I think this is the right place for this...(please move if not)

Anyway, I don't usually pull a lot of air in my system. But this year, I am getting quite a bit. The thing is that none of it is in the pump, where I would see it in the past with various issues. The water stays pinned to the top of the pump lid all the time, yet every few hours and before I turn it off, I crank the pump up to max speed to blow out the air that's accumulating and get all the giant burps blowing into the pool.

What I did notice though is that if I vent the filter (not sure if this is common, but I can turn the gauge on top of it and let air out) that will alleviate the need for the burps. In other words, there's a lot of air in the filter but nowhere else.

I injured my leg earlier this summer and, because of where my equipment is haven't really been able to get up and look closely at the equipment but I did have a friend hand check all the fittings and everything seemed tight (replaced SWCG earlier this year). My initial thought is that when we opened this year, we didn't get the filter lid seated properly and that's where the issue is. Does this make sense? The only other thing I could think of is the line from the pump into the filter, but I have no reason to believe there's an issue there at all.

Here's my equipment pad - pump is a little ways away and downhill (long story)

Had new pool put in and PH is 8.2, FC is 12.0, CC is 0.5, TA is 50 and CYA is 95. I just added 2.5 cups of baking soda. I also think I turned off chlorinator on OmniLogic. I am using TFTestkit and signed up for premium on pool math app. Does math app give guidance on what to add or can anyone help? I have 11,200 gallon fiberglass pool.

I just noticed the INTEX 26679EG QX2600 SWG is on sale and thinking of swapping out my current INTEX 26651EG
SX3000 sand filter for it. I have around 6500 gallons in my Intex AGP.

The QX2600 flows less than my SX3000. Flow rate is 2150 vs 2450 and chlorine output is 11g/hr.

My frame already has rust on it going into the 3rd season and the plan is to take it down, knock the rust off and re-spray the frame. Then put everything back up. In doing so I figured I could just swap to SWG since my concern was the salt water would eat the Intex frame. Evidently regular water does too

When talking to a friend he said going SWG isn't worth it since there is alot of issues with salt cells going out and other things. Just easier to add chlorine, but I'm tired of adding it daily

Any words of wisdom from experience?

Link to the pump: https://amzn.to/3nZzckK

Apologies in advance for the long description…

20+ yr old 20x40 36,000g in-ground pool with a DE filter setup (ProGrid 4820). I’ve been removing and reinstalling the filter/motor etc for 20 years without an issue.

This year upon assembly the pump motor didn’t run. I replaced the capacitor to no avail, then replaced the motor with a Century exact replacement. I do t have the specs in front of me but I’ve done this before and was pretty careful to match RPM and look at the pump curves. I’m a Chem Eng by formal education.

I then proceeded to create a HUGE problem by purchasing and charging the filter with what I thought was DE, but was Perlite. At one point the filter was over saturated with the stuff and it was passing into the pool. I also - for the first time - could not maintain suction with the vacuum connected to the skimmer.

I finally got rid of the Perlite by repeatedly brushing the pool and running the filter 24x7. It took more than a week, but finally cleared up. The loss of suction with the vacuum problem still remains.

After 3-4 weeks of use, I was getting some algae growth around the perimeter. Had the water tested - Chlorine and phosphates were way too high (15ppm and 1200, resp.). I was advised to turn the chlorinator off for a few days and use PhosFree. As I should have guessed the pool immediately turned into a green swamp. After running by filter for another 5-6 days (and backwashing the filter 2-3 times) it is still green and swampy (chlorinator went back on when Cl2 was in range) and I can see a ton of what looks like DE on the bottom of the pool. I desperately want to vac it to waste, but cannot maintain suction.

My questions are not about pool chemistry - if needed those will come later - but about the suction issue.

While running the suction from both the main drain and the two skimmers, the system runs fine. There is air coming from the discharge jet, and if I leave the bleed on top of the filter cracked it will constantly sputter.

If I divert the suction to EITHER the main drain OR the skimmers, I can see the water level dropping in the filter basket and it will eventually lose suction.

At first I thought maybe I had a leak in the line, but since the skimmers and main drain have separate lines, that’s not logical. The lines come up from the ground and are connected at a single directional valve that is inches from the pump. I’ve removed the pump connection/union, replaced the o-ring, checked it for level and tightened the coupling. I’ve also rebuilt the pump head.

It is possible that the air and vacuum loss are unrelated. I am wondering if air is causing the issue - or could the lines leading to the pump be clogged with perlite? The stuff is a bit sticky and almost like glue - I had to get a rag with some soap to clean it off the inside of my filter.

I don’t have a setup to leak test. I went and saw someone weeks ago to come leak test, but despite me giving them my CC they never showed.

I also ordered a boroscope today to snake down the skimmer to have a look.

Any/all ideas/advice welcome.

Lastly - is it possible to connect the vacuum directly to the pump head union? I don’t see how I could get a tight connection or fill the 50’ hose sufficiently with water to start the suction - but someone suggested that to me. Again - suggestions appreciated.

Thanks in advance -

I have a gunite pool around 45,000 gallons. My CH was sitting around 225-240 for a week or so. I added around 40 lbs of calcium chloride. Chlorine was at a 6 (CYA 50). This was tested & added when the sun was setting. The next morning chlorine was completely gone. This has also happened once before but I figured maybe it was a fluke or something but since it happened again & I have more calcium chloride to add, I figured I’d try to see if there was a way I could keep this from happening. This was about a week ago & fc has been great since.

Hi All.
I have a new inground plaster pool. It was installed with a aqua rite salt water system. Initially it had a T3 cell for a 18k gallon pool, obviously too small so before I added salt I installed a T925. Ever since I switched it out to a T925 (Hayward) I’m getting bubbles in two of my return lines . They are tiny bubbles and the jets are noisy. The pump basket looks good. No major bubbles and the pressure on my 325sq foot filter sits right around 10-11 and hasn’t moved since install. The pressure from the jets is also strong and hasn’t changed since I installed the 925 Swcg and added salt to the pool. Any ideas what the bubbles are? I don’t understand why I’d all of sudden be getting air in my system. Btw, I have a single sped super pump, if that matters. Any help or advice would be great!

I'm looking for an opinion on my Spa booster pump. About 3 months back the motor died. So I replaced it with the exact same motor, only brand new. I installed it myself to the letter of the instructions, even watched videos on it to ensure correct installation. The motor worked perfectly for 3 months until a few days back. Now when I activate the pump the motor makes a buzzing noise for about 5 seconds and then trips the breaker. I've attached a picture and quick video. To me it sounds like this new motor has gone bad or locked up. However being it's only 3 months old, it almost doesn't seem possible.

I paid about $350 for the motor. My questions are, what could be the likely cause of this? Maybe water somehow getting inside and shorting it out? Also, what's the smarter choice- paying another $350 for a new motor or just paying more and replacing the entire pump with a new one?

Thanks,
Mike

Hey everyone.

I live in AZ where equipment takes a beating from the sun. I've recently come down with a bad case of algae after pump stopped running while I was on vacation. It's since been cleaned but I need help getting set up on a new pump system.

Local pool store recommended replacing my 1hp Hayward Super 2 with a 2hp B+D pump. I'm wondering if there is a way to set this 2hp unit to not ruin my system, being overpowered:

Roughly 12,000 gallon in-ground pool

Hayward DE3600 36sqft DE grid filter
- 72GPM design flow rate
- 50 max PSI

1.5 inch PVC
- individual skimmer and vacuum lines to a 3 way Jandy feeding pump
- DE filter exits to a slide valve for backwash
- pressure lines from slide valve goes to another 3 way Jandy for returns (3 into pool) and a water feature
- small PVC and valve pictured are for the aerator which is almost always off but I'd love to run it and the water feature more frequently

Pump sits roughly 15ft from the pool
- pool is kidney shape with 4ft shallow and 5ft deep middle

Is there a way I can program this 3450 RPM pump to work efficiently and without exceeding around 45GMP (I'm reading this is the max efficiently for PVC size) or is this pump WAY too big for my setup?

I have my current non-variable pump running full time at 3450 RPM but only at 1hp. Does the extra 1hp equal more GMP or is the 3450 at 2hp doing the same job, more efficiently? Sorry, new to all this and don't want to blow up a filter or pipes if unsupported.

Pic attached. Thanks!

I got this pump in today for to test and review.

Anyways, I have a Best Way 18" pool with two supply out of the pool at 1.25" each to a 1.5" union and the return to the pool is a 1.5". My current Proline 1HP pump is connected through some stepdowns and stepups with the sand filter in-between.

The instructions that came with the new pump call for a 2" connection and piping. Any issues using the existing piping? I am considering putting my previously used in wall skimmer as a third water source instead of a Intex over the wall skimmer and one other port. Would adding that third inlet hurt me water flow wise?

Thanks

Last year I upgraded my intex prism 15'x48" pool with a Hayward skimmer and the corresponding return, as well as a new Hayward sand filter (filled with fluff balls), 18". This year, I would like to finally add an automatic bottom crawler, but... The Intex pump seems too wimpy at 2100GPH to drive the robots I tried. And I bought an Intex return-side vacuum, but that would have to fit into the Intex return, which I did not set.

Anyone care to share what robots they found that might work with the 2100GPH pump? (intake side, or something that would work with the Hayward return...

I have a problem with the tile grout at the waterline. I'll describe what I'm seeing (with pictures!), what I did, and then the recent history.

As illustrated in picture 1, there is some kind of build up on the grout that is above the waterline, but not below the waterline (with one exception to be described in a moment). I thought this might be precipitated salts (e.g, calcium chloride) that also spread onto the adjacent tile. I was puzzled that the deposits were above the waterline. I tried to remove with a stainless steel brush (visible in the picture) with little effect. Then I gently scraped with a flat blade screwdriver and it came off the tile as well as the grout. But some grout lines were very soft or had air pockets and a comprised joint was left as seen in the center joint. The build up appears worse on the convex surfaces (as seen here) than on the flat surfaces.

There is a unique joint shown in picture 2 that is one of the nastier above-waterline joints but with what appears to be a different kind of deposit below the waterline that extends slightly onto the plaster (Diamond-Brite).

So here's the history: Pool was resurfaced 27 months ago by some yahoo impersonating a pool expert. (I have a litany of issues with how the job was done but do not interpret my statement as bitterness. I have been through all the stages and have emerged a more understanding, tolerant, and benevolent human being.) Following resurface, the pH kept shooting up to 8.2 for months (iirc) and we kept adjusting pH and TA. (I don't know if my logs go back that far.) CH has been 250-275 but I refrained from adjusting that as our local is fairly hard and I thought it would increase over time (as water evaporated and the auto-fill added water). I noticed the grout problem 2-3 months ago and becoming concerned that low CH might be leaching calcium, I bought CaCl2 and gradually added 15 lbs over the past month to raise CH to 425 (assuming I can do the test properly). pH has been fairly stable: drifts up to 7.8 and a little acid drops it to 7.5. TA has generally been 70-80 and CYA 45-55 but recently bumped to 60 (which I'm ok with because I think the Texas sun has been burning up the chlorine).

I've done some research on the forum and suspect it may be efflorescence. Never heard of it before and I'm not a chemist (although I passed college chemistry). So I'm looking for a confirmation or a proper diagnosis then a prescription on what to do. (I hear you - don't scrape it with a screwdriver.) And how to repair the grout, hopefully myself. Hopefully in just a few spots but I'm concerned the efflorescence has caused too much grout deterioration.

The forum has been very helpful. I am sincerely grateful for those who take the time to share their expertise.

Lloyd

I'm on the plus side of a major algae bloom. As of yesterday, my water is crystal clear, I passed an OCLT between sunset last night and sunrise this morning, and my CC reading from my K-2006C is "0", so that said...I know my SLAM process is now complete.

However, I also noticed yesterday a bunch of spots on the bottom of my pool that resemble little piles of sand. I vacuumed them up (manually) and I literally had the whole pool floor looking crystal clean after an hour of vacuuming! Yet first thing this morning, probably 60% of all those "sand piles" were once again back on the pool floor. It hasn't been windy here at all in the past few days/nights. See attached pic. I took this same pic into the pool store (I know, I know!) just to see what they'd tell me, etc. They told me that all these little piles are not sand...but rather dead algae.

My question is ... will one of the Maytronics Dolphin robotic cleaners work on removing piles of dead algae (if that's what this really is?) The pool store said robotic cleaners won't work on dead algae. But I know manually vacuuming algae won't work either because I have a cartridge filter so the algae will just pass through it and be shot back out into the pool. "Vacuuming to waste" isn't exactly an easy thing with a cartridge filter. Here I was vacuuming yesterday because I thought those little piles were sand.

So...

1) Are all these piles sand or dead algae?
2) Will a robot cleaner pick this stuff up whatever it is?
3) If #2 is a "no", what do I do to get rid of these little piles peppered all over my pool floor?

Thanks!
Todd

I’m a new pool owner and after 4 months still haven’t had pool school . I’m trying my best to learn how to get my pool balanced .
Right now my calcium hardness is at 65 ( per Leslie’s ) I have a small 6000 gal fiberglass pool . I’ve been told the calcium level won’t matter in a fiberglass pool , but wondering if that’s true . Today I have about 3 hard pieces of white in my pool will attach pictures.

Purchased a home with a salt water pool. I’m looking to learn so I can maintain healthy and correct levels.

Which test kit do I need to purchase to get started?

Excited to be here and to learn! Thanks for help.

I’m needing to boost my CYA and was wondering about the quality of Clorox pool chemicals. Lowes has a pretty good price on the stabilizer it’s like half of what the pool store is asking.

Hello first time owning a pool we just bought a property Nova Scotia has an inground saltwater pool we had to replace the heater it was replaced with a repack Avia digital model getting people to the property is difficult so separate install for water for electrical for gas upon starting up the unit it’s giving critical errors and locks out in the same Cole service course it’s Saturday nobody’s available it’s beautiful hoping someone on here would be kind enough to give me any advice I’m assuming it’s Potential with the Gas Line we have a very long Gas Line my understanding is it calls for the gas three times and then locks it out I believe this is what happened but any help would be greatly appreciated thanks so much Julie

I have a heyward ec40 DE filter. I am using cellulose fiber as my medium. After backwashing, how much do i then add back in? Is it a percentage of the original priming amount or does it just go by psi? To prime, i added 5 scoops(not lb scoops) of the fiber. I already have backwashed twice this season but still unsure about the proper amount and why.

We have an attached spa sitting above our pool. It has a spillway feature where the overfilling comes down a fountain into the pool.

In Spa mode, there are 5-6 dedicated jets. These have proper plastic covers that can be adjusted, turned, closed, etc. I am surprised it took me this long to notice that this particular return does not have a cover. It is the sole return that is on when the pool and spa are in spillway mode, so this is the only return that just overfills the spa for the fountain when the spa isnt being used. I dont think it ever had one. All our other returns in the spa and pool have a cover but this one. As you can see the plaster goes into it and is the worst spot for mustard algae and a big pain (nearly impossible) to brush.

Is this normal for pool contractors to do?
If this was a miss by our contractors is it easy for me to just buy a plastic return cover and install it? Theres no thread on the pvc so I am not sure how I would do this.\

Sidenote- there are some cracks in the plaster there.. We plan to call our contractors to fix the issue after we see how much worse it gets. There has been worsening separation on our pool deck from settling.

Thanks

Good morning. I had had the Rebel for 6 months and worked like a charm. One day noticed it wasnt working so opened lid and pulled out a twig and worked. Next day not working. Removed lid to look and worked until next day. Took to pool store where i got it and he checked all gears and wheels and all looked great. I have tried lower and higher suction but the only thing that works is opening the cover and immediately it works and runs for the remainder of the day. Pentair has not responded to numerous requests for help. Any ideas? Gears, wheels, cleaner all in good shape. Cover doesnt seem to touch wheels or anything. Thanks tons, i am at a loss.

I'm preparing to plumb in a new Pentair CCP520. It is replacing a Pentair FNS Plus 60 DE filter. The DE filter is 24 years old and I'm constantly getting DE back into my pool. I've gone over all the usual culprits. I'm done with DE. Now, before I plumb the new filter in, should I find a way to get as much DE out of the pool as possible? Can I just vacuum up the DE, sending it to the new cartridge filter, and then wash it out of the new cartridges or will the DE plug up the cartridges?

I have an OEM Salt Cell that is losing polarity on one side as the readings are almost none and then reading normally on the other side. So I believe that I am needing a new cell and not sure how much longer this one will last. Things have changed so much since I purchased my last cell (2018). I not only am unsure of the correct part number, but I also do not know where to pay a (semi) reasonable amount for it and have the advertised 3-year warranty honored by Hayward.

Every place I look online I see a Hayward OEM Cell defined as W3T-CELL-15 and lists a 3-year warranty. Is that truly accurate or does it matter where I purchase it? Is this cell built just like any other OEM cell that Hayward sells or is it remanufactured; possibly a shortened life expectancy?

For those that purchase an OEM Hayward cell, is the place of purchase important?

Thanks!

Hi,

My name is Lisa and this was previously my husband's account. He took GREAT care of our 30,000 gallon pool with salt cell for the past five years. We live in the NW suburbs of Chicago. Jack was diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer in January and has declined cognitively so he cannot help me with any of the chemistry, mechanics or salt cell setup. I really want to take care of the pool myself but we came back from a trip and it is definitely green now and I've had a heck of a time keeping the salt cell working properly. As of yesterday, I've added pool shock and the chlorine level seems to be fine now, I added stabilizer and muriatic acid and I'm running the pump on high--but I cannot get the water to clear. Can anyone give me some perspective? It's been filtering for 24 hours--do I just need to wait? Thank you so much for any insight.

Hi,
Opened the pool this month (beginning my 3rd season) to a little extra cleaning that was needed so I ran the pump 12 hours a day for 2 weeks. Pump stopped working making the nnngh sound before code 90, no
water flow popped up. Sounds like a capacitor issue but I can't locate this unicorn. Can anyone provide an online source for this capacitor? TIA.

Just got a house that has a metal 24' AGP with standard returns. I've owned intex pool vacs and know they work great for this type of application so I bought another one. We'll they've redesigned the vac slightly. The hose is one piece and has proprietary fittings on each end (still about 1 1/4" hose). The original blue return fitting-to-hose adapter is now a pretty beefy grey 3". I am gonna flip this house and don't want to re-do all the PVC and was hoping someone knew of the 3" proprietary Intex return adapter to a standard 1.5" hayward style return. As it is I'm thinking I'm gonna have to epoxy something up but would prefer not to. Does anyone think a 1.5" male to barbed fitting would work?

Thanks for having me!
Build just completed and the PB is still getting the chemistry straight.

Flat back kidney 18x30 with a 14ft wide 6ft deep end and a Typhoon slide "for the kids". Using an Intellipanel to appease my tech background.

Hoping to learn a lot and save some money while doing so.

Hey everyone,
While I am in the process of hunting down a Taylor Salt test kit (hard to come by in Canada), I am unsure whether I should trust the results from the aquachek strips which reads 2900 ppm or my SWG digital reading of 3400 ppm... or neither

Thanks!

Hi everyone! I am Linda. We just had our 3rd baby in Jan and just canceled our pool service as one of several ways to hopefully trim down expenses.

I have a Taylor 2006 (I think) test kit. Hoping I can test the water and enter my results and something just tell me what to dump in the pool. (need to know where in the pool to dump it...thats how little I know..and how much I over think things).

So with all the rain I received it appears my cya dropped below 40 (normally runs at 50) 2 weeks ago used tabs while away on vacation and covered pool(definite help with little lc loss). But question is. Should I use tabs to get it back to 50 or no…?

Earlier today, I measured my CL and pH with the Taylor kit (DPD-OTO) that comes with the TF_100 and it looked like about CL 4-5/pH 7.5. I decided to check it with the powdered R-0870 / R-0871 method. Normally, when you get to the correct measured level of FC, the sample goes perfectly clear...Completely clear, like water. What I noticed today was around and beyond 4.5 ppm (meaning 9 drops), the sample never got completely clear and stayed ever so slightly pinkish/purple....much clearer than at the start of the test but NEVER WENT TOTALLY CLEAR. I tested it twice with the same results. I read other threads about it being cloudy....this is not the case...still has some color. In any case I have two measurements that indicate around 4-5....so I feel good about that.

Does this indicate my R-0870 or R-0871 is now expired?

Helping my neighbor troubleshoot his SWG. Found out the two spade connectors for the cord for the salt cell are hanging free, and at a glance didn’t see an obvious place on the control board where they connect. This means it was like that since he bought the house two years ago, and why as a first time pool owner he has been chasing his tail with chemistry woes. I realize if the cell was unplugged it is probably dead, but would like to try the free solution before the $950 solution.

Can someone point out the correct connections on the board?

(sorry for the bad pics. I'll go snap a couple more)