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I never really got into the idea of pressure-side cleaners, I guess it seemed more complex, with booster pump and whatnot and didn't seem worth it for our relatively small and simple pool. So I just manually vacuum the debris (except this year, for some reason, I decided to see if the robot...

Thanks, that's reassuring! I've rinsed it out with a hosepipe best I can, and I'm now getting the pool mostly clean and will put it in again afterwards, hopefully being immersed will flush it out a bit.

Ordinarily, when opening the pool, I manually vacuum all the silt and debris to waste and get the pool clean and balanced before using the robot. It's a miserable job that takes hours, so this year I decided (because I'm an idiot, a lazy idiot) not to do the usual manual vacuuming when opening...

It is, yes, there's a bubble-type cover (which is surprisingly effective at not only keeping heat in but also using solar heat gain to warm it up a bit). In a typical UK summer, we can maintain it through the season at about 24-26 deg C (75-79 F) without heating. So it's not warm, exactly, but...

You're almost certainly correct. This is using a Lovibond Scuba, a cheap photometer. Unfortunately, none of those test kits is available in the UK. I found one of the Taylor kits on Amazon that would ship to the UK, but the reagents were specified as being almost out of date, and it wasn't...

Reassuring, but something's still a bit weird... FC fallen to 5.4 from 5.5 after another two days; so no chlorine added at all for a week and there's been pretty much no chlorine loss. In fact it's still higher than when I stopped dosing chlorine a week ago. Admittedly, the weather here this...

That's reassuring, appreciated.

Exactly that! I'm using a Lovibond photometer tester and I'm not sure I would trust it 100% but it is pretty consistent (eg testing again with a fresh sample gives the same results, etc) and more accurate than test strips. I've been using it for 2 or 3 years now (with fresh test tablets each...

First off, at the risk (certainty!) of incurring the wrath of the TFP, my pool is dosed with chlorine pucks rather than liquid chlorine or SWG or whatever - it's just how it's done here in Europe - particularly in older pools - and haven't generally had any issues. For the first time in a while...

Good tip, thanks!

Well, yes, you're absolutely correct the Lovibond Scuba doesn't read Chlorine beyond 6ppm, so no good for shock/slam accuracy. Problem is, the first of those Palintest kits mentioned is what I used before, and I found the Scuba more reliable and if course easier to read accurately; and the...

Thanks for all the excellent advice, as ever this place proves to be a great resource. Because impatience, I'd already gone ahead and added some more chlorine yesterday, latest test results as folllows: FC 2.6 TC 2.9 (so I guess CC 0.3?) pH 7.4 TA 86 CyA 19 It proved impossible to get...

Long story, but we had a "pool guy" open up this year as he was coming out here anyway and I thought it'd save me some work. It didn't. I've now got the pool clean and water clear and sparkly. After shocking, the chlorine level fell back to 2.0ppm and for a day or two I had free chlorine of...

Thanks for finding those links, much appreciated. You might well be right about the mortar; it's not what I wanted to hear though! It's less than two years since the whole thing (pool refurb, new liner, copings, paved surround) was done. Can't face the idea of taking it all up again and...

Just opened up for the second season since refurb, and although everything still looks good, I noticed a pile of ants and woodlice on the floor of the pool in one corner. Looking at that corner, it looks like they've somehow got under the copings and are emerging through a gap they've opened up...

We finally got around to replacing our liner a couple of years ago, but the old liner got a split/tear similar to yours, maybe not quite as big but right at the corner. I got hold of an 'off-cut' of liner material which I cut to a suitable size and got some glue from a pool repair kit I found on...

Apologies for a very late update on this, but just to bring some closure...! All working fine now. Neither I nor the suppliers could get a definite answer from Pentair, but it certainly seems that the Triton filters they sell in Europe now (starting 2023) come without the pressure gauge / air...

Well... a couple of things. I've reached out for confirmation and not heard back yet, but if you take a look at Pentair's Europe website the image they now use for the Triton looks like this: ie it has just the black thumbscrew on top and pressure gauge mounted to the multiport. Secondly...

Quick update on the pressure gauge etc... it now seems like Pentair have changed the design of the Triton filter (in Europe, at least) so that the pressure gauge/ air bleed assembly has been deleted and they are now supplied with just a black thumbscrew on top of the lid as a manual air bleed...

Ah, that's reassuring! I guess if stuff is ending up in the filter rather than the pool then that's good. With the previous filter I never saw a lot of stuff floating about except during a backwash. I do wonder whether it will clean up a bit more after another backwash (the water is clear...

The new pool guy we'd been recommended was due to come this morning and didn't show up, so I guess I'm back to trying to figure it out myself (with some help!). All seems to working OK so far, but: Is it normal to see debris in the water visible in the clear dome at the top of the sand filter?

Ah, interesting - so maybe that noise is normal? Or maybe some trapped air in there somewhere (tho no air seems to be coming out of the return/inlet now, and still no air in the pump).

Well in fact the supplier has been awesome. I spoke to them about the guy refusing to fit a pressure gauge and claiming they're not supplied with one, and they sent me the relevant parts FOC. I'm 100% convinced the problem is with the guy who installed it rather than the product. I've now...

Yes - it was the old multiport I repaired, and it worked perfectly! - but due to a previous owner it had been permanently glued to the old filter and pipework and it all had to be removed and couldn't be salvaged. The new filter was supplied with a new multiport. I still suspect there might be...

Ha, wish I knew! Doesn't seem to make a difference leaving the air bleed screw open, it still never fills, either way. The old filter didn't even have a manual air bleed and would just re-fill itself after backwashing no problem at all, purging the air out to the pool with the water when...

The pump is 0.75hp; it's a fixed speed Sta-Rite. But, it's been doing fine, until that backwash.