Hello,

Just finished our first pool! We’re so excited to use it, but I cannot remove the tops off of these brass pool sleeves to put in our umbrellas!! Anyone have any ideas?? It’s like it’s stuck on there.

Second newbie question is: my rectangular pool has two skimmers one on a long side and one on a short side, but the jets on the side of the pool really don’t create a circular current at all, they just sort of shoot into the center of the pool. Is that normal? Or do I need to find a way to adjust them so that there is a current directing flow towards the skimmers? Thanks in advance for the help!

Loosing my mind...
I updated my router and lost connectivity with my Acqualink have been watching videos and can't correct the problem.
I had two working antennas one worked with my PDA and one worked with my cell phone. The PDA one was the wired wifi switch and the phone one has the learn switch. I've found videos on the wired wifi procedure not on the learn one. Of course my router doesn't have a WPS feature. Does someone know a step by step procedure for both.

Hi everyone,

Which should I remove first, copper or iron stains or does it matter?

Thank you,
D

My last work has lasted for about 5 years. Short of redoing the whole pool plumbing I want to redo my equipment pad with some upgrades. VS speed pump. New filter and a heat pump. As of today I have plastic barbed connections going into the original/existing plumbing. I found the drips at a few connections and I wanted some feedback on how I can do it better. Thanks in advance.

I'm excited to day that we just got our hayward aquarite 40k installed. I was hoping to get some step by step instructions from this community before I turn it on. Here are my current readings, my understanding is that I'll need to get my CYA up to the 50 range as it will produce enough to maintain 8ppm FC - Is that correct? I'm also seeing different calculations for how much salt I should add, and how long after adding I should turn the cell on. Any advice appareciated! Ideally im looking for the ideal order of operations to follow before and after I turn the cell on

Salt - 800ppm

FC - 5ppm

PH 7.8

CYA - 20

Obviously you can set up the IntelliCenter to turn on a MasterTemp heater and change the speed of an Intelliflo VSF pump.

With those three components will it work the other way around? Meaning if you turn the heater on or off from the panel on the heater will the IntelliCenter change the pump speed automatically?

I need to be sure that I don’t make things too complicated for my wife.

I've read lots of conflicting opinions on what chemicals to use. It seems the most important thing is to get the temp below 60 and open pool before it gets above 60.
I've had some severe algae problems after opening the pool 4 of the last 5 years so want to make sure I get it right this time. Here is what I am am planning on doing:


1. Get the temp below 60.
2. Get FC level up to half-slam level.
3. Add the normal start-up level of polyquat 60 and run pump for 24 hours.
(I'd like to add a quarter of metal sequestrant as well)
4. Get PH between 7.2 and 7.6
5. I'd like to put some trichlor pucks in a floater for good measure. (This also keeps my CYA from getting to low since I have a SWG)
6. Blow out lines
I can't lower my water below the jet returns. It's a fiberglass pool and they are too low.
7. Insert plugs and blow until nothing but air comes out of each line.
7. pour antifreeze in skimmer line and gently blow into pipes
8. pour antifreeze down maindrain line, blow and plug. (this part is tricky because I don't have a valve. I have to blow and plug when I see antifreeze going out the main drain. )
I use a cyclone blower with a pipe screwed into my skimmer line to blow-out the lines.

Am I missing anything or doing anything?

18,000 gal pool with built in spa constructed by cody pools. Finished construction Aug '22 and I've been handling maintenance and things have been going surprisingly smoothly. A couple questions that have come up:

CYA is creeping up. Currently over 100ppm but less than 150. Drained a decent amount of water and refilled with hose but looking for guidance on how much more I should I do. Should I switch away from the chlorine tabs for a bit?

Pool brushing... how important is that and what happens if you don't brush? We have the small pebble material.

Hello everyone. I have been reading the advice from this community for a few years now. I have an above ground pool 18' round 52" deep. Using the advice and suggestions from this community has saved me from numerous headaches. I just downloaded the pool math app. Thank you so much for all of the helpful information!

What a first world problem... my Core 55 has been doing great. Last evening, my FC was 11 and I turned the unit off. Checked this morning and I'm sure there was a little error, as FC was 8.5.
I left SWCG off all day, and at 7pm tonight, FC was still 9.5.
I just keep my VSP on 1000 all the time, so guess maybe it's time to look at a timer lol. One thing though.... I do not miss jug lugging!!!!!

Just went to go test my pool and there is no chlorine! I noticed something was off when some of the pool corner looked yellow. My SWG sensor measures 1700 and I am measuring 3200 ppm with the Taylor test. The SWG shutoff automatically and my system has "very low salt".

Do you guys think it's the SWG or test kit? In the past it has been close but it's off by quite a bit. I guess I can get a different type of test to verify. I just noticed amazon sells these electronic testers and some have good reviews. I think I'm going to order one of those to see what it reads.

Hi..our pool is in Michigan . has a new VS Hayward pump, new AVIA Raypak Heater and new Coversafe cover replacing the 20 year old one . 40 by 20 in ground pool with DE Sta Rite 37 sq feet Grid S75D model System 3. Added a new Hayward Chlorinator in line last year. Just closed pool today.

My pool CYA is at 45 ppm. According to "trouble-free pool recommended FC levels" (Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid Relationship Explained) I'm supposed to maintain at least 6 ppm FC. Now, on a sunny day, I lose about 3 ppm FC. Therefore, when adding chlorine every other day, my target FC is 6 + 3 + 3 = 12 ppm. It's a high concentration, and that's what I'm curious about.

I'd like to know what is the maximum free chlorine that you folks would allow your visitors to swim in. I've read a number of comments on this website from people who are not at all concerned about swimming in higher FC concentrations -- up to and including SLAM levels.

So what is your personal max FC ppm, and why?

Searching for ideas others have done of installing a hose bib near the pool.
Will be connected to an existing 1-1/4" PVC irrigation main line; same line used to fill the pool.
Something like a yard hydrant, but more decorative and within a $75-150 budget.
Will be located near a black aluminum fence post in a flower bed.

A very weird problem with the Raypak 007864F igniter in my Raypak 406A spa heater has arisen; I'm wondering if anybody else has seen it. The control board always reports "Flame w/o CFH" even with the bare igniter entirely removed from the heater & pilot assembly and grounded only at the small metal bracket mounted on the insulator. If the wire to the igniter is unplugged at the board, the board does not report any error. This phenomenon is 100% reproducible.

Both the +- 1V/uA on-board readout and a direct measurement in series to the igniter indicates ~0.8 uA DC current with about ~22 VAC being applied. It is clear that something is acting as a diode within the insulator - probing over the surface of the insulator with the ground lead does not result in any current. Ideally, with the igniter removed & cold there should always only be 0 uA. Bypassing the blue HV wire by connecting to the flame end wire gives the same DC current.. It is quite clear that the rectification cannot be any artifact of the PC board.

While replacing the igniter is the obvious next move, has anyone else ever seen rectification through a 007864F insulator?

I have a Pentair easy touch control center and recently lost control of my pump(Intelliflow VS), lost most features in ScreenLogic, as well as no communication to my easy touch remote. This pointed to a bad control board, or so I thought, as did the Pentair tech support. However, I swapped in the new control board(PCB 520484) and still have the same issues. I can control all other things(lights, valves, salt cell, heater, etc) but the pump does not run. I can manually turn the pump on using the control pad on the pump. That display normally says it is disabled but doesn’t now for some reason. I replaced my antenna control board about 6 months ago, and it was working fine until this week.

I have ordered a new control cable for the pump, but still can’t figure out why my ScreenLogic and easy touch remote won’t work.

Anyone have any other ideas before I call someone to come troubleshoot further?

Thanks guys.

Josh

Hi all! I live in the St. Louis, Missouri metro area and we are interested in putting in a pool. We are pretty novice to the entirety of the process, including what we should spend our money on vs. what we can skimp out on, etc. when looking for quotes and making a decision on an installer/pool.

Here are a few of our more high priority wants:
- Rectangular shape
- No need for a diving board / diving depth, so 6' depth is A-OK with us.
- Suitable for adults but also kids as we have one and potentially more on the way in the future
- Lower maintenance the better (fiberglass?), given our one young kid and the likelihood of more on the way

My biggest questions/concerns are on pricing. I have no idea what is reasonable vs. what is not. We've only received one quote so far and I've attached that with all of its details for everyone here to look at and review. This was for a Fiberglass Pool via sun pools called the St. Lucia (37 x 15). The quote we received certainly seemed pretty high to me, and we do plan to get at least 3-4 more estimates/quotes from other local contractors (minimally). But again, I have no idea what is reasonable.

Additionally, while in my mind Fiberglass is likely the best bang for our buck (most affordable when compared to gunite, and less upkeep/future expense than vinyl liner as I understand it), I'd love for people here to chime in with their opinions as well. Given we live in the lower midwest, we do have snow/ice in the winter (though more mild than Iowa/Chicago/etc.).

I'm sure there is a lot that I don't know I don't know, but we're in no hurry so I plan to take my time on going through this. I'm pretty handy and savvy so pool maintainence itself doesn't scare me if that's a consideration. Thanks in advance for all the help/tips/pointers, I look forward to reading the responses! Any other info I can provide, let me know!

We had our Infinity edge/knife edge pool built last year. For those who are familiar with this, the water is pumped from the surge tank and pushed to the return grate in the pool that creates the overflow.

This year however, the water coming from the return grate is producing small bubbles...it was never like this before. They cleaned out the surge tank and made sure there was no obstruction there and replumbed the edge pump. Still seeing small bubbles coming up as per the video. They are now saying it's normal but I know its not as it was not like this before. Any ideas why these bubbles are surfacing and what can be done?

I have a used AGP with vinyl liner just installed a couple months ago. I installed the steps and for about a month, had a rubber pad underneath to protect the vinyl liner. However, that pad kept bunching up and was a source of algae and dirt, so I removed it. The steps have 4 rubber feet. I used it that way for about a month. Well yesterday, I removed the steps to clean them and the vinyl underneath and found that the white rubber from the feet was flaky. If I rubbed my hand on them, they would flake off and felt grainy in my hands, like sand. No big deal, except that material seems to have bonded to the vinyl liner on the bottom of the pool where they sat. No amount of brushing or vacuuming removed this stuff. It feels smooth under my feet, like no texture difference between the normal and stained vinyl. Any ideas? Did this ruin the liner here?

Do I throw this whole push pull valve away or is there a split union nut I can purchase?

I cracked the nuts when taking out the filter so I could wash the grids and the filter and the top nut is completely gone - kind of like in the picture

Does this mean I now need to completely throw away the existing valve and put in a brand new one?

I could imagine I would have to cut the bulkhead (the white fittings) carefully and put in the nut and new bulkheads again, but I am really hoping I can skip all of that by buying split unions from somewhere!

It feels like this is the closest match to what I need: Amazon.com but this would require me to cut out the fitting that goes into the valve, which I will then have to buy new just so I can put this nut in?

or can I purchase split unions from somewhere?

Thanks and greetings... My problem is that I have these milky white bubbles form when the Automatic Cover is opening across the 40 feet of the pool and end up against the liner in the deep end. I thought it was coming from the DE filter (Sta Rite System 3) grid where one was damaged. So replaced them all, as well as the spider gasket on the Mutiport valve. The cover was just replaced due to the one I bought last year, had a 10 inch opening where the material was delaminating. They replaced it with a new one so not sure if there was oil or some coating on it. On the milky bubbles it looks like parts of some chemical in the pool that hasn't fully dissolved.

So...long story short...I have been using TFP for THREE months and it is wonderful!!! It helped me get a handle on my completely messed up pool that we built 3.5 years ago. We were maintaining based on PB advice...but as you all know...that is not ideal.

My brother built his pool 1.5 years ago, and used the same pool builder. THUS, he is maintaining his pool the same way...aka POORLY.
He is now struggling with several issues...including algae. Water is still "blue" (not green or yellow), but algae can be seen in corners
Here are just issues that I know about:
He told me that the Chlorine test he uses just says " ideal" or "not ideal"
He add Chlorine randomly and does not know how much he adds
He never tests for PH
He rarely adds MA (maybe every couple month or so....if not longer)

Right now, here is what he wants to do to address the algae issue (this is what the PB told him to do):
Drain his pool (not a water exchange) but a full empty/drain
Pressure wash/brush the plaster
Then, pour chlorine directly on the plaster to kill the algae, get rid of it off the plaster
Then refill

Here are the current measurements that I TOOK with the Taylor 2002 kit on August 6th:
FC = .5
TA = 180
CH = 1300
PH = 8.0 (This is probably MUCH MUCH higher)
CYA = 60
CSI = 1.3

Basically, here is my question:
What would you advise him to address first, second, third in order to address the Alga issue and get his pool in a "better" place to start implementing the TFP method?

My thought is:
- Get Ph is balance ASAP. This will also drop his TA some, as I think he is going to need a TON of MA to get it below 8
- Do the SLAM process to get rid of the algae (no need to drain, pressure wash, apply chlorine...correct)
- Then Do a 100% water exchange (do not empty completely and refill) to get the CH down
- Then do what you need to do to get TA, PH, CYA and Chlorine within range

I am really not sure if we are allowed to ask on behalf of a friend/brother....lol! But, he seems pretty overwhelmed trying to understand proper pool maintenance (they just had a new baby) so I thought I would help him out a bit and get him on the right path...

I think I already confirmed by searching I'm just out of luck here, but two of the three Microbrites in my pool are now unable to emit red light - there is a very, very dim red light in one of them, nothing in the other. So if the dial is set to white, blue or green they all work - set it to red you get one light and two off, set it to magenta you get one magenta and two blue. And of course nearly all of the color-change modes include red or magenta in the sequence so you lose a lot of that effect.

I don't have any automation or an Easy Touch, the 3 lights are controlled on a single Intellibrite controller. Like I said I think I know the answer but just looking to confirm, is there anything worth checking at the connections anywhere or is this an obvious failure in the lights themselves and replacement is my only option?

"Magenta" - you can see the purple hue in the lower left from the one that's working correctly:


Red:

Hi,

I just installed a new T9 Calimar cell. it i working fine, good voltage , amps et. However, the calibration will not count down. I did salt test ( using proper testing not strips ) and salt is at 3500. However, the Aqua Rite says 4800. Tried to do the calibration, but it is not counting down , it just stays at -5000. Any ideas ? thx

Hi all,

We are brand new pool owners since May and have the SWG system. It's been going well until this week, chlorine is reading 0%. We turned it up to 100% production for a couple days and still says 0%. We confirmed at pool store FC is 0.17. We did have a couple storms recently with lots of leaves in the pool. The pool water otherwise feels fine and is sparkling and clear. The salt cell has been manually cleaned. I have read about OCLT but our FC is too low to even do that. What to do next?

FC = 0.17
TC = 0.34
pH = 8.1
T/A = 107
CH = 286
CYA = 46
Phos = 198 ppb
Salt = 3354

Wasnt sure if I should add this to the dormant intelliph thread or post new so figured I'd post new and let mods sort it out lol.
End of last week i went out to find my intellichlor seeming dead. Moved things around and rebooting the panel seemed to bring it back but with no comms. I have made my compulsory pentair warranty claim but suspected an iph issue. Opened the iph today and found the connector burnt as is on so many other threads. It appears though that mine was one of the special ones that decided to take out the surge board as well as d4/d5 on the surge board have clear signs of overheating

When I had my equipment installed, the gas fitter (who does a large amount of pool gas service) suggested that I run my pump at higher RPM when the heater is on, in order to extend the lifespan of the heater. Is there any credence to this? Does flow rate above the minimum required for the heater to operate have an impact, outside of a small change in heater efficiency? I have been turning my pump up any time I run the heater just in case, but if I don't need to be doing this, I might as well leave it at it's normal 24/7 low RPM setting.

It’s that time of year where all the stores are out of chlorine- at least the good stuff. I hate buying the weak forms. Is this stuff an option? Or do I have to go with Walmart Crud. Think in terms of slam.

Perusing the site I stumbled across Where to find Liquid Chlorine. Having just purchased some yesterday, I thought I'd add a marker. However, it just throws an error like "that address can't be geo-located" over and over. I tried several iterations of "Union" "NJ" and the zip code.

Me thinks the form be broken, mateys? Is anyone use this resource? I envision it would be like "Gas Finder" where folks can post the cheapest prices for a given area. Are old entries expired or did this idea come and go?

Hello,

We have had trouble vacuuming all summer. After endless researching, I am coming for help. We have a single skimmer with two holes (pool pump and equalizer). When we vacuum, we can never obtain suction unless we cover the equalizer with something. We have used a Walmart-style plastic sack all summer and placed it over the equalizer and then vacuumed from there. I know there has to be an easier way to do this but we have not found it. I have tried placing a tennis ball over the equalizer port in the skimmer and that has not worked either. We do not have a main drain on our fiberglass pool (in case that is useful information).

Thank you for any help!