Hello, The only good thing about having pool problems is that I get to be back on the forum reading new posts.

For the second year in a row we have had tiles pop up from the flat part of the overflow (the one the cover glides on). I had a repair company come over and they told me that this problem is unavoidable here in Utah where our winters can be very cold. He recommended that we take all the tiles off, cut down/lower the gunite level by about an inch and install a kind coping there instead, then retile the water line underneath. The pool has an automatic cover that rests on that spot all winter long.

I am bracing myself for the bid that is coming my way. Before I make any rash decisions I thought I had better ask here if anyone has any experience with this product? right now the alternative could be just repairing the two tiles and wait to see what happens next winter...

Thank you in advance for your time

I am installing a Raypak Propane heater 15' away from the pool (15' x 48" steel sided pool). Figured be better than having pump and heater right next to pool for various reasons.

I am using Flexible PVC pipe. In Iowa. No termites in area. Yes I am going to bury it. I would need to go down over 6' to get below frost line. Ground can heave. You would have to be very careful to properly fill in with pvc or it would crack.

I thought what if I used drainage tile that is slit to allow water to also drain out. This would protect it from rodents like moles and rocks. This seems for the home owner special best of both worlds. I was going to rent a ditch witch trencher and go 3' deep. Not sure if two 1.5" pipes would fit in a drainage tile 3" in size. Maybe do two runs?

Just a idea. Thoughts beyond don't do and use PVC instead. I am not going to go down deep enough.

My Jandy PLC-1400 salt cell appears to need replacement: it's throwing 125/194 error codes. The cell is 4-1/2 years old, and it's worked flawlessly over that time at 25% in the winter and 70% in the summer. My pool guy and an electronic sensor that I have both report the salt level at 2800 but the control panel says 3400ppm. I descaled it two months ago -- got rid of all the visible white matter stuck to the plates and the place where the wires connect inside.

The code interpretation:

194 Cell Current is 85% lower than desired and cell voltage above 19V (Generates 125 code – Cell dirty or needs replacement)
125 Cell needs to be cleaned or replaced

The price of the PLC-1400 seems to have skyrocketed though. The last time, I paid $599 at Marina Pool Supply. This time, their price is $1199 and that's the price my pool guy quoted as well, so I'll get it from him.

Two questions:

* Is it worth proactively replacing the flow sensor/power cable? I have these from when I replaced the cell in 2017 and didn't replace the flow sensor or power cable because the new cell started working immediately (I did replace these in 2021 with the ones that came with that cell). Replacing the wires is a pain because the SWG control box is in an awkward hard-to-reach location and I'd prefer to just do it once with the new cables, but if it might make a difference, I'll give it a try. I'd rather not do it twice, but I suppose I could continue to use the 2017 sensor/cable (both unused) with the new cell unless something about these has changed since 2021.

* Does the measured salt level (3400 vs 2800) make a difference to the salt cell? Does it lower the current if it thinks there's more salt than there actually is? If I recalibrate the control box to match, might that make a difference? I think I'll give that a try anyway, once I find the calibration instructions again.

* Finally: instead of spending the $1200, have there been improvements in these systems since mine was installed in2006? Could I spend a bit more cash and switch to a better or more durable salt water generator to replace the Jandy system? This one has worked well, but if the technology has improved, that's something I'd be willing to consider if it's not 3x the price. I'm not wedded to Jandy/Zodiac but it would have to be compatible with my control box so I can see the salt level and control the cell level from my control panel and app.

Thanks!

I'm a proponent of reclaiming pool cover surface water rather than simply pumping to drainage.
Also, I maintain a 3,000 square foot garden, located some 500 feet away from the pool.
With an artesian well and no city water, I've previously pumped water into 30-gallon drums, hauled them to the garden, then pumped out the barrels.
This takes much time and effort, and the water flow from barrels into the garden is expectedly weak.

So...
1 - Would incorporating a pressure washer at the end of the run significantly speed up the actual watering of the garden?
2 - Would a powerful enough pump omit the need for filling multiple drums and allow me to pump directly from the pool cover to the garden?
3 - Can you suggest a more efficient alternative method of getting water to my garden?

Thanks in advance!
-A

We just got a Water Guru*.

Water Guru is in our skimmer and Water Gura has been giving me Low Flow Warnings.
Pump is Heyward TriStar 900

Here is my Observaed Data:

250W At 1850 RPM, Filter 0 PSI, Water Guru Flow 14GPM

460W At 2300 RPM, Filter 2 PSI, Water Guru 17GPM

855W At 2875 RPM, Filter 8 PSI, Water Guru 19GPM

Does Water Guru suck at measuring flow or do I have a potential plumbing issue? Pool and equipment are all new as of last year.


*I understand they are not super accurate for measuring pool chemistry but we are away for up to a week at a time in the early and late season so I just wanted something that will give me a good sense if my FC is drifting way too high or way too low while I am away.

Hi everyone!

A colleague recommended this forum to me. I just moved into a place my relatives own, and I told them I'd try to keep their pool in good shape. I'm a complete newbie when it comes to this stuff, so I'm definitely here to learn!

Hi, recently bought a house with an in ground pool and wanted to get some reliable information. Came here from a Reddit sub thread! Very early days, haven't taken the cover off yet but can already see issues of water getting in through poor drainage and doesn't look like the heater or pump were ever connected so think we've got a bit of a project on our hands. Will not be rushing into anything.

My M500 is about 4 years old and not climbing well. Th tracks looks a bit worn but are not loose. Since I am changing the climbing rings are there any other parts that I should change out?

So I bought a 2025 Master spa Twilight 8.2. . He said it did not come with a salt system but I could add it on for an additional $700 cost. Is it worth it to get it? Thanks

Hi,

This year, when i opened my pool, when i try to backwash my pool, my sand filter pressure is high as usual. In the past when i backwash my pool, it is normally 21 psi, but this year when i backwash, i see it is going to 29. Could you let me know what wrong with my sand filter?

My m400 in about 6 years old. Any idea or fixes on why one set of tracks move? If I touch the tracks that are inoperative they start up. Any help is appreciated.

Renovated our pool and had to fill for the pool guys to finish their work, had some issues with equipment which I’ve now fixed, but pool was sitting for almost two weeks. It wasn’t super green, just slightly green and cloudy. On day 9 of SLAM, it’s definitely better but still cloudy. I’ve passed two days in a row of the overnight chlorine test and not showing any combined chlorine, do I need to keep the FC at 20 until it runs clear? CYA at 45. I do have a sand filter and have been backwashing frequently, I know it takes longer just trying to figure out if I need to keep the high FC level. Thanks!

For the short time I had a dolphin working, it made a bunch of noise when cleaning the waterline at the waterfall rocks. I now have a Wybot, and I am concerned the rocks will tear up the scrubbing brush. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I have had an Explorer E20 for a few years now and used to do a great job at cleaning my pool. This year I can throw it in the pool and it will eventually get stuck cleaning the same swath of the pool for the entire cycle. It generally goes to the deep end and will clean one path from water line to water line continually.

It seems like the tracks are a little looser than when it was new but they aren't falling off. Has anyone else had this issue, and were you able to repair it?

Guys I have an MX6 pool cleaner that moves sometimes and when it dies it is very slow. I was on YouTube and it says to check for a blockage but it is not blocked and I have it on the suction side of the pool. (the hole inside the pool. I have heard to look towards the diverter valve to turn to make it faster however ai am not sure which one that is and am hoping someone could identify it for me. Thank you

I will be attempting to put in a 21-ft round above ground pool With a Little Help from My Friends. Planning on investing and having a concrete pad put in and using Gorilla mat, foam Cove and foam walls. I was wondering if I need to use sand at all if I'm putting it on a concrete pad. Then I guess my next question is what comes first? The gorilla mat, then the foam Cove on top of that and and then the walls? I need all the help I can get with this project so any tips or tricks are greatly appreciated. TIA

Just a thought … can you sit Royal Pool walls for an inground pool on compacted crusher run just for leveling?

Our yard is (we anticipate as our foundation was) mostly shale and know this is going to be an issue

This forum has been a get resource for planning my new above ground pool and I'm hoping y'all can come thru again.

I'm installing a new above ground pool and I'm at the point where I need to cut holes for the return jet and skimmer. I have the water a few inches below the return jet, but I still have slack above the water line where I need to cut the hole for the return jet. The liner is only loose in this 3 ft section and a 3ft section directly across the pool. It is tight without any slack around the rest of the pool.

Am I OK to cut the hole for the return jet and skimmer? If I do does the slack need to be above or below the return jet?

I’ve had my Pentair rebel since we had the pool redone in August 2021. The rebel has worked fine until recently. It stays in the deep end. I’ve tried everything—replaced the tires, the left drive shaft, and even purchased a new one! Same issue. Even with the new one. So it’s got to be something else. We’ve done everything with the equipment as far as cleaning the filter, etc. And the rebel seems to have great suction and the wheels rotate at the correct speed. What could be the issue?

Hi all,

I was given this dolphin premiere that doesn't move. The cleaner is in pristine condition. The last owner had it for a year, moved doesn't have pool anymore. Anyways, The impeller is free of debris and so are the tracks. My plan is too check the voltage of the power supply , then the cable, taking apart the swivel.

All the videos on the power supply show 2 prong power supplies. The premiere has three prongs. The readings I got were, 27 and 2.2 is it additive for a 3 prong or is this a bad power supply?

The unit will not run the self test. I have not yet opened up the swivel/

Hi all,

My water was crystal clear this morning but noticed the PH was a bit low. I guess I added more than necessary because it went very purple on my Taylor test kit (I assume over 8). The water got very cloudy.

I used a PH decreased and got it down to normal levels, but the water is still very cloudy.

Alkaline 60
Calcium 220
Chlorine 3

Should I just run the jets for a day? Or do I need to drain and refill?

Hi @Michael z
I'm looking to replace my Polaris 9550 with a cordless robot because it has a problem with a wheel I need to try to fix and its cord has developed a twist and keeps fighting with my Betta skimmer. The 9550 was purchased 9/2021 so I'm hoping my next robot lasts longer than 3 seasons.

I don't need a remote control, I've never used the one that came with the 9550. I'm trying to keep the cost around $1,000 and take advantage of some of the sales going on this week.

My pool is a vinyl liner made in the mid 1980's. It's 36' long and 25' wide. The shallow end is 3' and the deep end is 9'. I'd describe the shape as eggplant or pear shaped.

I'm considering the Aiper S1 or Beatbox Aquasense. I'd like something that used some logic to clean the pool rather than random patterns. The picture of the pool is with the cover on but gives an idea of the shape. Thanks.

Got this last year to replace my old Polaris 380 pool cleaner. Pool store recommended the Active 40 for my size pool. It has been nothing but trouble since. It ate 2 power supplies in a month. My fault as I did not see in the direction you are not to use an extension cord to plug it in. I did not have an outlet close enough to the pool to operate it without one. Bought an extra heavy short one and had an outlet put close to the pool. That problem was solved. My other problem is that is does not do a very good job of cleaning the pool. The Polaris 380 did a much better job and did not miss anything. The 40 worked ok-ish for the rest of the year. I had to use the brush to get most of the stuff it missed by sweeping it into the drain in the deep end. This year I opened the pool, and it will not pick up anything except the extremely fine stuff. I check everything. Made sure the impeller was not blocked; the filters were not clogged. But did find the rubber thing in the back was open about a 1/4 of an inch so I took it off and reshaped as I seen on a YouTube video and finally thought I had it figured out. Wrong, still does not pick up anything but the extremely small stuff. Took it to my pool place and turned it in to get looked at. They gave me a loaner an Active 15 to use while mine was going to be looked at. Well, I put the Active 15 in the pool and watched it. It picks up almost everything. Does 100% better than the Active 40 I have. So, I studied the machine once it was finished. Noticed right away two main differences. The first is that the 40 has a cloth thing for an inlet to the basket for pick up. It does not spread very wide so I believe this is a design error with this model. The 15 has a wide spring-loaded trap door that opens with the suction of the machine. Huge difference as my active 40 will not pick up anything through the cloth opening to the basket. Second is that the 40 has two spinning scrub rollers one at the front and one at the back. The 15 only has one at the back. Noticed while watching the 40 the the rollers were pushing water forward and scattering the debris instead of running over it to pick it up. The 15 only has the one at the back and so it goes one way and the scrubber scrubs and if it is going backwards, it does the same pushes the debris out of the way, but it reverses direction and goes back over it in the forward direction sucking up all the debris. Once again, I believe this is a design flaw. So, I took the basket out the 15 to see if it would fit into my 40 - no joy it is too small. So, I am wondering if they make a basket with a trap door like the 15 for the 40. However, do not know that if that will fix the problem as the two scrubbers seem to push the debris out of the way. Has anyone had this problem with their 40?

Questions for you guys. I learned something new every year and this forum has been a great resource.
So I have 15 foot Intex above ground pool with the 2800 series Intex sand filter and I just use the basic Intex skimmer basket that hangs over the side of the railing.
Yes, one day I intend on getting the Hayward skimmer that goes in the side of the pool, but I haven’t done it yet because quite honestly I don’t trust myself to cut a hole in the side of the pool and not end up with leaks lol but that’s another story LOL!!

My question today is when I plug off one of the inlet ports so that the skimmer gets better suction, my pump becomes markedly louder because of the air being sucked in. I have tried using a plug that had the little tiny hole in it to let minimal water through and I have also tried using a plug that was solid to just close it off and I have the same issue. If I have both ports open, the pump is so quiet I forget it’s running and it’s beautiful. But then, of course I get no suction at the skimmer and its effectively not doing its job

So my question.. is this normal? I feel like it isn’t because I can see the air bubbles going through the line and it does cause the pipe to pulse occasionally. And I know that’s not good for the motor.
So what is the trick? Do you guys just bypass that one inlet all together and run one hose straight from the pump to the skimmer port? I currently have it teed off to where one hose is going to each port and then converging in the third hose that goes to the pump.

Hi,

I've gone through multiple threads and figured out what I think I need to do, but I still have a couple of questions I wanted to ask help with.

I found out today after opening one of the ball valves for my pool fountain that it's leaking (red arrow in pic below). I can't see any water coming out of it when it's closed, but when I open it there's a steady stream. I need to replace it. The other two are OK (for now).
After reading through the other threads, I got the idea that I should replace all three ball valves with Jandy valves. I think I have enough basic skills to do that, but I don't want to start anything until I understand what I'm getting into.

1. The Jandy valve with the green allow doesn't allow to completely cut off the flow towards the fountains (right side of T). When all three blue ball valves are shut, the three fountains don't work. But the Jandy valve has a stop that prevents me from shutting off the right side completely. I don't understand why. Additionally, the Jandy valve "Inlet" port is the one at the bottom of the T, even though the water flows from the left of the picture. Is that the problem?
2. Other than shutting off the pump and closing off any valves that I can to prevent water from flowing into the manifold that I will be replacing, what else do I need to take care off?

Just received my TF-Pro kit and maybe I'm holding it wrong. First test I tried was the free chlorine test. Instructions say to fill 10ml of pool water and one scoop of R-0870 power. The water turns very dark pink and takes around 90-100 drops of R-0871 to turn clear. We're new pool owners, just moved in last fall and used the company the previous owners had used for closing/opening. They opened on Thursday (24th) and put in opening chemicals (I have since learned that might not have been great). Pool store test (I also know not great, hence the kit, but was there to get a new vacuum hose) came back with 6.0ppm of free chlorine. What am I doing wrong, and thanks in advance!

Hey there everyone,

I've been lurking for about a year and have learned so much from this community on maintaining the 15k gallon in ground pool we inherited when we moved. After maintaining with liquid chlorine the last year, I decided to put a SWG in for this season. Since I was already on the upgrade train and Duke increased their incentive for energy star pumps, I bought one and am looking to replace the 17-year-old Pentair pump they had in there. Looking at the manual for the new pump, it's telling me I should have 12.5 inches of straight pipe before the inlet (2.5" OD). How critical is this? The new pump has a coupler so I will need to modify the current pump inlet anyway but, it's currently a lot closer to that 3-way valve than the manufacturer recommends.

After we got the place I had to fix several suction side leaks including cracked 3-way valve housings and I basically replumbed the same way the builder had it but, added the 90 degree sweeps with new valves (please feel free to laugh at my horrible PVC cement job!).

I'm looking for some opinions on if I should just add the coupler to the short inlet pipe and be done with it? The new pump has the same inlet/outlet configuration so I would just have to add the coupler that came with the pump.

Alternatively, I am thinking about re-plumbing to extend the straight inlet section to 12.5" and move the 3-way valves back in line with the 3 supply lines from the main/skimmers. At the same time, I would replace the pump outlet plumbing to add sweeps, move the hose fitting, possibly get rid of the 2-way valve that goes to the vacuum port (seems redundant?), replace the canister that's leaking, and replace the coupling that goes to the spider valve.

See my pictures, hopefully they give a better picture of what's in my head. (The circuit on the left with the black jandy pump is separate for a waterfall. I have no idea why it was done that way but, that's what the owners did when they built the place. I have a bunch of other problems from the winter with this that I'll save for a separate post hah). Unfortunately, I think I would have to throw out those two new jandy valves I just replaced if I moved everything but, also seems like a good opportunity to streamline the plumbing?

My Hayward Astrolite is not working Has voltage but not continuity.
Any suggestions I have 120V but not much available in the that voltage so might convert to 12V.
Any recommended brands prefer non Hayward as I am not impressed with there products.

Pool has been open since 4/7/25 and I am currently trying to learn how to maintain it, as a new pool owner. I used my Taylor 2006 kit today and measured the following:
FC: 3.5ppm
CC: .5ppm or less
pH: 8
Alkalinity: 90
CH: 250
CYA: <30 (Taylor test kit only goes as low as 30)

A few days ago I added 2lb of stabilizer to bring up the CYA, but it didn't change it in an amount that is noticeable. I am thinking I should add the other 2lb. TODAY I added about 1qt of muriatic acid.

Meanwhile my husband took a water sample to the pool store today, mainly to see if copper levels have come down since opening the pool (down to .6 from .8 if THATS accurate at least). I was shocked to see the difference in the readings from the pool store. THEY claim that FC is 2ppm and CC is 2ppm. Told us we are in "chlorine lock" and to shock the pool. Umm...what?

I AM CHOOSING TO TRUST MY TAYLOR KIT! Therefore, I think things are looking good! The pool is clear and sparkly. Should I add more CYA? Any other thoughts? Thank you gurus!

Also, my SWG recently was having problems with digital display. The control board was replaced today and it is currently working again!

Hello from warm Arizona! My family has purchased and built a 14 foot round, 48 inch deep pool. We purchased the HTH Pool Care Kit for Opening/Closing Pool, we used the test strips and HTH app to try to figure out how to get us to the appropraite levels for our 1st swim. We had it to where all but the FC (low) and TA (high) levels were good, we followed the HTH app recommendations of adding 1lb of Shock for the FC level and adding 13lbs of pH Down for the TA levels. After waiting about 20 hours, using another HTH Test Strip, FC is high, pH is low, TA is low, TH is normal and CYA is low. From everything I have read and after calling a local pool store, we are going to purchase a different Pool Test Kit so we can use actual water samples but I'll be honest - I barely passed chemistry/science. Any advice, support, prayers would be appreciated.