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That's surprising, but I guess every pool is different. My TA decreases slowly over time. It was 50 when I added baking soda to get it back up to the middle of the ideal range. Matt

Yes, I live in CA but the fill water in my city is very soft and I have to add calcium every few months to keep the hardness value up. I'll follow your advice and just keep the CSI slightly negative for now, which it generally is anyway. Hopefully others see this and don't do what I did. If...

Hi all, I have some new stains on the floor of the deep end of my pebble-tec pool. I thought they were created just because I waited a couple minutes before sweeping away the baking soda I had added before adding calcium chloride. But reading through other threads, I wonder now if I added the...

Hi all, Is 94% Snow Joe CaCl2 the standard for what most people use to raise calcium hardness? I found a few threads...just curious what everyone's using. I was using PuriTech which claimed to be 100% CaCl2 (though another thread suggested this wasn't true), but it's gone way up in price...

Ok, thanks for the data.

I agree about not enough data. I'm sharing what I have, but my hope is that others have more. A consistent offset would be OK. Since pool chemical criteria are set up assuming indicators (e.g. ideal pH 7.6-7.8), hopefully WaterGuru is putting out indicator-equivalent values. Wow, you've...

Hi all, I found a few threads here comparing WaterGuru results to manual measurements, but all spot checks. I wondered if anyone has significant data on this? I've had mine a little over a month and compiled some results. If there were consistent offsets between the measurements, even within...

Hi Jim, I'm surprised it hasn't been discussed more here. Whether valid or not, it's discussed quite a bit on other sites, a few copied below. Sounds like there is a lot of positive SWG experience within TFP and not much negative. Thanks, Matt...

Hi all, After adding solar and keeping our pool warmer this summer, I'm more seriously considering adding a SWG as the chlorine demand is getting more intense. The general opinion here at TFP seems to be in favor of SWGs, and that the risk of corrosion is low. Many seemingly informed sites...

Hi Marty, I'm curious about this too. Is there a post on the background for the recommendation change? I saw the same thing this week for my plaster, non-SWG pool. Thanks, Matt

I agree, all those factors are important as well. Just trying to sort through which features on panels do and don't make sense, since panels vary in their implementation. All else being equal, more flow is better. If more flow came at the expense of greater surface area or sunlight, that...

Hi Chris, I see, that makes sense. I have no gas heater to start out with, but glad that it paid off for you and that I'm not the only one interested in this kind of analysis. Matt

That all depends on the numbers: how much hotter and how much more flow? Consider the panel to be an engine we want to keep cool. We'd want greater coolant flow so the coolant wasn't heating up as much in the engine. The cooler we keep the panels with water flowing through them, the more...

Hi Chris, Thanks for all the info on your upgrades. That's awesome your pool's in the 90s in March, but Florida's another world. I guess I'll find out what kind of other system upgrades are needed after I have the panels in for a while. What do you mean by not getting better than 5-year...

OK, sounds like not. I spent a while interviewing local pool solar installers and trying to understand their systems. It was very difficult to find good, unbiased info either in person or online, so I’ll share what I learned for others like me who are starting from zero pool solar knowledge...

Is there a post here with the info needed by someone shopping for solar panels (professional install, not DIY)? I've been shopping/interviewing for a while and it's pretty discouraging how much false info installers provide. Thanks, Matt

I will look them up, they were both included with the pool installation. Just guessing, but maybe boost pumps are required if you don’t have a diverter to choose between returning water to the pool via the vacuum vs jets. Since my pool was installed assuming use of a positive pressure vacuum...

No booster pump. I just mean there’s a certain amount of water returning to the pool, and I can divert a variable amount to the jets or the pressure vacuum. The more I divert to the vacuum rather than the jets, the less RPM is required to drive the vacuum. Thanks, Matt

Oh, ok. The tradeoff between the wall jets and pressure cleaner is pump speed...if I send more flow to the cleaner, I need lower pump RPM and less energy to drive it. But I guess if the way to eliminate suspended algae is circulation, then the wall jets are important during SLAM as well?

Hi all, I haven't seen much other pool equipment, but I'd guess mine is typical in that you can direct water coming to the filter/pump through either the main drains or skimmer (to various degrees), and water returning to the pool can run out the wall jets or to the positive pressure vacuum...

OK, thank you.

Hi Maddie, Yes, I use the pool math app. Not sure what's considered "new"...the pool installation completed about 9 months ago. Current values are below. I didn't know about CSI previously, so I just turned it on. Looking back through the records, it's generally well within -0.6 to 0.6...

I read recently, on another forum citing this one, that it is generally OK to let TA levels fall below those recommended if that's what is needed to keep pH down. I haven't been able to find those threads so it would be great if someone could point me to them. It has been tough to keep the TA...