We have a Bestway Power Steel 18' x 9' x 48" Oval above ground pool (see link to pool if needed). It's 1500 Gallons and has a 1,500 GPH filter pump. We got the whole thing for free as part of a promotion and used it a for a month before winter. Now we are getting it ready for summer and I feel like we'll need a better pump to get through the summer (in Florida). I am totally overwhelmed by all the technical specs and options. I am interested in converting to salt water, but read that you can't use it with steel frames, but I'm not sure if that's true. Please help, I'm clueless!

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Moved from here.
Hey. Im here looking for same information. I have an 18x48 Bestway pool I'm putting up and I've already bought the Hayward skimmer. I've done this twice before on the Intex version of the pools and I imagine the skimmer itself is going to be no different on the install what I'm wondering is what do I do with the bottom suction lines.

Those are useless to keep imho and I don't want to plumb them in. I've got the skimmer that's going to do the job better that underwater suction lines ever will.

But what do I do with those ports down there in the liner? I'm looking at either trying to patch about two quarter size holes or I could try to install the fittings, but block them in some way... or... option 3... which would work... but would look like Crud and might be a harbor for algae and other things I don't want in my pool is to simply run a line between the two of them on the outside of the pool but not connected them to filtration system.

Option 3 doesn't sound like it will look good and I can just see stagnant water sitting in those lines.

Option 2 will also not look very good and sounds cumbersome.

Option 1 sounds best but ive never patched a quarter sized hole. Thinking ill patch both sides with plenty of glue and hope for the best.

As far as the hayward return jet I think it should go in right where the original one from Bestway goes. The hole for the bestway jet, whenever I look at the two different return jets, is slightly bigger than the Hayward... but the Hayward gaskets will cover the hole so that shouldn't be a problem

Ok so my pool is 16x32 with 8ft deep. I’m looking into getting this heater/chilller. Is it big enough?

PH 7.6
CYA 40
FC (1hr after adding and before sunrise)5
CC 0
TA 80
24,000g pool

No matter what, 4 hours after sunrise FC is zero. Dump 1/2g of of liquid chlorine mid day 0FC by evening.

Converted from Baquacil this spring after letting the pool sit all winter (VT).

I’ve changed the sand
Pool is clear

I’m growing tired of dumping 1g of LC every night is this common? It’s rained 3 inches over the past month, I draw the water down before it rains, is CDX killing my stabilizer?

da-waterboy said:

Concrete Overlays , spray , stamp , ect. is what i have done in my business since 2002. So i can lend some insight and also a professional opinion if needed.

In the short tho:

Both materials are essentially the same thing. Both a "portland" based material, both have acrylics/resins for movement and bonding. Both will require re-sealing at certain times. Both have unlimited colors to choose from. The big difference between the two are basically the look you can achieve and also of course the cost of each. Stamps being the most expensive. I personally love the look of a stamped overlay done correctly as opposed to just a "spray" pattern. However the durability is fine with both but you mention having a lot of kids running around.... the stamp pattern is MUCH more slippery then the Spray. The safety of your kids and the neighbors kids, ect usually come into play when thinking about which direction to go.

As far as a contractor/ MAnufacturer i can help you with that as well. Obviously I have nothing in this cause im from PA but i have used alot of different materials over the year and can at least help you locate the proper things you will need and the proper people you nned to speak with .

Hope this starts helping a little bit.

Click to expand...

We have a typical brushed concrete in south jersey, I’m looking to possibly do a “sundeck” material type overlay that’s stamped. Do you have any installer recommendations?

I have a leak where the tube connects from the pump to the sand filter, it seems to be right at the base of the tube. The clamps that came with it I couldn't get to clamp well so I got some hose clamps from Menards. They are as tight as they can get. Don't seem to have any leaks on the pump end but have this on the sand filter end.

Had an old Intex skimmer basket that fits perfectly on the Bestway inlet piece. Both pools had a 1500 gallon filter pump but the Best way splits it between two inlets where the old Intex only had one, so it skims at "half strength".
Does that half strength skimming even help or am I doing more harm than good? Do notice a lot of bugs and whatnot gather around the skimmer basket rim but maybe it's not strong enough to get them to the filter, so seeing if anyone else has tried this before.
Thanks all.

Hi Everyone,

I am new to TFP and a fairly new pool owner, have had it a year. I decided to drain it a few weeks ago because the chemicals were out if whack. I also wanted to move it, level it out better and build a stairway with a landing. Once it was drained, I found some rust stains. I tried vinyl cleaner, that helped but didnt completely take it off. I ended up using vinegar to get the stains out. We set the pool to the side and started working on the other things. Last night we were ready for the pool and we saw all this red/pink stuff all over the inside of the liner. I am so bummed because it looked great afrer we got the rust off and now it looks like this. Almost makes me want to give up. Any ideas what it is or how to get rid of it?

I use only Morton Pool Salt in our pool but it is not available anywhere within a 100 miles from Walmart (except for $36 for a 40 lb bag WHAT???) A few years ago, I tried the Clorox brand of salt that resulted in severe staining and a huge investment to get rid of the stains. Our local Home Depot carries the Diamond Salt Splash Ready and appears to have many positive reviews. Looking for input since I bought out the remaining 10 bags of Morton $8) but that probably will not last through the summer. Thoughts?

Hello, My back yard is tiny and sloped. We only have about 25 feet behind our house to our fence with a drop of around 4 feet. I am thinking strongly about a 16 X 10 or 16 X 8 FG pool with heater and of course a retaining wall, which I think will be rebar concrete structural. We have not built or had a pool before so many questions and things to learn. We have gas to the house in a decent location to the pool, but with such a small pool like Milan Rectangular Fiberglass Plunge Pool | Latham Pool maybe just an electric, not a heat pump heater would work? I would like to have an extended pool season. We also have occasional single digit cold spells in winter.

We recently put up Bestway pool. I replaced one of the intake skimmers with a Intex wall mount skimmer. However, after watching some videos of people installing it, they are saying that I need to "block" the other intake hose (on Bestway/Intex pools there is 2 intake skimmers). But I'm not quite sure how to do that?

Do I need something like this? 11237, Flow Reduction Adapter for AU AGP With 58946/58947
Would this work? https://rb.gy/egiiz

I'm just trying to make sure I have the best suction. Thanks!

Did you solve your issue? I'm getting the same thing error and have a manual bypass valve before the heater. When it's fully closed the heater throws high flow errors. When I open the bypass valve a bit the heater makes a howling noise. What does your flow est through the hx show? Mine shows anywhere from 12gpm to 15gpm which seems wrong.

I've got an 18x36 inground pool with 1.5 HP flopro jandy pump on 1.5" plumbing. Setup is pump filter heater chlorinator then return.

Moved from here.

New to the pool scene. I haven't been able to shake the cloudy water on the deep (6') side of the pool. We have had a lot of rain and I know that can be a contributor. OCLT passed and I didn't want to make a decision to quickly to SLAM. Any thoughts?

Pool is 25yrs old - 18,000 gal, in-ground gunite, plaster pool with raised spa, chlorine-based, System 3 Sta-rite DE filter, Jandy JXI pool heater, Pentair 2hp Whisperflo Pump; self maintained with the exception of the following: Pool pump replaced 3 time; Pool has been re-plastered twice approximately every 10 years. Brick coping replaced with flagstone at 10 years and mesh tile replaced with square tiles at 10 years. Used chlorinator for about 5 years and then replaced with floating chlorinator. Pool lights replaced at the 20yr mark.

Hi TFP. I stumbled upon this website and forum a couple years ago when I bought a home with a pool. Having never owned or really had anything to do with one, I have found this community a helpful wealth of knowledge.

I have a ~17k sqft pool with a Hayward Aquarite. I recently replaced a single speed pump with a Hayward Tristar VSP. When I replaced the pump, I also installed an Omnihub.

Hi, guys. We are building a new 14x34 pool with spa and small tanning shelf. The hole is dug, the steel installed. Just checking on the latest thoughts of spa seating. We have a 7x7 inside measurement spa. Thinking different seat heights, maybe some small steps and a handrail for the older users. Too much for a 7x7? Thanks! Don

We are on our 5th season with a gunite pool that came with our house. Our current setup is a SWG, full sun, variable speed pump & sand filter. Filter, pump and salt cell all replaced 2 years ago.

We have been battling black algae. We have slammed, scrubbed, vac'd, etc., nonstop for MONTHS. It is minimal at this point, but that is the issue. During all of this, our pool is cleaner from debris than it has ever been. So we were able to better notice the condition of our plaster and have realized it is time to replaster or we'll never win this battle against the algae. Too many small areas where the plaster is starting to flake. There are too many areas for it to latch onto and continue to keep coming back.

So my husband asked me to get quotes on a replaster job as well as converting it to a vinyl liner pool. I'm looking for feedback on pros, cons, what else we would have to convert (pump, filter, SWG, etc.) and whether or not we would regret it.

I'm performing the FAS-DPD test with a smart stir and I'm not sure exactly when I should stop adding drops. There comes a point where there is a sharp drop in color, and it looks clear while stirring, but when I pull it off the stirrer and look at it closely I can still see a slight red-tinge with red flakes. Adding a drop or two extra makes it even clearer.

Everything I'm reading says it should be completely clear but it also says the test should be performed fast and taking it off to closely examine the color adds time. So not sure if I should be going off the first sharp change or the more closely examined change.

Bought an old house that we love and side effect is that the house has a 25k vinyl lined in-ground pool. We weren't looking for a pool, but my wife will use it, it will attract family to visit, so not a bad thing necessarily.

I found out about the forum via some posts on the Bogleheads forum about pools before we committed to buy the place. I've read up on TFP forum and howto articles, bought a TF100 kit which we got a few days ago. Ran some tests, which seemed to work correctly. and now have some what next questions.

Looking for some help on what to fix first.

Prior owner gave use the rundown on their pool maintenance regimen. Opened and closed by the pool company. Other than that they maintained by manual skimming and running the Polaris Robot. Chemistry wise guidance was, "Run the pump an hour or two a day. More if you are using it a lot. 1 cup of dichlor a day in the baskets at the start of the pump cycle running. That's always worked for us. DE filter doesn't typically need to be flushed if pool is kept skimmed by you and robot"

We've only been in the house about two weeks. second day we were here, there was a huge rain storm and pool level went up 2 inches, maybe 3 inches. overall pool still seems very clean and water is clear

based on tests kit:

FC around 1 n the mornings
CC is zero
CYA 80 if doing the test right. might be a bit lower since I wasn't doing the test in full sun (not surprising it is high since they were using Dichlor)
TA off the charts low. test turns pink/red immediately
PH also off the charts low. 3 using the digital meter. lighter yellow than the window on the two tube color chlorine/ph tester

punching that into old school pool math web site, for TA saying to add 33 Lbs of baking soda. Which seems like a LOT.
and for PH, if I assume more conservative estimate of 4ph, vs 3ph, also saying add around 33lb of baking soda.

Having half a bucket of dichlor and some trichlor tablets, and with the amount of liquid chlorine seemingly needed to keep FC up, not sure switching to liquid before closing for the year makes economic sense.


so need some thoughts on what to tackle first ? Off to Sam's/BJ Club/Costco to get some 13lb bags of baking soda and raise the TA? Then aerate to fix PH more? and just live with the high CYA for a while?

We're in Southeastern PA near Philadelphia

Hello!
I am getting a little frustrated as every time it rains, my pool goes from being clear and blue to green and cloudy in a matter of minutes! I am not sure what I’m doing wrong. Here is an example from today of before the rain and after - I had checked Fc and Ph before rain and they were in target. What do I do to treat and prevent this?

Thanks!

First time this has ever happened but added 2 bags of salt to my pool 2 days ago and now have stains on the plaster. This is the first time I have ever seen a stain from salt in 15+ years of owning a salt water pool. Wonder if Clorox Pool Salt was the wrong formulation or something. Any ideas?

This plaster is about 3 months old and didn't have any stains from adding 10 bags previously since it was replastered

Yard got mowed yesterday so please ignore all of the grass clipping in the pool

I have a Coleman 706 used spa I received. Everything functions, but the spa is always running to OHH. When I clear the OHH after enough cool-down time, it seems to work fine unless I shut down all the pumps. When I do, I hear what sounds like the water heating (kind of boiling/metal heating sound) from the area of the heater for like 10-15 seconds and then it kicks the OHH. Almost like the heater is running while no water is flowing. The temp is set low in the 90s and there is no heating icon on the display while this is happening. This spa is using an M7 Balboa Heater. The display reads temperatures, so Idk about the sensor(s) but maybe? Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Hello. We did a long SLAM when we opened this year. Took a long time. We were good for a while but I’m not sure what happened because the chlorine started disappearing again. I started another SLAM earlier this week hoping but also knowing it wouldn’t be done by Sunday. We are going on vacation Sunday to Friday. I’m doing an overnight chlorine test tonight and reaaaally hoping I’ll pass. If we don’t pass, what should I do while we are gone? I intend on putting in the solar cover to keep the water and chemicals from evaporating. Other than that and putting our SWG on 100%, I’m not sure what to do. Any advice would be much appreciated!

What's your pool temp? This isn't the highest it has ever been. Hit 94 years ago when my parents still owned the house.

Anyone know how to read their code? They only print a letter followed by four numbers. Not Julian like I am used to.

We installed this liner 2 years ago from liner world. It has faded terribly and unevenly. It is below the water line but I do not think it is from water chemistry bc I regularly check and nothing has been way off. It is in the sun almost all day. It now has 2 leaks, one on the side and one on the bottom. We’ve tried patching with no luck. It has flooded our yard and messed with our septic, we are now draining the rest with pump. I’m not sure we can get the liner warrantied but I am going to try. The top rail is really rusted all the way around so I was thinking of pulling back the liner to check for rust before buying a new liner in case we need a whole new pool. My 5 & 8 year old are devastated. Any advice??

Hello all, we're just starting the process of installing a new pool. We live near Tucson, Arizona, and would appreciate any advice. We would like a pool basically for relaxing and entertaining grandkids (ages toddler up to teenager).

We're thinking about 15x30 with a baja shelf for the little guys. Probably would like it no more than 5 feet deep, with the deepest part in the middle, so it could be set up for volleyball or basketball. We probably want a pool cover. I'm leaning toward SWG. Not sure about decking. Not sure about lights, water features, etc. We don't have an unlimited budget but since this will be a major part of our home, I don't want to cheap out either -- I don't want to wince when I look at it, or have regrets that I missed something important.

Just about everything else is still up in the air. I'd love to talk to knowledgeable folks who can help me decide!

Hello. I hope I can. get some informed answers here.
Hello I have the following:
18 Foot All resin and fibreglass above ground pool
Hayward 1HP pump SP5710 (can not see a bonding lug)
Hayward salt & swim generator
Raypak model 106 Atmospheric above ground pool heater.

My pool is not bonded. (It was installed by Pioneer pools in my town. They told me it wasn't necessary to bond it.

Anyways what is happening is when I touch the ground and the pool water I get a low voltage shock. It seems to be were cuts are on my hand.
I had an electrician check it and they couldn’t find the cause of the stray voltage. It reads 4.6volts on my multimeter.

Today I had the electrical company check it and while they felt the shock themselves, they couldn’t help.

To diagnose it they unplugged my meter rendering my whole house powerless and the shock still happens.
Any ideas about this?
Also would bonding the pool get rid of this Stray low voltage.

When I am on my deck I do not feel the shock. Seems only when touching cement or dirt on ground.

Thanks in advance.
Brian M

Hello everyone,

I hope all is well. I am going to be replacing a pvc style white picket fence around my pool to a new black aluminum style pool which will I hope will look a lot nicer! In preparation of the new fence being installed I am assuming new concreate will be poured to hold up the new fence. Does this pose any risk if the dust happens to blow into my pool with the filter on? Or would you think the risk would be very minimal since the concreate will be poured right into the ground and presumably mixed with water in a bucket with not much time to spread elsewhere. I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts and will do my best to remember post a photo of the new fence set up once it is complete. Thank you!

Good morning. Im new to TFP and have found this info all super helpful so far! My question is this:
We have self-installed our pool and put in the pool base a couple of days ago. It is sad time to harden and there are some spots throughout the pool where obviously, I rushed it and it's not as smooth as it should be.. almost like where the pool Creek folded up over itself as I pulled the travel back and left ripples in the base. Do i leave it alone as messing with it will create more trouble or do i skim coat over it and clean up those spots?

After reading in the threads here, im thinking the skim coat route. Any advice to make it baby bottom smooth?