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At the end of last season my pool umbrella started getting chewed on by a rodent of some type. There was a gradually increasing number of holes at the bottom of the pool umbrella, with the umbrella closed. It actually looked like it was getting shot with a shotgun, but the holes were gradually...

Our pool has had significant stains in the spillover spa since we purchased the home and accompanying pool 2 years ago. I paid very little attention to he spa, since we almost never use it. I assumed that it was mineral staining, but none of the stain testing made any change so I let it be. By...

Hi all, My old single speed pump died, so I have been adjusting to a new VS pump over the past few weeks. I have noticed a massive amount of bubbling coming from a single return - the one on the far side of the pool from the equipment pad. Researching this site and a little experimenting is...

Hi all, I have been working for a year to get my water levels under control following a drain-refill thanks to the previous owners puck habits. Our fill water has extremely high CA and TA levels. Thanks to refilling with softened water the CA level is now acceptable (500). However, I continue...

Hi all. With start up this spring I now have a steady leak where the 2” pvc enters the 3 way Jandy valve. Am I correct in guessing there is no way to fix this, short of ripping it out and starting over? The problem is all the other pipe joints are very close, so I will have to tear out quite a...

Hi all, a nitpicky electrical question for someone smarter than I am. My current electrical setup has power coming off my house main panel to a subpanel that powers all the pool equipment. That subpanel is 20+ years old, and has fuses. Is there any benefit to switching it over to a modern...

Hi all. Since I had a little extra time over the holidays I figured I might as well go and test the pool. It has been closed for about 2.5 months. Has a mesh safety winter cover. Temperature is right at 32, since I had to break about 1/4 inch of ice to get to the water. At closing I raised the...

Hi all! My pool is currently cutting edge for 1997, but I would like to bring it up to this century technology. However, I want to do this step by step, probably one big purchase per year. What is the advice out there on the order of adding new equipment? I know that some equipment is needed...

Hi all! My equipment pad has 3 pipe stubs that seem to serve no purpose. One is just an open corrugated drain pipe. The other 2 are pvc stubs near the heater. One of the pvc pipes has a cap that slips right off. Every drain and return in the pool and spa have attached piping. Any ideas what...

First time closing the pool with TFP advice, and it went down very well. Have a 30k IG gunnite pool with a sand filter. I am posting this just in case any other newbies wanted to learn from my experience, and the experienced folks can kindly point out my errors. All of this that was done...

Hi all! Getting ready to close the pool in a week or two, and I have a question about pH. My water has very high pH and TA. To keep scale from forming I have been keeping the pH low. Once the pool is closed will the pH remain where it was at closing, or will it rise in the 7 months it is sealed...

My pool has high CA levels (500) which I have been able to maintain all summer with no scaling. I have had the pool for a year, previous owner did not use TFP and had a history of scale. Most of the summer my CSI has been in the .4-.5 range. Now that fall is upon us the pool temp is dropping...

Hi all. I have a spa that is connected via the plumbing system and a waterfall to our pool. The spa has scale buildup from the old owner - I have had the home for just over a year. Thanks to the plumbing hookup I can easily drain the spa into the pool and do an acid wash to remove the scale. My...

Greetings to you all. We are in the tail end of summer, but I am planning for winterizing. This will be my second year winterizing this pool, and I wanted your take on an idea I had. Our pool is kidney shaped, in ground, plaster. It has an old loop-loc mesh winter safety cover that is full of...

Greetings I have an aging single speed 3/4 hp pentair pump that needs replacing. I know that VSP pumps are the cats meow, but due to the frequency of lightning storms in our area I am leaning towards a two speed pump without the delicate circuitry of the variable speed pumps. I was under the...

Last week all was well in the pool. Sunday morning when I took the solar cover off it looked like a bucket of dirt had been thrown in the pool and scattered around. A strange brownish/black dirt that looked like pond slime. But a light brushing and it disappeared. It has continued to return each...

When we moved into our new house the pool was a beautiful gauzy blue - it just glowed! Now after TFP my darn pool is so clear that I can see all the imperfections on the bottom of the pool. Curse you TFP!

Hi all. I purchased the electronic pH tester at the same time I got the TH-100 test kit. The pH tester keeps losing the calibration, and needs to be recalibrated weekly. Each week it will be at least 1.0 off, either high or low. Is this normal? I use the tester daily, rinse it with distilled...

Hi all- New pool owner that recently did a pool drain and refill thanks to high CYA levels from previous owner. Fill water has crazy high CH and TA levels. My research here on TFP indicated that if I just lowered the TA level and kept pH lower the CSI would be tolerable and keep scale from...

Hi all! New pool owner that had to do a drain/refill thanks to the previous owners triclor habit. Water chemistry in our area is extremely high calcium and TA levels. I will talk about calcium in a separate post, but have a question about TA and potassium. I have been using muriatic acid (19...

Hello there! Brand new TFP member. Bought a house last summer with a pool-my first ever. I kept up the previous owners regimen of tricolor tablets with regular powdered shock and regular clarifier and algicide to keep the pool looking nice. Luckily in my web browsing this winter I discovered...

Just moved to the mountains of New Mexico, into a home with a 35k gunnite pool. Previous owner was doing tricolor tabs, and I kept up that regimen. I opened up the pool this year and could not get a chlorine reading, even after adding 10 gallons of bleach. Pool store testing showed cya level of...