Hi guys,

Come for help once again!

My skimmer has some rust-like spots and at first, I thought there was some leaking. But then I noticed it looked like something growing.

Here is what I observed. First, it was light-yellow-ish mud-like stuff. Then it turned brown, red-ish. If I rubbed it, it spread into lots of red dust. If I left it for a long time, it left rust-like stains, which are very difficult to clean.

I assume it is some kind of algae?? Is it possible to be rust? Now I treat it as algae and try to increase the FC and brush it off frequently. But it won't go away and always grows back. Any suggestion is really appreciated!

*My pool looks good and I don't algae issues in other places.
*I have an old-school Jacuzzi skimmer and the gasket is made of cork. I am afraid the cork absorbs water and contains algae inside.

Max

I'm planning on starting the construction of a pool with flush spa during the upcoming weeks. The current plan is to use a single Intellifo3 pump and Intellichlor SWG for the water circulation/chlorination. The attached diagram shows the planned pool/spa piping and valve diagram. One of the Intelliflo3 relays will be used to switch between Spa and Pool mode (energizing the diverter valves actuators), the heater will be manually switch on at this point. The system will consist of 6 pool returns (one of them inside the Spa) and 6 spa venturi jets. When in pool mode the return inside the Spa should circulate and chlorinate the Spa water forcing spa overspill, when in Spa mode the water should circulate and heat the spa water only.

I would appreciate your feedback on the following:

• Is it appropriate to install one pool return inside the spa to circulate spa water while in pool mode?
• Is a Pentair Intelliflo3 3HP pump appropriately sized for 6 spa water jets? No spa blower is currently planned.
• Can the Intelliflow3 control the Intellichlor output % from the selected program? The plan is to use the RS485 comms in standalone mode to communicate with the Intellichlor SWG cell (no further automation is planned at this point).

Any further comments or recommendations would be appreciated.

Hi all, I did a lot of research, and I'm finding it tough to know if I will be putting the pool plumbing components in the right order.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I just installed a 9-ft. by 13-ft. by 4-ft.-deep semi-inground pool with a vinyl liner.

A waterproof plumbing pad will be about 10 to 15 ft. away in a nearby shed where the floor is about 3 ft. below the water level in the pool—so all of the plumbing is slightly below the level of the top of the pool water, but above the bottom of the pool.

There is one skimmer and one return inlet on one long side of the pool, and there is another return inlet on the other long side. I'm running about 15-20 feet of 2-in. PVC from the skimmer, and I was considering running a dedicated 1.5-in. line for each of the returns.

I'm trying to figure out the best layout for all the parts in the shed, and I'm thinking the following makes sense...but let me know:

• 2 inch line from skimmer coming out of the shed floor
• 2 inch ball valve
• pool pump (with unions on both ends)
• cartridge filter (with unions on both ends)
• 2 inch check valve
• zinc anode
• inline chlorinator
• (with unions on both ends; might replace with SWG eventually)
• Jandy style 3-port valve
• two 2 inch to 1.5 inch reducers
• two 1.5 inch lines, each directly to one of the return inlets

My main questions are:

1. Do I only need one check valve?
2. If so, do I have it in the right location?
3. If I need more than one check valve, where do they go?
4. Is it unnecessary to have a Jandy valve splitting the flow to the two return lines? (could I just have a ball valve before I split the plumbing...meaning will I never have a reason to adjust the flow between the return or turn one off and have the other on?)
5. Should I have any valve allowing me to drain the system? (if I don't need the Jandy valve for the returns, I could put the valve some where in the system to allow the extra port to be a drain.)

Thanks!
- Rob

(below is a very rough layout of just the plumbing pipes running between the pad and the pool)

Opinions please.

My pool is 19 years old but the wall is only 15. It was replaced under warranty 4 years in.

My liner is 15 years old and on its last legs. Faded badly and yellow/brownish around the perimeter. The top seats started rusting a few years ago, mostly my fault due to pool being over full in winter and the edges were submerged too long. I’ve been repainting them but tired of that fight.

As I thought about replacing the liner but tired of repainting the top seats I decided I’d have to get a new pool. Long story short $7K for a new pool turned me off. In addition, I’m about 5 years +/- from selling this house. Not excited to spend the money.

I’ve now found I can get new top seats for $500 and replace the liner for $1400. Am I being foolish to consider this option? My exterior pool wall and uprights are all rust free. I can feel some slight roughness running my hand along the liner on the inside of the pool, indicating some slight surface rust, but nothing feels horrible.

Will my $1900 investment buy me some years or should I bite the bullet and get a new pool.

Sorry so long but appreciate any ideas.

Greg

To make my Intex skimmer work better, I plugged the opposite intake, only to get pump cavition. The skimmer is not clogged. Any suggestions to make the skimmer stronger?

Hey guys I just replaced me older PDA panel with the latest greatest RS8 panel. I had a valve for cleaner but before that I moved the automatic valve to be able to change the secondary pump to steer water between either my waterfall and my deck fountains. I have the aux for the secondary pump and another one for the valve. I have a one touch control panel. I was wondering if someone could steer me in the right location so I could have "deck fountains" or waterfall so that I don't have to change either option. Also like the spa the pump really shouldn't run while changing modes. Any recommendations are much appreciated!

Thanks!

Neil

So after reading many of the pages here about borates, I went ahead and added them to my pool this week - over the course of a few days I added the 9 boxes of 20-mule borax plus 2 jugs of muriatic acid based on recommendations from pool math to reach 50ppm borates. The final levels appear correct based on the borate test strips I bought. My other pool readings are good - pH ended up slightly higher after the process (started around 7.2, ended around 7.7) and alkalinity is a touch higher (ended around 110). All seems well overall. However, shortly after doing this, my wife asked about a small she noticed after being in the pool - could this be from the borates?

Also, some sites mention that when borates are in the pool the FC levels can be reduced slightly - this isn't in TFP's charts - is this the case? Recommendations?

Overall, I haven't noticed much difference. I believe the pool appears sparklier than it was and the water is clear - but then again, it's pretty much always clear as long as I test regularly and use liquid chlorine rather than pucks.
Thanks!

Another Arizonian, home built in 2004 with a ~20kish gallong pebbletec pool, in floor pop ups, hoping to gleen a few bits of knowledge from the community.

I just found this site, and boy am I glad I did. I have an inground vinyl liner pool, it was unattended to for about 9 mo. Recently had a local company who was going to recover for me and then subsequently maintain the pool due to my work hours. A month in and a new pool pump (that I had to have) the pool is still green and filled with matter that I believe to be the result of multiple floccs. I have been vacuuming to waste and then letting settle and then vacuuming again. Been doing this for 72 hours. If I try to run the pump with the filter, I have to backwash every 20-30 minutes. I’ve gotten quite a bit of the dead algae matter, but pool is green now and can’t tell how much is down there. I have the pump on recirculate and have adjusted PH levels up to range, my CYA is at 0 and FC and TC are at 0. Any advice on next step?

How do you all maintain ph levels while away on vacation over a duration of like 3 weeks.

Thanks in advance.

Hi, I'm in desperate need of help. My husband passed away and I'm kind of lost. I have a 5x22 above ground pool . Water way. I cannot get the vacuum to suck. I know I am doing something wrong. I went to backflush it and it only dribble out water. It used to spit out water when I plugged it in. Know it only comes out a little. I have a 7 thingy. The writing on the top which shows if it's on filter etc is almost worn out where can I get another decal? Help please, I don't want to let my grandkids down.

We have a new pool build with the Intelliflo3 VSF and the outdoor Easytouch Control System. My pool guy asked me to kick up the speed of the pump for the “Quick Clean” cycle (he’s not familiar with Easytouch), but the Pentair Home app has the controlled by automation message. I don’t have a “Clean” cycle labeled in my Intelliflo pump settings section. Outside of contacting my pool builder how can I figure out which cycle/setting addresses/controls the Quick Clean cycle.

Thx so much!

High all for the first time in a few years I am having a lot of issues with my pool and need help.

I have a 24ft x 52” round above ground pool. With a Hayward EC50 DE filter and Hayward PowerFlo MATRIX Pool Pump 1.5HP.

To start this year I tried to use the cellulose filter media it was great for the first month and then my filter started short cycling with cloudy water. Fast forward to yesterday the filter was short cycling with no media in it so I shut it down and used a filter cleaner this morning(made the grid look brand new. I reconnected the filter and loaded with 10 scoops of DE(what I read is 5lbs). Added a skimmer sock and tested my water:

Hardness - 81ppm
PH - 7.8
Alkalinity - 106ppm
Cy acid - 40
Free chlorine - 0.2 ppm
Total chlorine - 3.2ppm

This was after using a chlorine free shock. I noticed the liner was slipperier than normal so I adjusted hardness(I know this isn’t a big deal for vinyl liners) up to 250ppm and then shocked with chlorine powder 4 hours later. The bag said 1 bag per 10,000 gallons so I added 2 bags since I had 0 free chlorine. It’s been 2 hours now and water is still cloudy I assume due to too much chlorine. But there is also white powder at the bottom of my pool. I am not sure if this is DE or excessive shock?

Also on a side not the filter shock I put on the skimmer I replaced as it was filled with crud. The second sock is now also filling with crude.

Also the filter pressure is 18psi which is pretty normal I am usually at 16psi.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated before I go down too many rabbit wholes.

Thank you in advanced.

Picture of the 1st skimmer sock after 4 hours and the de filter grids before and after cleaning due to short filtering.

I have a Pentair Clean & Clear Pool Filter with Pentair 3/4 Pump
and noticed lately the release valve doesn’t put out as much water as before
I changed out the cartridge filter with a clean one put it all together starting the pump up and opened the release valve and the water only comes about a 1/4 less pressure
Could the release valve have some thing blocking the flow
The jets that feed the pool seem to have same pressure (at least by feel)
I have thought I cleaned out release valve with the hose but maybe not good enough
Any suggestions

About to change from in line chlorinator to SWG. Excited to make this change rather than dealing with 3” tabs. Pool is 6 months old. Getting it installed on Thursday. Any advice on adding salt now in preparation or should I wait until install? Current salt level is 1000 ppm and SWG calls for 3200 ppm.

Any advice is appreciated. Details of pool are in signature.

Hello all, first time pool owner.. set up has a 15K gallon pool + SPA, IC20 SWCG and a 3 HP Pentair variable speed, also a heater. Set up is sweet, there is a control pad in the family room that can manage multiple things including pool / spa mode. My question --> the set up currently has a bypass loop with a valve that seems to partially (30% to 50%?) open. Plumbing seems to have an outer dia of about 2-1/4 inch.

My questions are:

1. I have heard such valves may or may not be needed on a variable speed set up - is this correct? Do I need the valve operating?
2. How do i determine the best setting for the valve? 30% open vs 70% vs fully open?

Thank you all in advance for your help!

Does anyone know what bearings are insdie a Hayward VS Super Pump motor (1.65 HP)?

My pump has started to make noise and I want to repalce the bearings.

Admittedly, I'm a novice when it comes to owning a pool. Recently, I noticed the water flow from the pool pump is reduced and the filter pressure is high (30 psi). I have a standard Pentair system. Anticipating that the filters probably need cleaning, I went to open the air relief valve (with the pump off of course) as the first step and water came out and continued to come out even after draining 50 gallons. Is this an expected outcome with a pool that is situated higher than the pump? I watched a few videos about filter cleaning and in each video only air comes out of the air relief valve. I've only owned the house for less than a year so I don't know how it "usually" is.

Hello Community
I’m installing my new Hayward Super Pump dual speed 1.5HP -230V
Model SP2610X152S
Motor model SP1610Z2MSC7
I’m stuck at how to wire it.
The plate says Maximum Amps 11.9/3.3
So I’m assuming I need a 15 amp dual line breaker. Correct?
Every YouTube video I’ve seen says that you need two live wires going to the pump and no neutral. But they are not dual speed pumps.
My diagram shows 1 live and « common » (which I assume is = to neutral?).
So my questions:
Am I correct on the breaker?
Do I need a neutral?
If yes, do I join the two live wires together?
And finally: what wire size? The manual says 8 or 6, but the hardware store told me I could never fit that in a 15 Amp breaker. And the connecting wires in the pump are tiny.
I will post a picture of the diagram and of the inside of the electrical plate

After watching my pool guy have a very easy time managing my pool for 2 years I wanted to start doing it myself so I really understood what was going on (& help keep costs down).

Just a bit of background. I have a 10,000 gallon pool with cartridge filters & an electric heat pump located in Phoenix AZ.

I know the summers out here can be a bit challenging on pool care with the temperature & the sun but I figured why not take on a little challnege for myself.

In terms of chemicals I currently have a big bucket of Clorox chlorine tabs from Costco & the Clorox shock packets (both were handed down to me by a neighbor moving out).

Since I wanted to get a baseline I took a water sample to Leslie's & this was their attached report. His first recommendation was to lower the number of chrloine tabs I float from 3 to 1 (he said pool guys float 3 because they only come once a week) and floating 1 would help with chrloine numbers. He also mentioned that my CYA was high because of the Costco tabs (& their high concentration of CYA). I did notice that these chrloine tabs do seem to last less time than the ones my pool guy uses.

He sold me on some metal removal chemical (because we back up to state land and have lots of pollen falling into the pool on a daily basis). He said to use that & shock after the sun goes down, do a filter cleaning and I should see some improvement. Also recommended a drain & refill over the winter.

So my question is what chemicals (& other products) should I have (should I switch from tabs to liquid chlorine) in order to maintain my pool given the test results attached.

Please let me know if you have any questions & thanks in advance for your help here!

I have an IC40 that’s about 5 years old, recently stopped producing chlorine. Diagnostic mode shows the usage at 20%, water temp at 90. Unit doesn’t seem to be producing but the cell light is green and sanitizer lights are on. I changed the flow switch but the salt level and flow lights are off, they work because they’ll light up during the diagnostic.

Does it need replaced? I can’t find anything in the manual’s about no lights.

So glad I found TFP a few years ago. New neighbor move next door three or four years ago. There was a very old pool next door with trees growing out of it. They spent lots of money with new liner and cleaning it up. Talked to them half dozen times they said we've owned pools for 20 years no problem. Only ever saw a chlorine puck holder floating around. 4th of July weekend comes along and I believe they are pool stored. Unfortunately they drunk the Kool-Aid nothing I can say to them will help.

As I'm swimming in my glass like swimming pool. I feel bad for them.

I just purchased a vacuum head with a 1.5 inch vacuum hose so I can manually vacuum my pool. I tried using one of those vacuum plates over my skimmer basket and got no suction doing this. My suspicion is the vacuum plate does not create a good seal against the basket. This seems to me to be a poorly designed concept. The next thing I tried was removing the skimmer basket and float valve and stuck the 1.5 inch hose directly into the skimmer intake port. The port completely swallowed my hose but I got plenty of suction for the vacuum. I had a difficult time pulling the hose out of the intake port when I was finished vacuuming my pool. The inside diameter of the suction port is 2 1/4 inches and the outside diameter of my skimmer hose is about 1 3/8 inches. I also noticed there are female threads on the skimmer intake port. I tried to search for an adapter online that will adapt my suction hose to the intake port of the skimmer but had no luck. Does such and adapter exist? Is there any other way to solve this problem. I am worried the sleeve on the end of my hose could come off and get stuck inside the plumbing. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

The Calcium Hardness in my nearly 3 year old plaster pool was always steadily maintained in the 350 to 400 range. So much so, that I haven't checked it in the last 3 months. That is, until it started to get a bit cloudy and I ran a complete chemical check using the TFP test kit. It is now 750! I know I have few options on lowering it and am considering either RO or draining. (I am also considering a stain control chemical and maybe a flocculant to remove some calcium to see what they can do, but I doubt it'll make a dent in lowering it).

But before I do anything, can anyone tell me what would have caused this sudden increase? I don't want to incur the burden of remediating this without knowing if it'll happen again because of something I'm overlooking.

Thank you.

So.. just acquired above spa for free.. and its in really good condition.

Temp says 10deg c.. when turned on, although I'm sure it's more like 20 as I'm in Spain.. temp light flashing.

Flow is very good, filter is clean, so I'm thinking temp sensor or heater...

Any tips on testing either ?.. I'm good with a multimeter.. ir should I start elsewhere ?

Hi All - I'm not talking about fading the liner, I mean like can degrade it to the point it starts to leak or break. I've had some stubborn algae and I've been maintaining my FC at about 12 but shocking up to 20 and I've noticed in spots it seems almost 'scaly' like an alligator instead of smooth. My numbers are as follows

FC 12
CYA 40 (just increased to 60)
PH 7.5
TA 40
Salt 3700

I have had issues with my Raypak heater for years getting very frequent Raypak High Limit 2 faults. I have changed the Unitherm governor several times (most recently two weeks ago), the internal bypass, replacing the limit sensors and adding a heat shield. I finally decided that I must have a ventilation problem as my spa heater gets direct sunlight and little air circulation (and I have read others accounts of similar situations).

But two days ago I got a new error message. My system said "High Limit 2 Open". and it remained with that message for about 60 seconds despite several attempts on my part to clear it (turing off the heater, pressing the mode button, etc). Eventually it went away and yesterday I got the High Limit 2 fault (requiring me to hit the mode button) almost immediately after I started the heater (brought water temperature up from 82 to 87 degrees). Then, upon reset, it heated to 103 without further issue. I just wonder what the significance of "High Limit 2 Open" vs "High Limit 2 Fault".

We have the Jandy nicheless pool lights, I believe the part number is jluc10-100. I rotate the plastic cover, the light comes out about 3", I cannot figure out how to remove it. I don't want to pull too had b/c I don't know if there is a seal back there. Can anyone point me to directions on how to remove and then replace this light / bulb?

Thanks,
Kevin

I went to log my pool chemical levels today and I was told I must upgrade to premium to do so. I noticed my renewal was processed July 1 so I am 100% up to date. On further inspection, my subscription seems to be for an old email that gets kept alive with Family Sharing. Since Apple would not combine my two user ids, I discontinued use of one but share its subscriptions with the family. In any case, through yesterday morning, my family share of this subscription worked. Now it does not.

How quickly will your CH rise? I live in hot sunny southern California and our house has hard water. My CH is 175 and my CSI value is -0.08. Im being told not to add anything to bring it up because it will rise on its own due to evaporation and before you know it it will be high. Thanks!