close the dispenser window any further. Should I just be using 1” tablets instead next year? I feel maybe the 3” just has too much surface area. I know the consensus on the site is to avoid the tablets at all costs but I just want to set it and forget it. All of my family and friends all just use the pucks so I followed suit. I check chlorine levels about 3-4 times a year. Thanks

As of my last full test about a week ago:
FC : 6ppm
CC: 0
PH: 7.5
TA: 110ppm

Hey everyone,

When it comes to manual vacuuming it is advised to start it from the shallow end of the pool and then slowly move towards the deeper end of the pool.

Why shallow end is advised first rather than starting from deeper end?

Thanks

I'm a first year pool owner. I've been getting my liquid chlorine from Menards. It's super cheap and always very fresh... within days usually. I was afraid this might happen, but my store is done selling this "seasonal" item. My pool is staying open for another 5-6 weeks. I don't want to buy from a pool store - in my experience they are expensive and dated. Are there any other big box stores that sell liquid chlorine further into the fall?

I’ve read/scanned through most of our (Virginia) pool code and can’t seem to find a couple clearances. Just starting research on an inground pool. First how far is a pool supposed to be from a house wall?

And we have underground power lines and I just had them marked, how far does the pool wall need to be from a power line? Looking like I need to move our pool design over about two feet to clear the line by 6”. Can’t tell if that is enough looking through the codes I found. Underground fiberglass is what we are considering.

Can anyone with the CircuPool CJ2750 filter talk about experience? Mainly interested in how often the cartridge needs to be cleaned and how that process goes - fairly simple?
Thanks!

Ph 7.8
CH over 100
Cya 0
I just added enough granulated dichlor to get FC to 6, but cya is still 0. Am I supposed to add stabilizer to raise the cya like I do in the pool? Or do I continue to add dichlor to raise the cya? If I continue to add dichlor, should I wait until until the fc drops and bring it back up to 6ppm? My plan is to switch to liquid chlorine once the cya reaches 30, as suggested by tfp.

Edit to add it’s a 7 seat South Seas Artesian spa. I don’t know if that matters to my question, but I can’t figure out how to add my hot tub info since I already added my pool info.

Is it recommended to put O Ring lube on the Oring on the plug (see photo) when closing/winterizing the pool ?

Thanks
Rich

Hi all,

I’ve seen some professional looking equipment pad layouts online if you Google pool equipment CAD drawings. Would like to try and learn to do this myself.

Do any of you do such work today to advise on what software tools are used by pool builders? Is it AutoCAD or some other software? Are there libraries available for all the different valves/equipment used?

For the past couple months I have noticed this on the bottom of my above ground pool. I believe the liner is vinyl.

My chemistry ( taken weekly from a Taylor kit)
FC: 9
TA: 70
CYA: 50
PH: 7.4
CA: 70

It is a 12000 gallon 24 ft round pool.

My weekly strategy is to backwash my sand filter, vacuum bi weekly, brush weekly, and test chemistry weekly. I only use bleach and baking soda, cya, and acid to control my pool chemistry.

Things I notice.
- after brushing my pool the “marks” disappear but then slowly reappears after several hours.
- I thought it was black algae ( I know it’s rare in vinyl) so I added 4x slam and scrubbed my pool with scrubbers tied to my feet, and ran the pump for a week. Didn’t seem to change much.

Hello,
I've had great success getting help on this site -- and thank you in advance for any advice.

I have a Pentair Racer for my inground pool. It is just over 3 years of age. I've probably had to spend 50-100 in repairs over the past 3 years, which hasn't been too bad. Now, the Racer seems to be stuck in a straight path -- it goes forward, backs up, and eventually rests right close to where it began. Unless I go out there and play with it (straight the line, move it manually and drop it elsewhere) it seldom actually does what it use to do -- which was run around the pool in an unpredictable pattern, but eventually tried to get all of the surface area and tried climbing the walls, etc. Have never been "in love" with it's cleaning ability but it's been acceptable. With that, I have two questions :

1.) What might be wrong with it? What can I check? <Note - we did change our EasyTouch control board … so not sure if this has anything to do with the issue>
2.) People seem to like robots. Do y'all recommend them? If so, what's the brand of choice with a good warranty - and are there any places that are known for selling them at reasonable prices?

Thanks,
Mike

Does anyone sell weights and floats for the standard size pool hose? All I can find are the skinny ones for the kreepy krawley hose. Too skinny to fit standard pool hose.

I recently replaced the pulsator jets in my spa since the one of them blew out and scattered ball bearings all over and the other ones no longer spin. This is the exact part: Waterway 3-1/2" Deluxe Poly Pulsator Screw-in Jet Insert.

However, now it seems that any time my pool pump is on, the pulsator jets have bubbles coming out of them. The non-pulsator jets are fine. I tried closing all of the air control vales completely and still the bubbles come out. I've noticed the pH of my pool keeps rising and I've been having to add a lot of acid to keep things in check. What boggles my mind is, if I remove the jets completely and just leave the wall fittings, no bubbles come out. My previous jets did not behave this way -- they only had bubbles when the pool was in "spa mode" and never bubbled in "pool mode."

Any idea what might be going on here? Are my spa jets defective? Do I have some air getting into the system somehow? I don't get where those bubbles could be coming from if the air valves are closed but I also don't get why they stop when I take the jets out. Any advice is much appreciated!

I've put up my Intex Ultraframe 12'x24' above ground pool and everything works great (in large part due to the kind people on this forum). We are filling the backyard with chipped pea gravel which we'd love to come as close to the pool as possible (the pool is in a wood frame that's holding sand I leveled the ground with). I was thinking I'll get this foam tubing that's used for insulating wires (think black pool noodles) and run it around the pool so the pebbles to touch the pool... but that's getting pretty pricy. Is there a cheaper alternative people use that still looks good?