Any Help Is Greatly Appreciated

[Dalandlord]

Hello Guys, this is my first time visiting your forum and I would like to say hi and thanks for having me. I just ordered a new filter, ideally it would have been nice to find this forum before I did that but I am where I am. I have been owning a pool, that came with the house about, for a few years. I put a Digital Pool Pilot on it after a while and went to the local pool supplier and blindly did whatever they told me to do and things went along pretty well till lately. I had the water tested about once a month and the pool stayed pretty nice. Just lately, the wheels on the pool equipment are coming off fast.



Current conditions:
Water is clear
No Algae
I am testing chlorine with miserable to read 6 way test strips and adding bleach to raise chlorine almost daily The results are almost some tests are unreadable to me so I just try to use the chlorine and disregard the rest.


Water conditions as tested by the local pool store:

Alkalinity 125 they recommend 80-120 yet told me to leave it alone?
PH 7.94 they told me to add 16oz acid
Chlorine .97 (The SWG is at 100% 8hrs/day and not keeping up, this was never a problem before)
Salt 3100
CYA 78 they recommend 40-100
Calcium Hardness 250 they recommend 100-400 yet told me to raise it?

I have not yet acted on their rocommendations.

I have several questions I'll try to prioritize next:

1: What should I do with the water now?

2: I have a new Hayward 244T sand filter being delivered tomorrow. In a couple of days, I have someone coming in to remove all the pool equipment that is on the ground and re-pour the slab under the equipment. I figure it will take 3-4 days to complete the work and get back on line.
What can I do to keep the pool from turning green while it is off line? Add a lot of chlorine before? Dump some in everyday? Both?

3: I ordered Zeobest or zeolite or whatever they called the stuff, from the people that sold me the filter recommended. Any comments or advice on this stuff?

4: The Digital Pool Pilot SWG, Manufactured in 2007 and was installed in 2008 needed a new tri-sensor under 50% warranty last summer. It is NOW OUT OF WARRANTY and intermittently gives check/clean cell error on power level 2, and low amp error on level 3. On power level 2, 100% it no longer puts out enough chlorine to keep up even though it always did at 50-60% in the past. I tried my friends cell on it and it makes no difference. From what I can see searching on-line, it needs a power supply board that sells for about $400. My question is should I repair the Pool Pilot or replace it with a more reliable model? I asked the pool store I have been using and he told me he would spend the $400 to fix it even though he won't be selling me the part. He also said the other brand he sells is Gold Line and it needs a similar part to the one I need now every 3 years or so and it costs $300. My friend and I bought identical units at the same time and his failed and was replace a couple of months ago. Are all SWG this unreliable or are there better ones than the Pool Pilot out there? All opinions on this one are welcome.

5: I obviously need some kind of test kit. Just from looking around it sounds like I need two, one cheap one for everyday use and one better one for periodic use. The pool store uses some kind of electronic reader that gives a digital readout. Is this available for a home use kind of price? The test strips are almost totally useless to me. Could you recommend exactly what test kits I should buy?

Sorry to come in and write a book full of questions and problems the first time I drop in. Now that I know you are here I'll drop in before things get out of hand.

Thanks In Advance

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

1) Your levels are basically alright, except that TA (alkalinity) is a little high and FC is too low. TA can wait till we solve the FC issue. Also, the Ph is probably fine right now, but it will tend to go up. Every time PH gets to 7.8, lower it to around 7.2 (for now, till TA comes down).

2) The main issue is that it is quite a bit of work to mix in chemicals if you add them without a pump. The best thing is if you can cover the pool. If so you can raise FC to shock level, and then cover the pool and it should do alright. If that is impractical, you can add chlorine by pouring bleach around the edge of the pool and then brushing the entire pool, but it does get tedious.

3) Zeo can work very well, but it also gets many more complaints than sand. Hopefully you will not be one of the people who have problems with it.

4) The cell wears out on a SWG. That is true of all models of all brands. The cells last three to five years and then need to be replaced. Other parts occasionally need replacing, again true of any brand. AutoPilot is one of the premium brands, so replacement parts cost more, but in general they are one of the best.

I doubt that you need a new power supply, though it is possible. I suspect that your current problem is unrelated to the SWG, but it will take a good test kit and a couple of days to prove that one way or the other.

5) I recommend getting a TF100 from TFTestKits.net. The Taylor K-2006 is also good. The TF100 includes the "cheap" tester as part of the kit. The digital systems are inferior to either of those kits. You could get a ColorQ, which has a digital readout, but it really is not as good. Either of the kits I mentioned is better than anything digital a pool store might have.

 

[Dalandlord]

Pool Pilot Problem

First let me say I am new to your forum and posted this question in a long rambling post in the water testing section (any-help-is-greatly-appreciated-t33934.html) so if having broken out this question here after finding this section is a problem just delete this one.

I have a Digital Pool Pilot SWG that was manufactured in 2007 and was installed in 2008. It needed a new tri-sensor under 50% warranty last summer. It is NOW OUT OF WARRANTY and intermittently gives check/clean cell error on power level 2, and low amp error if I put it on level 3.

When it is on power level 2, 100% it no longer puts out enough chlorine to keep up, even though it always did at 50-60% in the past. I tried my friends cell on it and it makes no difference. From what I can see searching on-line, it needs a power supply board that sells for about $400. My question is should I repair the Pool Pilot or replace it with a more reliable model? I asked the pool store I have been using and he told me he would spend the $400 to fix it even though he won't be selling me the part. He also said the other brand he sells is Gold Line and it needs a similar part to the one I need now, every 3 years or so and it costs $300. My friend and I bought identical Pool Pilot units at the same time and his failed and he replaced the entire system with the identical unit a couple of months ago. Are all SWG this unreliable or are there better ones than the Pool Pilot out there? All opinions on this one are welcome.

TIA

 

[JasonLion]

Topics merged. Please only ask questions in one place.

Answers are above.

 

[Dalandlord]

Thanks Jason,

One more questions. I would like to become a member and order some test kit stuff. Can I do all this at once or do I have to sign up as a supporter and wait for it to be active first?

Thanks

 

[dmanb2b]

Thanks Jason,

One more questions. I would like to become a member and order some test kit stuff. Can I do all this at once or do I have to sign up as a supporter and wait for it to be active first?

Thanks

If you sign up as a supporter (Thank you) and PM Jason, I believe you get a $10 discount code on the TF100

 

[DebbieO]

Welcome Dalandlord! My membership was the best money I've ever spent on my pool. So was my TF100XL test kit. My pool looks better than it has in the last 3 years and I have not even been to the pool store. Grab up the SpeedStir, too. It's awesome!