I sincerely (I mean that) appreciate recommendations on this. I absolutely love this community and since I've been following the protocol my pool is mostly "trouble free". I've recommended many people this way.

Pool is ~20k gallons, near Austin TX. Detail info in my profile. I monitor very closely and can say for at least the past 1 month since subscribing officially I've been well within the apps recommendations.

Any opinions on which SWCG I should buy? I would love owners of both to weigh in (thank you in advance).

Situation/Info
- Pool filled Sep 2021
- Pool builder refused to go salt during the build (they all do in our neighborhood as far as I've learned .. ~ 140 houses, ~50% pools, I've surveyed ~ 11 pool owners .. but most of the same 3 pool builders here [Dripping Springs, TX]) .. we got 3 quotes and 3 hard no's for salt
- I've sent my pool builder links to the CircuPool model and asked if I can pay them to install it, answer is "no, we don't know how"
- So far, my pool builder isn't responding to my ask of "if I convert will this void the warranty" .. I've nicely asked a few times
- I asked my pool builder what SWCG they would be comfortable installing and supporting, no response (I specifically asked about Jandy since they use this equipment ..)

- I'm quite comfortable DIY'ing this but I am a afraid of losing the pool builder warranty
- I'm very tired of finding and lugging around bleach since I can't use the Chlorinator (CYA was 100, got it down to 80 after pouring >= 1 gallon a day of bleach manually but the tabs or a no-go long term)
- I think I'll eventually grow tired of testing 2-3x per day so I'd like to further autopilot this before I get there (enjoying it at the moment)
- I would like to go on vacation for a week at a time and not worry about chlorine!

Non-Facts
- My wife and I are scared to death about corrosion. As it is, the view rails are already showing rust. We have a lot of metal furniture near the pool, a ~22' retracting awning, two flakey (metal [copper looking] corroding already) firebowls, etc. If any of this gets damaged it would FAR offset the savings and bleach lugging effort of moving to SWCG. That being said, from what I've read on this forum it's not a material concern. Notably my dad is a huge salt fan now after many non-sw pools over the years (a recent convert) but .. my mom says all their furniture (pretty high end teak + metal pieces mostly) are rusting much faster since they converted. My dad is still a big fan of salt though. None the less, corrosion is a concern (and yes, I'll happily monitor salt levels to keep them as low as feasible, assuming that's helpful).

I have been running the primary pump at 1275 RPM 24/7 and that's worked out well. As of tonight, I'm experimenting with 18 hours a day runtime after reading here .. but regardless, I have no problems running the primary slowly as long as needed.

Note: All my equipment is located under the pool deck, not sure if that matters

I'm essentially down to these two choices:


I would much rather pay up-front for a good, durable solution in order to save long term.


Would you convert, regardless of warranty?

Which of these (or other .. thanks!) would you recommend?

Thank you in advance,

Brandon



Pool:

Have met with several companies and finally decided on one. I was hoping I could get some feedback and make sure im not missing anything. Do i need to bring anything up with the builder? Im new to this whole pool thing and really dont know what im doing.

Pool "envelope" is about 39 feet long by 11.9 feet wide. Widening to about 13 or 14 feet.
Approximately 14000 gallons
Pool area 439
Spa area 50
Depth is 4ft to 6ft
8 primary spa jets, 4 additional foot therapy jets
4 pool lights (i believe the jandy water color changing lights)
aqualink rs8
i-aqualink antenna
Jandy CV460 filter
Rainbow Chlorinator
Jandy Salt Cell PLC-1400 & APUREM Power Center
1 Blower 2hp
Explorer E70 Robotic Cleaner
JXI 400,000 BTU heater
1 Epump Variable Speed
1 Flopro VS 1.85 HP (water feature)
1 Flopro VS .85 HP (spa booster)
3 3' sheer decents
6x6 travertine or porcelain waterline tile
travertine coping
concrete pavers
stacked stone spa spillover
level 1 pebble finish

Good afternoon all,

I was performing my normal testing/maintenance on my hot tub yesterday and noticed the water looks a little yellow. Not bad, just a slight yellow tint that isn't normal.

This happened about a month or so ago when I drained and refilled but the color was more intense--the water was green and then yellow before I added a metal sequestrant and a lot of shock. Then it looked great until now.

I haven't done much refilling, if any, since the drain and refill a month or so ago. Maybe an inch or two here or there, but definitely not in the past two weeks.

Is it possible I need more metal sequestrant? Or is it definitely a low sanitation issue?

The sanitation levels were very low yesterday because for some reason my tablets dissolved much more quickly than usual, so I balanced pH, added shock, and also refilled my tab floater.

The tub is still yellowish today. I had to balance pH again (too low today; I must have added too much MA yesterday), but I think my bromine level was good (9). TA is 50.

Should I add more shock? A metal sequestrant? Or should I try something else?

So I have my vacuum hooked up to my only skimmer directly into the suction line. I think I should get a skimmer/vacuum basket combo so my skimmer catches debris floating…? When my pump is running I have my valve from the pool sucking as much as it can before the psi. Drops on the filter and the rest sucks from the spa. I feel like I am pulling more water from the spa and not filtering as much from the pool which I would think would be overkill to keep filtering the spa water let’s say a guess of 40% pool and 60% spa filtering. I could remove the vacuum and have the diverted that goes in the skimmer suck from the main drain a lot more and have the skimmer be more effective, but lose the vacuum for all the debris from storms, dust blowing, etc.

As far as the returns, I have 2 in the pool and 2 in the spa. I have it return to the pool as much as possible before the psi. Goes up and the rest returned to the spa.

From the picture you can see in floor cleaning, but I don’t use them unless heating the pool.

Question-
Any advise is appreciated

Should I use the infloor as returns (they are worn out and provide no action in moving debris around on the floor)? But could return more water to pool with out having psi. Increase.


On the return jets, what is the best position-up, down, toward skimmer,away from skimmer?

Thanks

Hi, my name is Bob Gilbert, I am retired, the wife and I moved here from Kentucky 6 years ago. We had just bought this pool as an upgrade from our 18' x48", when we decided we wanted to move. So we hauled it with us 1350 miles, and just got it set up, I am still filling it. We don't have city/county water. We get our water from a fill station about 3 miles from our house. BTW wells are around 50,000.00.
Have great a great day

When my pool was built, I was required to keep an expansion joint between the coping and my deck pavers. The joint was 1/4 inch and was filled with foam 4 inch by 1/4 inch (this foam was also required). I have a contractor fixing some stuff and he pulled up the foam and is replacing it with a backer rod and will use Sika Flex on top of the rod. The rod is about 1 inch of depth. Even though the Rod is only 1 inch of depth, my expansion gap is still 4 inches by 1/4 inch. My question is this: To keep my warranty on the shell, I was required to have 1/4 inch by 4 inch foam between the coping and the pavers, but I will no longer have that. Am I correct that the foam was mandated to ensure that my expansion gap was 1/4 inch by 4 inches (i.e., the measurement of the foam) and that the actual presence of the foam was not important. In other words, now that the foam has been removed, I still have the same size expansion gap, but simply no foam (just a 1 inch backer rod).

I am assuming that the expansion gap is what helps prevent the pavers from destroying the pool shell, and that the foam itself was used to establish the proper size of that gap, but that the foam didn't actually help prevent the pavers from destroying the pool shell.

Am I making sense?

Hello! we live on a farm in Northeast NC, just about an hour away from the Outer Banks. We show American Quarter Horses in local, regional, state and breed level shows. We live in our pool during the summer months and sometimes during the early fall if summer refuses to leave. (You never know in NC what the weather will bring!)

Is this something I should be concerned about? Pool was finished Aug of last year and just starting noticing this area by stairs this summer. Is semi soft if pushing down with thumb around cratered edges but feels hard for most part after edges. This is a low traffic area and the only area in pool that looks like it. Did a die leak test around all seams in that area and did not find anything.

Hi Guys! I have a 15x48 intex above ground pool and i just got a heat pump heater. My problem is I dont have space in the place where i have the pump and swg to accomodate the heat pump. I might need to put it on the other side of the pool.
I plan on installing a bypass, would it be better for the bypass to be near the heat pump or near the filter?
Thanks!

Just had my inground pool repaired and a new liner installed this past week (3 days ago). Looked great until I got in the pool the next day and about 1/4 of the bottom felt like I was walking on the moon. Not only rough areas but several spots had a raised points sticking up into the liner to such an extent that you could feel it with your feet pushing up into the liner. From what I understand, the only fix is to drain the pool, remove the liner and then smooth/repair the bottom. Followed by a re-install and fill. Are there any other options?

I also noticed that liner locks were installed on all 4 corners which I thought was unusual for a new liner installation. There is also some settling/stretching of the liner taking place along the bottom edges. I understand this is normal for a new liner. I am a first-time pool owner, it came with the home, and as such this is my first time having to deal with a liner in any way, shape or form. Pool company that did the install is not being very responsive. Any suggestions?

Thanks! GBF

Hello,

My name is Cyrus and I live in Menifee, CA. And I have a i ground pool and spa in my backyard. I am just learning how to maintain the pool and trouble shoot. I’m not sure how many gallons my pool is but I do have Pentair Intelliflo 2 VST Variable pump. I shock once a week but I want to get the pump timing down to save energy but also have a clean pool.

I recently got my latest bull order of CYA; I decided to by 50# from Doheny’s. It’s 100% cya per the label, but doesn’t seem to be making an impact on cya levels like other brands have. Im not sure if this is somehow a knock off, but also read that high water temps can degrade cya. Water temp south of Houston is 92-94° lately

Last week my CYA measured about 55, so I added about 3 1/2 # per the Pool Math app (which is usually always). 4 days later and still testing about 60.

I just remodeled my pool and added a water auto-leveler, which I need to now connect to a water line. I read in an old post that I need to use a backflow prevention device, such as this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G5HFEN0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1

My pool is somewhat up a small hill in our backyard, so the water will be routed upwards. I understand that the backflow device is supposed to be 12" above the water, but does that mean down by my house where the water line starts, or should it be up by the pool & above the pool water line?

Hello all, made a post last year looking for help, managed to get my pool squared away last year, but I think it was luck. Same problems I had are reoccurring again this year so here I am. This may be a long post so I’m gonna put the main 2 questions here close to the top. And I’ll provide the background to it after.

Here’s the main questions, do you think the idea of running a cartridge filter inline with a DE filter will work well? I’m currently Having issues with the de filter clogging very quickly due to algae growth, and have changed out de media several times.(in the process of correcting the algae growth as well, see below in the pool background)
My thoughts are the cartridge filter can catch most of the big stuff before heading to the DE filter, where the DE will finish polishing the water and slow the DE from clogging so quickly. I already have all the items to put into use, so it wouldn’t cost me anything to do. This may just be a temporary setup as well. Once water is clean and adjusted properly, the need for 2 filters will most likely be unnecessary.
It’s a 1HP pump, providing 75 GPM, currently coupled to a Hayward EC-40, but was originally mated to a 150sqft cartridge filter.
The other question was in regards to the slam method. Should I be adding CYA and adjusting my ph and alkalinity prior to chlorine? What order should I be doing it in? Should I be adding CYA first , then adjust alkalinity and then ph? Should I be waiting a certain amount of time between additions of certain chemicals? And how often should I be rechecking chlorine levels? During and after the slam method? I’m going to retest once the Taylor kit is here, but current dip strips say all levels are low, and I have a feeling it’s probably right.

Here’s the background of the pool. Moved into the house just about 2 years ago now; had a 21ft above ground installed last year. Started with a 150sqft dohenys cartridge filter with 1HP pump. Got frustrated by having to swap and clean filters, so moved to a DE filter this year. My water balancing regimen was nearly non existent. I added cya periodically and just kept adding chlorine mostly blind, guided only by weekly dip strip tests. This method worked well for the 15ft pool that I used to have at the old house, with no tree growth over it. Now I’m dealing with almost twice the water and a large tulip tree near the pool that likes to rain down sap and leaves into the pool, and it’s become obvious that this method isn’t working. To correct this I have a Taylor K2006 test kit coming so I can accurately slam the pool, and the appropriate products to adjust ph, cya, and alkalinity. I know lack of chlorine and inaccurate and lack of water testing is ultimately what led me here, but as stated above, I’m burning through DE and finding that I have to regenerate the filter every 20 minutes or so, which is impractical when I’m at work throughout the week and unable to check it until I’m home after work.

I have a large natural waterfall emptying into my pool and is under construction and am running conduit to get lights to various parts of it. I wonder what lighting solutions others have done for lighting their falls. Need lights that could work for behind the falls or for shining from within pools. This lighting needs to meet NEC article 680 requirements.

Have run across Hayward Colorlogic 80 & 40 lights but not having any luck getting ahold of them.

What other products have you used to light water features within 10 feet of a pool?

Hi everyone, my husband and I recently bought a home in the DFW area with a ~30,000 gallon pool. We have a complete resurfacing scheduled for one month from now, and we debated a long time about whether or not we should have built-in bar stools added to one part of the shallow end... However, we also have anchors for an in-pool volleyball net in the shallow end, and so if we also had bar stools we would not have room to also play volleyball. I ran across these during my researching: In-Pool Furniture | Tables & Seating | S.R. Smith and I wondered if anyone here has experience with these?? We are thinking to do an umbrella table with 4 stools around it. I tried searching the forums but couldn't find much. Do they work well? Do they last? Are they sturdy? It seems like a great idea, since we could leave them installed 90% of the time, but still have the ability to pull them out on the random occasion when we would like to play volleyball with friends Thanks for any advice or thoughts you have.

It is a scorcher here today and we just had a power outage. Which got me thinking . . .

What should I do to care for my pool in an extended power outage? They are not infrequent in my area. We actually bought a generator after a week-long outage, but it is set up to shed load from our pool and hot tub to preserve more essential energy (for our fridge, etc.).

I have one of those solar skimmer robots, so I'd put that in my pool, change the skimmer basket socks daily and empty out the skimmer robot filter daily. But the pump/filter wouldn't run. Should I add a ton of chlorine in that scenario? Try to run my Dolphin robot if I can get an outside outlet working? Anything else?

Greetings. My new pool was poured on Tuesday, July 12 2022 (one week ago). On the first day, within a few hours after the pouring, I noticed several small hairline cracks starting to form at the grading edge of the pool floor. I have watered the pool with my hose set to the shower setting two to three times per day (with the exception of 7/16 & 7/17 as my family was out of town visiting friends in another city). I would estimate that there's probably 20+ small hairline cracks.

I've provided photos in a zip file for better evidence.

The cracks don't appear to have spread any further than they have already settled. My question is, I'm seeing the postings on this site that mention some owners have had their builders epoxy the cracks to provide ... well ... peace of mind? Should I have my builder do the same? Do the cracks appear to be large enough that they are a legitimate concern?

I'm located in Southern Utah (St. George). The weather on the day of the pour was in the low 100's with humidity between 10% to 15% and has fluctuated between 102 and 108 since. I continue to water the pool 2 to 3 times per day. Appreciate any insight from the group, as you guys are the professionals and I respect your opinion.

Thank you,

-Sean

Hi,
New here. I have an outdoor salt pool, about 21,000 gallons in the hot Southern California heat. I have a little bit of green algae starting. I was getting mixed results from Leslie’s, but consistent low chlorine and high cyanuric acid. I let out lots of water, last Leslie results showed in the 80s. I replaced my salt cell Friday and added the Leslie’s shock. Yesterday I added liquid chlorine and ordered the TFP salt pro kit. Not sure what to do while I’m waiting on my test kit. Should I just keep adding liquid chlorine? Jennifer

Folks....

Cleaning pool with Dolphin for the first time since opening. The 2ater temp is cold only 62 F. Dolphin is still functioning and doing what it is supposed to do but when it surfaces to tackle the waterline, it is squeaking. The squeaking noise appears to be in sync with the front wheel scrubber. I haven't used the cleaner before in water this cold so not sure if that is causing the noise or if it is something more serious. I had cleaned the impeller before putting it away for the season last fall. Any ideas on what this could be? Suspect it might be grit in the wheel housing. There was some post-winter grit/silt in the pool after the winter cover was removed. Cleaned as much as possible before releasing the robot

Is there any value in placing the lights only on one side of the pool (closest to the house) so the pool is illuminated, but you don't get the actual glare / shine of lights aiming directly at you when viewing the pool from the house?

Is it better to just space the lights equally around the entire pool?

I was planning on installing a heater bypass within my pad plumbing. SO I purchased a Pentair 3-way valve 2 inch as the rest of the PVC is 2 inche. I also thought the three other Pentair 3-way diverters were also 2 inch. But, as I was dry-fitting things, I noticed the one I purchased was 2 inches on the inside and 2 1/2 on the outside slip). The others look to be 1 1/2" on the inside and 2" on the outside slip. I have confirmed that the PVC pipe is all 2 inch. Will this do anything to the flow or pressure on the pump, and why would the pool builder use the smaller diverter valves?

Hey y’all,
I have a Hayward TC-15 Salt system. Original cell lasted 3-4 years. The $350 Amazon replacement has now lasted a year and is giving “hot” error messages. The on screen display has never worked with the knock off but the tiny bubbles come out of the return and my pool always looks great. Now I have the error messages and I need a replacement. Is anyone having luck with a cheaper alternative? The Hayward now costs $900. My pool is actually 10k gallons but I was told on here to go with the tc-15 and just don’t run the pump as long. Can I go with a TC-3 or TC-9 to save some money? Will those work with my system or do I need to stay with the TC-15? I don’t have fancy control system just the basic Hayward Aquarite SCG

I have a salt water pool and have pitted edges on the coping edge. Someone posted some great examples on another thread but I didn’t see where anyone gave information on how to fix it. There must be a special paint?? Thanks!

Since there was a different thread asking about sand filters, it triggered a question about my pool. I know sand should never need replacing unless someone gunked it up with clarifiers and floc. How can you tell if sand is gunked up? I just moved into a house with a pool that has a sand filter. The previous homeowner gave me all his potions he had left over including a half bottle of clarifier. Should I pop off the MPV to look at the sand? If so, do I look at wet sand or dry a handful first? Do I run the filter for a few weeks to see its filtering performance? Or as a preventative, just go ahead and change out the sand since I don't know what the previous owner dumped into his water?

I currently have a new Pentair Superflo VS in my garage. I would have already put it in, but just have not have time to do it yet. My Hayward Superflo single speed is running fine, but I am trying to save some money on electricity and the pump is 6 years old. After doing some planning in preparation for installing the new pump, I was inspecting my Star Clear 1200 filter and realized that it has a small, but seemingly growing crack near the pressure gauge. I bought the house with this equipment in 2020, and its worked fine, but the crack seems new, even though its not leaking.

Anyways, I am thinking about re-plumbing the pad area using 2" PVC, getting a new filter, and installing the new pump all at the same time. My water is clear and seems very clean as is, but I am wondering if I should upgrade the filter to something larger. I also don't really know if upgrading to 2 inch plumbing for the pad area would really make a difference when I have 1.5' plumbing underground on suction and return.

I was eyeing the Pentair Clean and Clear Plus 240sqft or the Hayward Swimclear 150sqft. My budget is about $800 for the filter. I really do not have any problems pulling the filter out and spraying them down, so having a larger filter to lengthen the time between cleanings is not a consideration. Just wondering if I would actually get any cleaning benefits from getting a filter larger than what I currently have at 120sqft. Afterall the Hayward Starclear is half the price of the above mentioned filters, and I have an extra filter sitting in my garage already, that would become useless if I bought a new filter housing. Thoughts appreciated.

Hello,

I recently took over the care of my family’s pool. It is green, cloudy, and has thousands of tiny bug larvae swimming in it.

I ordered the wrong Taylor test kit which I am going to return, so I only have access to the test strips we already had which test FC, pH, and Alk.

My first reading was FC 0, Alk 0, pH <6.2.

I read somewhere on here (I can’t find the thread anymore) that I should fix the Alk first with soda ash until ~50, then fix the pH with borax, then fix the FC with bleach.

I added 6kg of soda ash and the following day my readings were FC 0, Alk ~40, pH <6.2.

My dad then suggested SLAMing the pool before finishing my other adjustments.

What do you recommend is the best course of action??

Thank you in advance for your help.

Edit: I’m not sure I added my signature correctly because I can’t see it on my post. Toronto, vinyl, 38000g, chlorine, sand filter, unsure about pump, older than 2000.

Hi I'm looking into buying one of the following. I'm looking to understand if it's worth the extra $$$, and one of the functionalities seem to be to clean water lines... how important is that (total newbie here)

- Dolphin Nautilus CC - 629$
- Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus ( main addition seems to be the tangle free cord? is that worth it) - 849$
- Dolphin Triton ( waterline cleaning) - 949$ (might go for this if I'm going for Nautilus CC Plus?)

- Dolphin Premier - Seems like a splurge, but again how much better is it. - 1450$

Looking to hear back from folks...

Is there a real difference between a 8 and 12 mill solar blanket as far as heating the water during the day and keeping heat in at night.

Im looking to add a stenner pump to my pool with existing plumbing and have the following question. Will I need to use a union fitting if I’m trying to put in a slip tee or should the existing pipes give enough flex to insert the slip tee without the union? I have two inch pipe in case that matters.

Thanks in advance!