- Sep 28, 2018
- 238
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
FIRST A THANK YOU
First off, you guys are awesome. I have literally had perfect water from day one April 20th. It has been remarkably easy to maintain and the water is so comfortable. I grew up with parents who had no idea how any of this worked and would just shock the pool harshly on a regular basis, thinking algae was just something you fight all the time, getting random chemicals from the pool store only once a month or less. Looking back, I realize that a lot of the problems we had with the surface scaling and flaking were probably because of totally out of whack chemistry (and I bet their CYA is 1000 to this day). I also so often remember my skin and eyes hurting and I haven't had that one time in our pool. My neighbors pay $150/mo, rent their SWG, and still deal with occasional issues. But with intellicenter's Circuit Groups, an SWG, TFP forums, and TFP water guidelines, I honestly feel guilty this being so easy and honestly kinda fun. So $100 for a gold membership to a great non profit is a no brainer IMHO. I'm also using the full Pool Math which is great.
Problem TLDR:
The pump had enough power to circulate the spa overflow at 700 RPM when I got it and now it takes 1300 RPM - why!? Filters clean, only a couple added PSI even when dirty.
Background:
We got our pool filled April 20th. I measured the water as we filled it with Flume and confirmed with my meter so we have a 12,000 gallon pool (company said 16,000 lol) and a 12" raised 500 gallon spa with a 420sqft CC Plus (4 cartridge) filter. I have a 3hp intelliflo for the pool/spa and another one for the sheer descent/bubbler. Ic40 and MT 400k BTU on intellicenter firmware up to date.
Problem:
I initially ran the pool pump at 700 RPM 24/7 and at 1400 for 8 hours for the SWG, and then 2100 for a skim (40gpm) or for the gas heater. However, over time, I realized that the spa would no longer get any water at 700 RPM (i.e. there was too much resistance to push into it and cause a slow spillover), so I had to raise it to 800 RPM. I cleaned the filters that were full of tons of plaster dust and pebbles but it made no difference. Then it took 900 RPM to overflow the spa. Then a couple weeks ago 900 wasn't doing it the pump REFUSED to run at 1000 - it would run for 15 seconds then literally turn off, then restart and prime at 3450 RPM and then back to 1000 then restart in perpetuity. So I cleaned the filters again and it still needed to go up to 1100 RPM instead, which was stable without issue. Today I noticed 1100 won't cut it and neither will 1200 so I'm at 1300. I also have to run the IC40 at 1600 RPM to get enough flow when it was around 1300 initially.
GPM:
When I got the pool, 2100 RPM got us about 43 GPM flow at 500 watts. Now it's about 38 GPM at like 520 watts.
So clearly there's some added resistance that wasn't there when we started. I have tried:
1) Cleaning the filters. Although admittedly, I just sprayed them down thoroughly with the strongest nozzle setting until there was no apparent dirt or plaster dust but I didn't soak them in cleaner or anything. Keep in mind, the pressure rose hardly at all even when they were filthy (at 2100 PRM) because they are so large compared to the pool.
2) Opening up the main drain AND skimmer completely to see if it was suffocated by a restriction in the skimmer somewhere but this made no difference so I'm keeping it 100% skimmer 10% main drain.
The second pump (water feature pump) still runs at 700 RPM using 35 watts and pushes through 12" of water so much that it creates aeration so I'm having to run it through the bypass in the pool to slow down the bubbler. That one clearly has SO much less resistance, which has remained steady since the pool was filled.
My thought is that all this means it has to be (in order of likeliness)
1) Filters are still clogged with maybe plaster dust or phosophorus when I did no phos (though I cleaned it as above, maybe I need to soak them in trash cans of cleaner?).
2) Heater or SWG are constricted because of calcium or something. But my calcium levels were very low initially (as recommended by Wet Edge) then have been in the low 300s consistently - I'm actually planning to add a little to get it to 350-375ish. All my other metrics have been maintained from day one with TFP methods and I've always had crystal clear water and a proper CYA/FC ratio. I got rid of phosphorus only because I figured what's a $30 bottle for peace of mind but I don't remember if my issue started before or after doing this.
3) My intelliflo is defective which is why it won't run at 1000 RPM without constant restarts and also seems to be getting less efficient
Is there an option I'm missing? Am I a dummy and am missing something obvious? lol I don't know how to search for this in the forum so please feel free to link to a thread I may have missed here.
I'm considering
1) Putting in a filter/heater/SWG bypass and testing that to see how much that helps.
2) If it makes a big difference, maybe I'll do a heater/SWG bypass as well and see if it's the filter or the heater/SWG.
3) If it's the filter, do I get one of these cleaner solutions and soak it in the trash can even though they're not even 2 months old? Maybe the phosphorus and plaster dust just doesn't come out well with spraying?
4) Maybe get an extra set of 4 filters and try them, then rotate them in. But this seems like you're asking for more wear as I know getting wet then dry over and over isn't good for plastic/rubber, staying wet is better for sealants so I would think the same would be true here - use the same set until they're bad then swap em.
Thanks all - I'll be sure to post more pictures of the final pool when we get more done. I figure at this point I'll wait until our landscaping and other toys are in - have a LOT to do but I got a new job so I've been absolutely slammed.
First off, you guys are awesome. I have literally had perfect water from day one April 20th. It has been remarkably easy to maintain and the water is so comfortable. I grew up with parents who had no idea how any of this worked and would just shock the pool harshly on a regular basis, thinking algae was just something you fight all the time, getting random chemicals from the pool store only once a month or less. Looking back, I realize that a lot of the problems we had with the surface scaling and flaking were probably because of totally out of whack chemistry (and I bet their CYA is 1000 to this day). I also so often remember my skin and eyes hurting and I haven't had that one time in our pool. My neighbors pay $150/mo, rent their SWG, and still deal with occasional issues. But with intellicenter's Circuit Groups, an SWG, TFP forums, and TFP water guidelines, I honestly feel guilty this being so easy and honestly kinda fun. So $100 for a gold membership to a great non profit is a no brainer IMHO. I'm also using the full Pool Math which is great.
Problem TLDR:
The pump had enough power to circulate the spa overflow at 700 RPM when I got it and now it takes 1300 RPM - why!? Filters clean, only a couple added PSI even when dirty.
Background:
We got our pool filled April 20th. I measured the water as we filled it with Flume and confirmed with my meter so we have a 12,000 gallon pool (company said 16,000 lol) and a 12" raised 500 gallon spa with a 420sqft CC Plus (4 cartridge) filter. I have a 3hp intelliflo for the pool/spa and another one for the sheer descent/bubbler. Ic40 and MT 400k BTU on intellicenter firmware up to date.
Problem:
I initially ran the pool pump at 700 RPM 24/7 and at 1400 for 8 hours for the SWG, and then 2100 for a skim (40gpm) or for the gas heater. However, over time, I realized that the spa would no longer get any water at 700 RPM (i.e. there was too much resistance to push into it and cause a slow spillover), so I had to raise it to 800 RPM. I cleaned the filters that were full of tons of plaster dust and pebbles but it made no difference. Then it took 900 RPM to overflow the spa. Then a couple weeks ago 900 wasn't doing it the pump REFUSED to run at 1000 - it would run for 15 seconds then literally turn off, then restart and prime at 3450 RPM and then back to 1000 then restart in perpetuity. So I cleaned the filters again and it still needed to go up to 1100 RPM instead, which was stable without issue. Today I noticed 1100 won't cut it and neither will 1200 so I'm at 1300. I also have to run the IC40 at 1600 RPM to get enough flow when it was around 1300 initially.
GPM:
When I got the pool, 2100 RPM got us about 43 GPM flow at 500 watts. Now it's about 38 GPM at like 520 watts.
So clearly there's some added resistance that wasn't there when we started. I have tried:
1) Cleaning the filters. Although admittedly, I just sprayed them down thoroughly with the strongest nozzle setting until there was no apparent dirt or plaster dust but I didn't soak them in cleaner or anything. Keep in mind, the pressure rose hardly at all even when they were filthy (at 2100 PRM) because they are so large compared to the pool.
2) Opening up the main drain AND skimmer completely to see if it was suffocated by a restriction in the skimmer somewhere but this made no difference so I'm keeping it 100% skimmer 10% main drain.
The second pump (water feature pump) still runs at 700 RPM using 35 watts and pushes through 12" of water so much that it creates aeration so I'm having to run it through the bypass in the pool to slow down the bubbler. That one clearly has SO much less resistance, which has remained steady since the pool was filled.
My thought is that all this means it has to be (in order of likeliness)
1) Filters are still clogged with maybe plaster dust or phosophorus when I did no phos (though I cleaned it as above, maybe I need to soak them in trash cans of cleaner?).
2) Heater or SWG are constricted because of calcium or something. But my calcium levels were very low initially (as recommended by Wet Edge) then have been in the low 300s consistently - I'm actually planning to add a little to get it to 350-375ish. All my other metrics have been maintained from day one with TFP methods and I've always had crystal clear water and a proper CYA/FC ratio. I got rid of phosphorus only because I figured what's a $30 bottle for peace of mind but I don't remember if my issue started before or after doing this.
3) My intelliflo is defective which is why it won't run at 1000 RPM without constant restarts and also seems to be getting less efficient
Is there an option I'm missing? Am I a dummy and am missing something obvious? lol I don't know how to search for this in the forum so please feel free to link to a thread I may have missed here.
I'm considering
1) Putting in a filter/heater/SWG bypass and testing that to see how much that helps.
2) If it makes a big difference, maybe I'll do a heater/SWG bypass as well and see if it's the filter or the heater/SWG.
3) If it's the filter, do I get one of these cleaner solutions and soak it in the trash can even though they're not even 2 months old? Maybe the phosphorus and plaster dust just doesn't come out well with spraying?
4) Maybe get an extra set of 4 filters and try them, then rotate them in. But this seems like you're asking for more wear as I know getting wet then dry over and over isn't good for plastic/rubber, staying wet is better for sealants so I would think the same would be true here - use the same set until they're bad then swap em.
Thanks all - I'll be sure to post more pictures of the final pool when we get more done. I figure at this point I'll wait until our landscaping and other toys are in - have a LOT to do but I got a new job so I've been absolutely slammed.
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