Moved from here.
Jer H, did you ever find out what was tripping the breaker? I have same exact problem with my HP50a and no error codes.

Have an older Leisure Bay Hot tub, just replaced heater and other parts, and getting a reading of 22, sometimes 23, instead of 98 or 110 degrees. When I try ;to increase temp, it shuts down the heater. What's next?

I have an old SmartPure (Aquarite) sanitizing system that is running the old r1.4 version of software. I need a new cell but am seeing conflicting information on what replacement cell is and is not compatible. Is the GLX-5 cell compatible with r1.4? I have seen other posts that say no, I need a t-15 to work with that software version. Hoping someone here can help me out.

Hayward support was completely worthless when calling them. They had no idea and only referred me to local service partners. Every service partner I have called also have no idea as they don't seem to know anything about the older unit compatibility. I am selling the house, so I don't want to replace the whole system. Just looking for someone that can point me in the right direction.

Once a year, I like to buy a TF-Pro refill kit just to support the site. However, I'm noticing certain reagents aren't going to make it a full year. I already anticipated that the CL drop test powder and reagents wouldn't last, so along with the refill kit I buy an additional set for that specific test. However, there are two others that are getting low:

- The red reagent for the pH test (I'm at about 1/3 to 1/4 remaining in the bottle)
- The 2oz bottles of clear liquid for the CYA test (I'm down to 1 bottle out of 3)

I test pH every 2 days and CYA every 7-8 days. CYA I could probably test less often, as week to week it doesn't change much. But it makes me nervous to go more than a week without running every test. My plaster is still new so I don't see the pH test getting extended out, as I hit 8.2 after 2 days.

Should I buy refills for these 2 reagents now, and hope it lasts me long enough that I won't be wasting too much when I am ready to buy a full refill kit in March 2024 (I just bought my last refill kit in March 2023)?

Unrelated (but while I have a thread going): I wanted to ask about the CH test. The color change from red -> blue is pretty slow. I usually record about 16 drops (400ppm) but if I do 15 drops and wait long enough, it slowly turns to blue (maybe 10-20 seconds). Is the slow color change the stopping point, or should I keep going until I see a rapid color change? It doesn't seem to instantly change color like the Salt or TA test does.

Thank you for the help!!

We purchased a Hayward ECO pump-motor-VFD approx 7 years ago and it's worked great since day 1..! Last week we had some rough weather and apparantly, this unit was hit by lightning. After checking, the PM motor and pump are good, VFD is toast. My question is, does anyone have PM electric motor information? Since this is a permanent magnet motor, it has to be controlled with a VFD bit there is information (normally found on nameplate) that has to be entered into VFD in order to operate. This information is not on nameplate and I'm curious if anyone can help me figure out back EMF voltage or a value close enough to allow autotune?

Getting the low salt light on my SWG system. It is showing 1200 for average salt and a manual test is 3900 (added a little too much before discovering the issue). With that ratio, I'm guessing the cell is probably about done. Serial number is 3E14308, so I have gotten a decent amount of years out of it. Strange thing is, my pool looks great and it still has chlorine (TC is 2).

A few questions:
-guess I'm looking for some reassurance that I need to replace my cell
-is there any problem or danger to other parts of the system if I wait a few weeks before replacing?
-if I get the same cell, I assume I can just take the old one off and put the new one on like I was doing a cleaning (and reset the clean cell indicator)?
-are there a few favorite online vendors that people on the forum like to deal with for new cells (lots of companies on Hayward online sellers chart)?

Hey guys/gals! I've been researching pool cleaners that are less than $500 (my oldest is heading to college...trying to save $$$). I've looked at the Aiper models as well as Wybot. Not sure what else to look at to be honest. What do y'all have that you absolutely love and couldn't do without? I'm tired of manually vacuuming my pool in this Texas heat LOL.

Hi all, got a pentair intellicenter from EBay and seems that it may have been partially installed, but never completed.
I am concerned that it was a faulty system and they just abandoned the installation and sold it.
I did get a deal, but concerned something maybe off, seems to be missing one relay.
So the question how can I test without taking my system off? Can I bench set it up? Anything I can try to test?

Looking at the control panel, can’t seem to find a matching wire with a connector.
Was there supposed to be an antenna? Anything missing?

Pool is in its 4th season. Admittedly, I question the contractor’s diligence when handling the pool startup. I made the mistake of learning how to maintain on my own later. A pool guy had told me a couple years ago that the area where the wall meets the pool bottom is fading because of the bad startup. This year is the first year the fading appears to be significantly larger. It’s all around the bottom edge but the left side in the attached image is the most noticeable. I maintain solid CSI and LSI levels throughout the year so curious to hear thoughts on whether this will continue expanding, is it normal for darker colors, or anything else that may come to mind. Thank you.

Hi,
I am new to this forum. I recently installed AQRS340OMNI system, Tristar VS 700 Omni and replaced damaged colorlogic 120 V pool light with UCL 12 V (LPCUS11100) light. This Omni hubs has two inbuilt high voltage relays. Can I power my VS pump and UCL light directly through Omni hub's internal relays. Thank you.

Could DPD powder cause these spots on table? Not sure if I spilt some, but don’t know what else it could be. There is a potted orchid overhanging the spots.

If DPD, is there anything that can be done to fix it?

About to be first time pool owner here. Should be getting the keys to the new place in the next two weeks. I’ve been scouring this site, Swim University, and SwimmingPoolSteve to try and get the basics down. Wish us luck and I’m sure I’ll be posting soon as we start to move in.

SWG read 1500 ppm
Test strip read 2500 PPM
I added 8 bags of salt to reach 3300 ppm from the 2500 reading
Now strips read 5800 ppm which is 5.8 on the strip. And SWG is warning check salt at 2200.
I read the old posts and most said trust the SWG or get the K-1766 kit. I've had faulty readings from SWGs before which caused an overload of salt so I would rather have a reliable test kit then calibrate the SWG. My strips are just a year old.

Have a 1.5 hp dual speed pump with a salt system and a sand filter. I noticed that recently when I go check it out the skimmer basket is floating and even though the pump is running the water doesn’t fill up all the wait to the top on the pump basket as it did before, this is actually only 1/3 full. The return jet is weak also and noticed a lot of small air bubbles.
I have done several backwash and rinse on the filter and try to prime and get any air it may have out without success. When I bypass the filter on recirculate the issue is still same with no changes. The filter pressure is fine. What do you think I should do? Thanks in advance.

recently based on some advice I was reading here I turned my main drains 75% closed so that I could have more skimming of the pool surface. This worked but for the same rpm I was running prior 1800-2300 I’ve noticed some air bubbles at the top of the pump basket. At 2300 it’s just a few but at 1800 after 5-6 hours it’s a small pocket about half an inch deep it seems.

Is this normal behaviour with vs pumps? With the main drain fully open previously didn’t see this issue unless very low around 1000 rpm

Is there any disadvantage of liquid chlorine. We are using cal hypo but I want to switch to liquid to prevent high concentration of calcium over time. I was told liquid can be damaging to our vinyl liner ? Is this true? To me that doesnt make sense but I wanted to ask

Hello!
Just Spend $2,000 to have the area leveled and compacted. Now, I’m going to place the pavers 16”x16”x2” for the 24 legs. Then getting sand delivered tomorrow to put 2 inches under the pool so that the pool bottom will be level with the pavers.
Questions:

1. What is the footprint of the pool? I read in other posts it’s smaller than the 32x16?
I need to know so I can place the pavers

2. Does it sound like bringing the pool bottom level up with 2” of sand to the pavers will work?

I just got back from a 10 day vacation and came back to these brown spots all over the pool, but mainly on the sun shelf. A pool brush didn’t seem to do anything, but when rubbing with my nail it removed some of the brown spreading part but not completely.

Is this due a chemistry issue? I have been dealing with high PH for awhile which I think is scaling my filter. The filter jumps to high pressure within an hour of cleaning. I thought the filter issue might be an algae issue, and was planning to do a chlorine drop test (CC is 0-0.5).

Could this be due to high PH or algae? Or is it something wrong with the plaster? I would appreciate helping identify the issue and how to fix it. I have been using TFP since we built a year ago, you guys are always great. Thanks for the help in advance!

FC - 6.0
CC - 0-0.5
CYA - 70
PH - 8.2
CH - 450
TA - 80
Salt - 3400

I have a SWG that is keeping the FC at ~4.0 continuously (I check every day). My CYA is ~50, so FC should be good (slightly over 7.5% CYA). I have noticed that the CC has been slowly rising over the last few days - 0 three days ago, 0.2 two and one day ago, and 0.4 (maybe 0.3?) today. Pool was swept yesterday, filter was backwashed, and pool vac run two days ago and today. Solar cover has been on at night and up to about noon everyday.

FC: 4.0
CC: 0.4
CYA: ~50
pH: 7.6
TA: 60

I'm located in the Bay Area (Orinda). The context is that from November to February there were many torrential rains. The rains extended through March and April, and even happened sporadically through May and June.

My house is on a hill, at an elevation of 728 ft. In March I noticed that the pool began to loose water and I called a pool specialist who detected a water leak in a crack in the wall of the pool.

The work of patching the crack and reinforcing with rebar happened in May; However, the pool lost water again and after inspecting all the systems, the pool builder found another crack adjacent to where he had fixed earlier. When removing the water from the pool a second time, more cracks were found in the pool wall.

One theory from the pool builder is that there is a gap between the base of the pool and the ground due to soil movement caused by rains.

Potential fixes from the problem:

1) Recommendation is redo the entire layer of plaster, which will help identify the parts where there are cracks and reinforce the base as needed.

2) Another is to create a retaining wall on the side bottom side of the slope (opposite side from the crack repair area) that will better support the pool and prevent movement of the subsoil under the pool.

3) Building a french drain in the area where there is more elevation (near the current crack repair area) could help prevent water from flowing down near the pool wall.

I am looking to try to understand where the origin of the problem is. What type of study would you recommend? Would a structural engineer tell me what work I need to do to prevent from future cracks and if these (all or one) will prevent future issues?

Does the crack need to be opened for an structural engineer to study the soil?
Should the pool builder have reinforced a larger area from the beginning?

here is a video and some pictures

thanks for any ideas !

My pool has been empty for about 16 months did some repair on the decorative rocks and painted them. I found out that the main drain covers should be changed every 10 years and mine had some cracks so got some replacements. I also replaced the halogen lights with LED lights with longer cable (thats another story). I have a salt system and also starting with new filter cartrages. Is there anything else I should do before filling it up? I have belonged to this form for a while now and love the "Pool Math" app it makes it so easy to keep it looking good.

Hey everyone!

I’m new to the board, although I’ve definitely lurked here before for tips and troubleshooting issues I’ve had in the past. I’m hoping someone may be gracious enough to help me solve my problem - my former pool guy is too busy or can’t be bothered to swing by, so I’ve been trying to figure this out on my own - to no avail.

Let me get to it.

I have a 17,000 gal in ground pool with an attached, raised spa with a spillway. I recently had to change out my return actuator and that replacement went off without a hitch (I believe).

My previous actuator was set to stop at, let’s say 90% off on the spa return when it was in pool mode so that there would be a tiny bit of circulation and the spillway would run. When I replaced it, I couldn’t figure out how to get it to stop just short of totally closing off the spa return. My specific model is a Tork TPE24VA, and it wasn't clear to me how to manually set the dial. As a work-around, I manually hit the switch to off once it got to that desired 90%, knowing that it would no longer be controlled by the automation system. This was a temporary work around as I had no immediate plans to run it in spa mode while I did more digging on how to manually set the limit on the rotation.

I assumed that my drain actuator would also stay on the pool setting unless I switched it to spa mode. Then I went to bed. This morning, when I went into my backyard, I first noticed that the pump sounded louder than usual, like when it’s straining when the basket is full. However, as I got closer, I realized the spa was completely drained. I immediately hit the breakers to turn the pump off.

I then filled the hot tub back up with my hose, set the actuators to just run the pool water, then turned the pump back on. It “runs,” but the pump won’t fill with water. It does not return any water to the pool, in fact, a few air bubbles slowly come out of the nearest return jet. When I open up the pump, the water inside sits at like 2/3 full.

Some troubleshooting that I’ve done so far:

-Pool/skimmer water levels are good.
-Skimmer and pump basket are not clogged.
-I used a coat hanger to clear out the pump impeller and nothing came out.
-I’ve tried filling the pump with my hose and literally had it filling for ~10 minutes and it just kept eating it - it never filled/overflowed.
-I tried bleeding the air out of the filter, and when it eventually filled up, pressure wouldn’t build, and it would fill with air again. The filter is at 0 psi.

I’m hoping with these details and the troubleshooting I’ve done so far, one of you may be wise enough to pinpoint the issue. I fear that it pulling air in from an empty spa for who knows how long could mean the pump needs to replaced.

So, anybody have a clue what the issue is? Or have any other troubleshooting tips?

Thank you all so so much for taking the time to read this! Apologies for the length!

So I have read (not on here) that if you see these in your pool ... you more than likely have algae even if you can't see it. So I had a couple of them swimming around today , I removed them and have no reason to believe that I have algae that I can or cannot see. What are the thoughts on these bugs making their way into your pool.

I finally splurged and got a dolphin Sigma and love it so far except for the fact that it gets hung up on at least one or both of the main drains each time which is really annoying. I turn the pump off when I run it but it still gets stuck. I'm sure this is probably a fairly common issue with these cleaners. I've watched some videos of the clips you can install on the drains but wondering if that's the best fix or if there's something that works even better. I don't mind spending more money on new drain covers or whatever it takes for the robot to not ever get stuck.

Thanks in advance!

Just had my salt system upgraded to a PLC1400 and upgraded to iAqualink3.0 Upgrade Kit w/ RS-PS8 PCB. We've always had the Aqualink RS4 mounted on the wall inside the house inside the back door, to control the pool, hot tub, and monitor the system (would display the air temp, water temp, salt level, etc.). The pool tech who installed the new board said the RS4 would not be compatible with the IAqualink 3.0 as it would interfere with the app and web application to control the system.
My question is, can I at least hook up the Aqualink RS4 to show anything on the indoor display, I understand I would not necessarily be able to control the system from it, but seeing a black screen on the unit is still odd to look at, since before when it was the "brains" of the system when it was black meant there was an isssue!

Hey all. I just bought a Pentair Intelliflo3 VSF to replace my Hayward Northstar. After removing the Northstar it appears that the intake line doesn't match up. That being the case should I just shim up the pump with a piece of pressure treated lumber, or cut the lines and lower them? I have attached images so you can see the difference.

Also if I have to cut and lower the lines for the Skimmers, Spa drain, and Main drain. Will the water pressure force water out of the lines impeding me from being able glue on couplings? Thanks

Dealing with very hot days and tons of rain here in Florida which is causing lower than normal FC. I’m worried about running my SWG at a higher value (currently 50 bumped up to 75) that may cause premature cell failure vs supplementing liquid as a band aid. The SWG is about 5 years old.

Hi All,

I live in SETX and have run my pool year round since it's initial install in 1993. This was somewhat messy and temperamental with tabs but when I switched over to salt in ~ 2005, things got better - until the weather patterns over the past few years have made me wonder if it's time to stop treating from Nov thru Mar and just let it ride.

We'll get 5" of rain over a couple days which drops my salt around 600 points, not to mention my CYA to 0, and causes me to pump out what remains so the skimmer will work. Then I'll add salt and the rain comes again. I've dumped prolly 6 bags of salt since Christmas with no end in sight. Water temps are usually below 60° and sometimes get into the 40's during this stretch. My though is to shut down the chlorinator and just run the pump long enough for 1 turnover, about 6 hrs.

Your thoughts?

Russ

I'm new to TFP and new to pool care. We've had a pool for a couple years and have been paying someone to take care of it. I finally bit the bullet and decided to take over the pool care myself. At first it was to save money, but after testing the pool I realized our pool guy wasn't doing his job right, so all the more reason to take over. I'm glad I found this forum. Looking forward to getting help and sharing ideas.

This is my first time building a pool so I'm unfamiliar with gunite process. I don't know what it's suppose to look like within the first 24 hours, but this isn't what I envisioned so I thought I'd just get confirmation from all the veteran pool owners.

I live in Texas and it is like 100+ every day right now so I guess my concern would be that the parts of the surface dried/cured to fast and would cause issues/cracks later. I just need peace of mind.