Please help a newbie figure this out.

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jmsilhy

Bronze Supporter
Jul 3, 2019
45
McKinney, Texas
Hi everyone, I recently bought a house in McKinney and the previous owners were not very helpful in helping figuring out the pool.
Some quick context, the pool has a spa and an automatic cleaner that I can see always get tangled, and he also doesn't like me because he'll shoot water at me every time I come close (lol!). That guy is a Polaris, but I'm not sure of the model. Here's a pic of the whole thing:

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There is a company that quoted the former owners a couple of things for it, one was the heater which apparently is not working and cannot be fixed due to new regulations, the quote was for $3,100 installed. The other quote was for a new panel to replace the current one which is also not working properly. They quoted to replace an Intellitouch for $775 installed. The reason I'm posting this is because I need to figure out next steps in making it run well. I currently have a company cleaning it every week while we actually move to the house, which will be at the end of July.

What I know so far is that it has a Compool Lx3400 control with Cp3400 control panel (apparently not working, see error code below), Pentair MiniMax NT heater (apparently not working), Hyward Tristar main pump, and a secondary for the spa. It has a couple of Jendy valves which I don't know if they're working or not.

Here is a series of pictures of the equipment What I want to ask is if maybe you guys can help me by suggesting the best thing to do, meaning whether to replace the whole thing, or upgrade the panel, fix the heater or not, etc. Maybe there's a way to simplify with better equipment for not too much money, and get the Spa working properly with hot water, although here in Texas it's not needed most of the time.

Thanks in advance for your comments and sorry for the long post.

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:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

The joys of figuring out someone else's mess! :D

I am not going to be much help on the heater or automation recommendations. You don't need automation to run your setup, so you could save some expense there if desired.
I do not know why they can fix the heater. But, if you have to go new, members and professionals on TFP seem to greatly prefer the Raypak heaters which are simpler and easier to maintain. You certainly will need a heater to make use of the spa.

BTW, that 2nd pump is not for the spa. That is what is running your pressure side cleaner. This happens to be the most inefficient method of keeping a pool clean as it requires you to run 2 pumps. People are moving towards electric robots for cleaning, which cost more up front, but are not tied to you running your pumps.

Finally, that thing sticking up from the pipe by the spa pump is a trichlor tablet feeder. Using trichlor as your source of chlorine in your location is a recipe for disaster due to the build up of the CYA, which required higher FC levels to keep the water safe.

I suggest you read some of Pool School starting with ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry to learn about the chemistry, so you will be ready to fire the pool guy to be able to pay for your equipment fixes ;)
Also check out this video which is the cornerstone of what we teach:
 
Thanks for your response Jason, that second pump being for the cleaner makes a lot of sense. I do need to study all that Pool School has to offer, however I'm in the process of some rehabbing of the house and not moved in yet, so I want to get a bit ahead of myself understanding my inherited mess :p

The system is definitely using tablets now, and I'm strongly considering going to the TFPC method at some point.

I just want to figure out how to turn on and off things with the control panel being useless as it is right now, since you mentioned you can run it without automation for the time being. The control panel has a current program that turns the main and the cleaner pump on and off, and I still can't figure out the schedules. Would you recommend trying to get a replacement 3400 from the web in the meantime, or just go with the Intellitouch once and for all?

Thanks again!
Pepe
 
I can't even offer a guess on recommending the 3400 vs Intellitouch. I have 0 experience with either.

So are the pumps properly turning on and off?
You can flip little toggle switched on the actuators sitting on the valves to get them to turn (assuming they are getting power). If they were both turned 180 degrees, your spa would then be running. Although you need to make sure the booster pump is off if you want to do that.
 
I was briefly at the house and noticed something strange, the cleaner was not moving this time (it usually is but again, I don't know the schedules so that might be it), and there were occasional "spurts" of water and bubbles from one of the outlets in the pool, it did it for a few seconds and then stopped. The main pump was clearly on, I turned it off by pressing the "service" button on the Lx3400 panel, and then turned it back on.

Any ideas?

Thanks again!
 
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