Chlorine neutralizer??

[inultus]

The room was at 61 degrees before I turned the pool heater on. The difference between 61 and 68 is huge though. Humidity didn't really seem to change in the room.

I was shooting for water temp of 80 degrees so I'm right where I wanted to be, but I need to get the wife in there tonight or soon because she's the one who gets cold the easiest.

 

[inultus]

Well we all went in pool tonight, the wife said it was cold until she got in, then said it was fine. Humidity definitely went up during the half hour we were in which warmed air temp by 2 degrees. 42 degrees currently outside so I will have to see if outside temps affect the room much. We did notice for sure that leaving an inside door open created draft immediately coming back in through the exhaust vent for pool room. Makes sense because normally air pressure would be equalized therefore not drawing from outside until a door was opened but I will talk to HVAC guy about that also.

 

[Rollercoastr]

80º, eh?! I'm personally good down to about 86º. I prefer 89-90. Below 88º, my guests complain or don't stay in for long. My exhaust vent has a damper, but I keep the vent going the entire time the cover is off anyway, so no doubt that drafts play a role.

Did you cross-check your thermometer with another? I'm surprised that your wife was ok with water that cool.

 

[inultus]

80º, eh?! I'm personally good down to about 86º. I prefer 89-90.

I re-calculated the size of my pool and I think it's about 18,500 gallons so I don't think mine is way bigger than yours and we have the same BTU heater so I'm curious since we have the same sort of setup, how many hours a day do you need your heater running to maintain 90? I have a calibrated thermometer here at work I'm going to take home and cross-check with the one in the pool.

 

[Rollercoastr]

I wish I could tell you, but I have too many moving targets. It depends on if I use it or leave it covered, ambient temps, how long the pool has been warm, RPM on my pump and the health of my heater.

A year ago I had a single-speed 1.5 hp 3450 RPM pump. The water would heat about 1º per hour. The heater and the pump shared a timer. I ran the pump twice per day for 2 hours plus during any swim time. The temp was maintained with routine, but I don't know how much of that time the heater was firing.

In February I installed a VS pump. I also learned with the help of TFP guidance that my pool needs much less circulation that I originally thought to stay clean. I slowed pump speeds and reduced runtime. The other issue is that the VS has it's own timer, so now my heater can kick on independently of the pump. The heater appears to be dying, but I don't want to kill it!

Even with COLD water at high speed, my heater t-stat cycles on and off. The colder the water the less time it's off, but I was disappointed this week to watch it cycle while ingesting water at 63º. I seem to be getting around one half degree /hour now. Pump speed doesn't seem to play a large role in this situation, but I'm still experimenting with that and hope to replace the circa '92 heater with a slightly larger one this winter. (I'd like to go as large as my flu can accommodate)

I use an infrared gun to monitor temp. I have two, and they disagree by 2º, so I go with the one that agrees with the rubber ducky floater. That's to say I could be 2 or more degrees off.

 

[inultus]

Been keeping it at 85 which seems just about right. Finally got the thermostat labeled for the temperature (it's just a analog dial thermostat). I also run my pump twice a day for 2 hours each haha. Not during swimming though. I'm not sure what you mean by the heater coming on independently of the pump, how would the heater come on if the pump wasn't on?

My heater also pushes the temp by about 1 degree per hour. We put a 6" liner in my chimney flue for this heater even though Hayward calls for a 7". No problems so far and it was my HVAC guy that said he was ok with it.

 

[Rollercoastr]

If you're good with 85°, I may have to give 86° another shot! Are you really active in the pool? My favorite pool activity is almost no activity. lol that might have something to do with it.

I'm not sure what you mean by the heater coming on independently of the pump, how would the heater come on if the pump wasn't on?

My pump and heater are below the bottom of the pool. The pressure switch on heaters can adjusted for that, but mine doesn't work - it allows the unit to fire without flow. I'm shopping for heaters now, and I'm looking forward to having that protection.

 

[inultus]

Gotcha, yeah mine fired one time with no flow and I thought the pipes were going to blow up it was so loud. It turns the residual water immediately into steam and starts a loud banging noise and makes the pipes super hot. Thank goodness I was in the basement to turn it off when it happened or I might have a swimming pool for a basement. Needless to say, I replaced the pressure switch at the same time as I put a new heat exchanger in it and no problems since. I have a 5 year old so I'm a bit active in the pool playing with her, when she's not there I'm not that active but usually adult beverages are involved which eases any coldness haha.

 

[Rollercoastr]

Gotcha, yeah mine fired one time with no flow and I thought the pipes were going to blow up it was so loud. It turns the residual water immediately into steam and starts a loud banging noise and makes the pipes super hot.

wow! In your shoes, I think my "flight" instinct might've overtaken "fight"! Potential steam burn. ouch.

I have a 5 year old so I'm a bit active in the pool playing with her, when she's not there I'm not that active but usually adult beverages are involved which eases any coldness haha.

I don't have kids, but I've posted a pic in the gallery of a margarita floating on a kickboard...

 

[cfherrman]

Longshot, is your skimmer the old style that the main drain ties into with a 'spaceship' disc in there? I doubt this since you have a 3 way valve by your pump but look anyway

 

[inultus]

I'm not sure what I should look for, where would this spaceship disc be?

 

[inultus]

I don't have kids, but I've posted a pic in the gallery of a margarita floating on a kickboard...

Sorry it's been so long but other things took over life. I have 2 questions Rollercoastr and if you respond I will know you are still around and tell you of the learning experience I've had since then.

Anyway, question 1 is do you have a problem with humidity rising in the room during the summer when the pool is not heated and you have the cover off? I'm currently seeing the temp of the pool at 72F and the humidity at 73%. During the winter even when I had the water up to 88F with the heater on, the humidity was quite a bit less.

Question 2, for anyone with a concrete pool, but especially those with an INDOOR concrete pool. What should I expect to pay to have it repainted with epoxy paint and how long should it last? I've had some issues getting companies to want to do that due to the ventilation issues inherent in repainting an indoor pool. Thanks!

 

[Rollercoastr]

I'm here. I've been absent this week because I went up-north to cabins/cottages that had neither cell nor WiFi coverage. That takes a few days to get used to, but there's something to be said for disconnecting now and then...

I'm surprised that your humidity went that high. I have Nest Thermostats in rooms on each side of the pool room. The bedroom always reads slightly higher, even though I keep the door between the bedroom and pool room closed. I attribute that to the fact that the bedroom has lower ceilings and gets less light and air movement.

The Nests have a "cool to dry" feature that will run the AC if humidity reaches 65%. It hasn't gone that high. If it were adjustable, I'd set it to 60%.

It's unusually high right now (61% and 60%) because of the weather we've had this week. The Nest history report shows that the AC's have only run 1 hour since last Wednesday. Typical summer humidity levels for my house are in the 50's.

The HVAC vents for the pool room are in the center of each window sill (above the candle fixtures). I keep them closed when the pool is cold because the pool room doesn't seem more humid than any other part of the house... Evap is quite low. During swimming season, I often just keep the fill hose connected at the side of the pool, but right now I have it stashed away in the closet because I don't have to add water very often. Another difference could be the shape of our pools. My pool is smaller, but also deep, so mine has much less surface area than yours.

I never pursued quotes for epoxy. It was hard enough to get the resurfacing quote. During the demo the contractor showed me a sample and explained the "layers" of my failing surface. On top of the gunite was: very old plaster, then perhaps paint, a layer of fiberglass (I later found "Fibertech" receipts), and on top of that some type of paint or epoxy. I haven't heard many happy stories of paint / epoxy, but I have to say that whatever the top layer of my pool was, it was holding up well. The failures were deeper. Thick chunks of the surface were breaking away. I had everything chipped-out down to the gunite. The total cost was $8k. I had upgraded the plaster, and the contractor blamed what I thought was a high quote on dust containment, access issues etc. In reality, I think supply/demand had more to do with it. Most places I reached out to didn't even respond. Some said, no/not now, others stood me up. Two showed up, only one of which provided a quote. In the middle of the job I realized that his crew did the demo, but he subbed-out the resurfacing. (live and learn - it didn't occur to me to ask about that)

 

[inultus]

Yeah, I was told by a company that having it painted will only last 5 years, but I was wondering if paint wouldn't last quite a bit longer since it is indoors and does not see the outdoor elements and sunlight. I'm having my roof re-done and will be putting in 2 solar tubes to add more light to the room as it is currently darker than yours until I turn the lights on. I really would prefer not to have to do it down to the gunite as I'm spending 20K on the roof and won't have much money left for the pool. I don't really think I have much "damage" per se, and no leaks, there are just a bunch of spots where the paint is flaking off.

That's interesting that your humidity is so much less since we both live in Michigan and see the same weather, but I would not be surprised if you are correct that it's because I have more surface area. Your pool room is sweet by the way, I wish mine looked that nice.

Do you recall the name of any of the companies you dealt with regarding redoing the paint/gunite?

 

[Rollercoastr]

Oh I hear ya! We put $15,000 onto the roof last summer. When I climbed up to take my first look at the work, I half-expected to see a patchwork of $1 bills glued down.

Yeah, I was told by a company that having it painted will only last 5 years, but I was wondering if paint wouldn't last quite a bit longer since it is indoors and does not see the outdoor elements and sunlight.

Yeah, I think that applies to almost everything when comparing indoor to outdoor. I wouldn't be surprised if you get much more life out of a painted surface compared to the outdoor expectations, but my concern is that it's already been painted. Adhesion can only be as robust as the underlaying surface, so it sounds like it'll be somewhat of a project either way?

Do you recall the name of any of the companies you dealt with regarding redoing the paint/gunite?

I'll send you a PM. It wasn't a bad experience, but I'm not sure I'd recommend them either.