Recent content by senex

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.

I've been researching the same thing. Home Depot has a 3.8kW that generates 240v for about $400 and can run on propane or gasoline. I lean propane, because storing enough gasoline for several days (as Jim said) is a big hassle -- about 9 gallons a day, and gasoline goes bad if stored too...

The idea sounds reasonable to me. I have a variable speed pump and for years I have used 1600 rpm as my freeze protect setting, which requires less than 200W of power. (During the recent extended cold I bumped it to 2600rpm = 1000W out of extreme caution, due to wind chills below zero, but in...

I had a similar problem last night. (I've been manually checking my pump before bed every night). Freeze Protection was "active" and set to "40 degrees" but had not triggered. Pump was off. It was after dark, air temps were 20s, and water temp was mid 30s. Makes no sense. I bumped the...