@#$@#

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Well, not only am I having to descale the cell every 3 weeks now due to CH (I want to wait for the end of the monsoon here which should be soon to draw down and refill the pool 6" a couple of times)... but now there is this. I regret buying the Universal 40 now. Does anyone know if I can replace the LCD on this unit without the entire control board? It's probably the same display as on the Hayward.


Oddly enough, did it do it when it was 110F out? Nope.. mid 80's...

It's really starting to frost my cake if you know what I mean. Completely trouble free for for almost two years and now it's just freaking falling apart.

 

[JamesW]

https://www.circupool.com/assets/doc/CircuPool-Universal-Manual.pdf

 

[markayash]

Now the unit probably cost 50% more so would be curious what they do to help.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Yeah, I sent them an email already. If they honor the 50% it will be $80 plus shipping (listed as $160 on their Circupool site).. enough to be annoying but not the end of the world... The cell scaling up like crazy now is the bigger worry, but we are at the end of the VERY active monsoon this year, and I'd prefer to do the water swap afterwards.. in a couple of weeks or three...

I was just asking if it was a common problem... if it were a simple fix, like one of those TTL buffers or something it might be worth fixing despite the warranty, for $2 instead of $80.

I figured out when I bought it by reading my install thread here! So I am between years 2-3, late April 2020.

I am doing some wiring at my other place, and honestly the electrical stuff is 3x what it was two years ago. I think a deflationary crash is coming. I really wanted to do what I am doing down there, so I did, but I could see many people just buying an extension cord and a few ty-wraps instead!

To run maybe 50' of 14 ga and 20' of 12 ga and maybe 6 receptacles is going to be about $500 by the time I am done. For the first time even I bought about 1/2 the stuff from Amazon which honestly had better quality stuff and was 2/3 the price than bLowes and Home Despot! And they HAD the stuff.. it wasn't picked over like at the stores.

So it's not much of a surprise that the cost of a SWCG is high now. I can't imagine wiring a house again. 100' of 12/2 Romex is pushing $150 now! I'll keep all of my other commentary on why to myself!

 

[JamesW]

Do you have a black magic marker or some black fingernail polish?

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

I've done worse...

 

[markayash]

Do you have a black magic marker or some black fingernail polish?

View attachment 448534

If you can fix the scaling maybe just leave it alone and ignore it

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

If you can fix the scaling maybe just leave it alone and ignore it

Yeah.. but it's probably better to replace it now when it's still supposedly 50% prorated. Stuff like that annoys me and I probably am going to sell all of this in the next five years anyway, so even though it's a nit pick I'd like to fix it.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

The water drain and refill has as much to do with not having a free weekend for several weeks as it does with the monsoon. Last year I had to adjust a lot of stuff at the end of the monsoon season anyway, I don't want to have to do it twice. I am learning tricks on how to descale the cell and minimizing the use of acid at the same time now.. I have to try the waterpik idea though as that might be the ultimate solution.

Despite all that the pool looks great.. if I could only get someone to swim in it. I can't again for medical reasons.... My hot tub is torn down because I don't want to mess with it until I get back from my second trip to the Midwest in October. Sad that when I changed the heating element, I was like, eh... I'll leave it until fall to refill.

 

[markayash]

The water drain and refill has as much to do with not having a free weekend for several weeks as it does with the monsoon. Last year I had to adjust a lot of stuff at the end of the monsoon season anyway, I don't want to have to do it twice. I am learning tricks on how to descale the cell and minimizing the use of acid at the same time now.. I have to try the waterpik idea though as that might be the ultimate solution.

Despite all that the pool looks great.. if I could only get someone to swim in it. I can't again for medical reasons.... My hot tub is torn down because I don't want to mess with it until I get back from my second trip to the Midwest in October. Sad that when I changed the heating element, I was like, eh... I'll leave it until fall to refill.

I cleaned mine with a butter knife but was very careful not to scratch it.
But I only had a few small places after 6 months.

I understand bugging you, stuff like that bothers me but as I get older I leaned to let it go

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

I tried to use a plastic disposable knife, but the plate spacing is a bit too narrow on my unit to do that. I might actually fabricate a tool to do it, but I am getting reasonably good with the ty-wrap and the hose now.

I wish the Ty-Wraps were stiffer and a bit longer, but they are okay if I get in there from both directions.

My CH is up to 700+ now, honestly I really need to hook up a water softener somehow, but my house is plumbed exactly the opposite to do it with the in-house one. I didn't have as much problems in past years because we left the pool covered, like beginning of the season it was 475. The solar cover fell apart and almost immediately after that the CH started to rapidly rise. The pool is being used more now though, every one was too lazy to take the cover on and off. So probably at winter I need to get another one. That is another reason I'm trying to time the water change with a major maintenance that I do at the end of the season anyway. I am about 1.5 years behind on everything now...

 

[proavia]

Where is the whole house water softener located?
Would it be possible to run a soft water line thru the outside wall and then underground to the autofill pipe location? How about a homerun PEX pipe thru the attic space and soffit to above the autofill piping? Any above ground pipes that are exposed to the sun should probably be copper and don't forget a shut off valve near the softener or the backflow preventer.

 

[markayash]

I tried to use a plastic disposable knife, but the plate spacing is a bit too narrow on my unit to do that. I might actually fabricate a tool to do it, but I am getting reasonably good with the ty-wrap and the hose now.

I wish the Ty-Wraps were stiffer and a bit longer, but they are okay if I get in there from both directions.

My CH is up to 700+ now, honestly I really need to hook up a water softener somehow, but my house is plumbed exactly the opposite to do it with the in-house one. I didn't have as much problems in past years because we left the pool covered, like beginning of the season it was 475. The solar cover fell apart and almost immediately after that the CH started to rapidly rise. The pool is being used more now though, every one was too lazy to take the cover on and off. So probably at winter I need to get another one. That is another reason I'm trying to time the water change with a major maintenance that I do at the end of the season anyway. I am about 1.5 years behind on everything now...

I actually bought a Cirupool tool for the RJ series but it's too thick for my edge also

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Where is the whole house water softener located?
Would it be possible to run a soft water line thru the outside wall and then underground to the autofill pipe location? How about a homerun PEX pipe thru the attic space and soffit to above the autofill piping? Any above ground pipes that are exposed to the sun should probably be copper and don't forget a shut off valve near the softener or the backflow preventer.

I'd probably have to run 200+ feet from the middle West part of the house where the water softener is under a fence and around to the Northeast corner of the house where the fill is. The ground in Tucson is just as concrete as in Chandler and the last part of it would need to be hand dug near the lines for the pool. It would probably be easier to put a second softener outside under the equipment bay ( I built a carport type shed for all of the stuff, and I probably would be okay in the winter as it freezes for about an hour when it does in Tucson)... at least that would be a $500 job instead of a $4000 job to run the autofill to the softener. The PB wouldn't do it. I asked. It's that difficult.

I'm not going to stay in that house long enough to justify a $3-4K fix to this. It would be cheaper to drain/refill every 2.5 years by a LOT.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

I got a reply back from Circupool, and I can replace the board for 50% off with the warranty. I need to work out the details with them, but I really am too busy to call until tomorrow. Figured I'd update here. I figure I probably should, if for any reason when I go to sell the house (which probably will be in 2-5 years), having a nice shiny working salt pool should have more than $80 of value... I'll update on how it goes.

I'll also update when I have time to do a water exchange. If I could keep the dogs from drinking the pool water I'd do borates, and in theory I should only be poisoning them a little...maybe less than the chlorine... but if I made one of the critters sick, my wife would never let me get over it. So I've avoided it so far. Maybe I can try at a reduced effectiveness smaller dose after the exchange.

 

[Rattus Suffocatus]

Two comments: Using a waterpik and a long ty-wrap (I need to find a longer one) is the way to clean these things. At least on the Universal which you can't disassemble (like the Hayward T-15). I am going to only do acid baths once every six months from now on. Yes I am getting terribly fast scaling, but I am also getting really good at cleaning. I still want to wait until near the end of the season to do a water exchange... maybe do a second in the spring. Probably will do some borates too but they seem a little pricey, so again will do the right timing on that too-- like after I get CH down.

As for actually talking with Circupool, yeah they are pleasant people. I have a type 2 display board coming. Quick to get it out. UPS is... well sitting on it in Tucson as usual. (FedEx sits on it in Phoenix, and UPS does it here... go figure...) The guy who took the call went to college in Tucson. Maybe I'll get it tomorrow-- probably replace it the weekend after next.

I do want to keep all of this in tip top shape. I wonder if I could safely drop to the bottom of the tile line so I can clean that too at the same time. I'll do a little work the weekend after next I suppose... I have to stay in Tucson that weekend anyway....sigh.....

As for the scaling.. when I clean it the cell reads right about what the K-1766 reads (+/- 100 ppm) so I suspect it's still okay. My CH isn't.

I should invent something to remove CH. Pump 100 gallons at a time in a tank, force the pH up to super saturation and filter the calcium carbonate out, in the tank. repeat for weeks. I am sure a machine could be made to do it. I understand that's "Milking" a pool...

 

[randytsuch]

Two comments: Using a waterpik and a long ty-wrap (I need to find a longer one) is the way to clean these things. At least on the Universal which you can't disassemble (like the Hayward T-15).

Can you post a pic when you get a chance? I can't picture what you're doing. I don't have a waterpik but am curious anyway.

Randy

 

[Flying Tivo]

There are small water softeners for RV. You can try that for just the pool.

 

[markayash]

Two comments: Using a waterpik and a long ty-wrap (I need to find a longer one) is the way to clean these things. At least on the Universal which you can't disassemble (like the Hayward T-15). I am going to only do acid baths once every six months from now on. Yes I am getting terribly fast scaling, but I am also getting really good at cleaning. I still want to wait until near the end of the season to do a water exchange... maybe do a second in the spring. Probably will do some borates too but they seem a little pricey, so again will do the right timing on that too-- like after I get CH down.

As for actually talking with Circupool, yeah they are pleasant people. I have a type 2 display board coming. Quick to get it out. UPS is... well sitting on it in Tucson as usual. (FedEx sits on it in Phoenix, and UPS does it here... go figure...) The guy who took the call went to college in Tucson. Maybe I'll get it tomorrow-- probably replace it the weekend after next.

I do want to keep all of this in tip top shape. I wonder if I could safely drop to the bottom of the tile line so I can clean that too at the same time. I'll do a little work the weekend after next I suppose... I have to stay in Tucson that weekend anyway....sigh.....

As for the scaling.. when I clean it the cell reads right about what the K-1766 reads (+/- 100 ppm) so I suspect it's still okay. My CH isn't.

I should invent something to remove CH. Pump 100 gallons at a time in a tank, force the pH up to super saturation and filter the calcium carbonate out, in the tank. repeat for weeks. I am sure a machine could be made to do it. I understand that's "Milking" a pool...

Want me to send you my BP meds that block calcium

 

[Oly]

When the pool water temp rises the scale accumulation speeds up.
When the pH is in the low 7s the scale tends to be softer and is better removed with the polarity change.
When it's time to clean I like using zip ties of different widths and stiffness. I also cut the ends at an angle to reach those tight areas. Cleaning the RJ-60+ is tight work with so many stacked plates and the fact they are off-set in the housing.
I also use acetic acid in a spray bottle to reach the tight spots and clean the plates of the calcium film not removed by the zip ties. I had a unique looking chunk of calcium exit the housing and it was never between the plates. My guess is it was located on the terminal to cell plate connection and was dislodged by the acetic acid followed by the hose water jet.
The struggle with cell maintenance is real in the west. It is wise to monitor the amperage draw of the cell and the calculated scale ppm relative to the tested ppm to anticipate reduced conductivity. Don't go on a long vacation assuming all is well.