I never paid much attention to the anchor points since there was no rope float when we bought our house 5 yrs ago. I'm looking to put a rope float up just to let people know where the slope starts to the deep end. I measured the distance (16ft) and ordered a rope float. Went to install it today only to find that it seems to be a non-standard anchor. Instead of just a bar for the rope to hook onto, its more of a half circle 'slot' that narrows as it gets to the top. Kind of like how on a door chain the end slips into the larger end of the slot and slides down to the narrow end to hold it in place.



Only difference being that in my pool, the anchor is round and made out of plastic, and the slot curves from bottom to top.

Anyway, I've searched around and couldn't even find an image of these anchors online. I think it is an Anthony Sylvan pool built in 1992 and re-finished about 6-7 yrs ago. I'll try to get a picture of it...

Here's what it looks like....




I want to find the appropriate connector so that I can use a rope float. Looks like it would have some type of ball on the end of it?

I searched and I can’t find a thread where anyone else has seen this error
Any ideas? The local company that does service for Hayward wants to charge me 1400 for a new main board

Just recently got a pool installed dnd working my way through understanding the upkeep.
I have a Hayward cartridge filter swimclear c100s I believe is the model.
Having trouble getting the builder back out so sort of on my own at the moment. They left it so dirty that I have had to take the cartridge out and clean it multiple times. Today I took it out and cleaned it and when I put it back and rotated the top back to lock it, water just gushes out of the top between the top and bottom pieces. I have undone it and screwed it back on several times. It was working reasonably well(at least not gushing water out) prior to me cleaning it. Just a sudden change within five minutes to all of the water from the filter flowing out into the yard.

Any thoughts on what could be the issue?

I am here because I have a big problem with my pool .

I purchased a TFTestkit. Pro Version. These numbers are all off. Where in Pool math does it tell what and how much I need to add? This is getting frustrating.

FC - 25.5
PH - 7.8
TA - 160
CH-1375
CYA- did not test. 3 days ago it was 30
CSI - 1.11
Temp - 87F

Hi all! We bought a house a couple years with a fiberglass pool. We enjoyed a couple great seasons and unfortunately this year we developed a sizeable crack where the slant meets the edge of the deep end. We found one company to repair it. The guy came out the day after we called and he said he could fix it. It's now been three weeks and we can't get a hold of him or find anyone else to fix it. We are in Michigan, what can we do?

I have a 7 year old salt water pool with a jacuzzi saniclear 20 swg reading 2400ppm salt with lights flashing but just had the water tested and it’s 3500. I tested it as we had significant rain, I drained water and added salt but did not get a change at all on the meter and so felt something wasn’t right. The water is 82 degrees, voltage is 27.3, current is 2.33 and instant salinity reads -1900 (what is this number compared to 2400 it shows, I’m unclear). Ph is fine, need to raise alkalinity but nothing to lose interesting in the water report.
Is there anything this could be besides an expensive cell replacement fix? I have cleaned it and there was no obvious problems.

New to the pool world. Just installed ours last week and looking for tips.

TLDR - My IntelliCenter OCP was bricked by a storm and to get a parts I am considering buying a full new IntelliCenter bundle, keeping some parts, and selling the rest.

I have been traveling the last few weeks. The IntelliCenter was left on its normal schedule running the VSF pump 24/7 and pool cleaner daily, with the Intellichlor % slightly high. My housekeeper checks the house every few days while I am gone and cleans the skimmers as needed. I also put a gallon of liquid chlorine in the pool to raise the FC an extra 3PPM just in case.

A big thunderstorm rolled through the area and I got a call from my alarm monitoring service that the house alarm went off. That was the first sign something was amiss. I reset the alarm, checked the house cameras, and told them to ignore the alarm. The front door sensor had set off the alarm. I saw on the cameras the rain and wind blowing around the house.

I tried to get into the IntelliCenter2 app to check on the pool but it told me the pool was offline. I got an early model IntelliCenter that came with the Engenius WiFi link which is flaky. If it loses WiFi connection it does not always reconnect without a power cycle. I figured maybe the power in the house had burped.

The next day my housekeeper texts me that nothing is running on the pool and the IntelliCenter OCP display is blank. Touching the panel does not get it to light up. Interesting though is that I have an Indoor Control panel (ICP) and that still works but shows only a pool, not a Pool and Spa. Further the Intelliflo VSF control panel is lit and the pump can be run from its controls. He tried powering down everything at the breakers with no change to the dead OCP.

So I had him turn on the pump at 2400 RPM that restored pool circulation. I had two cases of liquid chlorine left from the pool opening and had him put two gallons into the pool and a splash into the spa. That was his routine when checking the house until I returned. I told him where to pickup a few more cases of liquid chlorine. That kept the pool circulating and chlorinated.

The Intellichlor cell was dark since it was powered from the filter/pump relay which was open while the IntelliFlo pump had constant power from the LINE side.

So when I returned I confirmed the IntelliCenter was dead. However the PCB had 24V AC since the ICP was powered and the Engenus WiFi had its LED lights on. So there was power to the PCB board but it looks bricked.

I should also mention that the storm killed a Chamberlin WiFi garage door opener that I installed in March and I found the GFCI CB tripped for some of my outdoor landscaping lights. So what ever hit around the house set off the alarm and took out electronics in one area with the pool equipment on the other side of the garage wall. I do have a Siemens FirstSurge protector in my IntelliCenter panel and its status lights still glow green. So whatever hit was external to the high voltage feed.

First thing I wanted to do was get the IntelliChlor running. I took the wires off the filter/pump relay and used tow 3 wire Wago connectors to connect the pump CB, Intelliflo, and IntelliChlor power to run 24/7. I love those Wago connectors and keep various ones to splice wires. I also used a Wago to splice together the firemans switch to the MasterTemp heater to give me local control of it. The other thing i did was pull the actuator off the return diverter, put the handle on the diverter, and crack the spa return open to get constant spillover and keep the spa chlorinated with the pool. Now I had the basics running old school non-automation.



Now to the dead PCB. I looked closely and cannot see any burned components. I labeled each wire and disconnected all the wires to it and removed the board. @ogdento @JamesW @Jimrahbe here are both sides of PCB to see if you see anything I don't.




The board is 3 layers with two boards stacked and the display screen on plastic standoffs. I tried to remove the four screws holding the two boards together and they did not simply separate as I expected. So I have not got a good look at the other sides of either board. I don't think it really matters as I think the PCB is bricked with the storm frying the CPU or memory.

I went shopping online for a PENTAIR INTELLICENTER REPLACEMENT BOARD 523050 and to looks like they are hard to source. Polytec Pools has them on backorder. I also don't know if my i8PS Personality card P/N 521968Z is good or not.

The main PCB costs about $800 and the i8PS card another $800. PolyTec Pools has a full i8PS bundle with IC60 for $4,000. The IC60 is worth $1,600 and the two Intellivalves are another $500. The bundle lets me replace the Engenius Wifi with the more reliable 900MHZ link which costs about $500. And now I have a cabinet, 8 relays, temperature sensors, spare surge board, and other miscellaneous parts for free. What I don't need I can sell and come out ahead.

Unless anyone has other ideas for getting my IntelliCenter going quickly I think the quickest path is getting a new bundle from Polytec, using it as a parts doner, keeping some spare parts, and selling the rest.

Tom, @ogdento , would you like my bricked IntelliCenter PCB to autopsy? Maybe we can learn something about why it failed. I seem to not be the only one where a storm bricked their IntelliCenter. In 20 years my Aqualink never blew out.

Now onto my Chamblerin garage door opener that I bought from Home Depot in March and Chamberlain is saying the PCB is obsolete and not available for $120 so I have to get a new unit for $190. This is fodder for a different thread.

Hello, I have been researching the forums regarding Low Salt level readings on IntelliChlor IC-40 units.

My IC-40 worked fine through early spring, then I performed the acid wash procedure, and now salt level readings are always low: 2250-2350, and the Low Salt LED on the IC-40 is always red.

Leslie's test reported salt level of 3450. A couple of days ago, I added a bag of salt, but the IntelliChlor's reading did not move. Flow LED is green, Cell LED is green. Water temp is 68F. Cell life diag shows 40% (i.e. 4,000 hours). My unit is old. V2.01. Manufacture date in 2009, though this unit has not been in my system that long. It was a warranty replacement by the Pentair rep, likely a refurb unit.

My question is whether replacing the flow sensor is likely to resolve the incorrect Low Salt reading, or should I bite the bullet and replace the whole unit? I know the thermistor in the flow sensor provides a temp compensation input to salt level / conductivity measurement, but the salt sensor isn't part of the flow sensor (i.e. the two nubs behind the flow sensor).

What do you think? Is a $91 replacement sensor a good bet to fix the errant Low Salt problem vs. replacing the IC-40?

Thanks,
Scott

Other chemistry:
Pool Surface" Pebble, 23K gallons
Free Chlorine = 6.1 (I added powder over the winter)
Total Chlorine = 6.21
pH = 7.5
Total Alkalinity = 80
Calcium Hardiness = 595
Cyanuric = 69
Iron = 0.1
Copper = 0
Phosphates = 93

Adding spa to a pool, circulating mode and spa mode. Gas heater. Do you think a 2.7 HP variable speed pump (Intellipro 011018) enough for a 8-jet in-ground spa. I will use Omni logic automation to control the variable speed pump. I have a 2" pipes, and spa will be on a corner of the pool, about 55 feet from the pump (see pic below, heater and spa still to be added).

I had to replace my .75Hp Hayward super pump. I received a .85Hp Hayward super pump with a 10ft lift. I was not aware this was coming with the pump can I use this or should I return it for what I had before. Also in the electrical area there are two small black wires that were not on the old one. Could someone tell me what they are for?

Thank you !

Hello! My pool has been cloudy since I’ve opened it done everything including just replace the head on my Hayward filter in. Now it will not backwash? Help please

I had to open the pool late due to repairs to plaster in the shallow end. There was a lot of organic material in the deep end that wasn't emptied, very green (and frog city). I used fair amount of algaecide before I learned that was a mistake. The pool is now full and i can finally vac to waste without having to dump the skimmer basket of debris. Pool is mostly blue, but cloudy. Even in normal years it's always cloudy when I open and only flock has helped. Now I'm wondering if flock is what damaged the plaster in the shallow end. I slamed the vinyl pool at our last house with much success, but same effort with the plaster pool at current house has not been as successful. I blame me, but it's odd given the process is simple.

I'm going to stop all my nonsense and get back to slamming, but the point of this post is to ask about DE. Very excited to use that vs flock, but the top google search result which linked to this site did not mention there was pool grade DE (see link below). I only found this out by looking at results further down within the forums. Might be something good to add to that blog page. Add DE to a Sand Filter

My question (actually got there) is what effect, if any, does 3 cups of food grade DE have to the pool? Is food grade just finer and pointless? I'm not worried about human consumption if it remains in the water at that dilution.

I’ve been fighting what I suspect is mustard algae since Memorial Day. The color doesn’t seem to be consistent with mustard algae though. I had thought was sand, but it does “go away” when I triple shock for the most part. One thing is I am constantly brushing when i am
Actively treating it so if it was/is sand it would be stirred up too. I feel it’a pretty dark brown. We have patched 2 holes several weeks ago. We aren’t losing water. I have also thought it could be pollen but mostly think sand or is it algae? I have never noticed it on the wall or stairs.

Hello, can anyone help me with black and mustard algae? How much liquid chlorine shock I need? And after battling with algae how much liquid chlorine should I add to pool and how many times a week? Thanks!

Moved from here.

Pool Care Basics
I shocked pool , scrubbed and vacuumed, then shocked again . I have a floater with chlorine also. Pool is light green . My pool man /husband passed away and he always maintained it . Where do I begin ? I bought a test kit but no clue what to get to balance the pool out ?

Long story short - we were away for 2.5 weeks and my pool sitter missed a day or so, which happened to be when we lost power so the SWG wasn’t running. Even running hot wasn’t a match for no power + big storms washing junk into pool. Ended up with slightly cloudy water, so I had her start a SLAM before I got back. Chlorine demand is coming down, but didn’t quite pass OCLT last night. But it’s close, so I think I’m at the tail end of that. (And yeah - I pulled the light and the ladder and scrubbed everything. )

Since I know I have iron issues, I took the opportunity of having high FC to throw some Polyfill in the skimmers and see what I can catch. But 2 days in and the Polyfill is just as bright white as it was when I put it in: the only thing it seems to be catching is bugs. Is all the iron on the liner already? Or do I need to do something else to get it to catch? Just be patient? I’ve tried it before, but never been able to catch anything.

The pool is a lovely clear green, and you can see the iron stains pretty clearly all over the liner. The pics show my robot at the bottom of the 9ft deep end, for reference.

I'm installing an aboveground pool on top of CLAY SOIL. I literally live on "Clay Hill Road" so this is almost 100% clay soil. I dug down to a level place, but need to put something under the pool sand so that I can level the ground (leveling clay isn't really possible).
Do I use stone dust? Or should I use something like Item #4?
As I see it, stone dust pros: will have a similar (non)draining quality to the clay around it. Won't let the pool sand seep through. Cons: won't drain.
Pros of Item #4: will drain water. Cons: some pool sand might slip through, messing with the level...
Thoughts anyone?

A few months ago, I dismantled and cleaned my DE grids as per normal. Started everything back up and added my DE, and the pressure with the pump on max was right about where it normally is (12-14 psi, give or take). I set the marker there and didn't think about it again.

Until yesterday when I happened to walk past the pad when the pump was on high and the pressure was maybe half of where it normally is.

Nothing is leaking. Pump sounds normal, and it doesn't seem like the flow out of the returns is less strong than usual. I don't have any DE coming into the pool that I can see, so I don't think a grid tore.

Anything else that could cause this?

I had a pool party yesterday and had the pool running all afternoon and evening. At the end of the party, I noticed a large crack along several of the tiles at the bottom of my vanishing edge tiles and extends down the face stone. This appeared relatively suddenly. There was no evidence of leaking or other issues in this area before the crack appeared. I regrouted this tile 2 years ago and it doesn’t seem to be leaking. The area is dry if I let the pool level drop about a half inch so no water flows over the edge. I also don’t see any significant efflorescence below this area indicating a leak. Thoughts on what happened? How do I confirm this is only cosmetic?

My thoughts are there is a small leak at the peak of the tiles that lets in water when the full edge effect is running. This water builds up behind the grouted tile until it gave way. I don’t know how to look for a leak since it only happens when the water is flowing rapidly over the edge so dye testing is not feasible.

When I regrouted 2 years ago, I checked all the tiles and they were solidly attached the wall. They are obviously loose now.

Thoughts?

Our 16x32, 25k pool needs replastering and we're thinking of reducing the 9' deep end to 5', which would require filling in about half the pool to meet the slope. Companies I've consulted say they do this a lot, but various forums say this can cause problems from the weight of the concrete used to fill it. One pool guy I talked to today also said the floor of the pool can develop a crack after awhile where the new bottom meets the old bottom. Have others here done this? Is it "safe" to do? Thanks.

My husband and I recently put together and filled an 18 foot above ground Intex pool. Our ground seemed pretty level. We cleared it of rocks and debris. Put down the liner and built the pool. After filling it, it was really apparent how not level the ground was. So we drained it.

We live in a super rocky part of Texas, so digging out a bit of one side to help level isn’t really an option. So the next best thing seemed to be adding some soil to the opposite side and then we plan to cover the whole area in sand.

My husband is just feeling frustrated and like we should just give it up. I think we can do this. Any tips regarding leveling in this situation?

Thank you!

Cannot vacuum for very long and certainly haven't figured out how to drain past the skimmer. Once water dips below, air is sucked between skimmer vac plate and pump loses prime. How can I prevent this?
Previous owner plugged the 2nd hole in the skimmer, presumably the connection to main drain.
Is there a trick I don't know here???

When using LC, I need to add cya - that much I know.

As of now I have used pucks for cya, but don’t want to use them in our new pool.
When googling for stabilizer in Denmark, only one type can be found.
But they have this warning:

“May only be used if HTH chlorine is used. It is extremely important that you only add the right amount of chlorine, otherwise a chlorine lock will form.”

Is it the wrong product to use?

silly me, but I cannot find out how I should search the forums for a particular subject (message header or content).

After discovering 3 holes (one in the weld line) and a previous patch looking somewhat meh in our pool, I ordered a new one today - due to arrive next week.

I want to have a “virgin pool”, only touched by the good stuff , now I have the chance.
My thoughts are:

Check pH - lower if needed (tap water filling)
Add cya - to what level?
Add LC up to upper target value.
Swim

What do you think?

I am looking forward to learning how to care for my pool. Although I have had a pool for many years, I have listened to too much wrong advice from the so called experts and did not educate myself. I have a blonde granddaughter whose hair always turns green and green swimwear from an algaecide I used, and would like to know if the only option is to drain the pool. Right now that option is too costly. I am ordering one of the pool tester kits that are recommended on your site and I’m looking forward to frequenting those pool stores less in the future. Glad to be here.

Hello!

We just had a new vinyl liner and variable speed pump installed this week. They did an awesome job but I thought they were handling the first addition of chemicals but they just said bring in a water sample. I did that today and was instructed to add 10lbs of PH down and 2 gallons of chlorine. During the day today I found this site through Reddit and started playing with the calculator which is giving me pretty different results so wanted to ask the group.

30000 gallons chlorine pool
Hayward 700 VS pump and Hayward sand filter
pH 8.2
TA 180
FC 2.0
TC 2.0
CYA 55
TH 400

Calculator showing just shy of 6lbs of pH Down vs. 10 from shop recommendation. I just don't want to screw it up off the bat. Also wondering how much ph down to mix with water in 5 gal bucket before adding and what speed we should have the pump working at for adding this stuff? Thanks for reading, we'll get better on our own quickly but I hate that the pool basically has no chemicals in it short of chlorinator running so want a quick answer this time around til we can read more.

Just looking for opinions.

Getting ready to order my test kit and was curious if there is really an advantage or need for the ph meter