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I have been using the Pool School method and test kits successfully for some years. My question is about my specific situation, not cleanliness generally. I had no problem keeping the pool algae free when the pool bottom was uniform with few bubbles/cracks. With large numbers of tight...

Okay. As for the Algae, are you saying that I should be able to completely eliminate it? I generally keep FC in the 3-5 range, and run quite a bit of filtration. The water is clear and I clean the dirt with a cleaner every few days. Should I be managing the FC more aggressively?

I have a pool built many years ago. In the mid-2000s, I believe they applied a resurfacing/coating from Aqua Creations in Ventura: http://www.aquacreations.com/services1.htm This coating is starting to have increasing problems. When I bought the house, the coating was beginning to show many...

I have check valves on both the solar intake and return. Both look clear and seem to be functioning properly. They are Waterway check valves.

I did the experiment, as you suggested. It looks like the pressure rise is about the same as before, if not more. Here's the data: Solar Bypassed: 50 GPM, 2020 RPM, 620 Watts, 5 PSI Solar Active: 50 GPM, 3040 RPM, 1595 Watts, 23 PSI I left the pump running for 10-15 minutes before taking the...

The panel tops are about 15' above the pump level (on the roof of a single-story home). The VRV is probably about 11' above the filter pressure gauge, given a pressure gauge about 4' off the ground. I believe that the panels were fully primed at 32GPM, as I did not hear the sounds of water...

I gathered a lot of data this weekend. The full data is below, but my conclusion was that the DE filter was overloaded and clogged. Thinking back, I probably was putting in too much DE on re-fill, and not correcting for the DE left in the filter after backwash. I was able to hit 85GPM in all...

I wasn't clear. Certainly as the filter gets dirtier, the pressure goes up. I've gone from 20 to 30 as the filter gets dirtier. However, since I have an Intelliflo VF, the pump will increase speed to maintain a particular flow. The change from 40 to 50 is probably more due to the removal of...

Agreed. It's nearly time for the annual clean-out. I'll try to make that happen this weekend. Thinking about it, I could even test the system with the filters completely removed to see if that was the factor. The 20PSI number was what it normally runs at, and at about 40GPM. Currently, I...

My last full clean-out was about 11 months ago, in April 2013. No fancy cleaning systems other than the Hayward suction-side cleaner, which is disconnected right now for these tests.

I did further testing this morning. With both the heater and solar bypassed and confirmed, I was able to get to 55 GPM flow, 3450 RPM, and about 2200 kW on the system. Pressure on the filter was 32 PSI. That seems somewhat better. These settings remained regardless of how I set the valves...

Here is my data from December. Do you see the same inconsistency here? 40gpm 3450rpm 1945 watts max 35gpm 2895rpm 1275 watts 30gpm 2575rpm 926 watts 25gpm 2360rpm 725 watts 20gpm 2170rpm 570 watts 15gpm 1905rpm 400 watts

I measured the flow at lunch today. Here's what I found, with both solar and gas heaters bypassed, and a fully open skimmer: 40 GPM, 1640 W, 2155 RPM (Pool In and Outflow) 40 GPM, 2040 W, 3450 RPM (Spa In and Outflow) Looking at this, It looks like I have some headroom on the Pool side, but...

The panels are plumbed in parallel. They were installed by a professional, and are going to be moved to a different roof in the coming weeks (the origin of this inquiry), so that setup can be changed, if appropriate. There no valve closed that I can see, certainly. The piping all around the...

Yeah. Right now, I'm not splitting suction. One additional data point I should mention. I have no idea what the piping is underground. This is an old pool, and it's entirely possible that the underground piping is 1.5" or smaller. I hope not, but the only way to know for sure would be to...

I do have a bypass around the gas heater, and it's used maybe 8 times a year. I expect those numbers are with the solar off (I did the measurements on New Years Eve and marked them as my "Winter" measurements), but I'm not sure. I'm surprised too, given what others are seeing. Is there a test...

I measured the flow rate by setting the Intelliflo VF to the flow I wanted, then waiting a minute or so for the speed to stabilize. I did this for flows from 15GPM through 40 GPM in 5GPM increments where I stopped because I was at max RPM. I hadn't seen tables before my research started...

I'm re-doing the solar on my system, and it's brought up to me the issues I have with my pumping. Here's an overview: Intelliflo VF 3 Horsepower Pump 2 Intake pipes (One spa drain, and one pool skimmer, usually set to 100% pool) 2 Outflow pipes (One into 4 jets on the spa, and one into two jets...

Possible, but I'm not sure the ROI on a whole new pump would be sensible. Do you know ballpark pricing for these pumps?

I don't have a wildly inefficient pump. (It's an Intelliflo VF) :) I've thought about a solar cover, but I really enjoy the convenience of being able to jump right into the pool when I get home, without the hassle of removing the cover. Adding a cover would significantly impact my enjoyment...

Does anyone have a spreadsheet already created for comparing daytime solar heating to nighttime gas heating? I have a gas heater and an existing solar system. However, my new EV has shot my daytime power rates up to $0.47/kWh in Tier 2. I'd like to try to compare gas heating at night with...

As the weather gets colder, I'd like to "close" my pool in Southern California. I've certainly noticed the reduced chemical requirements in the winter, but I'd like to run the pump less in the winter as well. Normally I target one full turnover a day during the summer. In the winter in...

Just as a followup to this, I contacted Pentair, and they identified a bug in my board. After sending my board back to them for testing, they sent me a new board that worked properly.

At what point would I want to consider engaging in a larger rehab job?

Like a few previous posters here, I bought a house with a pool, and now, almost two years later, the paint in the pool is beginning to flake off and bubble up. Do I need to do anything about the flaking? So-far, most of the flakes are small, with the largest spots being about a quarter in...

I don't really care about the low speed right now, as I know how to set that. The problem I'm trying to solve is the failure of the system to speed up to 40GPM when solar is used. Do you think setting the slot 1 speed to match the calculated speed will make the slot 2 (solar) speed work properly?

Yes, indirectly through the Pool Size, Turnovers and Schedule settings. For example, right now, I have it set to 17kgal, 1 turnover, and 9.5 hours of run time. The pump is running at 29GPM, which is correct for those settings. The flow setting in slot 1 (Pool/Spa) is set to 15GPM and appears...