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Best to use tape and liquid teflon thread sealant (non-drying). One layer of tape and the wipe it with the liquid teflon then screw the part in place. The combination of the tape and the liquid makes a completely water tight seal. I’ve done this many times on household water supplies (way...

Arizona can mean a lot of different things in terms of climate - a pool in Flagstaff is going to operated differently from a pool in Yuma. Where exactly are you in Arizona?? Also, what is your pool size in gallons? I don't see that in your signature. Are you testing by using your own test...

That part of the wire under water looks like it was spliced. My guess is the previous owner tried to add a new light and either didn't understand how to do it (you don't break the wire and make a splice) OR they wire is stuck in the conduit some how and they spliced in a new light. Either way...

It's bad practice to mix metals. Yes, there's lots of conflicting advice out there but the UPC is pretty clear that it should be avoided. There are steel to copper/brass transitions that can be made as long as the appropriate grades are chosen and the brazing is done using exact materials and...

Is that a fire pot?

Basic Plumbing 101 says you should never connect dissimilar metal fittings together. I had an outdoor spigot once where the copper pipe and brass valve has a tee made of cast iron in between. Never noticed it until that faucet started spewing rusty water every time it was turned on. The tee...

You need to undo the black union nut and free the fitting on the pump from the PVC above. That black union nut should only ever be tightened by hand or a strap wrench. If it leaks when hand tight then there’s a problem with the o-ring seal. You should NEVER use channel locks on a PVC nut...

Plumbing Newb Mistake - you have brass fittings connected to a cast iron T fitting on the PVC. That arrangement will cause a galvanic couple to form and the iron Tee will eventually corrode away. That entire setup needs to be plumbed in PVC, no metals. Not sure what that black contraption is...

My guess is the gauge just isn’t very linear below 5psi. So the markings needed to be spaced differently. Once you get above 5psi, then the movement of the dial is more or less linear with pressure.

Worth a try but if you’re going to pushing a lot of water over the pool edge then you’re going to use more CO2 than you expect. There’s no harm in trying but I think liquid acid is the better way to go. You can get an IntelliPh (or build your own) to do the injection and then use a 15 gallon...

Around here you’re lucky if you can find 10% LC that costs $14 for 2 gallons (disposable jugs). The refillable ones aren’t much cheaper. Acid has gone through the roof at nearly $10/gallon …

DE and Perlite are both filtration media. Perlite is basically non-toxic while some forms of DE (like the kind used in pools) are inhalation hazards (crystallized silica is considered a carcinogen). But with perlite, you only need to use about half as much in a filter. On the other hand...

I’ve used CelaPool DE powder without issue for many years. It’s pool DE that has been treated so it retains a little moisture. It’s easy to scoop and it creates very little dust. Must better than standard DE which creates plumes of hazardous dust every time you scoop it. I used to wear a...

I think the celaperl might be causing the cartridges to plug up and then the air screen is being force to handle too much flow. Cleaning more frequently might solve the problem but switching to regular DE could also help. My screen has never looked that plugged up

Agree with all the experts points. Starting at 2psi and waiting until 10psi is a 5X increase in system pressure or a 500% increase. TFP recommends cleaning at 25% … Also, Quads do come with a push/pull backwash valve. I have one. Some people opt not to install it. I find it to be useful...

There is no appreciable stratification of pool water. All dissolved ions and solids are evenly distributed throughout the water column.

Those hose end filters rarely remove iron and even if they do they are limited to a few hundred gallons of water before they are spent. Your municipal water may have iron in it, it’s fairly common on the east coast. The only permanent way to remove it is to have a whole-house iron filter and...

We need to know a lot more about your pool with pictures and descriptions of the equipment, how you take care of your pool and how you are testing your water. There’s too little information to give any decent advice.

DING! DING! DING! DING! Winner winner chicken dinner!!! Exactly. You sequester the iron and then you have to drain off the water and add fresh, iron-free water. Where is the iron coming from?

Mixing a pound of dry cal hypo into a 5 gallon bucket that most people can’t lift when there’s more than 3 gallons of water in it creates an incredibly concentrated and caustic bleach mixture. Most of the cal hypo won’t dissolve anyway. It also gives off a little bit of heat. So now you have...

Exactly how long ago was the pool replastered?

Please describe the process you are following exactly.

I would not store any chemicals in the fridge. Not only is it not safe but the chemicals are not meant to be kept at such cold temperatures. Just keep them in a cool, room temp part of the house in a closed cabinet. Humidity and heat are what you should avoid.

Yeah. I just worry about the expensive 5HP VSPs you have … you want to protect them at all costs … maybe install lightening rods on all your neighbors’ houses (a “gift” from you as you care so much about their safety 😈)

Hahaha. I preferred cupric chloride with a little bit of added HCl when I would etch boards … it’s a more pleasant color than ferric chloride which looks like the urine sample from a dehydrated meth addict … Those etchants are too concentrated. All you need is a few mmols of ferric chloride...

Storage - cool dry dark place and, if you want, store it with a desiccator pack. The dryer the better. The clumpiness and color don’t really matter. The R-0870 is a mixture of several different chemical powders that are crushed up and homogenized/mixed at the factory (it’s all Taylor...

Perhaps one way to test this would be to take a sample of CH increaser, dissolve a small amount in water and then add a few drops of diluted ferric chloride. Ferric chloride will react with trace amounts of ferrocyanide to form the mixed valence compound iron(III) ferrocyanide, aka Prussian...

Chris - Make sure you have a surge protector installed on the incoming high voltage power bus. SquareD makes a very good one that’s easy to install. You live in a place with lightening strikes and storms. You absolutely need to protect that equipment from surges. Even transient surges and...

Calcium chloride is a deliquescent salt. In its pure form, the calcium chloride mass will absorb water into its crystal structure rather than the ions becoming solvated by water molecules. This causes the salt to look wet and feel slimy in macroscopic quantities. This can very easily lead to...

My guess on this is that there are probably brands of calcium increaser that use ferrocyanide salts (calcium- , sodium- , or potassium ferrocyanide) as a flow and anticaking agent. Ferrocyanides undergo reversible redox (reduction/oxidation reaction) - [Fe(CN)6]4− ⇌ [Fe(CN)6]3− + e−...