Hello, new guy, Doug from Placerville Calif. (were the Gold Rush started) between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe (were at 2000') We have a huge 40,000 gallon rectangle pool that's 20x 42 w/ a 10 ft. deep end. It was built in 1950 and all the older neighbors swear it's never been drained...? In 2012 I was going to upgrade it to a salt water system, until I read all the comments about how many chem's they still take, and how the salt water dramatically shortens the life of the pump and filter system, so instead we installed a Paramount Triton UV system, then in 2018 upgraded to their newer Ultra UV w/ Ozone system and what a huge game changer! Now we use about 60-70 less chemicals, the water is crystal clear, no itchy skin, no red eyes, no green hair, and it's so easy to maintain we fired the lazy pool guys and do it ourselves. Back in 2012, no one anywhere even knew what I was doing or what I was even talking about, I was the only person w/ a UV/Ozone system in my county. Even my pro pool builder friend of 50+ years who helped me do it all had never seen our installed one before. 9 yrs. later several people have put them in and 1 brave pool supplier now sells them. We do have a high cyanic acid level probably because of the older water and therefore we have black algae spot problem, it grows in the cracks/voids, the plaster desperately needs to be replaced. Thinking about an Aqua Ammonia treatment for it? We have the Hayward EcoStar VSP pump w/ a PL-4 control panel, and the big Hayward 4 cartridge filter. It has always worked great for all these years, but this week the pump quit and gave me a "VSP drive comm. error" message. checked everything and it all has power, but can't figure it out yet? Might just bypass the panel and run pump manually until the "comm" error is solved. Any advice appreciated. THX - DS
Hello from Placerville, Calif.
- Thread starter DStandal
- Start date
- Jul 3, 2013
- 9,028
- Pool Size
- 15000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool SJ-40
Welcome to TFP 
You have algae because you use a UV system and not enough chlorine to kill the algae... The big huge sun in the sky creates thousands more UV rays than your UV system can ever hope to create.. If only UV killed algae all of us would have clear pools.. Your UV system will kill algae in the 1/2 gallon of water that is in direct contact with the light, the other 39,999.5 gallons will never have UV residual to continue to kill algae, there is water in your pool that has never been through your UV system.. Chlorine kills algae and your Ozone system and the sun get rid of the CC...
A salt water generator will not hurt your pool or equipment, the people selling you the UV system scared you to sell you the equipment... All pools are salt water pools.. if your pool has never been emptied I bet your CYA and salt if very high already so you really already have a salt water pool you just do not have the generator to create chlorine for you....
Please get a good test kit ( in my sig below ) and a salt test kit to see what levels you are at.. once we know what levels we can get you going to a trouble free pool
As for the pump it should already be connected to power directly from the breaker so you should be able to control it from the pump.. if it will not turn on from the pump the drive unit may be shot... Do you have a surge protector on the panel feeding your pump? These new VS pumps are very sensitive to power surges, brown outs, lightning and you name it...
On a completely separate note: I grew up in the area where you are living.. My grandfather had an Olympic size pool at his ranch house in that area... there were not many pools that size built in the 50's.. are you within a couple miles of the trainyard?
You have algae because you use a UV system and not enough chlorine to kill the algae... The big huge sun in the sky creates thousands more UV rays than your UV system can ever hope to create.. If only UV killed algae all of us would have clear pools.. Your UV system will kill algae in the 1/2 gallon of water that is in direct contact with the light, the other 39,999.5 gallons will never have UV residual to continue to kill algae, there is water in your pool that has never been through your UV system.. Chlorine kills algae and your Ozone system and the sun get rid of the CC...
A salt water generator will not hurt your pool or equipment, the people selling you the UV system scared you to sell you the equipment... All pools are salt water pools.. if your pool has never been emptied I bet your CYA and salt if very high already so you really already have a salt water pool you just do not have the generator to create chlorine for you....
Please get a good test kit ( in my sig below ) and a salt test kit to see what levels you are at.. once we know what levels we can get you going to a trouble free pool
As for the pump it should already be connected to power directly from the breaker so you should be able to control it from the pump.. if it will not turn on from the pump the drive unit may be shot... Do you have a surge protector on the panel feeding your pump? These new VS pumps are very sensitive to power surges, brown outs, lightning and you name it...
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On a completely separate note: I grew up in the area where you are living.. My grandfather had an Olympic size pool at his ranch house in that area... there were not many pools that size built in the 50's.. are you within a couple miles of the trainyard?
Last edited:
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,896
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Welcome to TFP! 
I was stationed at Beale AFB for 4 years, so I am somewhat familiar with that beautiful area. Yes, we can't emphasize enough the proper test kit. I prefer the TF-100, but the Taylor K-2006C will also work. We can help you manage that monster pool with the right kit and test results. Nice to have you with us.
www.troublefreepool.com
I was stationed at Beale AFB for 4 years, so I am somewhat familiar with that beautiful area. Yes, we can't emphasize enough the proper test kit. I prefer the TF-100, but the Taylor K-2006C will also work. We can help you manage that monster pool with the right kit and test results. Nice to have you with us.
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