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.

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