Recent content by senex

Thanks mknuass -- that's good to know about the schedule & motors. I've been running every day because of spring pollen -- but judging on how clean the pool looks, I don't really need to run daily. And once we're into summer, I definitely can space it out.

For 7 years I had a Polaris 280 pressure-side cleaner that came with the house/pool. I've been waffling on replacing it with a robot; my Polaris finally died and I bought the robot; first week is amazing. I'm writing an initial summary that I hope to update as the months/years pass. I bought...

Hi all, I'm in the south, so my pool has been open all winter. I have mustard algae that wasn't killed in my prior SLAM because I followed regular SLAM (didn't realize there was an extra mustard protocol). My Polaris 280 also broke a couple weeks ago, so the pool hasn't been getting its...

Hi all, I have a plaster pH question that I don't see addressed in the wiki pages. I just got replastered. Pool builder didn't say much about water chemistry: just that pH will run high for a while, and to bring pH back to about 7.8 every 3-4 days. CH 100 TA 100 pH 8+ FC 3 CYA 30 My question...

JamesW -- if I'm eyeballing your plots correctly, I think my new numbers put me on the "good" curve C you posted earlier. Which is a relief to know my plumbing (which looks fine visually) is operating in a reasonable range.

Success! TexasSplash, your first two guesses were both right. ajw, thanks for your advice on the impeller. And JamesW, thanks for the pics and pump info: your prediction was also correct. The advice on this forum is gold. I don't post often but I intend to remain a gold supporter for a long...

JamesW, thank you for the many ideas. Filter is plumbed correctly in/out. Tab feeder is still in place, but is not the problem because low flow persists when bypassing the tab feeder (routing all return water to hot tub). I will try the heater bypass tonight if I have time.

Ok, thanks. Unfortunately I'm traveling next week and my regular pool guy moved away, so I'm not sure when I'll have time to disassemble the pump or plumb a bypass for the heater. If it's helpful to understand my plumbing, I gathered some watts/gpm/psi numbers in recirc mode back back when I...

Thanks for the ideas. I normally keep my FC at 3.0. The low flow persisted even *immediately* after replacing the cartridges -- like, within 2 minutes of finishing the cartridge replacement operation. This morning, when I made limited measurements immediately after replacing the cartridges, I...

Thanks for the ideas. I've never gone into the heater. I wonder how hard that might be. And yep, I know my FC is low -- due to the low water flow and chlorine so expensive, that I kind of "let it go" this week, thinking the new cartridges would solve my flow problem, after which I would slam...

Hi all, I've been using the TFP methods for several years with good results. This fall my waterflow reduced dramatically, which I assumed would be solved by cleaning the cartridges, but that didn't work, and even installing brand new Pleatco cartridges yielded no improvement. When my filter...

A while ago I had what I considered an inexplicably low flow rate. This forum suggested I do a test with my multiport valve to "recirculate," which bypasses the filter. When bypassing the filter, my flow rate improved dramatically. Thus I disassembled and hosed off the filter, after which the...

Besides the solar heating, a cover of any kind will reduce evaporation, and evaporation is a strong cooling process. I covered my pool with a blue tarp and the water temp rose from 33 to 36 on the sunny day, even though air temps were below 25. On the cloudy days, my water cooled off much...

Yep, part of the reason code requires the junction box to be above water level is because the conduit is expected to fill with water. It is inevitable due to a flexible electrical cable running through the hole, which prevents a truly watertight bond (as the cable moves or expands/contracts, it...

What you're seeing is frost heave, which can be unpredictable. First step is to just wait and see. If it doesn't go down, one cheap idea is to use a flexible mortar to put a smooth slope across that transition.