Hi
I am re-plumbing my equipment for a large 20 year old Gunite pool to accomplish a few related goals.
1. Replace old Propane Heater with Heat Pump (Propane is very expensive to use and not exactly environmentally friendly to heat a pool).
2. Move equipment around so that I can use the space that equipment is currently at for a small pool house/equipment shed/control center.

I am planning to place my DE Filter, Pump, Valve and Salt Cell in the back corner of this new structure that drill through the walls and dig a trench to the heat pump 8' away where there is more space for it.

In the end I will end up with longer plumbing runs to get to and from the heater and to get to the main return line from the pool. I tried attaching photos but even after resizing they are too big. I will get them on there as some point.

Generally I like to try and use supplies I can get locally so that if I am short one fitting or something goes wrong and I need a fitting I can just get one without waiting for shipping. Home Depot and all others locally do not have pressure rated fittings greater than 2'' PVC and no 2.5'' PVC 10 foot segments. If I want to go bigger to reduce the total system pressure head, it seems like I need to get 3 inch Schedule 40 pipe locally and then order all the fittings such as these. https://www.supplyhouse.com/Spears-406-030-3-PVC-Sch-40-90-Elbow.
My question is this worth it? The new heat pump heater has 1.5'' inlet and outlet, my salt cell has 2'' threaded connections. So I will end up reducing the 3'' down to 1.5 to go into and out of the heater and then I have to reduce to 2'' for my salt cell and check valve (to avoid backflow of highly chlorinated water into the heater when the pump is shut off). I will of course have a bypass for the heater so that when I am opening, closing and cleaning I can run the pump at full speed without the heater in the loop.

I need to decide quickly as I want to get this operational and it is a whole lot easier to just use 2'' Schedule 40 PVC throughout but I do not want to take the easy route and regret it later. I plan to live here a long time, and we use the pool as much as I can in our medium length season in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Good day, I apologize in advance for the language, I will most likely use the wrong terms. I used this chemical in the pool (link). The tiles started to fall off and I drained the water - the tiles continued to fall off during cleaning, upon examination it turned out that all my "putty" simply disappeared (see photo), and the layer behind the tile holding it began to crumble. I would like to know if I can restore this tile without buying a new one - I collect it and store it. I bought new putty and a means for holding the tile, I would be extremely grateful for a video example of how to do this. I understand that I am a beginner and ask a lot, in turn, I can share my experience of how I did it and what I encountered and contribute to the Internet and the forum. I took several photos of the pool and while I was doing them, some more fell off. Thank you

Hello, had a 2HP Hayward Super Pump installed and there is an ooze coming from one of the connection points. Anyone know what this is, cause, and potential solution?

Just wanted to say I'm new to the forum. I have a pop up pool as I call them its a 6500gallon intex pool I got 2 yrs ago. Guess it's my starter pool til I can afford a real one. Hoping for some friendly advice

Hi, my family is building a pool for the 1st time and could use some help from the knowledgeable folks on this forum to finalize plumbing and equipment plans.

Since we’ve started working with our pool builder, we’ve come to learn it’s important to double-check their plans as there often isn’t much thought behind those plans other than, “this is what we did on the last build where no one asked questions” . And so as we’ve started to look into details and recommendations in forums like this, we’ve become worried that the pool builder’s plumbing plan is not a deeply-thought-out one…

For example, the pool– 15.5 x 35’, IG fiberglass, 3.5 - 6’ in depth, approximately 16.5k gallons – is oriented with the deep end to the north and the shallow end to the south. Local summer winds come from the NW (pushing surface debris to the SE); in other seasons, the winds come from the S (pushing surface debris to the N). But the builder planned a single skimmer on the NE end of the pool ("since it will be easy to install there"), which seems like a suboptimal location (and not a good reason)…

The rest of the builder’s plumbing plans include:

• All 2” hard PVC pipe
• 2 main drains in the deep end wall + 3 returns
• IntelliCenter + IC40 SWG + Intelliflo3 VSF 1.5HP
• Clean and Clear Plus 420 SF cartridge filter & 400k BTU NG heater

The pool equipment pad will be approximately 95’ west of the pool (placed close to gas and electrical service), so most pipe runs will be >100’. The pool will have an automatic safety cover that we will keep closed when the pool is not in use.

Here's a drawing (by us) showing our understanding of the builder’s plumbing plans. Concerns include:

• Only 1 skimmer in a location that doesn’t match any season’s wind directions
• Long (>100’) plumbing runs + 1.5HP pump-- will 2" pipes + a 1.5 HP pump be sufficient?
• 3 returns -- will that be enough for good circulation with the length of the pool?

And here's an adjusted drawing showing what I’m thinking we should push for instead (after reading various forum posts and articles):

• 2 skimmers, 1 on each end of the pool to handle both seasonal wind directions and offer some redundancy
• Upsize to 2.5” pipes for at least the suction lines
• Add some more returns on at least 2 separate lines
• Maybe upsize to a 2.5-3 HP VS pump? (more notes on this below)

Are we on the right track? Anything major that looks off here or that we might regret not asking for?

When I follow pool plumbing guides, I think we should be fine in terms of flow rates (11-45 GPM for 24-6 hr turnover rates) and water velocities (1.77 inch pipe at 45 GPM + 6 fps). I’m less sure on TDH and pump sizing, though. It seems difficult to get an accurate TDH number without knowing all the fitting details, but maybe a TDH in the 40’ range (at 45 GPM) would be a reasonable assumption with our planned equipment and longer plumbing runs (?).

If so, then with up to 45 GPM flow rates and 40’ TDH, looking at Intelliflo3 pump curves, that looks like ~65% speed on the 3HP model, or ~80% speed on the 1.5HP model. Is there a way to go from pump chart speeds to energy usage and in turn decide which would be a more cost effective pump over a few years of operation?

If we went with Hayward instead, the Tristar XL looks like one of their top 3HP models, where it’d run at 2400 RPM. For 1.5HP models, the MaxFlo VS 500 (with a claimed >10 WEF) would run closer to 3000 RPM. It’s also unclear how to evaluate the relative cost effectiveness of these options…

Can others with some more pool ownership experience help guide us in a good direction here?

I’d sincerely appreciate any feedback you can share. Thank you so much!

I'm 79 retired Plumbing Contractor. I have owned ingrown gunnite pools of my own for over 40 yes 40 years. I had to turned the maintenance over to a local pool company. Like alot of pool owners as kids get older the pool gets less use. Easier to care for and maintain. But sooner or later something new creeps up you need advise on. Thanks Roy

Unfortunately I have been a pool.owner for over 40 years, but time crept up on me now have Pool Company. My pool now is a Anthony/ Sylvan in ground 23 year old granite pool. Unfortunately my pool people don't know much about a Compool #Cp3400. They suggested replace panel. Likel a good homeowner went right to Ebay. To my surprise found one at about $350.00 and brought it. My luck they had two different ones, a cp3400 and a cp3600. You guess it, ordered the cp3600 by mistake. Big question is are they still interchangeable . Only difference I notice it has two more control bottoms. Can I still used my cp3600.
Thanks Roy

Moved from old thread HERE

having the exact same problem will try creating a new user

Moved from HERE

Debslemm said:

Works like magic! I have brown stains on steps every year when we open the pool. I dump vitamin c tablets on the steps, let them sit for a little, rub them over the surface with my hands or sock or sponge and wowza! Sparkling white steps! Doing this for 22 years!

Click to expand...

May I ask what type of tablets you are using? I am looking at getting some from Walmart but there must be 20 different kinds.
thanks

Does anyone see a problem with having a pool light 6" from the bottom of the pool?

I've been trying for months to convince my new neighbor not to shell out $40K to make his pool more shallow. Along with others, I failed to convince him of the risks. And it’s his pool, he wants more safety. He intends to have a contractor add 1.5 feet of cement in the deep end to change it from 6 feet deep to 4.5 feet. The added cement will of course taper as it approaches the already-shallower end.

The other day I noticed another problem with his plan. The existing 10" light niche is on a wall in that deep end, and it's already installed lower than usual because of a 2 foot deep shelf/step built into that entire end. If he proceeds, the result of adding 1.5 feet of cement will leave that 10" light niche about 6 inches from the newly raised bottom of the pool. I've not yet thought of any real problem with that, although it may look odd and of course "uncentered" - and perhaps light distribution may be more uneven than usual. The pool is a 14x25 rectangle, about 11,000 gallons, and the light is on one of the shorter 14 foot walls, with the 10" niche rim starting about 2 feet from the bottom at this time. The light niche is a rather standard 10", he'll be replacing the 12V luminaire which is shot.

Thoughts welcome and appreciated. I think he should perhaps have the contractor relocate a new niche to a more typical depth (min per code of course) and to do so move it to one of the longer pool walls. Or just modernize the lighting. Better to abandon the entire project but it seems several of us neighbors cannot talk him out of it.

Thanks in advance.

Good Day,
I've been a long-time user of these forums primarily for help with chemistry questions for my 16x40 fiberglass inground pool (Imagine Pools, "Illusion" model) and greatly appreciate all the help I've received. I recently tried to replace a burned-out Pentair GloBrite LED bulb (P/N: 602055) with a Jandy LED Nicheless bulb (P/N: JLU4C12W100P) as I've read from several sites that it's a compatible replacement (and is hopefully much more reliable). However, I've run into a problem with securing the new bulb in the niche. The Pentair bulb has a "camlock" mechanism (in light gray in the picture) at the back for the bulb and a white face-seal gasket. The Jandy has "normal" threads at the front of the bulb and the niche has no way to "engage" these threads. While I can get the Janey bulb to sit flush in the Niche, I can't see a way to secure it. So, I have some questions:

* Is there an adapter kit available and, if so, could someone let me know the appropriate part number?
* Is it "okay" to just pull the bulb flush, essentially securing it with the wire at the junction box back by the controller (this seems like a bad idea to me)?
* Should I install the white gasket from the Pentair bulb onto to Jandy bulb (although I don't know how to get it tight against the back of the Niche)?
* Is it okay to just let water leak into the PVC conduit run (this also seems like a bad idea)?
* Is it possible (or recommended) to replace the niche in the pool (also seems problematic)?
* Did I just learn a $400 lesson on not doing enough research before buying the Jandy bulb?

I'm open to other ideas and suggestions as well. Thank you for any help anyone can provide and thank you again for being such a great resource for pool owners!

--
Bryan
SE Wisconsin Pool Owner

We had our pool professionally opened 4 days ago and while the water is no longer green, it’s still very cloudy. We just bought this house so this is all new to us. Can anyone look at our test results and help with what we need to do to get the water clear?

For reference, it’s a saltwater pool (with a SWG) and about 25,000 gallons. We used a Taylor K-2006 test kit.

FC - 0.8 ppm
CC - 0
pH - 7.2
TA - 60
CH - 110
CYA - 0

Hi all,

I just finished the installation of a brand new Intelliph and I’m looking for a sanity check…

My rotor rotates CLOCKWISE and based on the instructions, the INLET is the right tube and the OUTLET is the left tube. Wouldn’t this setup be pulling water from the OUTLET side and feeding into the tank?

When I do a manual dispense, I see bubbles coming from the intake tube and entering the tank.

There is also an UP arrow on the right inlet and a DOWN arrow on the left inlet.

Can anyone confirm which way the rotor SHOULD be rotating?

And, is there a way to invert its rotation?

I’ve included pics, and here’s a link to a video:


Thank you!

PFA the pics of my salt water pool's wearing out pool coping and deck. I'm in central Texas. I guess, extreme summer heat and winter freeze combined with salt water (?) causing these structures to wear out, turn black, endure cracks. Looking for suggestions to repair the cracks and chips first and how to maintain them better going forward. Please enlighten!

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!

An old 28k pool with a built in spa (no heater anymore). We are planing to replace concrete and coping around the pool and would like to eliminate the spa. Spa has 2 drains and 5 returns)
Can we just fill it up (cap the returns to spa)? Main pool has 3 returns

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.

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?

We closed our 18’ above ground pool for winter but it failed and the pool had so much nasty stuff in it we decided to drain and start over. We have now cleaned it and it is ready to fill. However, we are going to be gone on vacation for 7 weeks. I had originally thought we would fill and just leave the pump rink g 24/7 while we are gone, but I don’t have anyone to come check the chemicals and I am concerned it will get an algae bloom once the chemicals get out of balance. I thought about adding the winterizer and putting the winter cover back on and not turning on the pump. But we will want to use the pool soon after we return…. I read on this forum that is is t good to leave the pool empty. So I would appreciate your ideas on the best course of action at this point.

We are in Seattle so the weather over the next 8 weeks is a Crud shoot- we could get a heat wave or it could be cold and rainy the whole time.

Your suggestions are greatly 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!

Got this no-brand pump I need to test out. Mainly I have two questions:

1. What parts do I need to install this? I think I need the below. Pipe image below so you can see what fits snugly into the adapter (but only into the inner half of it; see attached video in zip file).

• https://www.amazon.com/Spears-Fitting-Adapter-Schedule-Barbed/dp/B008I4CWZQ (1.5 inch variety) x 2
• https://www.amazon.com/4607-1-1-Degree-Elbow-Schedule/dp/B007Q2FXY8/ x 1

2. How exactly does the provided (came with pump) black adapter seal against the integral receiving pipe of the basket chamber? Does it just create a watertight seal due to the smooth plastic surfaces being compressed against each other? Video attached in zip file.




Pipe that fits:


Overview:

Hey everyone, I purchased a "new" PX300 off ebay and it came with a safety capacitor(I googled the numbers on it). Has anyone used something like this? I googled pictures of similar transformers and they don't have it. My new pool lights are 12v.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Getting ready for the 30 day mark after our plaster install last month. I will be adding salt the first week of May to our new pool I just built

Couple questions below regarding the first step of adding salt and maintenance to Pentair IC-15….

-The IC-15 should be set on a timer to correspond with the pump timer. Essentially, the IC-15 should only be powered on and “running” when the pump is running? Correct? I have a separate timer for the IC-15 that is on the same schedule as the built in pump timer

-How frequently should I be dissembling this thing and cleaning it out for maintenance? Is that a fairly easy task?

-Is there any specific math or calculation to know how much exact salt I should be adding to my 3,000 gallon pool? Are you essentially adding more every season/multiple times a season? Or is a once and done per year

-Will the PH level become sporadic again after adding salt? My plaster is 3 weeks cured right now and it seems that the PH level is just starting to become level and even day to day with minimal acid need

So I went out to check my levels and darn near zero reading on chlorine. Though maybe my reagent was bad so I took a sample to the pool store and same result. I cleaned my SWG a couple weeks ago and it looked fine. Salt level is 3300 and one of my returns spits out little bubbles when the SWG is "on" (tested this theory by turning it off and the bubbles stop). Don't the bubbles mean it's working? Any other way to test it? Thanks!!

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!