Pool was well balanced last I tested. Cya was at 90 and a SWG was installed. I am hoping the CYA continues to drop so that I can run lower free chlorine and still sanitize the pool. I’m not sure at what rate the CYA is going to drop, but since I’ve been running chlorine tablets for so long, I do not own any conditioner. Once the CYA drops to a level that I want to maintain do I just put pucks in floaters to supplement the saltwater generator or do I actually add CYA conditioner using the sock method I’ve read about? If I need to add conditioner for A pull my size. How much should I have on hand?

I’ve run high free chlorine to compensate for my high CYA levels basically since I found this place very successfully. What would you consider the optimal CYA level for saltwater generator pool knowing that I’m offsite Monday through Friday.

I've been busting my shoulders leveling the edge my new resin pool will set on. My soil is so hard and compact that I have to soak it to chip it away to level. I just got delivery of my new pool. The bottom track the wall goes into is a flexible plastic and same for the connectors. I'm starting to think I might be fine if get my edge perfectly level and skip the pavers. What do you think?

Notes: I am in the PNW and I will be doing a 72" expandable liner for an 18'x52" pool.

Hello,

New pool owner here (via home purchase), just got our pool opened this week. Trying to get comfortable with the Screenlogic interface, and I apologize in advance for really dumb questions! Thought our system was busted at first, every time I would turn on the spa, lights, features, etc...it would turn off after 1 minute. Realized everything had egg timers set, ugh! App is very clunky - wouldn't let me put the timers down to zero at first without going up, but eventually everything seems to be functioning. What would be a good use for the egg timers?

I see there was a schedule previously set - is this something I should keep enabled? What is the point of it - to make sure the spa is getting filtered regularly?



I've figured out what most of the features do, but any idea what Pool high and Jet 1 Side are?



The pool has fountains on the pool sides and a spillway from the spa to pool. I'm sure a dumb question, but are those mostly for decorative purposes, or should I say run the spillway regularly so that water flows to the pool. Wasn't clear if those are something I should leave on all the time.

Any other tips or recommendations would be much appreciated! Been trying to read as much as possible to hopefully get to speed shortly

I am a new pool owner, as well as a new TF-Pro-Salt test kit owner. I've run through tests a couple of time, and don't have any questions yet on the topic of specific tests. I am trying to get a process down, using the items supplied in the kit, and one I can repeatedly use from beside the pool sitting at a table under an umbrella.

Right now I collect a water sample using a plastic bottle (one given away by Leslie's pool to take in for them to sample) and go to my table. I have a pad I sit down on the table in case I spill something, a couple paper towels, and the test kit. I start the tests, but then after a test I need to empty the test cylinder and rinse it. That means getting up and going about 30 feet to an outdoor spigot/hose, where I can rinse the cylinder in the yard, and presumably contaminate the cylinder slightly with spigot water for the next test. I shake it while returning to my spot, and if big drops dry with the paper towel. Then move on to the next test. It looks like some of you may get extra cylinders and magnetic stir bars to do all your tests in one sitting, and rinse them after all tests are complete. For those without the extra cylinders, what is your process? Is a couple more cylinders the only optimization?

I appreciate your ideas.

how should I aim my return jet? The skimmer is directly across from it.

I did not take care of my pool at the end of last season.

The stairs were removed and the pool left to do it's thing.

A cat fell into the water "at some point" during the winter, how long ago I have no idea, in addition to a dead bird. Animals tend to decay slowly or not at all in water, so needless to say I have a mess to clean up.

I also am going back to liquid chlorine from SWG so I have drained the pool to about 18 inches of the bottom on a non-windy day.

I have refilled with fresh water, removed the large items from the pool including the dead animal, and am now slamming the pool, in addition I have my robot pool cleaner running to get the debris off of the bottom, cleaning it out every 30 minutes. Gone from green to aqua green to brown and now back to green, but still I am continuing with the slam and removing as much of the heavy debris to make the chlorine's job easier, I will post some pics. Point is, keep with it, as it can take some time, I started my slam 3 days ago and still working.

P.S. Also experimenting with some of those "pool balls" little polyester balls that can filter out fine particles, I throw them in the skimmer basket until they need to be rinsed and cleaned, been taking about 2 days before they inhibit water flow. We will see if they help clear the dead algae.

I am very new to this, but I'm going to finally get a pool for our back yard. I don't have a signature because I don't have a pool yet So glad I found this site.....
I'm all over the place but probably going to go with a 15 x 30 x 54" ish... Steel sides-? above ground pool.
My wife doesn't want chlorine, so I'm thinking Salt Water ?

We have some guy coming out Sunday 3/30/25 from Blue World Pools for a free estimate. I am not opposed to installing the entire thing myself, but their ad caught my eye. So....
I asked the lady on the phone if they used Saltwater, and she said "no" that they rust things out, but they used some environmentally natural sanitation. I am just now trying to figure out what she was talking about. I think maybe Ionized? is that true?
Is that bad? Does it have Copper in it? YUK.
All I want to do is get a Quality Pool, with Saltwater sanitation, a great Pump, etc.
We have a couple of great sons-in-laws ready to go to prepare the site and help with installation as soon as I find out where and what kind to buy.
I would really appreciate some advice from you all. My wife, kids, grandkids are all super excited, and I want to do this the right way the 1st time. So, feel free to share your expertise with me. Thanks to all! Don

Hello,
My Hayward SP3400VSP with the OMNI controller on top is really starting to scream. It still pumps and moves the water great, but pretty sure my neighbours are going to complain soon. I'm guessing the bearings are going.

Not sure if I can order/buy replacement bearings? If this is a repair I can do, or if I am better off just buying a new pump?

With that said, do I only need to buy a new motor? Or does everything need to be replaced including the OMNI controller? Would you have a recommendation for the new pump? I have done some reading and the Ecostar Pump I currently have is not thought of too highly.

Thank you,
Kmac12

Hello, I have a pool only (no spa) and I have the iAqualink Touch RS-6 Combo REV Yg. I have 4 JVA relays (the ones with 3 pins) and 2 of them are wired to a JVA. The 2 that are plugged in are labeled "Cleaner" and "Solar" on the panel. the "Cleaner" JVA controls the sheer descent and the "Solar" JVA controls the bubblers. The "Intake" and "Return" slots are empty on the panel but when I go to "Assign JVAs" in the app it has both of those labeled as "Used"

I would like to install a 3rd JVA that would redirect water flow through the pool heater since that is the only thing I do not have automated. Can I simply plug the 3rd JVA into the empty "Intake" or "Return" slots and assign that to an Aux in the app? If not, then how can I achieve the result I want for adding a 3rd JVA?

We just opened our pool to brown water. Late March, we got a snow storm here in NE which carried a bunch of dust from TX and NM and left behind a sheet of thick brown sediment everywhere after the brown snow melted. I’m assuming much went through our mesh cover. You can see remains on the pool coping we haven’t cleaned yet. Power washing all of our decking was already quite the job. Anyway, water temp is 56 degrees and FC at .5. Cya tested at 35 and PH at 7.4 so I started a slam adding liquid chlorine to slam level. I tested my FC a half hour later to make sure the LC and my measurements were good and then I tested again an hour after that and the level had dropped by 1 so I raised up again to slam level.

My question is, do I just slam like normal and proceed to brush and backwash? Is testing every hour and a half good or overkill. I can’t even see the bottom of the pool which has never happened before so it makes it hard to brush. Will the sand filter eventually filter this out? I also have our Aiper robot going and am going to see what the basket looks like when it’s done with its routine. Appreciate everyone’s time and advice.

The Easytouch manual doesn't address how to connect this particular pump nor does the pump manual.
I have a Easytouch 4. 2 relays are available. I have the RS 485 black cable with 8 pins.
On page 6 of the pump manual it explains how to connect the pump via "External Control via Digital Inputs and on page 7 it explains "Using an External Input Signal".
I'm not sure which method of connecting the pump I use.
Thanks for any help.

This is our second above ground pool, first one being last summer. The first one was ruined (12×20 Coleman) because the cable for the cover ripped out one of the fittings after snow and rain pulled on it. Lesson learned.

Now, we have a Seaich 12x20 and I'm not seeing how the pump should be plumbed, as far as intake/outlet. It only has 2 holes for this....one up high and the other very low. Any idea which way to run the hoses? It came with a sand filter, if that helps.

Also, should we really put pavers under the u-shaped legs? We didn't on the previous pool and it really didn't seem to settle into the ground.

Just sign a contract for a 16x36 rectangular pool. We debated freeform vs rectangular and based on the pictures, since the pool is smaller, a rectangular is a better look. The shallow end is 3ft and the deep end is 8 ft with a diving board. We are adding a shelf and bench as shown below.

My first two questions, We have a small shallow end starting at 3 feet. Should I start at 4feet to have a bigger shallow end?

Second, I been debating between ozone/chlorinate vs salt generator. I leading toward the saltsystem for ease even though it will void my coping warranty from the builder. Anything I should look out for in term of pool equipment that could rust easily? Like handrail, ladder or diving board? I assume stainless steel is fine.

When we removed the cover this year, we had bad thick scaling on the grout lines, and some of the tiles' surface area was frosty..... a thin layer of scaling. Normally, this does not happen till summer. In the past, I have easily removed the scaling on the grout lines using a single-edge razor....But I am not able to remove the thin scaling. Looks like it needs to be polished. Can someone recommend a cleaner or solvent that will remove the frosted scaling over the blue tile area (look to the far right in the picture for that). The worst tile surface scaling appears to be directly under the waterfall spillway area. Thanks

Hello! We are currently at the final stages of having our 16 X 32 gunnite pool installed. This is a salt water pool and not sure of the exact specs of the filtration or pump. It is Haywood so once I have all the info I will update the post. Hopefully the pool will be complete in the next two weeks so I am looking for advice in filling, opening and making sure I don't do something stupid to ruin or damage the plaster or filter system.

Hi all,

I just did some pool renovations and upgraded my easytouch to an intellicenter. Seems to be much more functionality within the Intellicenter compared to the easytouch.

I have added the expansion card to the intellicenter to include additional valve control ports. I currently have 4 intellivalve actuators, (1) for bubbler supply, (1) for deck jets, and (2) for waterfall operation. The waterfall and the 2-intellivalves were added as part of the recent renovation. I have figured out how to automate the bubbler and deck jet intellivalves within the intellicenter.

My question is this, how do I program the two new intellivalve actuators to fire (one to open, one to close) at the same time when I select the Waterfall feature.

What other cool features does the intellicenter have that I was missing out on with the easytouch?

Thanks!

History of my interest in this question:

1. I found that after 6 months my salt cell was full of calcium deposits.
2. After cleaning it I measured the Total Alkalinity (using TF-100) and found it to be 180
3. Over the course of 3 weeks I added acid daily to keep pH at 7.2 until the TA was down to 70

How did this work?

• My understanding is that the pH in my pool rises every day due to aeration (there is a spillover from a raised spa and the lower pool.) I have been led to believe that this happens because there is an equilibrium between carbonic acid and dissolved carbon dioxide. As dissolved carbon dioxide is removed due to aeration this equilibrium drives carbonic acid levels lower thus raising the pH.
• The pH in my pool goes back down when I add hydrochloric acid.
• Somehow (I don't quite understand the chemistry details...) the lower pH reacted with the TA reducing it over time.

Questions:

• General Pool Care: Now that I am "done" reducing the TA I am now maintaining my pool's pH at 7.8. Every 2-3 days after adjusting pH to 7.8 I measure it at 8.1/8.2 again. Does this mean that I am continuing to reduce the TA (though slower than I was at pH of 7.2) as a side effect of maintaining the ideal pH? Is this normal?
• Academic / Curiosity: If aeration raises pH by removing dissolved carbon dioxide and I lower pH by adding hydrochloric acid, then how does this not get out of control? I'm adding extra chloride ions and aeration is removing carbon dioxide. Won't I eventually run out of dissolved carbon dioxide / carbonic acid if there isn't anything replenishing them? Won't I eventually have a HUGE surplus of chloride ions unless there is some mechanism removing them? I'm sure I'm missing more elements of the chemistry at work here (presumably something to do with buffers?)

Hopefully someone can help me understand what I am missing from my understanding.
Thank you.

Long story short, I mowed over my power cord for my above ground pool. The pump is an intex SX3000 series, and has the GFCI plug on the male end. I'm trying to find a replacement cord, and am having trouble making sure i'm getting the right one. I'm not an electrician by any means, but I can replace parts just fine. I really just need to make sure I find a cord that is the right replacement. I don't even believe it has to have the GFCI end, as it's plugged into an outside outlet that is on a GFCI circuit (please correct me if i'm wrong,) but wouldn't mind having that if I could find one. Few questions:

Any idea how I can ensure I get the right cord?

This pump is 120v- so are the replacements on amazon pretty much universal as long as they meet that? If so, could I take the GFCI adapter from the old cord and put it on the new one if it doesn't come with one?

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide. I feel like this shouldn't be that complicated, but I'm dealing with electricity so I want to be safe.

Hi All - I haven’t updated my signature with pool size, equipment, and all other necessary things but I will eventually.

Anyhow, we’re having an issue with our heater, it’s a new Raypak Avia 404, that shuts off after roughly 10 min. The digital screen says two things:
Flue Extremely Low
and
High Flow Fault

I called Raypak yesterday and the tech that I spoke with said that those are indicators that the water flow through the heater is too high/fast for it to heat it properly.
He asked what pump size we have, told him it’s a 1.5 HP for an 18x36 pool.

He said to:
1. Install an external bypass with a ball valve to slow down the flow.
Or
2. Switch to a variable speed pump to slow down the flow.

I haven’t done either yet, but in the back of my mind I keep thinking that this is a large heater, why couldn’t it handle the flow from a 1.5 hp pump or even a larger pump.

I am new to pools, owned one since Feb. Pump pressure was consistently around 40psi. So I decided to clean the filter. Attached is what it looked like when I opened it up.
My pool company claim to have washed the filter in March.
My question: is could it have got that bad in six weeks?
Cheers

mandrade09 said:

I live in the woods in northeast MA and have plenty of wood. I am thinking of a wood fired swimming pool heater. I have a propane heater. But the price of propane and electricity these days is ridiculous.

Pool is inground 20x40 approx. 30k gallons. I have a solar cover as well.

Does anyone have any experience or familiarity with the below brands? Or does anyone want to share their experiences with wood fired heater?

The Only USA Made Wood Fired Burning Swimming Pool Water Heaters - The BEST Wood Fired Pool Heater available with the longest reputation

We build the highest quality wood burning pool heater in the world, with heavy duty type 304 and 316 stainless steel heat exchangers. Our wood fired pool heaters are the lowest cost option on the market to heat your swimming pool. Wood burning pool heaters, the perfect alternative to high...

www.warmwatersolutions.com

Wood Fired Swimming Pool Heaters - Wood Burning Water Stoves

Buy 100% 304L stainless steel internal and external wood fired heaters from Woodwaterstoves to keep your hot tub or pool warm in cold days.

www.woodwaterstoves.com

Megadome – Wood Stove Pools

Any insight is appreciated.

Matt

Click to expand...

Hello Matt,

If you're still around...I ordered a WarmWaterSolutions 120 last fall and received it this spring. I live in SE Pennsylvania. I have a firewood business so I have a lot of scrap to burn. I have a 23k gallon Kidney pool that is in direct sunlight. I had my liner replaced so I started with sub 60 degree water. I have burned the stove for 2 hours the first day and raised 13 degrees. I have burned an additional 8 hours and I'm now up a total of 18 degrees. I gain about 1 degree an hour of burn. I'm not sure about the folks below that are speaking in pounds of wood but I would guess I have burned less than 1/4 cord in those 20 hours. it's not something you need to burn all of the time but it will get you where you are going.

BTW: The family that owns WWS's is very nice and the product is second to none. Very impressive communication, crating, and delivery. I poured the pad myself and was able to do the hookup. The product includes everything you would want, including dual thermometers and a wood poker.

let me know if you have any questions. I'm very satisfied.

I am getting the “IF” error code and trying to figure out how to fix my Hayward gas heater. I took the gas valve off and the piece in the picture fell out of it. Any idea what it’s for?

I recently purchased a home with a ~50 year old concrete pool in west michigan that has had multiple owners over the years. The former owner left no instructions/guidance, but I had their pool guy show me around during the purchase (before I knew what questions to ask). I'm mostly figuring it out on my own. I'm looking to install a new variable speed pump and salt water generator before opening the pool for the season.

Below is a picture of the current setup, it's all 1.5" plumbing. I'm not sure where the pipe with the broken red ball valve goes, but it looks like it hasn't been in use for a long time. Also, don't be alarmed, I took the dead front off the electrical panel so I could see how everything was wired, but everything is off.

As a newbie, I was just hoping for some feedback on my plan (positive or negative) and any additional considerations I should have. Here are my goals:

• Repipe skimmer and main drain pvc after ball valves, adding Jandy 3-way valve and repositioning new pump to ensure the minimum ~10" of straight pipe before intake (Is it overkill to repipe the return lines and should I just reuse the existing pump location? There's currently a tee right before the intake which seems bad)
• Repipe after heater with check valve > flow switch > swg and remove chlorine inline feeder
• Remove booster pump, add another Jandy 3-way valve after the swg to split between original return line and repurpose cleaner/polaris return
• Should I consider adding unions to the pipes exiting the sand filter to allow for replacing the media? Is it safe to assume that's never been done since there currently aren't unions?

One of my concerns is that the polaris jet seems to be at the waterline (see below) so I'm not sure that can actually be repurposed as an effective return jet? It seems like a waste to just abandon it, maybe I could just make it into one of those diy pvc "fountains" for the kids to enjoy?

Can anyone help me identify my above ground pool make/model? It's 30' round

I have an inline chlorinator. I believe it’s supposed to fill (at least somewhat) with water. It appears mine doesn’t fill at all. The water flows in, but maintains zero water level within the column. I tried increasing the flow and the pump speed but it didn’t change anything. How can I fix this?

Hi all,
I have attempted to read the Hayward heater help guide on his site and the troubleshooting document provided by Hayward, but I'd like a second opinion before I order more parts.

Based on the serial number, the heater was manufactured in January 2015. It came with the pool when we bought the house in 2021. It fired up okay this season about a week ago. It heated the pool, no problem. Then we got an "Sb" error code and couldn't get the keypad to do anything except flash the preset temperature. I read that Sb was a display failure code, which seemed consistent with what we were experiencing. After reading the troubleshooting documents, I ordered this from INYOpools: Hayward FDXLBKP1930 Bezel & Keypad Assembly, Universal H-Series Low Nox Heater - INYOPools.com

Hayward FDXLBKP1930 Bezel & Keypad Assembly
I connected it, and it didn't work. (On a side note, I tried to reconnect the old one and it wouldn't light up at all now, so that's a bit worrisome.)

Looking again at the troubleshooting flowchart (screenshot below), now I think I also need to buy a display, which is a separate thing on the page 20 referred to in the flowchart (screenshot below). I think I was assuming keypad and display were synonyms before.

So it looks like I should add IDXL2DB1930 to the bezel/keypad I just ordered to make this work. But what is the difference between ordering the separate display to go with my keypad and ordering FDXLBCP1250, as mentioned in the note above the parts list? Is FDXLBCP1250 everything I need in one -- display board, bezel, keypad? Does display board = control panel? Because the actual keypad I received when I ordered FDXLBKP1930 looks like this except it is shaped to fit on my heater and doesn't have that flap: Hayward Bezel and Keypad Assy with Door for Select Universal H-Series Low NOx Heaters - FDXLBKP1932 - INYOPools.com

Is the display board IDXL2DB1930 my next move here? It is concerning that I can't get the old display to light up at all now? I don't think I broke anything when unplugging it. Is it a problem that my new keypad looks different (different button placement) than the old one? Does that matter for display board compatibility?

Also, when shopping online for IDXL2DB1930, there is such a variety in pricing and even what that sku looks like (keypad included?). For instance, what is the difference between

Hayward Display Board Bezel IDXL2DB1930 - PoolSupply4Less

and

Hayward Universal H-Series Pool Heater Display PCB - IDXL2DB1930 Replaced by HDXFDSPB0001 - INYOPools.com

Thanks for any wisdom you can share?

Hi All! I have a HC3315 chlorinator and I’m trying to figure out if one of the protrusions at the bottom of the housing that keeps the filter screen in place is missing. I only have three protrusions so I believe the filter screen is not being held in place properly as it would be with four protrusions or Dots that extend up from the bottom of the housing. Can anyone tell me the correct number of protrusions that should exist at the bottom of the housing?

We just opened our saltwater pool Monday. The combine chlorine is 5.2 and the free chlorine is 1. The pool is about 27,500 gallons. Any advice on how I can adjust these readings?

HI All ... It's a new season and I've got a question right out of the gate!

I opened the pool on Saturday and after runing my equipment through it's paces I found an issue. When going into spa mode, the actuator controlling the jets does nothing so I tried testing it with the dipstick and still, no response. However, I hear a faint clicking sound so I know there was some level of activity going on. So, upon removing the cover, I can see that the motor (spindle) turns without issue but doesnt seem to be engaging the underlying gears.

Could this be a micro switch issue? Something with the gear pack? ... I'd love to be able to repair the actuator rather than replace it but I;m not sure how to isolate the problem.

As always, any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Hello. I want to try Boric Acid this year. I have powder. The pool is crystal clear. Wanted to see if I have everything balanced properly or if I should adjust anything (especially pH or TA first)? Thanks!