Search results

Oh, I forgot about that! Old information. Just 2 now. Back then I hired someone else to do the closings.

Last year, I blew out a 170,000L pool (10' deep at main drain) using the exhaust of a Ridgid 6HP shop vac. I wasn't totally confident in it, especially since I re-used old duck plugs, a type of plug I'm not fond of to begin with, but luckily no issues seem to have come of it, there was no...

How necessary are ice compensators in in-ground, painted or tiled concrete pools? (some painted with a tile border, some tiled throughout). Winters here have an average of night-time low of -4C for three months, with occasional night-time drops to -10C and the occasional cold snap of -20C for a...

I have a small pool and large hot tub on the roof of a four-storey building. The pool is about 3200 US Gallons (6'x20') and the hot tub around 1500 US gallons (8'x8'). These pools are concrete and completely tiled. I've always wondered what the best thing to do with them in the winter is -...

I have an issue where some amateurs painted a 12" stripe around the an in-ground pool ... using the same paint they used on the pool. It is very slippery when wet. The surface is aggregate concrete; sandblasting off the paint is a possibility next year, albeit with a good chance of ruining the...

Done again today (had to drain the pool halfway to drop CYA, and the incoming water has very low TA). This is the same pool, where I have a (hopefully accurate) known size and am "testing" this method to make sure I'm doing it right and getting a good result before using it to determine the size...

I'll run the test again shortly - due to high CYA, after this long weekend I have to dump half the water in both of the pools. One I have a 'defined' size for (as specified by the original engineer, I'm sure he must be close), so it's a good one to test the calculation against. Both of the pools...

Yes, but the calculation is 71400 * (pounds added) / (alk increase) - the emphasis is in adding an exact known amount, hence why I used a scale instead of the typical weight to volume conversion.

I've been trying to determine the sizes of a large kidney shaped pool (pool "A"). I have a similar pool at the site next door for which I do have data, so I thought I'd test calculation methods based on it. Here's what I got on that pool (pool "B"), and I can't figure it out. According to the...

Thanks for the info, chem geek. I was aware of it, but I was unsure if someone made a special puck. There are some non-standard pucks out there, so you never know until you ask. Unfortunately, these locations don't have the money to spend on extra equipment, nor could I mount it legally. As it...

I have a couple of pools that operate solely on chlorine pucks. My problem is that so many pucks are needed to keep the FC levels maintained in these pools that the CYA level jumps much too quickly. During a typical week we might use as many as 15 pucks (3 kilograms of pucks) to keep the FC...

Anecdotal, but helpful information from the commercial side of things. The health authorities around here will shut down a pool at 10ppm, no matter what the CYA. (Although CYA is also legally limited to a range of 30-80). I personally operate with nominal ranges of 2-4 or 3-5 depending on the...

Sorry this isn't an answer to your question, but ... If you have that much trouble with pH, you might want to consider adding borates to the pool. I've got a couple pools where the pH is constantly rising, and will exceed 7.8 if not treated twice a week to bring it down to 7.5. I started using...

What about the white spa hose? Less flexible. The alignment between the two ends will be tricky to do with straight PVC.

Alright. I think I'm mostly concerned about the piece of spa hose now. It goes absolutely nuts when I open the heater bypass (due to the flow increase), and I worry that my glue job won't hold.

So here's my story. Please bear with me. To visualize it better, I've put photos of the equipment room on Imgur at http://imgur.com/a/W0N3p rather than attach them to this post (for which I would have to reduce the photo resolution). Click the gear icon in the top corner of each photo to view it...

Has anyone ever used an irrigation "slip fix" on pool piping? I used one a few years ago as an experiment (and to make my life easier) and was wondering about if it's considered okay and other people's experiences. I put one on the return side of a 2HP spa jet pump (2" pipe) in a difficult to...

My best guess is that at normal times, the suction through the skimmer line is not enough to actually cause suction through the break, so it allows a LEAK. This explains the water loss we get (about 2" a day in a 20x44' pool). Roughly 50% of the pump's suction goes through the main drain; of the...

So a curious thing for me. Every vacuum head I've ever had for a dozen concrete pools has no brushes. They are specifically sold as concrete vacuum heads. Recently I took over a pool that has a nearly identical style head, except it has two alternating rows of brushes on the bottom. I was under...

I just posted about these in another thread - maybe not the exact ones linked, but it should give you an idea. They are LED lights that screw into your returns and use the water flow to power the LEDs - no wires. I've seen versions that have color changing LEDs - maybe you can use a white pool...

I don't know about the strip lights, but you might be able to upgrade the underwater light with a higher wattage one, or with an LED one that is brighter. Also look into something like these - LED lights that screw into your pool returns and use the water flow to power themselves. I've seen...

I did a pressure test on a pool recently to try and narrow down the source of some vacuum problems. The issue is that after about 5 minutes, the pump starts pulling a ton of air out of absolutely nowhere. From then on, lots of air moves through with the water, making vacuuming very difficult as...

If it's any help... I have a gallon jug of CYA reagent ordered by mistake (meant to get a 16oz). After two years and numerous weeks of being kept in the back of a too-hot work van, the contents still give me identical test results to brand new bottles. (I recently ordered 8 all-new K-2006 test...

I just thought I'd share a recent discovery / head smacking moment. I recently took a commercial hot tub circulation pump (Pentair Whisperflo 3/4hp) in for service. It had been very noisy since start-up, and was not putting out the same flow - last year was 47 GPM (the design rate), this year...

Hmm. No I didn't. I think they need updating, too... Here are the versions in play now. Although the volunteers never see the Alkalinity and Cya test sheets, I do use them to train my assistants. I want to update the Cya sheet with an "Almost There" image where you can just barely make out the...

Is anyone aware of independent test lab results for pool test kits? I am a commercial operator in charge of 18 pools, and although I stick with a Taylor K-2006 at all sites, the local health authority has started switching from K-2005/2006 to LaMotte ColorQ. I tried the ColorQ and found it to be...

Sorry I don't see that link?

Sorry I don't see that link?

I once found pictures of doing a CYA test showing start, middle, and end of test, which made demonstrations easier for the dozens of pool testing volunteers I deal with (don't ask...). I could personally really use pictures in the same vein of a CH test, especially of the fading endpoint. My...

Wow, old thread ;) maybe I should post the completed ones we are using when I have a chance.