Flbeachluvr
Bronze Supporter
With the level of experience you claim to have I'm wondering why you are asking your question here and then you seem to be getting snippy with people who are just trying to help.
Help with algae?
- Thread starter Vividblue
- Start date
With the level of experience you claim to have I'm wondering why you are asking your question here and then you seem to be getting snippy with people who are just trying to help.
Your not trying to help. You keep telling me to read pool school. Also I am getting accused of lying in PM's because I haven't posted pictures. I am asking because I can't figure it out. I thought there may be people on here that would know.
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Yes they are? One is running at 2700 RPM's and the other is running at 2100 RPM's. I am wondering if the pumps are big enough because when you walk up to the pool you can't hardly tell if they are running.
Flbeachluvr
Bronze Supporter
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Pictures are always asked for on the forum and I think people are especially curious as to what a 110,000 gallon pool looks like.
I would try increasing rpms to full speed and see what that does to the circulation. Can you feel strong flow from the returns, etc...? If you have poor circulation, seems like that could lead to an algae outbreak, and your FC of 10 with a CYA of 30 might not be enough to kill it. I would suggest increasing FC to the 12-16 range and maintain it there with lots of brushing.
Flying Tivo
TFP Guide
- Jan 24, 2017
- 2,959
- Pool Size
- 7500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
That is what I was going to do and a Pentair rep said that they should not be ran at that speed but the single speed pumps they make run at 3450 rpms so I don't see the difference. The water coming out of the jets is weak and the spillover from the kidde pool is barely a trickle. Granted the kidde pool is 60 ft long but it still barely trickles over the wall into the pool.
Are there other factors that could be contributing to a circulation problem? Dirty filter? You are likely killing a lot of algae if you are keeping your FC at 10 and have algae in the pool. I know when I have battled algae in the past, its not uncommon to clean the filter daily. The site generally recommends cleaning/backwashing your filter when your pressure rises to 25% higher than clean pressure. So, if clean pressue is 10psi, clean when it gets to 12.5psi.
Please post some info about the pump (model number or hp). How far from the equipment pad to the pool? With you size pool, can you give us some idea distance to each skimmer, return? Any idea of pipe size? Can you give us an idea of the pressure at the filter / pump?
Are all the valves mostly open at the pad?
I'm just looking for ideas as to why there is little flow.
I don't understand why a pump would have issues running at full speed, that part doesn't make sense to me.
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Are all the valves mostly open at the pad?
I'm just looking for ideas as to why there is little flow.
I don't understand why a pump would have issues running at full speed, that part doesn't make sense to me.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Both sand filters are backwashed weekly and the pressures are always around 20 psi.
With algae in the pool, more frequent backwashing may be needed. Can you provide more precise pressure data? There is likely a large difference in flow rate between 18 and 22 psi. What is pressure currently? What is pressure right after backwashing?
The pumps are the variable speed 2 HP. It is probably 60 feet to the pool then the pool is about 100 feet long and 50 feet wide. So some of the skimmers and returns are at least 200 feet away from the pad. The piping is 2 inch for each skimmer and they go into a header that is 3 in pipe back to the pad. There are 2 different headers for 3 skimmers each. The pressures at the sand filters hover around 20 psi.
It doesn't seem to me that your plumbing alone would be causing enough head to have your filter pressure be at 20psi. I suspect your filters are dirty or are somehow not working properly. Are you able to bypass your sand filter to see if that improves the flow from the returns?
Sorry to re-hash, but pictures are helpful in seeing the layout of the plumbing which may to lead another member of the forum being able to determine what is causing the issue.
The sand filters have always ran around 20 psi. I will put it in recirc and see if the flow increases.
I recently researched Pentair pumps pretty intensely. I was looking at smaller models, but I haven't seen any indication that running at 3450 was an issue. I think you may have gotten bad information. (I called them a few times - they were friendly, but it wasn't long before I knew more than they did)
100x50 /110k gallons, so it's really shallow? 3' average? This sounds like a flow/circulation issue. I would think 2 big pumps at high speed could handle it.
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* IF the CYA is correct. that amount of pucks makes us all nervous
100x50 /110k gallons, so it's really shallow? 3' average? This sounds like a flow/circulation issue. I would think 2 big pumps at high speed could handle it.
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* IF the CYA is correct. that amount of pucks makes us all nervous
To summarize, I think you need to sort out your circulation issue. Then complete the SLAM process. If your yellow algae is mustard algae, I think it can be a little stubborn. If you search for "mustard algae" on the forum I'm sure you'll find some good posts on how to deal with it. From my recollection, it can hang around even when you have a clear pool. Or on occasion people think they have mustard algae but its actually pollen.