Recent content by Johnl

I had a DE filter for a number of years and it is labor intensive and time consuming to clean compared to the cartridge filter I replaced it with 3 years ago. I wish I went straight to a cartridge filter when I had my pool built. I can not tell a difference in the cleanliness of the pool and it...

It doesn't sound like you have a lot aeration, so my best guess would be the Cal Hypo. I am pretty sure that has a very high PH level.

Great idea. I just submitted the payment. Thanks again for the forum and for the support.

Great timing. I just had the same issue and the fix worked for me too. Much better to spend less than $20 (including a soldering iron) to fix a $200 board. Once again this web site is a great resource for pool owners. Thanks again.

I agree with Woodyp. PH over 8.0 is very high and needs to be addressed.

Do you have a Leslie's Pool Supply store by you? The one by me has a tester for Aquarite SWG cells.

We live in an area (not far from you) that has very hard water, so high PH over the winter months can be a real issue. After opening our pool to a very bad scale problem one year, I started to regularly add a scale inhibitor product, like Scaletec. Ever since then we haven't had any scale when...

Your plan sounds fine. The anti freeze can only help. You do want to make sure you blow the line out again since you have to open it to add the anti freeze. Good luck.

I would follow Dave J's advice to determine what each valve controls. I would also recommend using a Sharpie or a label maker to identify the use of each valve. I don't know about you, but I would never remember what they were for when I had to close the pool again.

I take the pump lid off, take the basket out and put the blow through plug in the in-take pipe that goes into the pump. You should have valves that control water coming into the pump from your skimmers and main drain. You can usually blow the skimmers out with a shop vac. Once that is done, turn...

My shop vac is not powerful enough to blow air out of the main floor drain for winterizing either. I use a winterizer plug that has an air valve. You use an air compressor to add air and the air pressure clears the drain. It doesn't take much. You just need to move the main drain valve to the...

I have had a SWG for three years and wouldn't go back to using pucks. I find it a lot easier to maintain a consistent chlorine level with a SWG and you don't have to worry about over stabilizing the pool as you do with pucks. The downside is that you need to watch your PH, because the SWG tends...

The new light I ordered is LED, so it will likely need a seal change before the light ever burns out. Given the first seal failed in 8 years, I'll probably have to consider changing it every 5 - 6 years to be safe (and not spend another $500 changing the whole light fixture).

Looks like your pool is making great progress. I love the look of the stone.

It looks like the seal failed in our Pentair underwater pool light and it needs to be replaced. We have had the pool 8 years and I never thought to replace the seal. Is there a recommended time frame to replace the seal in an underwater pool light? I'd rather pay $15 for a new seal, than $500...