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For me, it varies wildly due to a multitude of factors. Basically I adjust it upwards or downwards based on testing. Very generally, though, I increase the pump time by about 30 percent between winter and summer, and I increase the SWG duty cycle from ~40% to ~50%. I target an FC level of...

Thanks. That's what I thought. I presume the threaded plug is properly glued into PVC pipe.

I want to replace this auto-fill valve, but I'm concerned about the corrosion around the threads. Anyone know what the material is that the valve is threaded into? I'm guessing it's a threaded PVC plug, but I don't want to risk damaging it by unscrewing the valve. Would it make sense to...

Well, green to red is the problem. That is the most common form of color blindness. I can generally distinguish between bright red and bright green, but when they are both light pastels they are very difficult to distinguish.

You may be right. I've constantly fought rising pH over the years. I generally add acid on a weekly basis to keep pH in the 7.5-7.8 range, and I've added borates to establish a buffer. It could probably use some more borates, which I hope to bolster with the addition of 20 Mule Borax after the...

Unfortunately, I don't use a proper test kit. I'm color blind, so I just use a TruTest strip reader to get keep my FC and PH in range. It's generally good enough for my purposes.

Maybe, but my autofill comes from a separate water supply. The main is branched to an irrigation line before the water enters the house. I don't really want a softener just for the pool, and it would take a fair bit of plumbing to install the softener between the sprinkler manifold and the...

Yeah, their results are pretty questionable. I basically use their tests as a rough guide and sanity check for my own testing (which is also suspect). I generally just shoot for a range and I don't really have any problems. Still, it's nice to know that the fill water is relatively low. The...

I had the same problem when I first got my pool ~17 years ago. I purchased an AquaChek TruTest meter. It's pretty basic in that it only measures FC, PH, and TA. However, I find that those three are sufficient for basic day-to-day pool maintenance. I go to the pool store about once a month or so...

You're probably right. Just not sure because So. Cal. gets water from a number of different sources, and the CO river has been cutting back deliveries because of the western drought. FWIW, I found the water quality report for my agency, but they don't list iron levels. My Leslies pool store...

Thank you for the insights. I guess I will try a sequestering agent first. What type of concentration rise do you think I might see without doing anything. I had my water measured at Leslies (I know, I know, but I don't have any other way or measuring metals), and it came back as 0.1 ppm each of...

I did a spot test with AA from Duda, and it seems to be effective. I'm gonna wait about another week to let my FC drop near zero, and I figured I could do some prep in the meantime. I've read through the guide a couple of times and will reread it a few more times. I'd prefer to pull the metals...

As far as I remember, the warranty on cells is only 12 months. Fortunately, it appears that the cell is still functioning properly. That's interesting about the hydrogen. I might have to play with that a bit.

I usually only have to clean it once a year. I typically do that in late November after the annual Santa Ana winds in California. Those winds tend to blow a lot of dust and debris into the pool. Once a year might seem insufficient, but my pressure rise barely changes from clean to dirty. Might...

Just updating this thread in case anyone might be interested. It seems that the root cause of my problem may be a small leak somewhere on the intake side of the pump. I have a VS pump, and at low speeds, I noticed some small bubbles coming out of the pool jets. This normally indicates chlorine...

Thanks Jim. I haven't had time to really dig into it just yet. I just noticed about 5-6 weeks ago that my chlorine levels were reading very close to zero when I checked it on the weekend. Typically, I keep it in the 4-7 ppm range. 9 days ago, the FC was around 3, and I added about ~16 oz of...

Still troubleshooting, but it appears that my IC40 is failing again. This cell has only been installed for two years, but all of a sudden it can't keep up. I'm tired of the frequent failures and high replacement costs. I've never had a cell last longer than 3 years. Does anyone have...

Thanks for the input. You may be correct. I'll do a careful inspection when I clean them this year and reconsider my decision then. On a side note, I wonder if my low-speed filtration strategy has significantly extended the life of these filters. It would kind of make sense that being exposed...

Agreed. Wasn't really looking to buy OEM. Pleatcos are probably at least as good as the original filters.

Yeah, I was thinking of that, but then I'd need to purchase a container just for that purpose. The cost isn't too big a deal, but hard to justify for something I'd only use once every 5 years or so. I'd also need to find a place to store it.

Well, as far as I can tell the gauge is reading 2-3 psi. However, you really can't trust most pressure gauges below ~10% of the full-scale reading, which in my case is 60 psi. Even in the middle of the range, accuracy is typically somewhere around 2% of full scale, which would be around +/- 1.2...

Pentair CCP 520, still on original cartridges. Pressure on low/slow pump rate (around 1200 RPM) is well under 5 psi. When I run my pump for skimming (around 2200 RPM), my the gauge reads 11-13 psi. These numbers have been fairly consistent for the last 5-6 years, at least. I typically clean my...

I suppose you're right. I'm not very familiar with cap start motors. I normally work with DC and VFD/servo drives so I never deal with caps for motor rotation.

I'm not sure I understand your circuit. During rotation when neither switch is open, both the red and white terminals are connected to black.

To further elaborate on the possible logic, each switch has two states which I will call ON or OFF. Since there are two switches, there are four combinations of SW1 ON/OFF and SW2 ON/OFF. The control circuit will look at the combination (and possibly how one combination changes to another...

I'm mostly guessing about how the switches work, but I suspect that the power to the actuators does not actually flow through the switches. I'm probably biased because I work on automation equipment for a living, and it would normally be considered dangerous to route power through limit...

Can't really know without a schematic. The reversing relay may be distinct from the switches themselves. So the direction may be determined by the relative state of each switch at the time the contacts are made. When you touch the the connectors together, you may be closing the Normally Open...

I had a very similar problem develop with my 14-year old actuator. Works in one direction, but doesn't stop in the other direction. I'm pretty sure that the problem is a bad microswitch. This video is a good resource for how to fix it. You might want to try this before replacing the whole...

I'm red-green colorblind and I've been using the AquaChek TruTest meter for the last 14 years. https://www.amazon.com/Aqua-Chek-Trutest-Digital-Reader/dp/B000RZNKNW It's not perfect by any stretch, but it's accurate enough for me to get a general sense of how the water is doing. I supplement...