This is my second in ground pool. I had one in Fresno, CA and now here in Texas. I have always taken water samples to Leslie’s Pool Stores for evaluation and sometimes I feel like I am overdoing the chemicals and never getting as close to a balanced pool as I would like. After all, Leslie’s make’s their money selling chemicals and equipment. I’d like to say Thank You to those who can help me learn.

New homeowner here in South Florida. I currently pay a pool company to do maintenance and would like to take over soon. I need a new pump because we have a small leak and I'm interested in learning about salt water systems to see if that is something I should invest in instead of continuing with the current regular filter pump system. A few minutes of reading through threads and I have learned a lot!

Greetings. Pool owner for 3 years and so far so good. I'm a self-proclaimed geek and love to learn. I'm the resident pool guy for my family and its in my interest to ensure that the pool looks great, feels great, and is sanitary. I had a friend over one day who wanted to know what I did to keep my pool so clear and pretty , oh boy, instant regrets for him. My opportunity to talk about something I was passionate about to someone who actually asked didn't come by often. I opened up by telling him that clear water is just clear water--my toilet bowl looks great and the water is super clear, but there's absolutely no way I'd play in it. He said he never thought about it that way and our conversation turned into sanitation, balance, and the benefits. Glad to join this group and I'm looking forward to furthering my knowledge on keeping a Trouble Free Pool.

New pool owner (second summer). This app was recommended from a Facebook group and I’m so glad. We built the pool after COVID and have 4 kiddos ages 12-16. They are in heaven here outside of Nashville. Our boys were trained a couple times by the builder on cleaning the pool filters (that pump scares me every time they put the filters back on) and everyone does their part keeping our little oasis beautiful. However, We made quite the blunder on our 18,000 gallon Gunite pool. My 16-year-old put 13 pounds of shock in instead of the 13 ounces. So here we are… joining the Trouble Free Pool world!! Thank you.

We put our pool in this past August. Hoping to build a pool Pavillion next month. It will be covered but sides will be open. 26x34. What type of cabinets (to make an island) can I use? I was looking on FB Marketplace for a granite-topped island, went by a cabinet shop and he said he would not put wood out there. He mentioned stainless steel. I don’t want that. It would mot match. I know there is HDPE. That’s what our pool furniture is, but I didn’t want to spend that much. Has anyone used real wood cabinets in a pavillion? My friend has a wood vanity in her enclosed bathroom, so I know we are going to do that. I don’t want to spend an arm and leg (already have), so I’d love to hear what you guys have done. I want something mainly for a serving line, to put food on, and store things, etc. Thanks!

Hi there! Looking for some advice as we know next to nothing about pools!!!

We've inherited a pool which we think was built in the 1970's - some kind of concrete, ancient 45kw heater, pretty old filter and pump. We opened the pool late this year as we suspected a leak - water level was hard to maintain at end of last year, and settled about 2ft down over winter.

So we left it until we had some time to start investigating (got pretty green in the meantime), then started to go through the process of shocking it in order to see what was wrong. Dumped a load of chlorine it, but when running the pump you could see air bubbles inside the pump, and when we turned the pump off ready to backwash, a huge jet of air/water was released into the pool. Apparently something didn't enjoy the force that came with that jet of water, as the pool then emptied out over the course of about two weeks - about a foot of water now left in the bottom of the pool.

Strongly suspect an issue with the main drain, or the pipework leading from it, given that the pool is now basically empty. We will get it pressure tested prior to starting any work, but want that pressure testing to be done by same person who will be fixing it, so we don't have to pay twice (no one wants to assume the other guys diagnostics were correct!)

So on the assumption that the main drain / main drain pipework has gone we've had a few people over to look at fixing it, and we're getting a variety of solutions - I'd love some advice on which suggestions are the best?!

• Option 1: Install a pool liner and channel out the concrete for a new main drain. Don't like this option as also have to replace all the skimmers and a lot of plumbing, so costs were escalating rapidly. Someone estimated about £40k for liner+plumbing+fitting.
• Option 2: Abandon the main drain, cap it off and fill it in as too expensive to dig it out. Just use the skimmers instead. But concerned that we won't get enough circulation without a main drain, and pool will have to be cleaned more often. And given that the pool levelled off 2ft below the skimmers over winter, if that happened again we'd then have a dry pump - not ideal as we're likely to replace the ancient pump at same time at getting this fixed.
• Option 3: Abandon the main drain - cap it off and fill it in as too expensive to dig it out. Instead install 2 low level sidewall suction points.
• Option 4: Abandon the main drain - cap it off and fill it in as too expensive to dig it out. Instead install 1 low level sidewall suction point. Not sure this is legal...(suggested by a different person to previous option)

We're leaning towards option 3, but there's a lot of negative views on sidewall suction valves, and we don't want to be conned into something which costs quite a lot to install, but won't add much benefit. Thoughts???
Should I be concerned that no one proposed to actually fix the main drain / plumbing or is it genuinely an impossible thing to fix?

Any advice welcomed!!!

Laura

I am the new pool owner and I have an outdoor inground 33000 gallon pool with sand salt generator. Last month there was an issue with salt, the system was showing a salt error. I have called pool company, by the time they responded , my pool water got allergy and water turned green. They have added some shock and salt which worked well. But after few days my filter start giving error as well as salt. ( please refer the attachment). When I called them they asked me to do backwash. But I have noticed whenever I am backwash it it working for sometime and then again back to same problem. Now it been two weeks. The company stopped answering my call and asked to look somewhere else.
I request if anybody can help me to understand this issue.

My dad has a leak at his pool that was located with a hearing device. The leak is in the PVC pipe that leads to a jet from the pool pump. We are leaking about 1000 in 2 - 3 days.

It was recommended to dig up the flagstone and dig down 3 feet to the pipe. Looking for a magic bullet to fix this as digging in 108-degree heat is not high on my list.

So the stains seem to come from the path of the fill water which was just a single garden hose over a couple days. It was very faint & over the 4 months its getting worse.
I picked up a Jack's ID kit but nothing. I didnt reduce PH & FC as I should have so perhaps I need to try again. We have very hard water & live in the city but even so to me it appears to be Iron. I have recently put a 20" big blue on my auto filler but not sure if that will do anything at all. The test kit I have is garbage.
Such a nice pool & area, everything going well but this really sucks & not sure how to fix it or if its fixable.

Hello, I have a brand new gunite pool. I am here to learn everything I can about keeping my pool clean, clear, and algae free.

Having trouble getting our pool clear. We have an 80K litre in ground vinyl pool. Our water has been cloudy/milky white for the past week despite running the pool pump/sand filter 24/7 Cannot see the bottom of the pool in the shallow end.

Numbers

Alk 90
Hardness 211
PH 7.6
Stab 80
Chlorine (Free and Total 4.08)

I have ordered a Taylor test kit but will be a week before that arrives......any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Trying to find a skimmer filter lid. Pool shop had some but the inside ( part that goes in the hole ) was to big... This opening seems to be 8", but the smallest I've found so far is 8 3/8..

Any suggestions?

Hey all,

This may be a moot point for me, since we are upgrading to a permanent AGP soon. But this being year 3 of temporary pools, and year 2 using the TFP methods, I've noticed algae buildup in the "hard to reach" areas of the temp pool. This includes the area where the base floor overlaps the side liner, behind the pool ladder on the floor, and in the crevices of the ladder. Could this be due to the construction of the pool? And the hard to reach areas don't get enough water flow? Or is it something else? I keep my chlorine levels in range. I suspect the pump isn't generating enough power or I could benefit from a better nozzle setup to get the water flowing more, because I've noticed some of the surface water is stagnant, especially around the ladder. I always find debris near the ladder and skim it out.
Thanks for reading!

This is to make a long story short. I had crystal clear blue water for a month. Discovered a very small leak in the pool, not worthy enough to make a priority to fix. Was just topping off the water when it was looking low. Filter was always able to run. Then one night I fell asleep and overflowed my pool for 5 hours

Ok. Was back to square one. Rebalanced everything. Was told my TA was low and added baking soda. My water was a clear teal. Then the hole got bigger and had to force myself to jump in to patch and the ground was flooding. Had to then refill. Which it got down past filter and sat for 2 days.

It then had a terenchal downpour of rain after I fixed and refilled. In a day my pool was lime green. I shocked it x3. The next day it was dark green, going to black side…..

Took a sample to pool store. They told me everything was balanced except ph was 8. Add low and slow bioguard. I did that and recirculated pump. Within 2 hours pool turned back to the all familiar teal.

I retested water today. TA 80-100, ph 7.8, free chlorine is at least 10 (highest test will read) as well as total chlorine 10 (highest test will read). CYA is 0. I know. So I added stabilizer. I’m hoping that will bring the ph down enough to let this chlorine do something. I am so frustrated. I want to throw this pool away so bad. I can’t afford a commercial pool right now. But this thing has been one headache after the other. Currently have the filter recirculating after adding stabilizer.

Hello Everyone,

So I just got my pool resurfaced and I was wondering if my pool Jetts should look like this? They have part of the threading showing and are not flush to the pool wall. Will that be an issue ?

Not pool in signature:
Get a call, heard your name around can you check pool and advise. Went to see new to me pool/customer yesterday and pool reeked of chlorine. Pool is palster approximately 18k with attached spa, chlorinator being fed by pool guy. No automation, Two single speed pumps one for pool and the other for spa, mastertemp heater and rather large DE filter.
Took water sample with me for analysis.
Fc- 25 (50 drops, higher but stopped counting)
CC-0
PH- inaccurate
CH-225
TA- went from green to yellow after few drops
CYA-160 (diluted testing)
Salt- 800
Water is crystal clear. Customer is clueless and was only bothered about some bugs floating that weren't going into the skimmers. A gross adjustment was needed to balance the manual jandy never lubes.
Bottom line:
Need to advise customer....

Hi. We are currently building our pool which should be set to be completed in a couple weeks. I was told about automatic pool skimmers. I’ve been researching different ones but can’t find many reviews. A lot of the past forums were from years ago. Anyone have any experience with these recently? Recommend one over the other? Thank you.

Was told that we have black algae in the pool. The recommended treatment was:
- Drain the pool fully - 30,000 gallons
- use algaecide and scrub every inch of the pools surface
- throw away all pool equipment - skimmer, brush, etc.
- get new filter grids
- essentially empty, scrub and get everything else new.

THis doesn't sound legit, but I have never dealt with black aglae

Hello everyone,

My name is Todd and I’m having an issue with my Pentair Mastertemp125 High Performance Pool heater not working. I have an above ground 21 foot round pool and I bought this heater in 04/2022 but it was backordered and I got it around the end of 08/2022 so it sat in my shed until 04/2023 when I had a guy run a gas line for it and then hook it up so it has only been used for a few months. On 08/16/2023 I got an error message on the screen that said “ERR AFS”. I took a closer look at it today and noticed there is a good amount of water draining from the “blower”. I wasn’t sure if anyone else had experienced anything like this and if you have any recommendations on what to check or what it could be and how to fix it.

Thank you so much for your time and help,

Todd

Hello, I'm a new pool owner and trying to read all that I can here on TFP.
We have a 25,000 gallon vinyl liner pool sanitized with liquid chlorine only.
My CYA is currently 47
I'm having trouble maintaining my target level of FC without breaking the bank...I have to add about a ½ gallon every day to keep it up at 4.5 FC.
Also, I'm a bit confused about how to shock with liquid chlorine too and how that saves money rather than something like cal-hypo?
Thanks so much for any and all help!

I'm in the process of my first SLAM. Does shock level literally need to be maintained for a successful SLAM? I started testing and adding chlorine every couple of hours at the beginning of the process during the weekend. However, I work during the week so I have about 9-10 hours I can't check. I've been bringing FC to shock level 16 before I leave in the morning and it was 5 when I got home today.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have a calcium buildup around the negative edge spa. A wire brush did not work. My plan is to drain the pool a few feet and try CLR. Calcium crystals only show up in spa. Any suggestions about how to best treat this?

Also I have been mostly using TFP protocols and recommended test kits for a year. I was traveling a fair amount and I used Chorine Tabs over the summer and it drove my CYA from 40 to 100. My understanding is I have to completely drain the entire pool to fix CYA and avoid tabs like the plague. We have a drought in Austin, so I have not done this yet. Since it is over 108 degrees in Austin and "an area with 90+ pool water temperatures and extreme sunlight exposure 10+ ppm of CYA a month can be lost through degradation," I am considering waiting and seeing if it will drop. Is this a bad idea to wait?

Test kit I use a Taylor 2006c.
In-ground 10K gallon pool plaster pool in Austin, TX
FC 10
PH 7
TA 140
CH 400
CYA 100
CSI .17
Pool temp 95 Degrees
Air temp 108 degree

I just started using the PoolMath app and wondered if logging daily CL/PH is a thing for anyone? If so, do you just leave the rest blank? I suspect most people don't log daily but thought I'd ask.

thanks,
-scott

I tried the TFP pool method on my last pool and did it for two months, managed to keep it nice and clean. But I found a pool guy that did a good job and was cheap enough to just switch for less of my time spent.

I got a new house now with a pool, and want to try TFP method again. The new pool is 26,200 gallons according to Pentair's estimate. 35 ft long and about 550sqft measured from google earth. I assume the deep end is 7-8ft, irregular blob shape.

Any idea how much liquid chlorine to expect to last a month? I want to buy at least a months worth, so I can focus on moving in.

mknauss said:

Mine works -- but let's ask @Leebo if there are any issues.

Be sure you login to the Win App using your TFP login credentials.

Click to expand...

I've tried that however, I keep getting:



The credentials that I used are the same that I used to get to this page.

Hello,

Looking for pump recommendations to run a waterfall on a faux-stone grotto we're installing. The manufacture states it needs 6000GPH flow rate, which seems like I'd need somewhere around a 2HP pump. This seems like a massive pump to me, but it does have to go up around 6ft from the pool deck (and another couple feet underground, plus 50ft horizontally to the equipment pad).

Any recommendations that aren't going to break the bank? Our primary pump will be a Jandy FloPro VS 1.65, but I don't think we really need an expensive VS pump for this, we can control the flow to a certain degree with a valve before the pump inlet as far as I'm aware.

Thanks

I know it's not a good idea to use petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to install O-Rings because it harms the rubber unless it's removed completely, immediately after installation, which is hard to do.

However, can undiluted dishwashing soap be used to install O-Rings? For example:

1. I need to slip a new O-Ring on the leaf canister that's upstream from the pool vacuum
2. So I apply a thin film of dishwashing soap on the new O-Ring
3. Hopefully the soap allows me to install the new O-Ring on the leaf canister easily
4. I then thoroughly wash off the dishwashing soap from the new O-Ring using a soft bristle toothbrush to remove soap left behind

I know silicon lubricants like "Magic LUBE" that costs around $9 but I have to remember where I kept it but if dishwashing soap works equally well and does no damage if cleaned within a few minutes, it's always by the sink and I need a tiny bit!


Have any of you personally used dishwashing soap instead of silicon lubricant?

Is there any hazard or danger to the new O-Ring if using dishwashing soap this specific way?

I have noticed mostly spas but a few pools too, that have this yellowish tinge


What causes it? Is it just the color of the plaster?

Is there two capacitors on a Hayward dual speed pump (SPX1607Z2MS)? Mine won't start and without tearing back cover off, I wasn't sure if there was one inside, along with the one on top hump. Does anyone have the size/part#s of them? I looked online and not getting much information. Thanks!