Hello everybody! Checking in from the Tampa area. I have a saltwater pool with attached spa. Solar heat with a heater for the spa. Just stumbled upon this site and thought it would be a good place to find some answers and hopefully contribute.
We’ve had our pool for about 8 years.
Brian

Hey friends. One day my pool will truly be troublefree but for now (and the past 3 years) it has not been lol I say that because I already drained the pool last year and hoping not to do it again. Not even sure if I can do a partial drain with how hot it is here in Vegas now.

My current issue is I don’t think my SWG is reading the salt correctly. I know my salt is a little on the high side due to my husband adding too much last summer. I took some manual tests. Do we think the SWG is reading right based on the pics of my tests? I used two different tests.

Also see diagnostic and system info below
Salt 5600
Temp 84
Cell voltage 24.6
Cell current 6.92
Desired output 52%
Instant read -5400
AL-0
R 1.59
T-9

T cell 940 aquarite 900 Hayward about 3 years old

We have went through all theateps of shocking and pH balance and flac or whatever but now we have a balanced phbit pool is still cloudy I was told to vacuum and dump out water some because the cloudyness is dead alge but my vacuum does not dump is there anything else I can do?

Did a BYOP here in Austin Texas. 5600gal pool with a 1000 gal spa.
I grew up with a backyard pool I helped maintain, was a lifeguard at a public pool and helped with it, and I have a MS in environmental engineering so know a tiny bit of chemistry. It's a small, relax out of the heat pool in our small yard. 90% of the time it will just be the 4 of us using it.

Whole thing is Pentair including:

Intelliflow3 VSF
Intellicenter i8PS - w/2x Intellivalves
Pentair MasterTemp
Pentair Clean & Clear Plus CCP420
Autofill
Pentair Rainbow 320 In-Line Chlorine/Bromine feeder
Blower on the spa side.

Quartzscapes - mostly white in color (marine blue or something)

After an hour long wait time and 20 minutes of actual trouble shooting, I think I have the pump working and the valves correct. For right now I have the valves set to 6 for pool and 24 for spa. I've got the pump running at 45GPM as I am supposed to run it non stop for 72 hours.

Before the problems - we did overfill the pool by about 2 inches. It's 105 outside, so I was thinking evap would sort that out the next couple days, but if I need to remove the extra, let me know.

Problems(?)

1. When I first started it had a horrible air leak and could not get close to primed. 2-4 inches of air in the pump chamber. I figured out that the pipe from the 3 way was not glued in. Glued it and now I can get a prime (full chamber) but no vacuum showing at the pump/chamber. I also get the sound of air moving through the system, after the filter. I have burped the filter. From the filter through the heater and back down to the ground I can hear water moving with the sound of air/bubbles and I am getting bubbles from some of the returns. After 30 minutes I had two bubbles in the pump chamber, about the size of a half dollar. Both stuck to the bottom of the clear top.

Give the air sound in the pipes, the bubble or two in the chamber, bubbles from the return - is it possible I still have an air leak? Something I need to hunt down? or is the first 30 minutes too soon to be worrying about having all the air out of the system (3" pipe and equipment 70ft away from pool).

2. Just back from Leslie's - As expected high pH (8.7), but Austin city water is 8.5+, so just battling that and normal high pH from the first days post plaster. I measured my Ta at 70, Leslies says 62. I added 32oz of acid, so will get again in an hour or two to see pH and TA are back in check.

There is no Cl (FC = 0.8ppm; TC 1.42). Start up says not to add it to the autofeeder. Can I just throw a tablet in the skimmer? Do I need to buy liquid Cl for now, save tablets for later?

They told me I should also address my low CyA (5ppm) using their Conditioner. (add 2lbs). The rest they said could wait.

FC - 0.18pppm
TC - 1.43
pH 8.7 - added 32oz 32%ma
TA - 62
CH - 87ppm
CA - 5ppm
Iron - 0
Cu - 0.2ppm
Phosphates 424 ppb
TDS - 300ppm


Closing -

For now, as we get the above sorted out - where do I find best practices for setting up the pool in general (how long and how often to be running pumps, how best to setup auto feeder, etc) - Is that all in the pool school?

I seem to always run high on my CL this morning I tested the following,
FC-8.5
CC- .5-1 IT WAS 5:00 AM and dark
PH- 7.8
TA-100
CYA-30-40

The kids were complaining about their eyes burning at lunch time and said the water tasted salty, would bringing up the CYA still be the first plan of action or should I shock the pool?

Dumb question: for the Hayward acid feeder it has a 15gallon container. Obviously know you add acid to water and not water to acid. So what the best way to fill (refill)? pre mix in a bucket and the just fill from the mixture?

koffey said:

btw, you can still use the pool while slamming.

Click to expand...

Really? So CYA of 40, FC 16 and PH 7.0 you can swim in?

Moved from here.

I have sand escaping from around Inground pool steps. What is best way to seal?

Moved from here.

The issue is a circuit breaker popping. The circuit has the heater, blower, and ultrapure (dual pole 20 amp, Siemens). When I put it in spa mode (no matter what time of day), have the heater turn on, and then turn the blower on, within about 3-5 minutes the breaker will pop.

I put it in service mode and manually recreated spa mode, the breaker never pops. The blower ran 30 minutes, heater cycled on and off.

I put it back in auto mode (not in service), put it to spa mode, turn it all on, and the breaker pops.

Then, I put it in pool mode, turn the heater on to the pool, but also turn the blower on to the spa, and nothing ever pops! The blower ran 30 minutes again.

It sounds like something’s wrong with the controller? (easy touch).

Trying to SLAM my pool and I've been measuring readings throughout the day and adding liquid chlorine as needed. Tried to do an overnight test and saw that I lost 3.5ppm FC overnight. Dang.
Shock some more and then test last night to get the baseline for OCLT and got 15ppm FC (target is 16). Just out of curiosity I tested it again from the same cup of pool water and I got 13ppm... What am I doing wrong?

Obviously it needs to be repeatable for me to trust the results. I did this in my kitchen with plenty of light and I was VERY careful to make sure the measurements were correct. The only thing I can think of is that the DPD powder doesn't seem to ever dissolve fully? I mean it's like 99% dissolved but I can still see a few specks floating around no matter how much I stir. I am manually stirring btw.

Hi everyone, I appreciate any help you can give!

I live in Central Florida and called someone out because I had some travertine pavers that started to sink a bit and wanted a price for getting them level. When the gentleman came out here, he said he can do it but also said that this caused him concern. It seems that when my pool was installed two years ago, the skimmer column wasn't secured with gunite. This is the picture he sent me when he came to see it today (I'm at work).

Does this seem correct? The company who built my pool is out of business. From this picture, I'm hoping someone can tell me if this looks like something was done incorrectly when built or not. Thanks so much in advance!

I opened my pool for the first time this year, and it all went well.
First time putting in the ladder and bottom pads aren't tight up against the liner and can move 3/8" or so. Should I try harder to get the rubber pads tight up against the liner or is a small gap ok?
Not sure which is better to minimize any wear on the liner.
Thanks!
PS the pads have been on for several years. Do they need to be replaced occasionally? They seem ok at this point.

Some of us have been in the pool industry for a long time. Here is my question for you to answer, *I have been in the pool industry for so long I remember when...... Let's have fun with this

Display reading high salt and or amps. New generator and sent for testing came back fine. Salt level is at 3200. Still shutting off chlorinator saying high salt/amps

I just had the same issue as those in this post from years ago. I’m hoping I can workout my issue and share whatever I do to fix it.

First, I know the pump is getting power because the timer lights were working. The test button does nothing. And neither does the reset. The pump isn’t running. It’s possible the pump is broken. Though, if the Gfci fails, the pump will appear to not work since a failing GFCI will interrupt the power source. The I stands for Interrupter. This leads me to believe that either the GFCI is successfully failing or the pump is trash. Given that others have successfully replaced the GFCI, it seems smart to replace the cheaper and more likely culprit first.

I went out to see if the plug thingy was easy to remove. Lucky for me, there were screws on the back. I took the 4 exterior screws out and the backplate came loose. Then, I took out the 2 screws that were securing the cable. Once that was off, I loosened the 3 brass screws holding the hot, neutral, and ground wires. After that, everything came loose. Here’s where I’m at right now.


Next step is to lay out the facts and what I know. this grounded (3 prong) plug is a GFCI and a timer. So, it needs to be replaced with a GFCI and a timer. There are plenty of ways this could happen. Maybe there’s a combined apparatus that will quickly solve the issue. Or maybe I get 2 separate things. Or I replace my outlet with a GFCI and just get a timer.
I do have a space restriction since I have one of the little white boxes around the outlet.

According to How to Replace a Power Cord Plug, I can replace the plug with one of these for <$5. Once I do that, I’ll still need a GFCI and a timer. I like the idea of having them separated. That way when something fails I can more easily diagnose what the problem is.

Regardless of what I just said, I have decided on not separating everything. I’m going to try this timer and this inline GFCI replacement plug. This way happened to be cheaper and will be slightly quicker. We shall find out tomorrow if they fix my issue.

I think @theedaddyduck’s Timer mod will be helpful

To be continued.

I've been researching, and am about to purchase & install a Stenner pump with a 15 GAL storage tank for chlorine injection of my 15,000 GAL AGP.

Stenner's 3 GPD fixed speed 25psi model (45MP1) meets my needs, but I'm leaning towards setting this system up inside of my garage to keep it out of the weather extremes it would be subjected to sitting outside on my pool equipment pad. This scenario would have me running approximately 25' of hose from the pump through my home's crawl space before I punched through the foundation wall to tap into the return line at the pool equipment pad.

I'm wondering if it would be advisable to upgrade to Stenner's equivalent 100psi model (45MPHP2) in the above scenario so that I'd have a check valve at the return line tap to provide additional protection in the event that components inside the pump wear enough to allow pool water to flow backwards through this system (overfilling my storage tank and getting pool water inside of my garage).

What say the experts of TFP?

So keep having the same issue with my jets sputtering. I removed the pump top and filled it with water and then started the Filter again at the highest variable speed and all was well for a day. Then it happened again, and again this morn.

Doesn’t appear to be a not enough water in the pool issue.

What else can I check?Attached a couple vids of the jets and then the pump itself (did I not put the lid on right?).

Heading out for a few days tonight so don’t want to leave the filter on if there’s a bigger issue!


Thx

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Will the same plug fit either controller? If not is there an adapter available?

Our home is White Stucco (Snowbound SW) and I'm having a really hard time decided what travertine to do for the decking because they all have so much beige and tan in them. We were originally going to to do limestone Shellstone but it is almost blinding in the sun and worried about stains with the small kiddos.

Does anyone have a recommendation on what would look good? Or pictures you could share if you have a white house?

Hello everyone, I just now got our pool up and running from just being built. I have a question regarding pool fill ups. I might have mistaking filled up the pool with a hose splashing from the top of the deck down to the pool the whole time causing a constant splash. I now have really high ph that I have been steadily decreasing using muriatic acid. However due to evaporation I’m concerned about refilling the same way. Does everyone top the water off by submerging the hose into the pool water so it doesn’t cause an aeration effect? Thanks!

Hello all. Very happy to have stumbled onto this site.

We have a SWG swimming pond (pool) and are beginning the journey to take control of our pool and get away from our local pool store.

We just did our yearly "reset"- drain, pressure wash, refill, start over- after coming out of winter here in Central Oregon. We used all the recommended chemicals from the local pool store (hadn't found TFP yet) and levels seem to be in the rough ballpark using the test strips we have. I have ordered the TFP recommended test kit and am waiting for it to arrive so we can start to get more accurate numbers on our own.

In the past, we have struggled with algae blooms and high pH. We used to struggle with chlorine levels, but I think it was because our salt cell was too small for our pool. It seems to be holding better now.

So while waiting for our test kit to arrive so that I can get some "where do we go from here" advice, I'd like to get the app figured out. Does anyone know if there is a tutorial somewhere showing all the features and how best to utilize it? I am hoping that I can use it to track test results, and then have it tell me how much of each chemical needs to be added?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi David,
I am wondering if you ended up replacing the blower/motor assembly? I have the same symptoms as you documented in the original post. Fuse F4 blowing and resistance reading on the slow speed windings is above the range specified in the manual. My motor is drawing 2amps (slow speed) and the motor label plate seems to indicate a rated current of 1.3 amps. Any info on how you fixed your original issue is appreciated.
Thanks
Adam

Moved from here.

Hello! Need to replace my Jandy 400k btu heater and looking for recommendations. Pool store recommended the Sta-Rite which is most economical, but is it a dependable and long lasting or should I consider other brands? Not a salt water pool. 25k gallon in ground with jacuzzi.

K, so I got my tax return and bought a Circupool Core 35 swg. Self installed it and now Dialing it in. With the SWG @ 25% it’s holding @ 5 FC. Pump is running 24/7 @ 40 gph, 1750 watts. Is that too much? Would it be better to run pump less, like 12 hrs, and bump SWG to 50%? Would that save wear and tear on the pump? And is that the correct amount to bump the SWG to get the same chlorination result? SWG is preset to only do 25, 50, 75, or 100% increments. Thanks for any guidance u can give me!

Hey everyone, I am a new member here and I am looking forward to learning more about the TFP method.

Hi,
We have Brown spots on bottom of pool after switching to SWG summer of 2022. We also had the plaster redone in fall of 2021. Does the cheaper salt at Walmart vs pool store contain metals? Is there anything I can add daily or weekly to keep the metal from staining the plaster? Pool chemistry is Free Chlorine 5.35, Total chlorine 5.35, PH 7.5, TA 71, Calcium 347, CYA 42, IRON 0, Copper .1, Phosphates 215, salt 4000.
Thanks in advance,
Barb

I put together all of my PVC and hoses. Found one leak that I have since fixed with an added gasket. And now I still have this leak. In the picture, you’ll see that I have an arrow pointed at this threaded fitting at the top of the tee.

It absolutely refused to not leak, so I used the same PVC primer and cement that I used on the slip fittings, but there is still a leak. At this point, is there anything I can do to stop the leak?

After opening our pool recently the no flow light went on. I replaced the flow switch and the light went off so I thought I was all set. However, although the system is generating, I noticed my instant salinity number drops slowly throughout the day so I think my cell is failing. Today I noticed both the cell plug and the connector on the board look burnt. I took off the cover and the board seems fine. I checked the thermistor (which I replaced a few years ago) and that looks ok to me too.
Do I need to replace both the salt cell and the board (or that white connector)? I'm worried if I replace those parts they may both burn out again so I'm also thinking maybe it's time to get a whole new SWG system. This is our original from 2006 and every few years something goes wrong (I've replaced the thermistor, three flow switches and at least three salt cells). Any advice would be greatly appreciated!! Ann

I've attached pics below.

Here are the current display readings:

3000
72
26.2
5.35
73p
-2600
AL-0
r1.40

I have a 10,000 Gal pool and a Blue Essence generator by Hayward.

My salt level when read at the pool store is ~ 3750.

My salt level on the Blue Essence is generally showing ~2400 and often the instant read is 0, so it is not generating unless I super chlorinate.

My salt cell is about 6 months old.

How can I figure out where my problem is?

Been using TFP methods on our pool since I found you all 8 years ago! Not much has come up that I haven't been able to resolve using forum posts and advice. That is, until recently. Having an issue with our pool that is perplexing me. Opened (mid-May) without any real water chemistry issues and passed OCLT the first night of SLAM. At that point, CYA was sitting at 40 (sometimes could see dot just below 40 mark, sometimes just above), so maintained FC at goal of 7, never allowing it to hit below 4. Looking back, I *think* the offending incident may have happened while we were gone for 2 days at the beginning of June (6/2 - 6/4). I beefed up the FC before we left and told the person watching our pool to add 1 gallon each day (which covers typical FC loss each day). It was incredibly sunny AND hot that weekend, but everything tested in range upon our return. It IS possible, though, it drifted below the recommended minimum while we were gone.

Last Wednesday (6/14) noticed the pool was starting to get cloudy. We had been having issues with our aging filter and rising pressure, so took the filter apart and cleaned it out thinking it could be a filtration issue. Water started to clear up by the end of the day but wasn't the crystal clear we are used to. Woke up 6/15 and water still wasn't completely clear so decided it's possible that the rising pressure and cloudiness was not a filtration thing but a water chemistry thing, and started a SLAM based on CYA of 40 using 10% LC. Woke up 6/16 and water was crystal clear again, but completely surprised to see that CC's were above 1 and failed OCLT. Assumed we had an algae bloom and started brushing (twice daily) and vacuuming (once daily). Pressures haven't risen but did backwash once in case there was algae debris inside. I will post info below, but haven't been able to pass OCLT and CC's range from 1.5-2.5 (usually decrease on hot, sunny days and increase at night). There hasn't been ANY trace of algae debris, no areas of discoloration, no "swooshing" piles of gunk when we sweep, and the DE medium was "normal" color when we back washed. We've removed the ladder, cleaned all pool tools with bleach mixture, and I've toothbrush scrubbed all the nooks and crannies I can get to (daily).

On 6/17 I made the decision to bump the SLAM up to CYA 50 levels since sometimes, when I check CYA, it's right below the 40 marker and maybe I should have been rounding up. What's interesting is that when I was SLAMing to 40 my CC"s were always 1 - 1.5. When I moved to 50, the CC's increased to 2 - 2.5. Obviously something is happening in my pool, as I've never had a SLAM go past 48 hours. My theory is an elusive algae that I can't seem to pinpoint, but hoping I can get some feedback and encouragement. I think I'm at the POP phase but I'm physically, mentally, and financially hitting a wall!

Starting Measurements:
pH - 7.5 (I have a question about this below)
CYA 40; but started dosing based on 50 since sometimes the dot disappeared right below the 40 marker putting it in the 40-50 range
TA - 80
CH - 200

Every time I tested I added enough 10% LC to get me to SLAM level. As you can see sometimes it held until the next sample, most times not.
6/15 5:30p (started SLAM) FC-4.5; CC-0 (had CC's of 0 since opening SLAM, despite recent cloudy water)
7p FC - 17; CC - 0
9p FC-14.5; CC - 1.5
1:45 a (tech 6/16) FC - 16.5; CC - 1.0

6/16 8:00a FC 14.5 (failed OCLT); CC - 1.5
noon FC-16; CC-1.5
2:45p FC-14; CC-1.0
5:45p FC-16; CC-1.0
9:20p FC-16; CC-1.0
11:30p 17.5; CC-1.5 (not sure why FC drifted up since I didn't add anything after 9:20 test)

6/17 8:45 a FC-16 (failed OCLT); CC-1.5
11:45a FC-15; CC-1.5
4:10p FC-12; CC-1.0
6:45p FC-12; CC-1.0 (changed FC target to 20)
8:25p FC-21; CC-2.0 (notice CC increase when I increased FC level)
midnight FC-21; CC-1.0

6/18 (made a concerted effort to test and adjust every 2 hours; sunny and hot day so think I lost quite a bit of FC to sun as pool gets full sun pretty much from 9 am - 7 pm)
6:10a FC-19 (failed OCLT); CC-2.0
9a FC-16; CC-2.0
11a FC-17; CC-1.0
1 pm FC-17; CC-1.5
3p FC-19.5; CC1.0
5p FC-18; CC-1.0
7p FC-20; CC-2.0
9p FC-17; CC-1.5
11:20p FC-22.5; CC-1.5

6/19 (today- overcast, cool, off and on rain)
5:30a FC-18.5 (failed OCLT); CC-2.5
7:45 FC-20.5; CC-2.5
9:35 FC-21; CC-2.5
HOLDING on further additions until get advice about pH

If you have made it this far, you are my hero! Questions:

1. What am I missing? Agree it's algae and just continue doing what I'm doing? Think it might be something else? Suggestions on what else I could be doing? See anything in my testing that stands out to you?
2. When looking through posts trying to troubleshoot, I realized that I was hasty in starting my SLAM and didn't bring my pH down to 7.2. I started at 7.5. Considering my high FC SLAM level, and the fact that I've already put in 20-25 bottles of liquid chlorine, would it be wise for me to try and adjust my pH now or wait until SLAM is done (not knowing how long and how much more LC will be added). If I should adjust now, should I let it drop to 10, test, adjust, and bring back up to SLAM OR add some MA while SLAMing knowing I started at 7.5 and try to bring down a little?
3. Considering my CYA has hovered a bit above and a bit below the 40 marker, is it wise for me to continue to SLAM to CYA 50 or drop back down to CYA 40 levels?

Again, you have my utmost appreciation in advance!