Scale, I need help please

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OK I received the new cell today. I was away for six days, I will attach the video of what I came back to, and I had vacuumed the pool completely clean before I left. The old cell was a T15, the one they sent me is a GLX15, does anybody know the difference? Hopefully know something in a couple days. TA is still sitting around 95 to 100. THX


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Aw, that's not so bad is it? :crazy: I don't even see how that could make so much scale. Here's hoping you got a bad one the first time. Given how many people use that SWG it seems likely. Hey, that's kinda funny since it is your user name. :) Can't wait for a report.
 
Well I just replaced the cell a few hours ago, it won't kick on till the morning. I'm hoping you're wrong, I hope it is the cell. My water chemistry has always been perfect with a negative CSI. I have been relentless about keeping it balanced. You're probably right, I am about half expecting the scale to return even with the new cell. If this don't work I will continue regardless to lower my TA to around 80 and add borates hopefully that will help. I just don't want to do anything other than change to cell so I know if and when I figure this out what it was.
I am actually sitting in my pool tonight with a glass of wine as I type this.

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I just thought of something, I have one skimmer, from the beginning if I pulled directly from gave me a lot of air. It seems to work fine, but if I divert the valves to that one skimmer it creates lots of turbulence in my pump basket. I can divert the valves to any other single source such as the other skimmer or floor drain or a combination of and get no air. Do you think the fact that the one skimmer for whatever reason is giving me turbulence could be causing something? I had posted a thread earlier about how I have one skimmer that I thought might have a leak, but seems to work fine, has great suction as I use it to vacuum with, but if I pull directly from it I get air in the pump basket. Could this air because in the pH to become unstable? If I continue to get scale with this new cell, I am going to shut the other skimmer off completely to see what happens. Do you think this is a possibility? When I have all valve open, to both skimmers and floor drain, there is no air at all in the basket.


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I can, although it's dark right now. Tomorrow I will take a video of it so you can see what it looks like when I'm pull directly from it, and then again when all valves are open. The only time I get the turbulence is when I pull directly from that valve to the one skimmer. The pressure in my filter also drops to zero when I do that. As soon as i open up other valves in combination with it, the air disappears and my filter pressure goes back to normal. Also I can pull directly from the other skimmer or the floor drain, and get no air and my filter keeps pressure. If I open up all three it also seems to be fine. I was concerned about the skimmer from the very beginning, but it is so strange because even though I get air, it has great suction. If this new cell continues to produce excessive scale, I will shut that skimmer off completely to see what happens. Is it possible to have a skimmer that has a leak that works perfectly fine? I have never got any debris or dirt or anything from it.


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Check the weir on that skimmer to make sure it operates freely. And look in the skimmer when it is operating to see if there is a vortex or something weird going on in there.
 

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I can tell you that the weir operates freely and there is no vortex or anything odd in the skimmer. It traps all kinds of debris including snakes and frogs. I say this confidently because I have messed with it so much checking it, cleaning the basket, and checking the suction as well as using it as a vacuum. When I first discovered the turbulence in the basket I was checking out that skimmer in depth. I was always confused because it had tremendous suction. I only see that air when I pulled directly from it, I always thought possibly it could not give up enough water that the pump demanded because it is the furthest suction point of everything in my pool. That skimmer is further away by double ftjan my floor drains or the other skimmer. I eliminated that thought because as I pulled from it there was always plenty of water provided to the skimmer.


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Say that's a long 1.5" line, and that's 3 HP trying to pull all it's water from the one place. The plumber may have thought that skimmer would never be used alone, so he wouldn't put 2.5" pipe to it. It would be a lot of suction, though I can't see how it would be more suction than from a closer skimmer, unless the closer skimmer has an equalizer line connected to it, or under that scenario Lykly is also leaving the main drain open. But anyway, could that be enough restriction on the suction line to cause cavitation in either a fitting in the line itself, or at the impeller?

Sounds more likely to be a leak in the line going to that far skimmer, or at the connection to that skimmer, but just wondering what might be happening when trying to pull all the water for a 3 HP pump through that single skimmer line.

Unrelated, but if the issue was connected to the way you use that skimmer, why would it have happened while you were away? Could that be scale in the SWG (or elsewhere) letting go because it's now flooded properly all the time? This is perplexing. Just throwing out a few thoughts with little to base them on!
 
Keep in mind that basket had that turbulence before I put the 3 hp motor on, it had a 1.5 hp motor before I switched to the variable speed and it did the same thing. Second thing I need to tell you is this did not just happen when I was away, this is the same problem I've been experiencing, I just was never away for six days to let it accumulate to this point. I have always cleaned it up after every other day never letting it accumulate, this is just the first time I've been away for six days. This is the same severity, I just never let it go more than two days prior. I am pretty sure that skimmer has some sort of leak, I just hate the thought of trying to locate it because at the skimmer is concrete, and then it is probably 35 feet and a 8 foot elevation to the pump where the skimmer line comes out. I have no idea if it's buried just a few feet deep following grade, or if it could possibly be very deep. Before I go to digging, I am going to try the new cell, then borates. At that point if I still get scale I will need to determine if it's worth just to isolate that skimmer or dig it up. As long as I don't pull just from that skimmer, there does not appear to be any air in the basket.


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OK here is a picture of the situation, the problem skimmer is on the end where you see the basketball hoop. The wall in the back I'm guessing is 5 foot tall, and then the pump is behind the hedge at the end of the video which is another couple feet taller then the back of the wall so I'm guessing the pump is seven or 8 feet higher than water level. The elevation behind that hedge probably goes up another foot or so. I'm guessing by the time the pipe goes from that skimmer to the pump you looking at around 40 feet. I will send a video of the pump soon.
https://vimeo.com/175834951


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OK here's a video with all valves open- then I close the floor drain and leave the skimmers open and then I pullfrom the good skimmer and then finally pull only from the problem skimmer. You will see all the turbulence, within two minutes after opening all the valves the water is free of air bubbles. Also the pressure on my filter goes to zero when I pull from the problem skimmer only. When any other valve is open with the problem skimmer it does not show at least visible in the air.https://vimeo.com/175836234




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Here are two pictures of the set up. Two lines coming up into one valve are from the skimmers, the left one being the problem, the single line that joins them is the floor drain. On the input from the pump to the filter, is a line to waste which is closed, on the bottom output you can see where it goes to my SWG, and after that the booster pump pulls it's water for operation but that is after the SWG.
86b20d900dc1ecb068f42a272878883b.jpg
76c0af8b99960943863c1ab59d56174c.jpg



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