(I have no affiliation with any of the vendor or product below, I was not asked to write any reviews and I have received nothing in return. I am just a first-time pool owner sharing my experience )

poolpartstogo.com

• Quick shipping: I placed the order on Friday April 26th, the order shipped via UPS on Monday April 29th and was delivered on Friday May 3rd.
• Great customer service: I originally placed an order for the 2HP version of the pump. After reading TFP I decided to go with the 3HP version instead. I submitted a ticket to PoolpartsToGo and they responded very quickly. They agreed to take back the 2HP pump (under their return policy) because the box was unopened and they even paid for the return shipping. The responses were very quick and helpful. I have also emailed them questions about this product (and others) and they have always been helpful. 10/10 I am very happy with all of my interactions with this company.
• Discount: They seem to often have a new 10-15% coupon code advertised on the top of their site, and they honor it. If you don't see this coupon, sign up for their email list and wait a few weeks for the next promo code. It seems like they do this all year around.

The Black+Decker 3HP VSP

• Price: Currently $1,020 after a 15% discount. Great price.
• Warranty: 5 year warranty. This warranty is directly to the end user and doesn't require professional install. I have never had a warranty issue so I can't comment on it.
• Installation: I paid a local pool pro to install the pump. He explained to me that he isn't familiar with the Black+Decker pumps and wouldn't offer them to customers because theres no local network of suppliers or distributors for quick access to replacement parts or pumps or warranty service if a pump breaks. They don't want to leave customers without circulation in their pool for extended periods of time. I understood this risk and understand that if my pump stops working it may take longer to get it back in service vs other brand name pumps.
• Compatibility: The inlets and outlets seem compatible with 'brand name' pumps - so it's pretty straight forward to swap them in.
• Noise: Very quiet compared to the dual speed Jandy pump that it replaced
• Energy Usage: I have the pump on 24x7 @ 1500RPMs, it uses about 215W (roughly $20/month in electricity here)
• Reliability: The pump has been running 24x7 since May with no hiccups. The pump has survived Florida summer heat and storms. A hurricane passed through and we had some power brownouts and blackouts which resulted in the panel showing an "under voltage" error - understandable because of the power fluctuations - however the pump resumed normal operation as soon as I hit "start".
• Panel / automation: The configuration panel is dead simple. I purchased this automation panel but never installed it. Our pool originally had a Jandy dual speed pump so I dreamed up big plans to automate the run time, RPMs and schedule of the new pump to keep electricity costs in check. But after seeing that I can just leave the pump at 1500RPM 24x7 for minimal cost I decided to keep things simple and just run the pump on that simple setting.

Overall the pump has been excellent and I have no regrets about the decision to get it. I know 2 other people in my area who have Black+Decker pumps (lower HP versions) and they have had the same excellent experience with their pumps (they have had their pumps for longer than I have had mine - maybe 2 or 3 years).

I'm hoping that this review will help normalize B+D pumps and ease concerns for anyone who is considering a B+D pump.

I’ve loved my SWG over the past few years. Even with having to add salt and clean the cell every few months, it’s so much easier than dealing with buying, transporting, storing and deploying liquid chlorine constantly. But a recent salt-stain event had me questioning the SWG if there is iron staining from the salt. So I tested several brands and types of salt.

If you want to skip the detail, I concluded: Buy the salt with least amount of iron and, when distributing it, dissolve/distribute it well, not leaving a layer on the pool surface for more than a few minutes. Diamond Crystal and Clorox had the most iron, “Morton” and “Salinity” brands had less iron. “Aquasalt” had the least iron (zero), but tough to find at a reasonable price.

Along the way I got “pool-stored” a bit, that and other details follow….

My “stain event” occurred when I dumped a full 40 lb bag of Clorox pool salt on the top step (as I usually do), but about an inch deep of salt sat there covering the large oval step for a couple hours (after I was interrupted by a post-hurricane power outage). When I came back and brushed it into dissolution there was a noticeable brown stain left on the step – picture enclosed. This prompted me to test several different salt brands for iron content.

Results of the iron tests follow, but I might first note that I usually maintain my chemistry well and keep CSI very close to zero, but this day/week the PH may have floated up towards 8.0 or 8.2 as I was dealing with other post hurricane matters. I think I read that high PH may increase sensitivity to iron staining. Full chemistry at the time: FC 5, PH 8.2, TA 50, CA 200, CYA 25, Salt 2700, Phos 150, WaterTemp 87, CSI 0.1

My test method was arguably extreme, but it was just for comparative purposes. I dissolved 1 lb of each salt brand into 32 oz of water, then tested with a “Hanna Iron (Fe²⁺ & Fe³⁺) Chemical Test Kit model HI3834. Instructions state that it detects the combination of ferrous and ferric ions by first reducing the ferric ions to ferrous. Given the extreme ratio of salt to water, not all salt dissolved, in each case a layer of salt remained on the bottom of the container. And yes, my test reagents expired 7 years ago, but the results are similar to what I was seeing when testing years ago on well water that stained concrete over the course of a year or more from well water irrigation.

Except where noted most of these brands can be had for about $7-$9 per 40lb bag at various big box discount stores. As noted Salinity and AquaSalt were pricier. Detailed results follow, in order of most iron to least iron, noting this may vary from batch to batch. When you research how it’s mined and packaged, there is a lot of variation, depending on many factors such as the original source and all the equipment that comes in contact with the salt along the way.

Diamond Crystal Water Softener pellets: ~1.0 PPM (mg/L). Slow dissolve, about 45 minutes if they’re not stacked. The pellets look like peanuts.

Diamond Crystal Splash Ready Pool Salt: ~0.5 to 0.75 PPM. Dissolves a lot like morton into smaller clear glassy crystals, then rather slow to finish dissolving over perhaps an hour.

Clorox: ~0.5 PPM (mg/L) iron, maybe higher. Fast & easy to dissolve but clumps if stored for awhile. This is what stained my step surface when an inch of it was left on the surface for a couple hours. Noting again that my PH was running high at 8.0 or 8.2 at the time of stain.

Morton Professional’s Choice Pool Salt: 0.2 ppm / just a trace of iron. A bit slow to dissolve as it first half-dissolves into clear smaller crystals, much like the diamond crystal splash ready.

Salinity brand...... Just a trace of iron, $15/ bag from pool store. Label states “high purity salt for swgs - premium salt blend fine granular quick dissolving with *stain inhibitor” (says imported, ‘Amanaplast’ logo) - Note this finer powder, like Clorox, dissolves quickly when swished or brushed but when spread 1/4" deep takes longer than some others. This would be runner up to the winner, except for the fact that we have no idea what the ”stain inhibitor” chemical is, no ingredients listed. A bit of sequestrant perhaps? Most TFP folks don’t like adding unknown chemicals.

Aquasalt: ZERO trace of iron. This would be the clear winner – except for the price. Very fine and almost powdery, dissolves easily, much like Clorox. But it’s $25/bag from Leslies, delivered. Leslies asks only $12.50 per bag but charges another $12.50/bag for delivery and they won’t ship to the store. I called corporate and a store, no joy. A friend of mine has access to a local wholesale distributor and they told him the price would be $7.50/bag but they never have it and seem uncooperative to order it. Weird that.

More thoughts/speculation:…. Reading the instructions on many salt bags, they advise of course to distribute the salt around the pool, don’t do what I did and leave it stacked in one place for hours. But that seemed bogus to me, since I wondered if I’m simply staining the entire surfaces – just more slowly, gradually. So I continued to wonder about the long term effect of having added more than 1000 lbs of salt over a few years. Still, the pool water itself registers zero trace of iron using the Hanna test kit and all the surfaces look pristine, except for my “stain event” – that I cleared with a sockfull of ascorbic acid powder.

Then I speculated that, like CYA and salt, the summer rains and resultant overflow are probably clearing the iron just like that same overflow & splashout removes CYA and salt itself. Unless the iron is stuck stained to surfaces, gradually staining all surfaces, ugh.

So – not to worry? After all that hoopla and work, I suppose I’ll just buy Morton pool salt and dissolve & distribute it well – LOL.

“Poolstored” sidebar…. While buying the “Salinity” brand from the local PinchAPlenty store I asked the tech if they ever carry Aquasalt. He said no, and he added that he would never buy salt from the big box discount stores. Naturally I asked if he used the stuff I was buying from his store. He said no. So I asked where he buys his, and he said “I can’t tell you – since I work here”. Sigh. If anyone finds a good way to acquire Aquasalt I’m all ears!

As implied by the picture, for stain removal I first started with some vitamin C tablets, then acquired a 2 lb container of ascorbic acid for $17 from wallymart, then used the sock – very simple and easy. Then I got to wondering what happens to the iron that I “wipe off” with ascorbic acid – does it settle elsewhere eventually? Some good threads exist here in TFP on iron removal – many thanks to @Texas Splash, @JoyfulNoise, @Brian Malone, @BoDarville and many others for all those comments in threads such as getting rid of iron and rust and Polyfill and iron binding during AA treatment and related threads. Just for grins I fashioned some polyfill around my cartridge filter and also tried the “aquabag” for a few days on a return port – but never captured any visible iron using those methods. Then again those attempts may be moot since I did not run the PH and FC back up to get any iron to precipitate. And reading through those iron removal threads I never figured out if sequestrant should be present when trying to precipitate the iron. Alas – the surfaces look great and the water is totally clear, so I may have just been wasting even more time!

Thoughts and opinions always welcome and appreciated. Happy SWG-ing and salting everyone. … Joe

I am on my second Controlomatic Smarter Spa. This is a drape over Saltwater Chlorine generator for spas. Hopefully this device will last several more years.
But Controlomatic has now closed down. Anyone have recommendations on other aftermarket SWCG systems for spas? When you google this a lot of the results are for the Controlomatic systems.

ICYMI - PENTAIR HOME IS BECOMING PENTAIR POOL

The app updated to the new name on my iDevices.

Day 1 of construction. Roughly 20x38 geometric & curved edge gunite pool. Can post progress & experience if helpful! Completely new to this, but have researched like crazy (type A personality). Very happy with our contractor to-date. No questions at this point, just looking to share this journey if it helps anyone since I referenced this site a lot while finalizing our design choices.

Can’t access Intellicenter on Pentair Home App.
I’ve logged in with the same account that I created on the panel.
When I go to devices on Pentair Home App, the pool is just gray, can’t click on it or access it.

Everything was working on Intellicenter2 app before it forced me to move over to Pentair Home.

The PvC pipe coming out the ground by the slide isn’t connected to the slide because we have had issues getting it to stay connected to the slide. It’s freezing here now. Valve is currently off. Should I just wrap this pipe up with a towel to prevent from freezing? Any recommendations?

OK, I'm a bit fed up with my issue of really fine dirt debris in our pool. I've tried the suction Hose attachment method connecting to my skimmer to the filter -- the process is tedious at best and very time consuming, often only capturing 75% of the debris (it mostly just seems to stir things up). Priming the hose is always a difficult task. Probably just me, but I find this a PITA to deal with. So I'm ready to spend some money for something that reliably sucks up that fine debris. Am I being realistic about this? I'm prepared to spend < $1,000 on a robotic. But seems to be like 3 or so choices.

I would really appreciate any recommendations on your own experiences and what you bought. Are you 100% pleased with your purchase? How is it holding up (maintenance)? Do they REALLY clean perfectly the floor & walls? (Fiberglass here). Dolphin? Nautilus? I'm prepared to maintain the device as parts DO wear out. But I'm in analysis paralysis mode.

Any advice? Much appreciated.

We are remodeling our pool and installing a pebble finish, we will need too choose a color in the next 2 days. Our PB uses stone scapes and we have been leaning towards Midnight Blue. We look at pools over and over and always seem to come back to this same color. But, we are concerned it may be too dark - our pool only gets sun from about 10am to 3pm other than that it is in the shade and we have a screen - none of the pictures online have a screens over the pools. We have tried to find a pool in the area that we can visit in person but have not been able to.

What we are looking for is a deep rich blue, and we plan to add dark and light blue glass beads to any finish we go with. What we don't want: any green or teal int he water, light blues, Bahama looking water blues, strong blues that are electric and look fake as a result i.e. a bottle of Windex or Dawn. We would like the blue to be deep in color but don't want the pool to be so dark that it looks dim, dimness is our biggest concern with this color.

Midnight blue pool -


Midnight blue pebble Dry -


Midnight blue pebble wet with glass beads-


Our options are
1. Go ahead with the Midnight Blue and err on the side that we may end up with a darker pool than we wanted
2. Err on the side of tropics blue and that we may end up with a pool that is lighter than we wanted - the tropics pebbles seems very grey and the water can look quite light in some pictures. As you can see in the pictures below the 2nd example is much lighter than the first, and would be lighter than we wanted

Tropics pool 1 -


Tropics pool 2 -


Tropics blue pebble dry -


Tropics blue pebble wet -


3. Or go ahead with the Midnight blue but modify the pebble colors in the finish. We are thinking that if we go with this option we could replace 50% or the black with grey plus add the blue glass to the midnight blue and that may help ensure we don't end up with a dim look. The major disadvantage with this being that we have no ability to preview the color at all

We also liked the Stonescapes Exotic Series Bimini and thought that may look good, but after scouring the web I can find no examples where anyone has ever put this in their pool.


Bimini -


Advice from anyone with experience with any of these colors, choosing custom colors or the over all color choosing process would be much appreciated.

Hey Everybody! Worst opening season in 10 years for me, the rain has just been ridiculous.

Anyway, I have accepted a new client and their Hayward offline chlorinator has a really gummy resident of lube built up that makes the lid impossible to open and close.

Anyone have any tricks or can recommend a product to remove all the old residue so I can start fresh? Otherwise it seams fine so I hate to tell them to buy a new one.

Thanks!

So easy! Post ONE pic related to the theme title above. I bet you have a good pic saved somewhere. See the contest rules below to enter.

PLEASE READ OUR (UPDATED) RULES BEFORE POSTING! ----> TFP Pool of the Month Contest Rules


Photo contests are announced on the first of each month. There is a 5-day submission phase. Days 6 & 7 are for voting. Winner announced on day 8. Winner eligible for a $50 prize.



It's easy! What have you got to lose? You might receive a $50 discount code from TFtestkits.net.

Click Here to See Some Previous TFP Monthly Contest Winners​

Here’s a question for you—what’s one thing about pool maintenance that most people don’t realize, but really should? Let’s all share and discuss!

New here,
I'm in AZ, so it has some of it's own unique challenges, and trying to sift my way thru a new pool build. We've met with 2 pool builders, and gotten 2 renderings so far, and meeting with a 3rd builder this week.
Some of my questions.
We were going to for sure go salt water pool, but one of the builders recommended a traditional chlorinated pool due to cost, ease of maint on the system, and says if the pool is done well, we won't have an overly chlorinated pool. I'm stumped on this one.
Tile color, we wanted a mexican themed pool, with pool/spa tile, and a stamped terra cotta tile decking, Same pool builder as above warned us the tiles will need quite a bit more up keep and cleaning, and are prone to cracking. He also warned against the decking we wanted due to heat, slipperyness, and calcium staining from pool water being splashed on it. Our area of AZ has very hard water, and it's hot as balls in the summer. His recommendation, and what he prefers is Kool Deck, and a light tan pool tile color, and we should "highlight" our pool with Terra Cotta and cobalts, and mexican tiles, and to just keep them out of the water.

Whats the verdict on Kool Deck, I've read other places people don't like it, and to stay away from it.
Also, anyone in AZ have issues with dark, or bright colors on their pool tiles?

Here are couple of our first renderings, since most people like pictures in forums.

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Hi Newbie here.... I have a new 9K gal, 12 x 26 fiberglass pool with all Jandy equipment. Everything is working great but I've run into an issue that I'm working with my PB with. I upgraded from a 2 speed pump to a variable speed pump during construction because I wanted to run the pump on a lower speed over a longer period of time for a more quiet operation (equipment is near my neighbors house...and I like them! ) I also wanted to reap the benefit of a lower electrical bill by running on a lower speed. The problem I'm having is the I need the RPMs to be at 2500 rpms (run 5 hrs a day right now 8am to 1pm) in order for the water to cascade over the spillway and not fall directly onto the stone below the spillway. I started at 1750 RPMs and increased gradually until I got to 2500 RPMs and clearing the stones. What is the average RPMs needed to get the water from the spa over the spillway without hitting the stones. Is 2500 RPMs considered high?? If you need more details so you can better answer please ask...I'm new at this (my 1st post...Lol)
Thank You in Advance.

I installed the 3 HP Calimar VSP pool pump (this pump) this weekend on my small pool. The old single speed pump was pretty loud and started leaking. I mostly installed to save money (the cheap price of the pump was a selling point) and had no desire/need for a full automation system. I just hand dump liquid chlorine and have been able to keep my levels pretty good with this method. I am debating getting a SWG, but just not sure if the cost savings are there, but I guess liquid chlorine prices have gone up and for a while, had trouble sourcing it.

Install was pretty straight-forward, should have went ahead and ordered unions to put on the pump, but ended up just re-using the old piping. I haven't bolted down the pump or filter housing yet, as I may reposition everything.

The pump primed super fast, and I've been running it at 1,000 rpm the overnight, and may just keep it there 24/7, definitely don't need to though. To me, it is a little noisier compared to other VSPs I've heard at this RPM, but its not loud at all, get what you pay for. Will have to see how long it lasts, hopefully get 3+ years (low expectations, hopefully lol).

Reason I posted, is there were some discussions about this pump on the forum, but didn't really see any about how it installed and quality of it. Figure I'll update whenever the pump decides to grenade itself, lol.

Hi all!

My mom is an avid swimmer in summer, but she's been complaining about the constant pool maintenance. I'm considering getting her a robotic pool cleaner as a Christmas gift, but I'm unsure if it's a worthwhile investment. Has anyone had experience with these? Are they effective at keeping pools clean? Do they save a significant amount of time and effort? Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I was at the local Leslie’s Pro to pick up some 12.5% LC. I saw a new pallet of still wrapped 4 pack boxes. Next to it was a half pallet so I grabbed a 4 pk box and looked for the date code. Top, all 4 sides, even tilted it a little to look on the bottom. No date code.

I looked at the new unwrapped pallet couldn’t find a date code on that either.

I thought, oh well, I need chlorine. The pool water has dropped into the upper 50’s so I had turned off the SWG. The counter person was a young lady and I decided not to ask her about the dates.

Well, I got home and opened the 4 pk. Couldn’t find a date code on any of the individual gallon jugs. So dummy me, I used a half a gallon, then measured a couple of hours later. Expecting to see at least a 2 ppm rise, I got the same reading as before the addition.

Although, I was still at 8 ppm the next day, I added a full gallon. Tested a couple of hours later and it only raised FC to 10ppm. Pool Math indicates the rise should/could have been 4.8 ppm for 26k gallon pool. So I should/could have seen 12.5 ppm and only got to 10 ppm.

I figured I can’t return it after using a gallon and a half from the 4 pk. I learned my lesson, no date code… no purchase.

I searched the forum and google scholar and couldn't find an answer to this. Is anyone aware of a study or personal experiment with data that shows the chlorine usage rate per day in ppm (or percentage) as a function of different CYA levels? For example, at 10ppm CYA you lose 2ppm FC per day, at 30ppm CYA you lose 1ppm FC per day, at 50ppm you lose .75ppm per day, at 100ppm CYA you lose .5ppm FC per day. Just making those numbers up of course. In Bob Lowry's writing he suggests that you lose around 1ppm per day at 30ppm CYA, but I can't find him talking about how that chlorine loss rate changes with different levels of CYA.

I know the decay rate changes with other factors besides CYA (temp, Crud in the pool, etc), but all else being equal, am trying to find data showing the relationship between CYA level and chlorine loss rate, before I go and try to do my own experiments.

EDIT: just realized I put this under the water chemistry forum, if it could be moved to the appropriate one would appreciate that!

Hey all!

New pool owner here, trying to get a handle on everything and get the pool balanced in a position to maintain.

Location: Bay Area, CA
Pool: 20k gallons
Spillover Spa: 700 gallons

From what I can tell, I have the following equipment:

• Controller: Easytouch with Screenlogic
• Pump: Intelliflo VS Pump 354605.E
• Booster/Cleaner Pump: Pentair Boost-Rite LA-MS05
• Filter: Sta-Rite PLM300
• Heater: Pentair SR400NA
• Air Blower: Air Supply 23E1
• SWG: Intellichlor IC40
• Valves:
  • Return: Jandy valve that looks to control return from pool/spa
  • Supply: Jandy valve that looks to control supply to pool/spa
• Auto filler: Looks like the tank on a toilet but in ground, just fills up and connects to some jets housings when the float gets low

Here is a picture of the pool (sorry for the really bad photo lol):


Here is a picture of the whole setup:



Now a whole bunch of questions:
1. Right now the pool/spa are unheated, I was reading that the heater should not be run for water temperatures less than 68F, but that it is ok on startup. If I am able to isolate the spa, is it ok to run the heater occasionally to get the Spa up to temp (100 something)?


2. Looks like I have a few leaks. Attaching pictures here for reference.
This is on the output from the filter housing as it goes towards to heater. It looks like it is leaking from the actual filter housing, but it could be leaking from the connection with the pvc pipe, I just couldn't get around it to tell.


And then this is on the heater, maybe a simpler fix than the filter leak above?



3. It seems like when I run the Pool and Spa functions on ScreenLogic I still get the spillover from the Spa. When I run the cleaner it doesn't look like I get any spillover though.

Looking in SLConfig, it looks like my valves are unassigned? I'm assuming I need to assign each of them? I'm not really sure how to assign them to a circuit though, as it looks like they would only isolate return/supply from the pool/spa?

Any advice on how to configure this so I can isolate the spa, etc...

Here are some of my configs:

I’ll admit I tend to be an overthinker. The toilet paper has to go over the top. Only distilled water in my radiator and battery. Hot tub water chemistry must be perfect.
I still haven’t come to a conclusion concerning bromine vs chlorine but I’ll continue that journey in the months ahead. Right now I’m using liquid chlorine with CYA 30. I have watched 100’s of YouTube’s concerning chlorine vs non/chlorine shock. I’ve been falling asleep at 11:30 with my phone on my chest watching and trying to determine which is the better hot tub shock. MPS will mess up your chlorine readings. MPS doesn’t kill anything. Brian, the Atlanta hot guy, says he throws in a couple tsp after every soak.

I am slightly confused. Well, honestly, I am very confused. I don’t know my head from my…

My thinking is to add chlorine every time after we get out. Then I’m thinking of doing 2 oz MPS once a week as a shock.

Should I just scrap MPS? Why do some people hate it and some people love it? I honestly don’t understand why “I” can’t find a consensus.

I wish I could get this settled.

Hey TFPers,

I haven't seen many reviews for this anywhere apart so I thought I'd put in my 2 cents on this new skimmer robot. Paid for it with real money from Amazon and i'm definitely not a 'free product' marketing shill.

My situation:
Neigbour's 80+ year old maple tree looms over the fenceline so it's a source of branches, leaves, caterpillars, even poor squirrels into our pool. So I've been looking at skimmer bots for a while now to take care of the various waves of detritus that get into pool over the course of the summer. We get direct blazing sun on the pool only for about 4-5 hours per day, so solar-only models didn't really fit my situation. The Aiper Surfer was chargeable via DC *and* solar panels, so i thought I'd be the guinea pig for this thing since Amazon Prime's return policy gives me an out if it's terrible.

The good:
- DC charging! It charges from zero-ish to 100 in roughly 3 hours.
- Solar charging seems efficient. It charges while running, and I noticed that the battery % indicator in the app was going up even while it was doing laps around the pool
- The app-- great to have. Shows battery life, temperature of the water, and offers full manual controls. But it *could* be better. (see below)
- Connects to your wifi and bluetooth so you could theoretically control it from the comfort of your home while looking out the window
- Build of the robot seems pretty solid. The body is obviously plastic, but feels comparable to the plastic used on Maytronic robots.

Ok, could be better:
- The app! Wish it had start/stop scheduling (that would be easy to program in the existing app), or could be integrated into a smart home ecosystem like Alexa or Google home. It already has the wifi connection so this should be a no brainer.
- Object avoidance-- works for the most part. For the first few minutes it crashes into everything but the sensors eventually find their bearings and avoids most things. Gets caught on the ladder but eventually bumps itself free. Gets caught in the skimmer so I've created those pool noodle bars for its sensors to detect.
- When stopped, small bits of junk tend to float back out of the basket... But i understand that's a common problem across all skimmer bot.

The not so good:
- Unsure about the potential lifespan of this machine. Already experiencing a weird bug where I turn off the robot and it randomly turns itself back on to standby mode. Sent a note to Aiper and they think it's a circuit problem and will send a replacement. Great, but reduces the confidence on the longevity of the electronics beyond 1 season and the 1 yr warranty.

Am I keeping it? Not sure. I'm hoping there's a software update with basic scheduling at the very least. It does what it's supposed to do pretty well, but I also don't want to own a brick within a season's time if the electronics / non-replaceable battery are flakey.

Can anyone speak to the longevity of Aiper products?

(*AFAIK S1 and M1 models are different only by their colour. I have the S1.)

Here's a thing I did that I hadn't seen anyone else do, so I thought I'd share it. With an autofill, it's hard to know if something goes wrong causing a leak until it's a bigger problem because the autofill will mask it.

So I put a GPH flowmeter on it so I can see how much it's using and notice if something changes.

I've been using a traditional chlorine pool for over 4 years. With calcium hypochlorite powder and a pool robot, it’s super easy to maintain. However, I've noticed a trend toward saltwater pools lately. Is it a wise move to join this trend and convert my pool to a saltwater system?

A "Low Salt" error causes Intex SWGs to shut down, and refuse to make chlorine.
Mine gave me 3 such errors on successive nights.
There are multiple videos purporting to "fix" the issue, by hot-wiring the metal-plate cell directly to the transformer, and bypassing the timer and all the "intelligence" of the device.
But I like the idea of the timer and the water-flow detector, and the other controls and features.

So, what about actually diagnosing and fixing the issue? Assuming that one has already inspected and cleaned the cell if required, one can easily notice that initially, the clear piping allows one to see the bubbles of gas being created by the cell in the initial period before the "Low Salt" alarm, so the cell is plainly "working".

So, what's wrong? The alarm is due to a decreased conductivity (increased resistance) in the water between the plates of the cell. Its just an ohm-meter.

[EDIT 8/14/2021]
I was sloppy in the original post about salt and conductivity/resistance, speculating that perhaps excessive backwashing might result in a physical "low salt" condition. WRONG!
My little 4545 gallon pool is supposed to need 117 lbs of salt, and salt comes in 40-lb bags, so I had a few extra pounds of salt to toss in, and if this guess is wrong, the equipment will be just as happy with 120lbs as with 117lbs, only 2% difference. But that didn't fix the issue, and the idea is a somewhat silly one to begin with, as fresh water by its nature has very few ions. De-ionized water as a conductivity of about 5.5μS/m.
Sea water has Sodium and Chloride ions and has a conductivity of around 5S/m, as compared with the 5.5μS/m for fresh. So sea water is roughly one million times more conductive than fresh water.
One is going to be hard pressed to screw up the salt if one simply puts in the suggested number of pounds of salt for the gallons of water in the pool, and accounts for only a MAJOR draining of the pool for repairs (like more than 20% of total water volume). I can't see mere backwashing bringing the salt level down significantly, and the "test strips for salt" are an ABSOLUTE JOKE AND ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED FOR ANY PURPOSE. If you worry about salt, go to a pool store with a real test set for salt in water.
[END EDIT]

So, the obvious answer is corrosion on the electrical connections, and sure enough, I found corrosion everywhere in this circuit.
The connector to the cell was corroded inside the connector, and on one of the posts on the cell itself, so emery paper time.
Here is a very good set of photos on doing this:

But wait, there's more... inside the case.
Unscrewing the two screws that hold all the plumbing in place, removing the electronics unit from the pipes, and opening it up, there was also quite a bit of corrosion on the terminal block and wires that (no surprise) go to the cell.
I replaced the screws, crimped and soldered on new wire lugs onto the wires, and replaced the corroded metal plates on the two wires with parts salvaged from another terminal strip in my junkbox of salvageable parts, but you can easily buy these. One can sand off the lugs and metal plates, and match the screws at the hardware store. You want stainless steel screws.

The comical thing is that the various YouTube videos documenting the "hot-wiring" bypass of all the electronics show the corrosion very clearly, for example this screenshot:


Note that ALL the terminals are corroded pretty seriously here, but the two "CL -" and "CL+" terminals, from which wires have been removed in the screenshot above, are the exact cause of the error.
Note that other connections in the system (for example, the push-on terminals at bottom right) are NOT corroded in the least, so the problem is simply that a terminal block made of pure Chineseum, (i.e. crappy Zinc metal alloy) is not a good match for electrical connections involving salt water and electricity. As a general rule, you will see white residue if only a zinc coating is being corroded, and red when the underlying steel is corroded. Good-quality stainless steel will resist corrosion, as the chromium added to the steel forms a "passive oxide layer" on the surface of the steel, and if the steel is scratched, more oxide quickly forms in or over the scratch.

So, my $100 SWG (bought on sale as an "open box return") is back to quietly making all the chlorine my little pool needs, without any complaints.

Came out to do some maintenance today and noticed my EasyTouch panel covered in black soot. Upon closer inspection, it seems the wiring from the panel to the IC40 had caught fire/melted. I was able to find one other thread on this forum where the same thing occurred. In talks with Pentair support at the moment. Hoping that they will make it right.

Meanwhile, I removed the melted internal wiring that connects the IC40 to the SCG circuit board. Now, it seems my pump won't run without that connection. As I would like to still circulate my pool while adding chlorine manually meanwhile, is there a way I can still get my pump to run? Thanks in advance!

We bought some Klean Strip Green Muriatic Acid at Lowe's. It did not have the acid % listed on the bottle. We came home and looked it up and it is 20% acid....but I do not see that as an option on PoolMath so not sure how much we need to add? Should I just pick the 14.5% and then add about 5% more than what PoolMath says?

For all the people who ask about the saltron mini for their hot tub, here is my experience. We bought ours in August of 2019. Set it all up and worked great. We have the setting at 7 and for our tub it maintains the chlorine levels perfectly. About once a month we add muriatic acid to lower the PH. Other than that we change the water about 3 times per year. The cell finally gave up the ghost on Dec 26. Ordered a replacement and 2 days later we were back up and running. Original cost was $400. Replacement cell was $200 and it lasted a total of 16 months. Very inexpensive especially considering I don't have to even think about maintenance on the water levels.
At first I checked the levels almost daily until I knew it was working well and my settings were correct. After that i tested once a week. Now I test about every 2 weeks and every single time my readings are the same. If you are tired of hauling bleach everyday, I highly recommend you make the switch. We did get a bit of rust on 1 stainless steel ring but that's all and I contribute that to simply bad stainless in that 1 section.

So easy! Post ONE pic related to the theme title above. I bet you have a good pic saved somewhere. See the contest rules below to enter.

PLEASE READ OUR (UPDATED) RULES BEFORE POSTING! ----> TFP Pool of the Month Contest Rules



Photo contests are announced on the first of each month. There is a 5-day submission phase. Days 6 & 7 are for voting. Winner announced on day 8. Winner eligible for a $50 prize.



It's easy! What have you got to lose? You might receive a $50 discount code from TFtestkits.net.

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So, like many others on this site, I was tired of the short life of my pentair LED lights and made the switchover to PoolTone. I got the NICHELESS 1 1/2 INCH (SMALL FACE) POOL OR SPA LIGHT and installed them about 18 months ago. The spa light stopped working about 2 months ago and then two of the pool lights went out.

I went back to Florida SunSeeker and they offered me a discount on the replacements, so I said OK and ordered them up. I was out today pulling the old lights out and to my shock and dismay, they lights have basically disintegrated!!!!! It smells like built plastic and the spa one just came apart while trying to remove it. Here are some photos (first two are the larger pool light and the next one is what's left of the SPA light and the hole it came out of). WHAT A MESS!!!!



How is this possible and am I the only one experiencing this problem? It would seem this would be a huge issue for the community if it was happening to everyone, which leads me to the question of "what did I do wrong here?" If I decide to replace the lights with the same brand instead of returning them, what can I do to prevent this from happening again? Wrap the lights in better insulation tape? Use a silicone caulk on it?
Should I go back to Pentair? Their lights generally suck, but they don't explode or melt . . . .

When logging small additions they are rounded up or down in the timeline.
For instance 0.5 oz by weight or volume becomes 1 oz
& 0.4 oz by weight or volume becomes 0 oz., 1.5 oz becomes 2oz etc.
You must click on the individual log (as if you were going to edit it) to see the actual amount.
For pools this isn’t an issue usually but for small spas it can be for multiple reasons including interpretation of other’s logs.
It seems to be calculating the true amounts in the summary page.
I initially thought it just wasn’t logging my additions and zeroing everything out.
It didn’t used to operate this way. I really hope there’s a fix.