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Does anyone else notice that their MX-8 suction-side cleaner needs a whole lot more suction to work smoothly in the winter? The cleaner just inches along and can barely climb a wall. I suspect the treads or the "impeller" part of it tightens up when the water is below 65 degrees or so. I've...

Ok, turns out I need more help than I thought. Maybe it's that I'm just not understanding how things are wired, but it looks to me like multiple contractors over the years cut corners. First, I don't see any GFCI breakers in the subpanel. (And the main panel feeding the circuit to the pool...

Is it allowable to use GFCI / combination AFCI (“CAFI”) breakers in a control panel for an in-ground pool? The local Home Depot only has GFCI/CAFI, not just GFCI ones. Price seems to be the same as what I see online — about $46.

@Jimrahbe Thanks, that's great. I think I understand how things are set up now. Thanks for the help, everyone. Will report back after I get all the supplies and set things up.

@Jimrahbe Hope you don't mind me summoning you. You seem like the guy to ask about EasyTouch wiring. Do you have any thoughts on what kind of relays I should get if I want to add 2 more to my Compool-to-EasyTouch upgrade (see photos in original post)? Should I stick with the old Compool/Midtex...

@mknauss Oh, interesting idea. But then you'd have to really have the Stenner dialed in just right because it would be running the entire time the pool filter/pump was running, right?

Yes, the pool light and spa light are separately controlled. No SWG. The VS pump does have its timing & speed controlled through the EasyTouch. But if I'm understanding correctly, you're saying that the VS pump just has a control wire from the EasyTouch motherboard, but no power from a relay...

Thanks, @ajw22 . That's helpful info about the actuators. Interestingly, I just noticed that the first relay doesn't have anything connected to it. But I'm confused as to why that is, given that there are two pumps and two lights. :unsure:

Hi All, my goal is to be able to install low voltage landscape lighting and a stenner pump for chlorine. I’m fairly comfortable with circuit wiring, but I need help getting oriented to how things are wired up currently. The pool appears to have had a Compool to EasyTouch upgrade. Even though...

It's on municipal water. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly what's been added to it. We had a pool guy who could never fully get rid of the mustard algae, but I don't know if he ever tried copper-based algaecides. He did charge for phosphate remover a couple times a year when he cleaned the...

Hey folks, what do you make of this: I've got a couple dozen brown-ish red stains, roughly an inch-long, in the deep end of the pool. The majority of it is in a cluster, not near any return. (See photo.) There are also a handful of similar stains scattered here and there, a few feet from the...

Here are images that show where I'm taking the temperature readings near the inlet and outlet. It seems to me that the flow valve is indeed working, but that the metal near the high limit sensors is getting hot enough to trip them and shut off the system. Thoughts? Purex Triton Minimax 400 pool...

Hi Paul, OK, so the power element seems to be working fine. I put the whole flow valve in a pot of 115F water and the element pin extended and caused the valve spring to compress. After taking the valve out of the water and letting it cool for a minute, the pin retracted and release some of the...

Ah, ok thanks. I'll check that out. May not get a chance until the weekend. Will keep you posted. Thanks for the help!

There's no bypass around the heater. All water has to go through it on the way back to the spa or the pool. As for the element, I have to apologize -- I don't know what you mean by that specifically. The heater itself does come on without a problem and stays on until you get close to 100deg spa...

Hmmm. It's already pretty high -- 2700rpm. I bumped it up a tad to 2800 and it didn't make a difference. I can try higher tomorrow. But I will note that I haven't noticed any flow problems or decrease in the other pool functions, like the waterfall, all of which require flow through the heater...

How quickly can a flow valve go bad? Back in November I had a short-cycling problem with my Minimax 400 (original Triton brand) heater. I replaced the flow valve which looked like the spring had elongated and no longer fit right. I also replaced the pressure sensor, which was rusted. Everything...

Unfortunately I don't know the history of the tile, as the spa and pool were there when we moved it. That exterior tile appears to be the same as what's on the interior of the spa and the pool. Those interior tiles are all in great shape. By "hollow sound" I mean that you can tap on all the...

Ok, experts, what do you make of this? I have an elevated spa with a waterfall that goes into the pool. The exterior tiles on the spa are falling off on one side, and the mortar seems to have leached out to the point where you can hear a hollow sound if you tap on the tiles. The mortar...

In case anyone else is looking for a new flow valve, I was able to find one cheaper on Amazon -- $86 and Prime delivery.

Thanks for all the helpful tips, everyone. I replaced the flow valve and the heater worked great to bring the spa up from 57 to 98 yesterday. The old flow valve wasn't corroded at all, but the thinner spring was clearly elongated. See photo. Any ideas on what causes this? Image: Imgur: The...

I spoke too soon. Grrrrr. While the heater now turns on and the pressure light stays lit, the heater is now short cycling -- i.e., heating up for a while but then shutting off before reaching the desired temp, then turning on again after a minute, then shutting off, and so on. I see on other...

Thanks for the tips, guys. I ended up replacing the switch with a Pentair 470190Z switch, which has a plastic body and is less likely to corrode than the original. (The original was a Barksdale MSPS-EE05-Q11.) It took me a while to find the right adapter fitting. Turns out that since the new...

Thanks for the tips! Paul -- The filter had just been cleaned a couple weeks earlier, so there's not much chance it's the filter. All other pool functions are running fine. kadavis -- That's interesting. I finally got the pressure switch off. (It was so corroded that it snapped off.) There was...

Hi, I have Minimax 400 pool & spa heater that stopped working this weekend. Though the power light was coming on, the pressure light was not. So I removed the rusty pressure switch and jumped the wires with a paperclip. Sure enough, the heater starts up now. But how can I be sure the issue is...

Re: Yes, yes, another "trouble priming pump" newbie post :) Ok, got it to work! A few things that may have helped: The cleaner head was gunked up with leaves, as Jim suspected. I opened the bleed valve at the top of the filter to let air out that way. I turned on the pump on high...