Hello, welcome to my pool pump saga.

Pump context: Hayward Variable Speed Pump, SP2600VSP, approximately 9 years old.

Problem 1) noticed since the beginning of the summer that one of our two jets was coming out a lot more bubbly. Had to backburner dealing with that as other house problems had to take priority. It got noticeably worse about two weeks ago, but I finally investigated the pump and realized there was water leaking from the discharge outlet connection going from the pump and the filter. Applied epoxy and the bubbliness has decreased slightly, but even after a few epoxy applications there's still some leaking. Last night, did a re-prime with the hose, which seemed to further decrease (but again, not entirely remove) the extra bubbliness. Hoping that decrease will continue to stay (i will update this if there is change). Current theory: air leak problem which may need the connection to be replaced (which will be a joy because some previous repairperson GLUED our pump and filter hoses together where they connected...)

Problem 2) This may just be as a result of Problem 1 (and preceded the epoxy application), but last weekend, after running for several hours (no more than usual though), the pump refused to maintain speed, before shutting itself off.

Problem 3) Noticed our buttons getting a little touchy over the summer—have to press a little harder or in certain areas to actually activate the button. However, as of a few days ago, the buttons have pretty much become non-operational. We plug in the pump and it turns on to the highest speed (3000) and pressing any of the other speed buttons, arrows, or run/stop does nothing. Only way to turn off the pump is by disconnecting the power entirely. The ONLY button that does anything is the disp/func which once pressed will switch to PR, climb up to PR 4.00 then just stay there and once more none of the buttons will do anything, nor will anything else happen with that button and we just end up back to having to unplug...

Anyone have any ideas on whether it's worth looking into repairing the potential air leak or investigating whatever is going on with the buttons (or have any tips I can try for further troubleshooting?), or if we should just get a new pump?

TIA

I have a pool water test kit that I use but it appears I need to slam my pool and the chlorine test only goes to 10.
I see TFP sells kits but I don't need the whole kit, I just need to be able to test chlorine levels above 10.
Where might I find this one component?

I am trying to free up some spots in my easy touch control panel for an additional circuit breaker. And for some reason I have two circuit breakers for my lights. One is for the main pool lights and accents lights and the other is for bubble lights. The thing is I only have one transformer for the lights. I am a bit confused why it was wired this way. Thanks for any insight you can give me.

Dave

I have a 24k gallon in ground vinyl pool. Looking for recommendations for a pump and filter. I currently have a Hayward sand filter and pump and am tired of replacing parts and repairing. I want something reliable and efficient.

Thank you!!

Crud, started draining the pool and completely forgot... 3 hrs later and she's much lower then I would like.

I probably drained about a 3rd of the water.

Do I need to fill this up more or is it going to be OK for Michigan winter and fill it up in the spring.

My fear is the sides colapse in or liner pops out of track or who knows!

Thank you for any advice.

I have a 4 plus year old Zodiac. In my last home it worked just fine at about 2800 rpm attached to one of the pool skimmers.

We moved and the new house has a working dedicated suction line for the cleaner. The first time I tried the cleaner it moved slowly at 2450 rpm.
I checked to make sure there were no obstructions or debris put it back in and it worked, more slowly then the other house but it covered the entire pool surface. It was never able to really climb walls at either pool.

I purchased new scrubber brushes and new treads and replaced them as well as cleaned the old rubber gunk from the old treads.
I tried it at 2500 rpm and it wouldn't move it all. I tried it all the way up to 3250 and still nothing. I took the new treads off and put back the old worn treads. The brushes are moving when I lift it out of the water but when I place it back in the pool there is no movement at all.

Where should I start? Engine assembly replacement? Bearings?

Thanks for your help.

I've been a long time reader of the TFP forums. I took over the maintenance of my pool a few years ago when I retired. I thought I knew what to do, until I didn't. I researched the internet with each question or issue I encountered. I finally came to the realization that the most straight forward pool methodology, consistent help, kind answers and positive support was on and from the users at TFP. I've recently decided I'm done with the pool stores, test strips and mixing and matching pool maintenance methodologies. I ordered a Taylor test kit and look forward to reading through the Pool School.

Leaves are a problem for me and whenever I'm away from home for a prolonged period of time I need to manage the risk of my skimmer basket clogging up which would make my expensive pump run dry causing very expensive damage. (No, someone coming to clean up my skimmer every other day while I'm on vacation is not an option!).

Saw lots of cool DIY ideas on this forum mostly out of PVC and netting.. Kudos to those of you that have the time and ability to build that! If you, like me, don't want to build it yourself though, I found the perfect tool: Critter Clear. I purchased mine on Amazon. Simple but very solid, high quality non-metallic construction that just works without frills. You'll come back from vacation with a bunch of leaves on the floor but your pump will be running just fine! I have a wide-mouth skimmer and it covered it perfectly.

Thought I'd leave a review here in case others also need something similar

Good luck!

Hello
Has anyone had any experience with their ColorSync flashing rotating lines? Mine has just started two after two weeks of operation. There have been a few issues with it so far with the flow switch. Now this rotating 4 lines has started. Any help would be great!
I have already reset the unit and tested the fuse in the power center which is ok.

I have a 30+ year-old inground pool that had friction-secured weir doors installed when I moved in. One just failed. When looking at the underside of the skimmer cover, it has markings of "Swimquip U3" which seem to indicate a Pentair weir skimmer assembly. The Pentair weir door has a base plate with hinges for the door. Upon inspection, the remaining base plate for a previous weir door is indeed in place, secured by one or more screws.

My question: I ordered a replacement door (8650-4 door and hinge plate with correct dimensions and hopefully, the correct replacement) that is a Pentair with the correct dimensions. Can I detach the new door from its base plate and snap it into the existing base plate hinge posts, or am I going to have to get into the pool with a Phillips head screwdriver and replace the base plate as well? If the latter, this is a royal pain as this door only lasts a year or two.

Hello!

One of the primary caretakers for our household pool—previously primarily taken care of by my mother but has now moved on to my sister and myself. We've helped out a lot but there's still lots we don't fully know, and this is of course the year everything seems to be having problems. Have an in-ground pool, approximately 70,000 litres. Just got a new liner. Have a hayward heater, filter, and pump.

Hey folks, first time poster here. I searched the threads and didn't see anything on point here. Might be that I'm terrible at searching.

I bought a house with a Pentair Easy Touch 8 and have a booster pump powering my cleaner. Works fine in "Service" mode - I can start it up and it'll just just fine. But there is always a delay in the normal/Auto mode and the cleaner doesn't turn on automatically on time. If I manually cancel the delay, it'll start up for a moment and then just shut down. Anything obvious about why the booster pump would work fine when I turn it on manually but keep delaying itself when I force-delay cancel? It's been stumping me and I'm concerned there is some Delay safety setting that I could be missing.

Will the fingers from a Hayward Perflex 65 fit in the canister of Hayward 50?

We are seriously thinking of adding a heater to our 21x41 above ground Doughboy with a deep end and bottom drain. We are in the midwest and not looking to really extend the swimming season beyond May-Sept. But our kids and grandkids are getting older and complaining about the cold water and the adults are very reluctant to join in when the water is below 82-84. We have had a home made solar heater which just doesn't do much and have had several solar covers in the past. I have researched a little, but looking for advice. Of course, I would like it to be as economical as possible, but still be able to keep the water in the mid 80's during the summer.
Thanks in advance for any advice, or suggestions.

My pool store said to add 18 lbs bLa. E pk for my 13000 gal pool??

Hi, I just stumbled on this forum, so this is my first post...hoping someone can give me some direction here. So, here's the situation. I have an iAqualink 2.0 system, and I've had no problems with it for the last six years. A few weeks ago we had a pretty bad thunder storm, and I'm assuming my equipment got hit by lightening, or at least a close strike, as the next morning I noticed my pump wasn't running any more, and of course my iAqualink wouldn't connect. I did replace my pump motor, but everything seemed to be in working order. My main iAqualink panel is still working, as it's still running the equipment, I can switch between modes, and run the pool from the panel, etc. The actual pump part seems to be working fine now, but my issue is I'm getting the dreaded "Connection Error, Could not connect to device." I've been through dozens of forums and videos and tried just about all the troubleshooting options I can find, but still no luck. Here's why I'm confused as to what the actual issue could be. Like I said, the panel seems fine, I've checked the wire connections, power cycled many times, done a reset. So for the Antenna, the previous owner actually ran a wire into the house, so the antenna is only a few feet from my router, but I've also tried running a network cable directly to it as well. If it's on wifi, I can connect no problem. It brings up the network login and seems to connect fine. I get all three lights. When I try switching to a hardwired connection, I flip the wifi switch a few times, and again, get all three lights. I have tried deleting the app on my phone, tried deleting the location and re-adding, tried doing it all on my computer, but again, no luck. The other weird thing is, if I go through the browser on my PC, it says it's connected, but when I open the window, it just says waiting for connection. I guess my question is, do you think it's a hardware issue? If so, any idea which part I should switch out? Or could it still be something with the software? I know you've all seen plenty of the iAqualink connection errors, but this one seems to be different. Thanks for your help.

UPDATE - app kept giving issues but worked on my iPad - deleted & reinstalled and back in business

Anybody else facing issues with the Pentair Home app? I get a jolly "Oops something went wrong" for the past half an hour...

Can anyone suggest the best in ground pool alarm for pets and if it should include an app for if you are not at home?

This all started when my salt cell died. I replaced it and it worked for a few months it died again. That was replaced under warranty.
I have Jandy AquaPure with a new PIB (Power Interface Board) and a new J1400-3 CompuPool salt cell. This is my 3rd PIB and 3rd salt cell.
The error code says to replace the salt cell.
I was getting error code 123 and replaced the salt cell. Now I get the error code 124 which says the PIB should be replaced. This is why I am on my 3rd PIB. I installed the 3rd PIB today and still get the error code 124.
There are several test points on the PIB. I test them all and they are within the proper range. The transformer tests as though it is giving out the proper voltage and the PIB tests as though the low voltages are OK. The CompuPool cell has the permanently attached DC cord so it can't be cleaned at the cell.
What am I missing.

Will be going on vacation with no local help on adding liquid chlorine. I know the Max Blue tabs are a no no. “Other ingredients” in these are only 1%.
Think I’ll be safe with these and just deal with a partial drain of the cya gets too high?

Thanks!

I woke up this morning to a wet spot on my coping and a slow drop from the coping to pool. I assume this is a leak? Any insight on where to begin on next steps to remediate?

so we recently replastered our pool and our main drain is broken. We don't want to fix main drain because there is a huge cost. so we were going to wait to fix that. is this safe to continue to swim this way??

I had noticed that it seemed like my chlorine production was decreasing. It was summer and the outdoor temperature had been creeping up so I bumped up the duty cycle from 30% to 50%. I'm in coastal SoCal and I have a vinyl cover that is on most of the time so I get away with running only about 4 hrs per day. I checked and added some salt to bring it up to 3300 ppm, which is right in the middle of the target range (tested first with the onboard sensor, then with the $2-a-pop salt test strips. I checked the pH with an OTO test kit and added muriatic acid so that the pH was right at the low end of optimal. Note that I had gotten no error messages whatsoever from the system. I had proper flow rate indicated. The cell is oriented horizontally with the Salt/Temp/Flow sensor on the bottom. The cell was cell was cycling between normal and reversing and as nearly as I could tell, it was resting about in line with the 50% duty cycle. I had recently completely cleaned the DE filter and replaced all of the filter media. Other filter baskets were mostly clear of debris. Chlorine tests (both strips and liquid kit) at the outlet still were not showing any measurable chlorine production at an outlet. The new salt cell had been working flawlessly for about 15 months.

The chlorine levels were still decreasing so I decided to have a look at the plates on the cell itself. Before I took the cell out I confirmed I was getting 26.1-26.3 VDC at the connected contacts of the cell while the DC connector was lifted up slightly but still connected. Note only one side (center to one side) shows voltage potential at a time depending on whether it is in normal or reversing mode. After I removed the cell I could see a little bit of scale on the plates, but nothing that was even close to bridging or blocking flow.

So here is the strange part: I decided to see if I could measure any resistance between the plates of the cell. It should read extremely high resistance or open circuit, if I correctly understand the cell operation.

I set the multimeter to measure 20K ohms resistance and tested both ways - center to one side, center to the other side. The cell is disconnected and damp, but not immersed in water. Imagine my surprise when the meter read -8.1K ohms (!) That's right, the trusty, crusty old Craftsman digital multimeter actually read negative resistance. When I reversed the leads it read an open circuit so I assume that there is a diode in the meter circuit for resistance, (or in each side of the salt cell?) that allows current flow in one direction only. I wasn't able to definitively read any voltage potential across any of the unconnected cell contacts.

I assume that there was some sort of weak galvanic reaction within the cell that was causing a positive voltage change across the leads of the multimeter. I still haven't figured out what metal (or metal salt?) could have gotten in there and caused this.

So that was yesterday. I acid-washed the cell and forcefully spray-cleaned the cell and it seems to be producing chlorine again. Time will tell.

Does anyone have any idea how this could happen? Any ideas how to prevent it in the future?

Thanks,
Patch

Purchased a Polaris 9550 Sport in April 2023 and it works great! I love the "LIFT" feature. However, when it cannot climb the wall due to my step lip, it travels across the liner sideways, marring the liner over time (see photo below). The cleaner has hard plastic wheels. I contacted my pool dealer (Leslie's) and was hoping maybe there are rubberized wheels I could switch out, but told me there are none. My google search also showed no alternate wheel options.

Has anyone else experience liner issues such as this with their Polaris pool cleaner?

Will be getting a cleaner with rubber type treads, probably going back to Dolphins.

Is it necessary to drain 6" below skimmer?
Problems I run into:
a winter cover for 30' poo( yes, it says there is 4' overhang but I don't seem to ever have much)l and adding the pillow does not allow the cover to lay on top of water resulting in a taut cover putting significant strain on the railings and walls of pool.
I have ordered a 33' cover, in the past, hoping this would solve the problem but the excess overhang only caused it to catch in the Oklahoma winds and, well.......that idea was no good.
Could I lay the cover on top of water and sink the edges of pool cover in the water and not use the ratchet system therefore nothing to catch wind
Is there a product ( thick , a closed cell foam) used in pool float , that is the same diameter as pool and you lay it right on top of water Blocking sunlight .
I have a deck that goes Half way around the pool.
I've researched shrink wrap and it's not recommended due to the deck.
.Any thoughts????





There would

Hey everyone! I can’t seem to get my CYA up for very long, so I’m going to use dichlor this time since I like instant gratification lol. My question is, when I look at dichlor granule products on Amazon, many of the cheapest products (I only need a pound of it) say they are for spas and hot tubs. Can this still be used in pools? Is it just a marketing thing? Don’t lecture me about CYA and liquid chlorine, please. I only use LC, have a great test kit, and know how much I need to raise my CYA. This is a one time thing lol. Thanks in advance!!

Pool is new, just finished in December. During rhe pool builder's pool school, they said to clean out the filter monthly, replace yearly. I cleaned it out in February and noticed after the pressure was running lower than it was previously and lower than the green arrow on the gauge. Last week, I cleaned it again ahead of schedule because I've been having an issue with thrips. After, I noticed the pressure was running higher than before, but it was right with the green arrow.

The pump turns on automatically at 100% at 9 am, then runs at 85% once it gets hot enough for the solar panels to kick on. This morning, I returned home from taking my daughter to school and as soon as I got to my driveway, I heard a high pitched whining coming from the pump/filter. It went away when I manually decreased the pump speed down. After finding some anecdotal evidence that it may be the filter making the sound, I cleaned it again this afternoon. I also opened the drain plug and hosed out the inside. After starting everything back up, there was no more whining sound at 100% speed, but the filter pressure has gone up even higher than before and is now running above the green arrow at 100%. I thought the pressure should be lower after cleaning, so I don't know what is causing this. I do have a brand new cartridge I can put in there, but I was hoping to wait until after I get the thrips situation handled (open to suggestions for that as well!).

Apologies for the long post. I'm new to all this and trying to be thorough!

Should a saltwater pool close differently?

We are currently getting about 100 gpm from our outdoor pool pump. I'm told the pump is capable of much more flow than that. The state regs say our pool should turn over every 6 hours, so that's 167 gpm required for our 60,000 gallon pool. We had the pump checked out and were told the impeller is worn and needs to be replaced.... recommended new impeller, diffuser, and shaft seal. Make sense?

Is there any reason why the flow rate on the pump might be throttled back via some valves in the plumbing system, i.e. to match what the filters can handle? We have 2 Pentair TR-140 sand filters on the system. After backwashing, PSI on filters is usually around 22.