My hubby opened the multiport head to empty our sand as we had sand going into the pool last year and he wanted to check the laterals. The head is a Pentair 261186. When he removed the head the cage like portion on the bottom remained inside the filter. Is this basket/cage supposed to be a separate or did.it break off?

I don't contribute much (read: at all), but I just wanted to chime in to say thank you to all who contribute to this site!

I have had my pool for just over 4 years now (it's a ~15k gal Blue Haven gunite/pebble plaster/salt water/cartridge filter pool). From the time I filled in up in early April of 2021, it has NEVER been anything but crystal clear--this even with a dog that routinely likes to jump onto the sun ledge. And yes, that includes all 365 each year. When we got our rare snow fall this year, I have a beautiful picture of our crystal-clear pool surrounded by a blanket of white (when I find the pic I'll be sure to come back and post it). That is all a credit to you all!

I recommend this site to all my pool-owning coworkers and friends--and pretty much anytime someone brings up pool maintenance.

To anyone new pool ownership. Read Pool School and follow it! You won't be sorry!

Thanks again!

-Tommy

I have 3 year old Blue Works Model BLH60-A SWG. I moved my pool equipment to a covered warmer place this past summer so I did not close my pool this winter. I notice back in the fall the salinity read 2200 despite knowing it was higher - assumed it was due to colder water temp. Today officially tried to make sure the pool was ready for the summer - water temp 69 deg F. Measured salinity with electronic reader and it was over 3400.
I cleaned the SWG with muriatic acid water mixture for 30 min.

Afterwards it still reads 2200 -- I wouldn't worry about inaccurate reading but after running the pool and SWG for 12h or so I get a "SLO" error. I am prtty sure some chlorine is being generated but nowhere near normal amount.

Sugggestions for troubleshooting or fixing?

Thanks!!

Well, we haven’t moved into the new place yet, but I booked someone to open the pool tomorrow.

My TFpro salt kit hasn’t come in yet.

Plus we’re in the middle of packing and moving.

Lol… wish me luck

Our pool light housing hasn’t worked since we purchased the home. Power is going to the box. We had to replace the junction box and the light came on for a few minutes. But hasn’t come back on. We removed the light housing from pool and this is what we saw. Pool age: 34 years old. Pretty Sure the housing has never been changed. What is this?

Opened the pool today from its winter nap and got everything up and running. I did notice that the returns in the stairs were not blowing any air in the flow stream but other than that no issues. The plumbing in the cabana is showing no drips so thought all was good. After a few hours of circulation the pool level has dropped by an inch or so and has me wondering if the water is blowing out the airlines attached to the stair jets which by venturi are supposed to add air to the return jet stream. I have closed of the valve that directs water to these jets and so far no further level drop. Any troubleshooters out there wanna take a shot at this one?

jvanevery said:

I got it and recommend it. Does a real good job. Easy cleaning with no tools required. Element does seem to get dirty a little faster but I have had construction going on the entire time so it’s expected. Bought another element and just keep rotating them out. If paired with a pipeline pump manufacturer will extend warranty to 3 years.

Click to expand...

I got my AquaStar 35000 installed but my filter gets decompressed ( little leak from the bottom of the lid) when the pump turns off.
I checked the lid tightness, I checked O-ring and still same things. It’s only 4-5 drop but still bothers me.

Any ideas what I can do?

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

My concrete deck is in really good shape but the original paint is dull and somewhat stained. It could use a new coat of white paint. There are a lot of options but each one has problems. Is there a paint used often by the professionals that will last another 15 years?

Thanks,

Ali

I've been a bad boy and have been relying on flow switch for cell operation. Want to use the mechanical timer that is not in use as primary now. ChatGPT has given a great starting point but looking for any instruction from the smart folks here.

I have a 24' circular Intex XTR above ground pool.
I slightly underestimated the amount of sand I'd need to build a pad under the liner this year.
Just guessing, I'd say the sand pad is an inch or two undersized causing a slight overhang of the pool liner all the way around.
See attached images featuring a top-down view of the issue at hand, as well as a cross section view. (Proportions not to scale)

My concern is that with the liner overhanging the sand layer slightly, will that cause unintended stress on the material? And if so, is it a concerning amount of excess stress, or something I can probably stop worrying about?

Thank you!

Does it need to be fixed right away? If not, will it get much worse if I leave it alone?

Not sure how long I'll live here, would rather not spend the money unless it has to be fixed as soon as possible.

thanks.

P.S. Sorry for double post. Just found this section.

Last week I tested my calcium hardness and the result was 307. I could be mistaken, but I think the Pool Math app told me that level was fine when I entered it. Now it’s a week later and I’ve added some other updated results (TA went down by 20), and the app is telling me the calcium hardness is too low. It is recommending 450 (ideal range 350-550 and safe range up to 650!)

The app recommendation seems quite high when I see other places online recommend for it to be between 200 and 400 for a plaster pool.

What is causing this high CH recommendation and can I trust it?

I have a large shallow area with 3 channels that go to a huge landing. All are about 4" to 6" in depth. I want to clean it with a 25 micron bag. I can clean larger debris with a net. I've called, asked, but no one seems to have a good solution for under $500, or even $1000. Below are some things I have tried and researched:

1. Call Bottom Feeder. Great vacuum for 4" area. However, they don't make heads that is about 8" wide to clean my 12" and 24" wide channels. It's also about $1500 with the smallest micron bag of 57 or attach a 60 sf filter.
2. Someone suggest to brush and push it to the main pool area and let riptide do the job. Lot of labor to brush and pushing it out one channel sucks in the other channel. A lot of work for little result.
3. Riptide or hammerhead requires at least 12" depth.
4. I used a pondovac or similar. Hoses, electrical cables, tubes, weak suction, and stops every 30 seconds is time consuming and too may parts to setup and carry. The other end drains out into a 25 micron bag.
5. Pool side/skimmer suction hose. Hoses requiring water filled to work, and it would just suck it right into my filter. Don't want that either.
6. Pool Blaster: Portable, but requires 12" depth. No go.
7. I looked and tried the Kokido xtrovac 200. It's tiny and was similar to using a handheld vacuum on a whole primary bedroom floor. They have the kokido 410 which looks promising, but I don't know if it will do 4" shallow area. Also, the smallest micron bag is 250 microns.

If I may ask you to put on your engineering cap, please make suggestions on what is the most efficient, cost effective way get the best and quickest result in cleaning the shallow area. I want something portable with a re-sizeable head to do 18" or 8" wide. I want something powerful like the bottom feeder (I think around 18 gallons/minute) and do small debris that could be heavy like a small pebble) and run off a 12v lifepo4 battery like the riptide. I want something that can connect to standard pool pole. I'll provide the manual labor as long as it provide quick results.

For reference, the tile is 16x16. The length of the steps is almost 40 ft long.

Hey all,

I have a cabin in the woods. Off grid. very wooded and shaded.

Would love to have a stock pool but it is a little tricky since no power or water. 6ft poly round. Let me know if this will work -

Since I am only there every other weekend I will need to set this to work while I am gone: I will set it to catch rain run off my metal roof (I do this for my non drinking water for 15 years). I'll have it go through a filter and I will put a chlorine tab in it to make sure it comes into the stock tank clean and chloroinzed. I will keep the tank completely covered so nothing can get in and no light can enter as well. I will set up a solar powered pond pump to create some water movement in the tank during day time to prevent stagnation. Only during day time will it move the water.

Next when I come there, and assuming it will be full, I will run a sand filter and UV filter as well as adjust the chlorine level of the water

I will let this run for 3 hours or so. I then think I can use it. Right? I will run it every day while I am there for 3 hours on the sand filter and uv filter.

Then before leaving I will raise the chlorine level to be on the higher side, put in a chlorine floater, and set up the solar pump again. I won't let any rain run off to go in again and keep it covered really well to prevent anything falling in or light getting in there.

When I get back a week or so later I will repeat the process of the sand filter and uv.

I will empty it before winter.

Please let me know if this should work.

Uri

Hi all, I'm a first-time pool owner and excited (and a little nervous!) to be taking over the maintenance. The pool had service today, and the water is currently clear. I've got the basics covered – a TFPro test kit, a Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme cleaner, a net, vacuum, and brush. I'm trying to get ahead of things and stock up on chemicals before I start testing the water next week. What chemicals do you all recommend having on hand for general maintenance and balancing? Any advice for a newbie would be greatly appreciated

Have customer with 5 year old plaster (new pool). Has some extensive copper staining (using some “blue” chlorine product).

Plaster feels smooth to the touch.

See pics. This forum has me paranoid about acid washes now.

I'm in need of yet another skimmer basket. My last two have gotten stuck and were destroyed when removing them. We have a few very large magnolia trees around us and on a windy day our basket can get full which causes a major suction issue and pulls the basket down and it gets stuck. When I'm talking stuck, I mean majorly stuck. It usually takes half an hour to get it out. Yesterday when destroying another basket I notice a lip around one portion of the skimmer housing itself, about 4-5 inches below the water line, which I'm hoping to find a basket with a wide enough on top that it'll sit on that lip and not be able to be pulled down when it gets full of leaves.

A quick measure this morning was about 9 inches in diameter but all the baskets I'm finding are 8in or less. Anyone know of larger baskets or where to find them?

The first basket we had was this one and it worked well but it still got stuck and as sturdy as it was, was a huge headache to get unstuck. I'm thinking I need at least 8.5-9in in diameter basket with a lip on it as well. Any recommendations?

Hi all
I can’t get my Polaris 280 to clean this side of the pool.

I swear I have tried every direction of the thrust. The Polaris refuses to go to the circled part of shallow end. Every time It is headed there It turns right. I have tried 9 o clock on the thrust. Nothing. Any other ideas?

Thanks all!
Louis

Hello everyone.

I won't pretend to know anything about fluid dynamics or whatever, so I figured I'd ask here.

My pump is currently plumbed like this:

In order to get enough suction to my Hayward The PoolCleaner to get to ~11rpm, I need to turn the 3 way valve to like 4:30-5:00, blocking off most of the flow to the skimmer and main drain. What happens when I do this though, is it appears that the negative pressure actually seems to cause the water to start degassing. It gets loud and I see a lot of bubbles forming in the pump basket cover.

I'm wondering if 1.5" pipe is just too small for the way it's plumbed here, and if perhaps setting it up like this would may any difference at all:


Like I said, I know nothing about this kind of stuff, but I feel like logically this just makes sense to me.

Thank You!

I can't figure out what this code is. I have replaced both temperature sensors. Cut the power on, The water temperature displays, pump comes on for a minute and then cuts off and this code displays and you hear a clicking noise from the control box.

First post. I have the Taylor TF-100 test kit. For some reason, I get pretty different test results. See table below:


I am taking water samples from the same spot each time. I am using the Chlorine only test tube. I rinse it out with tap water and dry it with a paper towel after every test.

I'm new to testing the water myself so is this fairly normal? Is it within the expected MoE?

Does anyone have any recommendations on a joint sealer for around my concrete and steps into the pool? I have attached a pic of the joint I would like to caulk. Or maybe comments on whether I should or shouldn’t seal this joint, thx

When we bought our house the pool already had a Hayward Aquarite SWG installed in it. We have had some bumps along the way with it, had to replace a control board once (~$400) and about 5 years ago had to replace the salt cell (not sure how old the cell was so it might have just been at the end of it's life). Then toward the end of the season last year I was getting some very wonky readings, low salt, then high salt, then normal, etc with no changes. Checked the cell it looked good, then when putting things away for the winter I found the plug for the cell where it plugs into the controller all burnt up. So it is looking like we are going to have to replace the whole system. Looking for recommendations, should I stay with Hayward, is there something better to consider out there? This is an in-ground 18x24 with deep end pool (Estimate 24k gallon) located in southern Michigan.

I have noticed over the past few weeks white crystals growing on the chrome surfaces of my lights. When you brush them off you can see pitting of the surface. Any ideas what would be causing this? The only other metal surfaces in my pool are the stainless screws that hold down the drain cover and the stainless water bond in my skimmer. Neither of those have crystal growth. I don't see it on the white fiberglass, but it would be hard to see.

My water is decently balanced and has been for a while. 50 CYA, FC 5.0 / CC 0.5, pH 7.4, TA 90 (but was 110-130 for the past couple of months), CH 320. I haven't had any major upsets. I have been using a combination of trichlor tablets and liquid chlorine mainly to ensure I don't lost track of the chlorine as I am learning. I plan to move to only liquid chlorine within a couple of weeks. I use dry acid to lower pH as our fill water is close to 8.0. This a brand new fiberglass pool that was first filled around mid-February with municipal water. I do have some iron staining on the whole surface of the pool that I need to address. I believe it is from soil getting into the water during landscaping work. We have a decent amount of iron in our soil. I have not tested for metals but I did the VitC test and it got rid of the stain. I'm trying to think of any other clues you may need.

Thanks for your help.

Hi all, after hours and hours of research, I finally found a replacement for my Hayward Colorlogic 12v AC pool lights. I thought I would post my solution here in case anyone is in a similar boat. There weren't many search results for my criteria, so hopefully this will help others find a solution. Please let me know if this is not the right place to post this.

I struggled to find anything suitable for my situation - I did not want to spend the $1,300 per light for a direct replacement since Hayward lights are finicky, and I do not trust Florida Sunseekers because of their lack of UL/ETL rating. Cheap Amazon lights were a definite no-go. Pentair Amerlite appears to be discontinued, Hayward Astrolite out of stock everywhere, and the majority of other listings were 120V or $800+. I already have a 120V -> 12/13/14v AC transformer installed and preferred to stay at 12v AC.

Buried under the Hayward Astrolite parts is the InyoPools Pureline 12v AC fixture:

I don't know why it doesn't show up as a result when searching, but the fixture is UL/ETL rated, a fraction of the price of other fixtures (hopefully only because of demand, not because of poor quality... I'll report back in a year), and is a drop-in replacement for the Hayward Colorlogic.

Now onto the hard part of running the new cord through the conduit... I have fish tape so we'll see how it goes. Open to advice!

Willerd

The pool I inherited reduces the 2" coming out of the main pool pump. It's still 2" coming out of the filter. It's there a reason for this? Is it good, bad, neither?

New pool owner and recent joiner here. We purchased a home with a pool 6 weeks ago and I think I’ve managed to keep things well enough in order. Here are today’s levels and the pool details:

TA: 100
pH: 8.0
FC: 5.4
CC: 0.0
CYA: 30-40
CH: 300
Temp: 78

15k gal concrete pool with PebbleTec finish. VS pump running at 2200 rpm for 8 hours per day, plus 1 hour at 2500 rpm for the robot.


A few things I’ve noticed:

- My pH likes to climb. We’ve had a lot of rain lately which is affecting my levels, but I also think our water features (waterfall & fountain in the spa) are contributing to these quick pH climbs. Any suggestions for stabilizing things or is this pretty normal? I’m adding acid weekly to bring it from the 8.0 range to 7.4.

- Are there any issues with using both Trichlor pucks and liquid chlorine as sanitizers? I have a 25 lb bucket of Trichlor left over from the prior owner and I’d rather not waste it. I’ve also purchased some 10% LC per the TFP quorum’s recommendations. Since my CYA isn’t high, I’d think I can sanitize using a combined approach until I run out of Trichlor or my CYA climbs too much. Any concerns with this approach?

- I get some calcium scale on my tiles, but my CH is well within range. Is this a function of high pH? We do have hard water here in TX, but CH is in range despite the scale appearing.

All things considered though, it’s been an enjoyable experience so far. The prior owner left the pool in great condition. This, plus buying a Taylor K-2006 have made things pretty simple for far.

Cheers

I can't seem to find a 2 speed pump for an inground spa that is set up with pool type equipment and that has pump basket, etc., for inground set up. Of course, lots of 2 speed spa pumps out there without a pump basket. Current set up is a Sta-Rite Dura-glas Dual Speed Pump connected to a compool LX3810 panel with spa side control. We're quote a new heater and filter along with the pump that would still work with the compool system. Any suggestions?

I cleaned my DE filter at the season start. It seemed like there was WAY too much DE. It holds 6-pounds. I was told to add 4.5 pounds after backwashing. I just completed a SLAM for mustard algae and am done. I have been only adding 3-pounds after backwash. Is that okay?

I was totally surprised at the amount of DE in the filter when I took it apart. I almost could not lift the filter put it was soooooo heavy.

Thanks