Trouble Free Pool Method Only! IS THIS CORRECT!
Starting the Slam Process on a 16x36ft. 3-8 ft depth with 5ft average. Approx 22,000 gallons correct me if I'm wrong on that.
Taylor K2006C test kit.
FC-0
CYA-0
PH-8+(unknown how high shooting for 7.2)
TA 120(shooting for 80)
CH-0
Ready to start the SLAM.
STEPS
1.Lower PH to 7.2(which will lower TA also)
2.CYA to 40-50
3.SLAM WITH 10% POOL BLEACH.

Hi all. Have a Hayward PowerFlow Matrix, manufactured 2020. At the end of last season, it seemed to be running louder than usual. Worked fine until end of season. Decided to do some checking (the mounting base was totally rusted - though I believe that's from skimmer water leaking and setting at the pump base - not a seal issue.

Anyway, I can't get the impeller off no how, and Im also not sure if there's too much resistance on it - doesn't seem to spin easily to me, and there is a slight scraping noise.

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Do you guys think there is more of an issue here or just throw it back together and run it? No one locally services them it seems. Thanks.

Hello, looking for some more incite on an air problem I'm having with my system. Towards the end of the season last year, I was getting a lot of small air bubbles from from first in line return jet. This year upon opening the pool, it has gotten worse. I've had a hard time getting the pump to even prime and when it does, I have major air coming from the return. I have read the pool school blog on the subject and here is what I have done to try to remedy the situation and my equipment. side note: the only air I was able to find prior to the tried remedies was water coming from the fitting going into the basket when I would shut the pump off.

All new seals in basket, and back to the pump.
New pump (I redid my electric and when ahead and installed a brand new pump. Had air problem both before and after new pump).
Replaced portion of the above ground PVC going into the basket and from the basket up to the filter.
Lubed all seals, cranked down basket lid, flushed suction line going to basket.

After all this, I saw initial improvement when starting pump. After a several minutes, it returned to having the air issue and having a hard time priming. It is a Heyward sand filter system with no chlorinator. Just looking for something I'm possibly missing or something else to try. I do have air coming out where the pump mounts to the basket assembly, I have no idea if this is normal or not (seems to be coming from the external parts of the threaded holes). Free and open to answer any questions on anything I have posted. Attached are before and after pics of the plumbing and a video. Thanks in advance!

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Over the past few months, Ive been trying to figure out why my pool flow / pump output has decreased a lot since I first bought this house with my pool. At the end of last summer, I did replace the sand in my sand filter and installed a new primary pool pump with the same one that came with the system when I bought the house.

I have checked all of the obvious stuff:
-clean skimmers, pump basket, blockage/build up in pump
-I've tried switching to recirculate mode to avoid the sand filter
-I've tried only pulling from skimmers and then only pulling from main drain to see if that changed anything.

I have had some pebbles from my spa start to come loose last year so I am not sure if they are stuck somewhere in the system causing flow issues. Some of them got into my multi valve on the sand filter making it hard to turn it so I had to remove that and clean the pebbles out.. so wondering if that is causing lot flow issues somehow.

My sand filter PSI seems to stay at 10psi before / after backwash. It is a 500lb sand filter and when I replaced it, I did put in a full 500 lbs.

Another issue I notice which may be a contributor is when I run my aux pump which is used for the pool cleaner... after this runs for a while, my main pump flow gets even worse and my spa overflow slows to a trickle.

From when I first got the pool, i'd guess my current flow is 20-40% of what it originally was just by judging the overflow from the spa waterfall.

Would appreciate any advice you have in helping me figure out the issue in my system. thanks.

Few pics of my system:

Does anyone have any experience with Pool Pure or Future Way replacement cartridges. When we installed the pool almost five years ago we used OEM Hayward filters. They have been great. Obviously the off-brand filters are much less expensive. I've often found you get what you pay for, and I can't really complain about getting 5 years out of the Haywards before they started falling apart, but just thought it might be worth asking about these brands because they get good reviews on Amazon. Thanks!

4 yr old all Jandy system
Aftwr replacing the salt chlorinator i found i couldnt control my JXI heater with my iaqualink I could turn on the heater manually but when in remote mode nothing And the heater light wont turn on the motherboard /electrical panel i replaced the thermostat on the heater but nothing
Salt chlorinator wont turn on because it isn't getting message the water is warm enough to work
The Jandy support said it was likely the 7790 Temperature Sensor. (I checked all cables nothing frayed or broken so guessing just worn out inside)
Has anyone replaced these before? It sticks into the pipe - is it as easy as pulling out the old and sticking in the new? How do you ensure it doesnt leak? (I see how to do the electrical part and it looks easy)
will the non oem ones fit? They are about 1/4 the price but I just worry about leaking

Today I sign the purchase agreement for a new (to me) condo. Unfortunately, that means this will be my last few months with a pool and checking in with TFP. The pool has been good and bad but overall, I’ve enjoyed it. The bad is that I spent a lot of money to install it in the hope that it would be a gathering place in the summer and draw that family (grandchildren) toward us. Disappointing to report that it did not go as planned and it became something that mostly just me and my wife used. The good is that I did enjoy the times we did get together and enjoy the pool and the tinkerer in me enjoyed learning about the process of maintaining it. One significant pain point was dealing with the builder. Won’t go into details but the mistakes they made catch my eye and irritate me to this day, our sixth season.

I’m thankful that I found TFP early on in pool ownership. I only got “pool stored” for the first couple months of pool ownership and following TFP made keeping the water clear and safe a breeze. Seriously, with a SWG and a robot along with few minutes of brushing and skimming, the pool never took much time at all to maintain. I appreciate the help from the expert team here but I have to give a shout out to @Newdude who seemed to always be there to respond to my questions. Thank you!

So, over the next few months, I’ll move into a new home and sell this house to someone else. I’m thinking about how to transfer my knowledge of the pool over to a new person. I was thinking of offering a few hours of my time to get them going. There’s no doubt I’ll be recommending that they get on this site and buy the pool math app and use tftestkits for supplies.

The condo has a community pool. I doubt we’ll use it. I’d want to test their water and I doubt they’d listen to my TFP suggestions but you never know, I may do that.

Thank you Trouble Free Pool.

I’ve got some persistent CC and didn’t pass the OCLT so here we go!

Don’t see any green, no visible signs, but the OCLT tells me it’s there…

I’ve read all the guidelines and feel comfortable enough with the process. I’ve had my eye on a wall whale and a corner brush so those are on the way here tomorrow.

One question: I’ve got my Polaris pressure side (“Mr. Flowboto”) but no separate vacuum. Okay to use him to do the instructed vacuuming? Standard bag okay or should I grab the sand and silt version?

I have a rectangle intex ultra frame pool 32x16x52 pool. I just bought a xtremepowerus 4500 gph sand filter pump. I'm not sure if I have the correct adapters not sure how to convert these hoses from pool to the pump. Help please!!

Hi TFP!

FYI, our pool build was completed in 2017.

I’ve been avoiding a number of repairs that seem/are above what I believe I’m capable of. I wanted to reach out and see if anyone could give me some tips so I’m not taken advantage of by the repair people who will be coming out next week. I’m going to post our other pool issues in separate posts.

SALT WATER GENERATOR (Pentair IC40 replaced under warranty about 5 years ago)

A few months ago I realized that our cell was not working. I clean the cell every few months. I checked it and and it was spanking clean. Then I realized that the “fuse?” in the upper right corner of was tripped (see attached photo). I reset it, started everything up and I heard a clicking sound from that area, then a pop, and it tripped.

The SWG breaker in the panel was fine but I still tripped that and reset it. The same thing happened with the “fuse” tripping.

I searched our TFP site, but the areas I would need to test/replace would be uncomfortable for me to service, so since then I just managed the pool as a chlorine pool.

A couple days ago I reconnected the salt cell resent the “fuse” and gave it a try once again. Same thing happened, however this time the ‘fuse” did not trip to the off position instead it seems frozen in the On position.

I contacted our local certified Pentair pool repair guys. We’ve have used them multiple times over the years for warranty work and their repair guy has been great. That is until when he came out 6 months ago to diagnose a light issue. Well, he gave me a bunch of Crud about what was wrong … So I have little trust in him now, AND he is the only guy the company sends out. I requested that the owner get involved, we’ll see if he shows up.

I see that the cost of a new IC40 has gone way up (over $1,400 and probably a few hundred more with their markup). My concern is that they will start with replacing the cell before looking at other things that may be the actual issue.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
York

New pool build, most likely ordering from Royal Pool soon. Hopefully! I really need help with lights, does anyone have ideas?

• STD Chlorine (Not SWG) pool, vinyl liner (I had a previous 16x32 Doughboy that I learned from pool school) hoping for the same luck
• 20x44 Latham 14 gauge steel panels, Walls are 42" deep with 8' deep end
• full width open steel top steps, they recommended open top?
• heavy duty adjustable 12 gauge steel a frame braces
• 42" deck support braces
• deep end corner swimout benches on each side
• APC 365 vinyl cover in light gray
• 1/8" wallfoam
• Latham Stardust Blue 20 mil liner
• 2x Hayward Wide Mouth Skimmer
• 4x Returns
• 2x Main Drains
• Pentair Intelliflo 3 HP Pump
• Pentair SD80 Sand Dollar Filter
• Raypak 266k Propane heater
• Automatic Chlorinator
• 2" ridgid pvc everywhere with individual home runs for every plumbing fixture
• LIGHTS????? I am scared by everyone complaining on reliability. I am a gadget person and like the color options but don't know what would work best. We are also installing our pool with the full width steps on the house side so not sure how to deal with the lights and brightness.

I am an avid DIY and have done most things, just not a pool I am hoping this will be another fun project. We are planning to do a brushed concrete pool deck to finish things off. Please be as critical as you can! I am an engineer and love the details but am struggling with finalizing things.

Thank you!

I replaced my flow sensor recently and cleaned the cell grids. I replaced the sensor because after a few minutes of running, i would get no flow. The board tested fine per the test instructions from jandy. Even after replacing the sensor, I still get no flow after a few minutes of running. This is with a clean DE filter and adequate flow to run suction side vacuum and spa spillover.

The pool is about 3 years old. I live in the CA high desert and have high calcium levels. Right now, 650ppm. I don't want to drain the pool every year and have read that higher calcium levels are OK so long as ph and alkalinity are well managed, and negative csi is sustained. I monitor water chemistry religiously and pool is always balanced.

The grids show some corrosion, but it doesn't seem excessive to me. The few minutes when the cell is running, i see bubbles from the returns as i normally would, so I believe it is working.

My questions:
1. Is it possible that the cell has failed and needs to be replaced? I don't imagine that a failing cell would cause no flow, and I assume it would throw error codes of some sort?
2. It also seems as if the pool builder wired the aquapure system to be always on. I have a current generation jandy VS pump with the PUMPIQ01 controller. I assume that the aquapure system should be wired to the pumps auxiliary. There are no relays in the aquapure electrical box.
3. The pool was built just three years ago. If it's supposed to be wired so that the aquapure system is completely off when the pump isn't running, I intend to reach out to the builder and ask that the problem be corrected.

Oddly, I'm able to sustain adequate chlorine levels with pump running 8 hours per day on high and the cell set to 50%, which makes me believe it is cycling between flow and no flow throughout the day. I haven't had hours to sit and watch the system as it runs as i work full time, have young kids, and am trying to wrap up a masters degree at the moment.

I appreciate any help that can be provided. I love this site and the TFP method has helped me have an algae free crystal clear pool since the day we first filled it. I'm just at my wits end with the generator. I'm tempted to throw in the towel and just use liquid chlorine at this point as it would be easier than spending hours fooling around with the generator that doesn't work dependably.

Help me TFP, you're my only hope... Other than paying a pool company way too much money to come figure this out for me! LOL

Recent test results:

FC - .4 CC - .2 PH - 6.8 TA - 250 CH - 270 CYA - 40

That was about 4pm yesterday. I aerated the pool and brought the pH up to 7.6 when I checked it at 9pm. I poured the recommended amount of muriatic acid before bed, then aerated again early in the morning. pH was 7.4 this morning. This afternoon it had dropped to below 7 again.

I’m trying to get my TA down but I don’t understand why the pH would be dropping over time instead of raising.

The chlorine is another issue. I’m going through gallons of the stuff weekly. I guess it’s fighting algae and I plan on doing the SLAM soon, I just haven’t had a chance yet. I think I need to bring my CYA up as well because the pool gets a lot of direct sunlight.

Any pointers?

I have a pool + spa ~15000 gallons combo with a variable speed 1HP pump and heater. The pool is able to either circulate pool only, spa only, or spa spillover into pool. Does anyone have any recommendations of a schedule to maximize efficiency of the pump and also the heater so the spa doesn't loose too much heat due to circulation? So far, it seems that I am getting a chlorine loss of about 1-1.5 ppm a day. In addition, does any one have any tips or guides of a good rpm for the pump for the pool and spa mode?

Good evening folks! Thank you for all for all of the help as always...

This year is a big year for us...we've had a vinyl liner pool that we put in ourselves the first few months of covid with the help of friends and family (cousin owns a construction company and i know a "pool guy"). But for 5 years now i've had a single speed pump, and a chlorine pool.

This year we're converting!

We are looking to open the pool and get the plumbing re-done at the same time as the opening...i dont want to open the pool using normal chlorine and chemicals...or am i overthinking it? Do i open the pool with the new SWG installed and just run normal water through it and balance it like normal at opening? then convert?

Or do i just open it and start dumping salt in (or it seems diamond water softener as a cheaper and equally effective alternative it seems).

Pool is 36,000 gallons. i cant' find a consistent recommendation on how much salt to start with but i thinks some math i did was around 26 40lb salt bags to start.

Thoughts on all of this would be great, thank you!

ps. installing a heater this year! Stoked about that...i think it'll really impact our use of the pool and how much we enjoy it here in CT. so a lot going on! Thanks!

If you own a pool robot you can fill out this survey, takes around 30 minutes and you get a $30 Amazon card emailed to you- Pool Cleaner Study
I'm not affiliated with them, appears to be market research, just ran across it and and redeemed my gift card a few minutes ago.

We started setting up the pool today. I’ve decided I want to convert to salt. We haven’t added anything to the water yet. The pool is 2/3 full. Do I start be adding 3 bags of water softener salt to the pool and running the pump for 24 hours? How soon do I need the SWG? What else do I need to add? Stabilizer…

4 years ago we built a 20,000 gallon In ground Gunite chlorine cartridge pool with a variable speed jandy pump. Over the weekend we drained it (cya was high) and cleaned the filters. I have spent most of today trying to get it going again. I have attempted to prime the pump no less than 20 times. The water level is over halfway up the skimmers. I’ve got the 2 skimmer lines open and the main drain. I have tried getting it to work with the pressure gauge open and with it closed. We did get it going for about an hour and it seemed great (water never quite filled the pump basket, but was close). We had the bubbler and all the fountains going. Then the pressure/flow went back down without warning. Tried to prime it again without luck. At my wits end. Ideas?

My Pentair iChlor 30 cell has reached the end of its life span. I went to a new local pool supply shop to have him give me a price on a replacement.
This is my first time replacing one of these so he quoted me $1300 an then said I will need a new power unit as well because they both usually go bad at the same. So that was $1400 but then he began to introduce me to a generic system he carried right there in house and claimed it was better than Pentair and had a better warranty for only $1600?

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?

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.