Yes I have a nightmare. Plaster sub did two terrible quartz jobs so now trying pebble. I guarantee they will throw the hose in and I won’t hear or see anyone again. Today was surprise plaster after weekly contact for a year. Yes they did a full chip out begrudgingly. Hoping for best result and going to try the Bicarb startup myself. I do have my TF test kit. Tested my fill water and here are my results
TA -150
CH - 200
PH - 7.2
Chlorine - 0

I am going to use to 5 gal bucket method and try to keep up with every 1000 gal. I am assuming they are doing an acid wash tomorrow then will fill. Least that is what they did with quartz jobs.

I will test water in pool again and walk thru the results. If I am doing right, if I used above readings for a 15k gal pool I would add 10 lbs of baking soda. Is my PH ok at 7.2? If I remember right pool fills in about 30 hours. We have terrible water pressure.

Any other advice? And I guess there is no chance we will get to use for 4 th of July. These 100+ temps looking at a cement hole have not been fun.

Thanks in advance for help and advise.

Our sand filter developed a pinhole leak last year and TFP educated me that it was no longer safe to use. I despise throwing our solar covers to the landfill every few years and found a friend who will reuse to cover old farm/junk he collects. So after some thought, got the hubby to cut the sand filter in half, drilled some holes, and voila -my tomatoe plants have a new home and are thriving! Now planning another planting for the top half!

Hello everyone,

I have a 13,000 gallon pool with a Hayward Aqua Plus SWG chorlination system and a t-9 cell.

I'm on year 5-6 of the salt cell so I image I will be replacing soon.

Questions:

1.) Some on this forum have suggested upgrading to a T15 cell and that the T9 is a bit undersized for my pool - is this true ?
2.) If I do upgrade to the T15 - is this just a screw it on type thing with a simple setting on the Aqua Plus to set to the T15 cell ?
3.) I have a horrible time getting the salt cell unscrewed sometimes. I make sure to put lube on the threads each time I take it off but one time it was so tight that I cracked the PVC screw and had to get the dreaded pool guys to come out and fix the pipe. Any suggestions about best ways to unscrew these things wtihout causing damage - is there a tool you all recommend ?

Thanks,

Karl

We are new pool owners 13x26 above ground SplashPool. Filled it in May and all went well until mid-June. Then the cotton fell which was quite a learning experience but next year we will be more prepared! Then we got our first algae bloom which, I’m sure was from our filter being full of cotton. My husband was ready to throw in chemicals. I followed everything I could read on here for shocking to a T (except that my CYA was too high bc even though I’d read on that I didn’t fully understand the relationship and the issue with too high CYA and when it was first turning green I was like add more and we didn’t do a partial drain we just added lots of chlorine ). Anyway, lots of chlorine and cleaning the filter and nothing else for 5 days, it was nearly clear and we had a planned vacation. I didn’t know how much chlorine to add while we were gone since I was just past the shock phase so I just gave the neighbor instructions based on what I thought would keep our chlorine level high enough until we could get home. Got out my test kit this morning and we are exactly where we should be and the pool is as clear as can be! My husband said “I can’t believe you did it!” Not that he doesn’t trust me, it’s just that everyone else was going on about adding chemicals and what we needed to do and I insisted we not do anything but follow your plan and he is thoroughly impressed. As am I! Luckily for us our neighbor 2 doors up told us about this site. So post one by me is simply a thank you to everyone who gave great advice on previous posts and told us to stay the course. I am such a novice but having this resource gives me lots of reassurance! And it was so helpful to have the actual test kit. I bought some strips just to use in between my kit readings but they are far from reliable. I know Can use them to know if I’m off base but I would have been in a world of hurt had I only followed those things! Thanks! Casey

Hi, my name is Steven. I would like to manage my own pool due to a few recent experiences that make me less trusting of pool maintenance companies. Education is a powerful tool that I want to gain through this forum. I own a 15,000 gal SWG pool with pebbletech flooring and use a Pentair system with a single speed pump.

I’m starting from zero knowledge but do have a biochem undergraduate degree. Lol I’m sure it’s the same, right?

So My pool cleaner has developed a very gummy film on the outside of the cord. Its a maytronics...
Its been gradually getting worse... I presume its the chlorine breaking down the rubber, but is there any way to clean this off? its incredibly frustrating.

Thank you much

Thanks to all of you at TFP, two years ago I took ownership of maintaining my own pool, and the water's never been better. All the information and wisdom shared here is much appreciated.

I have what I hope is a quick and easy question. Our Hayward vacuum-lock safety wall fitting (a.k.a., pool vacuum hose connector) has broken. I have a Hayward replacement part (pic attached) and I need to remove the broken fitting and install the new one.

Simple enough, right? However, I'm having trouble removing the old fitting. It won't budge, and before I start clamping tools to it and using serious force and leverage, I thought I'd pause and ask for advice here. Might it be reverse threaded? Is a thread sealant typically used when installing? Is this fitting somehow wedded to the plumbing?

I've done work on my own cars, and have used WD-40 and MAP torches to loosen stuck bolts; are there equivalent tricks that work for PVC plumbing?

Thank you guys!

Stumbled on to this site looking to fix issues with my cloudy pool. New to pool ownership, just put mine up late last season. Lots of great info here. Hoping to see a clean pool before too long. Gonna SLAM it and see what happens.

Hi all. First time posting here so apologies if this is not proper protocol. Also a first-time homeowner and with it came a pool. I love it but as we all know it can be a lot of work. PSI jumped up to about 30-35 from 20 and noticed a slight gurgling on the filter so there’s air flowing somewhere. Popped open where the check valve is and looks like I have a bad one. Pool guys aren’t available on the weekend and I need some peace of mind so I had two questions for the group. First, will a bad or misplaced valve cause an INCREASE in pressure? Seems counterintuitive to me but I’m assuming yes. Secondly, is this as simple as just getting a new valve or do I need to get the whole cover? Not sure how compatible these things are as I can’t find the exact part online. It is a Waterway product. Attached pics. Obviously the cap is already popped off but just showing for reference.

Thanks in advance for any help. It’s taking some getting used to but certainly worth it. This is a fantastic site and have used it a few times already. My next post will be much shorter and condensed. Just wasnt sure how to explain this stuff. Have a great 4th all!!

Good evening! New user here (and new pool owner), I’ve been scouring this website and forum for the past couple of days and it has been incredibly helpful in learning about how to maintain a pool. I’m still a bit confused on some things though and could use some advice on how to tackle my first SLAM.

So when I bought this house, the pool cover was torn. I had it removed the other day by a local pool company. They also tried to open the pool for me but were unsuccessful. They cleaned the pool, shocked it and then sprayed this stuff called Revive on the surface. The Revive was meant to coagulate the algae and drop it to the bottom (if my understanding is correct). The pool actually started turning blue right after the initial shock. 24 hours later though and it was green again. The Revive treatment didn’t seem to do anything so the pool is still very swampy. Given that they charged me almost $300 and the pool is still a swamp, I am opting to try and tackle this myself, now that I know about the SLAM method.

Today I took a water sample to my local Leslie pool store and the CYA measured at just 5. Is that possible? Also the pH came back very high at 8.5. Finally, copper came back at .4. How concerned should I be about the copper? It is a pretty large in-ground vinyl liner pool. And can I trust the CYA and pH results? I have a Taylor FAS-DPD testing kit on the way to confirm those measurements myself.

If it is safe to assume the above measurements are correct, how do I approach my SLAM? Do I need to lower my pH first or increase my CYA? Will adding CYA lower my pH enough as to not need muriatic acid? If I do need muriatic acid, do I add that first before the CYA or vice versa?

Finally, once my pH and CYA are where they need to be, do I just start adding chlorine to shock levels while running the pump on filter mode, and then brush, skim, vacuum etc. while maintaining the chlorine at shock levels?

Apologies for the long first post and thanks in advance for any help you can provide! And please let me know if you need any more information about the pool.

-Mike

Specs: in ground 30k freshwater pool. No CYA, pH7.5, TA60, everything else within range per pool match app, except FC. Not adding CYA until I'm sure no more algae.

I've been slamming my pool bc of algae (pump/filter issue that is now resolved). Water is now clear and has been for a few days but FC keeps coming in at zero when I test at night so I slam more. It's hot here in Texas so I assumed it gets burned during the day (but I've never experienced it this bad). Figured I still had algae somewhere. I got suspicious after week 2 of slamming (costs a lot for 3 bottles a day) and threw out my old fas dpd and ordered a new one. Tested with new Taylor powder and still clear. I added at least 6 full scoops. Nothing. I thought I was crazy so I tested it with tap and some chlorine. Still nothing. Am I crazy??

Good Afternoon, could someone recommend an adequate robotic pool cleaner for a roughly 36x18ft in ground vinyl liner pool? Would the Dolphin S200 be sufficient for that size pool? Are there any specific Dolphin units or other brands I should avoid?

Thanks,
Mike

Looking to get a new salt system for my pool anyone have any experience with

SUNSEEKER SS40​

Greetings one and all,
First year with a pool, looking forward to splashing around.

Hi… I have a similar situation… SAM light had water and was tripping the circuit. I would like to bypass the flywheel light engine and connect the 12v input to the bulb . There are 5 wires coming in… One Green, One RED , 2 shielded ones,that go to each of the bulbs and one thin white wire. Looking for guidance on how to proceed….many thanks …

Moved from here.

I’ve decided to redo the equipment pad this year. It started in the spring when I decided I was tired of freezing and it was time to replace the broken heater I inherited with the pool. I picked up a 3 year old Pentair mastertemp 250k btu propane heater. No NG and heatpump was too expensive with the electrical work that would have been necessary. Then I decided the pump needed updating so I bought a Pentair superflo VS. At this point I’m all in and just going to redo all the plumbing, stepping it up from 1.5 to 2”. I splurged on Jandy valves and a flowvis meter which are crazy expensive but hopefully worth it. I am planning to do this over the long weekend. Any advice welcome. The tab feeder will be removed I don’t use it and I plan to add threaded unions at each piece of equipment.

TLDR: Redoing equipment pad with new heater and pump, 2” pvc, Jandy valves, looking for tips.

Hi everyone. I have been a pool owner for almost 22 years but this year has me stumped!
I’ve hardly had a lick of trouble in all that time but unfortunately it’s been a bad start up year for me.

I have very cloudy water and I am having trouble getting it clear. I have an above ground pool 18’ x 38’ with a 7’ deep end with a sand filter and I usually use clorox 3” chlorine tablets.

I took my water to the pool store yesterday and this is how my water tested

TA 63
Ph 6.6
FC 5.4
TC 7.3
CH 202
CYA 96
Phosphate (?) 1786

CH and CYA were listed as good.

I proceeded to put 10lbs of baking soda in the pool to raise my PH. On the pool math app it showed that my TA should be between 50-90 and when I tested it with my pool kit ( after adding the baking soda) it was around 100.

Pool store recommends my TA should be 125-150. Pool Math app shows 50-90

I’m confused at the differences in totals that the pool store recommends vs what pool math app recommends.

I also add liquid chlorine daily but since my PH and TA are wonky, not sure the chlorine is doing much. I also think algae is starting because my chlorine is ineffective.

So should I raise my PH to acceptable levels even if it means raising my TA to unacceptable levels before SLAMING?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I’d like to swim sometime before winter comes around again.

Bassgirl8552

Good evening! My name is Mike Stocker. I am a first time home/pool owner living in the upstate of South Carolina. I just want to say that I am happy to join the forum and that this website and forum are awesome. I am so glad I found it before I spent hundreds or thousands of dollars having my pool opened and maintained by a pool company. Although full disclosure, I did have a pool company attempt to open the pool for me recently and it didn’t go so well. I posted on the algae thread about that as I could use some help with my first SLAM.

Other than that, I like to golf and travel. If there are any fellow golfers in the upstate, I am always looking for new playing partners.

Thanks for having me and I am looking forward to future conversations with the group.

V/r,
Mike

Today, when checking my skimmmers, I noticed the water wasn’t flowing in to either one of them. It was like the skimmers were turned off. The baskets didn’t have much of anything in them. The pump was running fine and the pump basket had minimal debris in it, it certainly wasn’t clogged. I decided to turn the pump off and then back on because it runs at 100% speed for the first 10 minutes of being on, then reduces to 50% power. Just wanted to see if the situation would improve or stay the same. After I did that, everything is back to running as it should. This situation has happened once before, about a month ago. Any ideas what is going on? I would think if our skimmer lines had a clog, it wouldn’t have gone back to operating correctly when I turned it back on. Is it a pump issue? For reference, all the equipment , plumbing, etc. is nearly 2 years old. Zero issues last year.

We just put up our pool two days ago and now we have some pooling around the base. It did rain pretty good five days before installation. When digging/leveling the ground was very wet so we left it to dry for three days before the install. The ting that worries me is that the water seems to be coming from between the liner and the padding. I was not able to watch when the barrier and padding were installed but I am pretty sure they are not taped together. The water is currently confined to only a small section of the pool. Not the worries one wants when starting their pool journey. Thanks for any feedback.

Has anyone ever used or heard of Poolife NST Prime Tablets? Here is the Amazon link Amazon.com

It's a non-stabilizing chlorine tab.

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here, new to pools and everything that goes with owning one. I'm usually a pretty diligent researcher on home improvements, but...let's just say I missed a few homework assignments on this one.

Yesterday I had a 15X24' oval pool installed semi-inground. The installer told me to start filling it about 1 foot per day so now it's a little less than half full. They are coming back on Saturday to backfill the excavation and hook up the filter and pump. It will be a salt water system.

My question is, how urgently do I need to get it pumping and add chemicals? Can this wait until the weekend? I don't want to miss some chemical launch window and have to empty the pool.

I learned a lot by reading this thread--> Filling a Salt Water Pool from someone in a similar situation but what I want to understand here is the timing of the initial steps.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give. Just looking through the forums this seems like an awesome community and I look forward to learning a lot from you all.

I'm redoing my pad plumbing and trying to decide where to put check valves. I have a pool and spa combo where the spa is above the level of the pool and the level of the spa is also slightly above the pump. The suction side has three lines for the spa, skimmer and main drain. The return has 2 lines for the spa and floor cleaner that goes to the pool. I have a heater, a salt cell, a pump and a filter. The spa return currently has a check valve but if any spa valves are open when the pump is off the spa will drain down to the inlets.

I plan to plumb a heater bypass, so I will install a check valve on the heater outlet before the bypass and the salt cell. Should I keep the spa return check valve? Should I put a check valve anywhere else?

My wife and I just bout our first pool, an above ground 18 foot round. The summers in south MS can be brutal and we wanted a bit of respite in the backyard. This is all new to us so we have questions about pristine bule and installation. I look forward to being able to help in the future but for now it is going to be all questions. Cheers

Hi. New to hot tubs, but a 2-year pool owner following the methods outlined here for pool care (successfully, I might add ). Looking for some advice about hot tub startup/what to expect. Never had a hot tub. Never had a family member or close friend with one either, to go off of.

Dealer-installed new 325 gallon PDC Spas Catalina hot tub yesterday. Dealer includes (i.e. we pay for, lol) with purchase all their recommended "startup" chemicals, for better or worse (assortment of bromine tablets, pH up/down, TA up/down, sodium bromide, "activate granular" (is that MPS?) and "calcium booster."

325 gallon acrylic spa with ozone system as part of filtration (when main 2-speed pump is on low speed, ozone system is on, from what I gather)
Bromine tablet feeder tube installed in filter chamber
Fill water at 5pm - pH 7.2 | TA 10 | CH 25 | some presence of chlorine | 60 degrees
TF100 Pro test kit, brand new for the season
Dealer installed and showed me how to set the pump speeds, heat settings, filter cycles and briefly talked about chemicals. He didn't seem to believe in the significance of balancing CH and TA, and just said that sanitizer is king and pH matters only a little. Funny, considering they have a bundle of chemicals "included, lol" that would be used to balance those things. I figured I'd be on my own to do my water the right way anyway. The only thing he said about testing is "let us test your water once in a while, to protect you on warranty claims," but doesn't believe in 2/3 of the water chemistry.

I intended from the beginning to follow the sticky thread from this forum How do I use Bromine in my spa (or pool)? In doing so, made my first addition of a packet of 2oz Sodium Bromide (supplied by dealer) - about only 1.625oz was called for based on volume, but I inadvertently added the whole packet, so an extra 3/8oz. Hopefully not a problem. Next, slowly started adding calcium to get nearer to 100. Intended on doing this in doses because the provided chemical from dealer does not list the working ingredients anywhere I can find Sirona Calcium Booster, so I don't want to overdo it (it says 1oz would raise CH by 7ppm in 500 gallons, so by my math about 10ppm in 325 gallons - I don't know what that corresponds to in Pool Math - never had to add calcium in my vinyl pool). Over the evening I added 6oz of that. Added 3.1oz baking soda, per Pool Math, to raise TA. Tested a couple times as the hot tub came up to temp, dosing calcium booster twice. Also filled up my feeder tube with the bromine tabs and only left the minimum flow adjuster open. I can always open it more. I'm not yet sure how the ozone/bromide reserve/bromine tablet relationship shakes out, but I assume the ozone, when running, will oxidize some bromine as active sanitizer.

Anyway, as of midnight, about 7 hrs after fill, the tub was reading pH 7.8 (not sure why it went up so much from 7.2 - maybe aeration, despite the low TA?) | TA 50 | CH 100 | some presence of bromine | 96 degrees. Wife and I thought we'd give it a try since we waited all day, as parameters were in ranges. Soaked about 20 minutes. After we got out, I decided to give it a shock dose of the MPS (I assume that's what potassium peroxymonosulfate is, though I keep seeing potassium monopersulfate - is that just a difference in how the name is written?). I couldn't find MPS on Pool Math so I under-dosed according to directions on the bottle, and added about 2oz around 1am last night.

So as of this morning, the testing reads pH 7.5 | TA 40 | CH 100 | high presence of bromine according to OTO test - question below | 100 degrees. I think the MPS has some properties that would lower the pH/TA a bit? Water looked nice and clear. The only thing I noticed is that around the waterline, there was some... scum? Not really scum. Looked like a sort of off-white powdery/granular dust, but when wiped with a finger it sort of accumulated into what I can best describe as a blob of dead skin/grease, but not sure if that's what it is. For what it's worth, we'd both already showered before getting in. We'll probably never be that clean again upon getting in, haha. So my questions:

1. Is accumulation around waterline as described a normal occurrence in acrylic tubs? I don't think I'd ever been in one before. Is something off, or is that just something I'll be wiping regularly? It was mostly in the area of seats we had been sitting in, but not exclusively there.
2. I'm not great at reading the OTO color blocks. I usually use that to test for general presence of sanitizer. Can the FAS-DPD (chlorine) test be used to test for sanitizer amounts, and then multiplied by 2.25 to get exact bromine level? I did that this morning, and got 5 FC => 11.25 bromine, which aligns with the dark yellow OTO test. Is that valid?
3. Never used MPS before - is that what I have? - and for my system, will I only be using that as a shock oxidizer periodically as needed? Should I be adding any sanitizer (MPS is not sanitizer, itself) on each soak, or is that what the bromine feeder/bromide reserve/ozone system is for? I can also use 10% liquid chlorine for shocking, I just won't have any on hand until this weekend when I'm opening the pool, so I used MPS to get started with an initial shock of the water last night. I probably will, as I'm more comfortable with handling that. Does that mean I'll calculate enough liquid chlorine to raise FC to 4.5 => ~10 bromine for shocking?
4. Did anything in my process above stand out as a bad thing? I'm new to hot tub care, but not gonna lie, I have sort of come to enjoy my water chemistry. I just want to make sure I'm getting off on the right foot and don't have anyone to personally ask for experience. If I'm following the sticky, I'm aiming for those numbers - TA 50-60 | CH 100-125 | pH 7.4-7.6 | active sanitizer bromine 4-6ppm | 98-102 degrees based on bathers
5. I'll be back to ask later about drains and refills. I like the people at the pool store on a personal level - they're friendly. But I don't really trust all their advice. I take it with a grain of sodium chloride.

Thanks for anyone who made it this far and anyone who chimes in. Happy pool season, everyone.

I have recently taken over a SWG pool. I was cleaning weeds and heard a noise of running water. I noticed this, took the top off and found a valve with a float on the end. It also has a exit pipe at the bottom. I'm assuming it's to maintain water level? I am not sure but I'm also assuming there's a proper way it should work. I have adjusted the float to let some of the water out before it allows more water in. Just curious. Good to be back on TFP!!

Part 1: pool motor sounded weak and pump not moving water properly. On the assumption that we had a dying motor, we bought a new one, (exact replacement Century (A.O. Smith) 1.0 HP Up Rate Motor, Round Flange 56J Frame, Single Speed - Model UST1102 Voltage 115/230, Max Amps 115V = 15.0 230V = 7.5, Single Speed, Round Flange, RPM = 3450, Threaded Shaft, Frame = 56J) and swapped it in. Same weak noise and pump not pulling water.
Part 2: took motor out of the pump housing, checked that impeller was tight, etc., and got a strobe app to check RPM because it sounded so weak. App says motor is running at ~1100 RPM instead of specified ~3450 RPM.
Part3: On the assumption that the old timer might be impeding the current to the motor, bought a new timer and swapped it in (motor still OUT of the pump housing). No improvement.
So: does our logic re impedance on the electrical circuit even make sense? Could the electrical wires from the house to the pool be shot. Or did we just have the bad luck of getting a faulty new pump? We are not sure how to proceed from here, so suggestions welcome. Again, the motor is NOT attached to the pump/plumbing so no plugs, etc.). Also, the toggle on the motor is set to 230V. Thanks in advance.

I have a Jandy SWG that is in need of repair, as it's clicking on and off internally every few seconds and saying "check cell". I'd like to turn it off so that whatever relay is clicking on/off doesn't get burnt out, but the normal way of holding down the power button doesn't work. Instead the screen says "JandyAutomation". Is there a way to turn off a SWG that's being controlled by Jandy automation?

Moved into a house that has Raypak P-R206A heater, hooked up to natural gas line.
Last year I've been having problems with it igniting, same with this year.
I need to get this sorted finally.

It will ignite, work for 15-20min, then turn off and keep igniting for next 30min, but it won't, it says Ignition failure, then it will ignite again and go thorugh same rotation again, or just keep heating for the day.
Do I need to clean something, pilot needs to be changed ?

We just had a new liner placed and the pool will be done being filled by our local fire department this evening. My question is how do I proceed with testing the water and in which order should I add. I use TFP test kit and app, but just not sure on the most advantageous way to proceed In these circumstances. Thanks everyone!