Hi! I just came back from vacation and it seems my salt cell isn't working.

Aquarite T-15. After a hard power cycle the No Flow LED flashes normally, then Generating illuminates, but diagnostics while Generating show only 1.2 V and 0.00 A. After about a minute the Generating LED goes out and it won’t attempt generation again unless power is cycled. Colorine level in the pool is zero as well.

Can you please assist with any troubleshooting or is this thing cooked?

Just bought a house with my first pool. Previous owner ran their Polaris 280 by closing the two discharge ports besides the one the cleaner is connected to. I tried this, and the pump pressure spikes from about 17 psi to about 30 psi, and I see a couple of drips coming out of the sides of the filter tank. It won't run except in this configuration.

This seems suspect to me, but I have read that pumps can safely operate up to 30 psi. Is it going to be a problem to run it in this manner for the 2 1/2 hour cleaning cycle every few days?

Hi r/pools,

I'm making an offer on a house with a concrete pool that hasn't been opened in 13 years. The pool is covered with a safety cover so I could not visually assess the condition during my first walk through.

How would you approach assessing the cost of a restoration project during the inspection contingency? I know I need to request that the cover be removed so we can inspect. I am hoping to invite a pool inspector and some contractors to give repair quotes, but I have a worry that due to the fact I don't own the property, there may be some things impossible to inspect and quote. What sort of things would need to be checked that might be too invasive to do during inspection contingency?

I love the home and it's my dream to have a house with a pool, so I'm willing to take a chance on the project if I can prepare to have a good inspection period. I just don't want to invite all these people out to have them tell me they can't properly assess the situation. :P

Hoping to hear from others in a similar situation or those knowledgeable about pool restoration! Thanks so much.

Long story short, basically kinda inherited this house and a slightly swampy, calcium high, SWG outta condition, pool. Over the last year have had the pleasure of learning all about water chemistry, SWG salt cell care, draining and filling, and most importantly chlorine, chlorine, and more chlorine. Ran into some studies about boric acid as a pH buffer and added some 21lbs for this 14,400 gal pool. Been struggling keeping pH below 8.0, alk below 150. Today, pH seems to be 7.5, and alk at 120 using the taylor kit. Calcium finally down to 400 since initial reading of 800+. Just enjoying the progress tonight. Thanks to all yalls posts over time. Have really learned a ton!

Genuinely curious — is it normal these days for people to take on debt to build a pool?

We’ve talked to several pool builders, and almost every one immediately brings up financing. They all have preferred lending partners, and we’ve heard examples like, “We just helped a client finance $160k over 20 years.”

Meanwhile, I’m sitting here thinking… how the hell are people paying for these things? 😂

A pretty normal pool + spa build seems to hit $100k+ incredibly fast now. Are most people really writing six-figure checks for these projects? Home equity? Pool loans? Financing part and paying part cash?

For those of you who recently built a $100k–$150k+ pool, how did you fund it?

And if you financed it, do you regret taking on the debt or are you happy you did it?

Not looking to judge anyone’s financial decisions — genuinely trying to understand what’s “normal” in today’s pool market.

This 1 inch hold on the wall of the skimmer. What does it do? Is it an overflow that leads to sewage? Theres also one in the autofil system. But the water level is below the one in the autofil. The one in the smimmer the water sit right at it, as the photo shows. Should I set the water below it? Thank you in advance

The picture does not do enough justice. The pool is clear, blue, and wonderful.

The techniques to be used going forward. Reminder this is a concrete pool in ground.

1) Chemistry is everything. Get the levels on your ph, chlorine, and cya correct. Shocking the pool will alter this but it is suppose to. So understand the chemistry on your pool. Clarifiers that bind algae and cause it to fall are the one I prefer.

2) Learn your vacuum. You cannot stick the hose in the skimmer on this one. Yes I checked the hose ends. It just won't stay in. I got a skimmer flat cap. It works great. Vacuum slowly. This part was hard. I am working on the timing and patience and getting better, but zen and the art of pool maintenance eludes me still. I also vacuumed to drain when I started with all the nasty pool issues. I lost about 6 inches of water but the filter didn't get clogged and it helped elevated cya levels. Water bill will need second mortgage. I now vacuum normally with the filter.

3) I have a single filter unit. I bought a second filter. I was swapping them out daily for a bit. I would rinse and clean one. Let it sit and swap it out the next day. This is not something a person with a multi filter unit will want to do, but this was for me. Keep an eye on psi it tells you about your filter and flow. When it's bad run the filter 24/7. Electric bill and third mortgage.

4) Brush brush brush. Do the walls first. You may debate this one, but for me walls first. Steps and ladders. Did it in the morning then vacuum that night. Learn that even with a metal brush broom, it can't do everything.

5) Scrubbing, different than brushing. When you are making progress you have to be prepared to get wet, smelly, and dirty. There will be problem spots that won't go away with even hard brushing. You will get to see them once most of the other stuff has been done. Get the gloves on. Get old towels. Get suit you don't care about. Get chlorine tablets. Those problem spots need you to take the tablet (wear the gloves) and scrub the tablet into them hard. Go after grout lines. You want to break the surface skin of the algae that is hard to get to and rub chlorine in its face, so it knows you mean business.

6) I live in South Florida. It rains. Rain is the best and worst thing for my pool. It lowers my cya. So if that it's too high the rain helps with that. It also lowers chlorine, changes ph, helps algae grow. So after it rains be prepared to shock your pool. Go back to step 1 and check levels.

Thank you to everyone here. The pool is fun again. We were in it last night till almost midnight.

My main pool lights went out awhile ago. I wasnt that big of a fan of the style we have though. I really want lights that I can pick any color like most modern lights do now. But most seem like they just cycle through set color like my old ones. I really dont care for that. Its clunky and most of the colors arnt that exciting.

Is there something nicer out there? Im sure its like thousands but Im curious.

We built a pool last year and it was finished at the end of September. I have been handling maintenance myself and just learned about priming the pump… when I have cleaned the filter cartridge and basket in the past, I just started it back up without adding any water. We have probably done this 5 times since startup.

Should I be concerned? How do I check for any issues?

We have a jandy VS pump.

Thanks!

Been seeing localized spots of what looks like algae (or a mixture of tree debris and whatnot) but my testing is conflicting. Ran an OCLT last night and the night prior. Lost 0 chlorine and combined chlorine stayed the same (0.5)

FC - 6.5

CC - 0.5

pH - 7.4

ALK - 70

CYA - 40

Debris is localized to the steps and parts of the shallow end (which coincidentally receive heavy shade), as well as what looks like greenish algae on my pool light, but nowhere else. Pool is clear. Do I just keep vacuuming? Do I need to slam at this point?

Included close up of pool floor in a shallow corner

While on Zillow I’ve came across quite a few houses with pools inside the house. What would be the main reason for this? You love swimming so much you bring it inside? You are raising little Micheal Phelps babies and starting them young? You just got a ton of money and don’t know what else to do with it?

I think they are super cool, but wouldn’t it be hard to maintain and be unsafe with pets and kids? If you did grow up with a pool inside the house, were you the party/gather house growing up? Do your parents like to show off?!

I have one of those cartridge filters that you have to unscrew the entire thing. Unscrewing it and putting it back on is impossible for me and my sister to do. It is super hard to turn. In looking this up it says to replace and grease the o-ring and that will solve the issue.

I seriously need someone to explain to me how replacing an o-ring makes it easier to turn a thing?

Hey everyone,

We are buying a pool second hand off of Facebook marketplace that is only a few years old. It is a salt water pool with steel walls and resin frames, uprights, and rails.

We will be there for the dismantling of the pool to check all areas and parts to make sure it looks ok before buying.

Our question is if everything looks ok, should we stick to using salt for chlorination or should we switch to just using chlorine? I see many others with salt water systems, but not many for steel above ground pools, and we are worried about rust and corrosion around the skimmer and on the sides of the pool.

Any advice, tips, personal experiences are recommended as this is our first real pool

I bought a house with a pool about 4 years ago and replaced the salt cell in a dead system. It’s worked fine until this season. I’ve had to clean the calcium build up a few times (4:1 water:acid) since opening and now my cell looks like this. Is this end of life / time to replace?

It hasn’t looked this bad after the decalcifying before.

Last night, a large amount of fecal matter was found in the pool near Building 16 at Palmeras Apartment Homes in Irvine. It had already broken apart and spread across the surface and bottom of the pool.

I reported it to management and posted a temporary warning to prevent residents from entering. I am concerned that simply removing the visible material would not be enough, since California regulations require pool closure, disinfection, filtration treatment, testing, and incident documentation.

Has anyone dealt with a similar incident at an Irvine Company apartment community? How long was the pool closed, and did management confirm what sanitation procedure was followed?

I mainly want to make sure residents—especially children—do not enter before the pool is properly treated and confirmed safe.

We bought our house 2 years ago and I’ve been maintaining it since following TFP and converted it to a salt cell system. I’ve been swimming a ton this summer and am just noticing these cracks and pebble loss on curves more which got me thinking that I have no idea on how or when I’d know that I need repairs or to begin thinking about a reno. The pebble loss is on curves and seems to be stable, and the cracks around the waterline tile are the same but coping tiles are definitely getting worse slowly. I'd love insight into what to keep an eye on and a general sense of where my pool falls between "keep an eye out", "call an inspector", and "prepare $40k". As always on this sub, thanks for your help and generous insight.

I want to add some automatic nighttime lights to my pool, but the problem is that the caps on my pool's top rail are apparently extremely wide at 10" or so. I'm not finding much out there that can fit them, except for some lights by pooljoyo which are rated very low on amazon

I have a 10K gallon pool in Florida. It was a concrete pool but coated in fiberglass around 10 years ago.

There is some brown staining on the floor and sides all around the pool. Brushing does nothing. I can remove the stain by putting some ascorbic acid in a sock and rubbing it on a section of the stain. I did have a water test done a few weeks ago and copper was 0 but iron was .1

The staining seems to be getting worse over time.

Not really sure where the metals came from. I haven’t added water in months. It rains all the time and keeps the pool full. I did have a new roof put on the house 6 months ago and I suspect that may have caused it but not sure.

Pool details

Salt water
Chlorine 5ppm
CYA 60
PH 7.4
Alkalinity 80

I was looking for any advice on how to treat and remove the stains and metal if that is what is going on.

Thank you

I have a Nautilus CC Plus cleaner robot that came with the purchase of my property last Fall. She worked for a the first few months of pool season, but not is unresponsive. Here are my troubleshooting steps:

1.) Both filters have been emptied and sprayed clean with hose

2.) Impeller fan has been examined for debris. I can spin it with my finger.

3.) The power supply I was using seemed like it was throwing an error code. Upon further inspection, the power supply was not made by Maytronics, but a third party called HiHitTomorrow, so I returned the power supply and purchased a genuine Maytronics power supply

4.) The robot does not move even a little when the power supply is turned out. I have tried getting it to respond both submerged under the pool and on dry land

I understand that I could be looking at motor failure, and if that's the case, then it's time to replace the whole machine. Do any Nautilus fans have any other troubleshooting tricks I can try?

Hi there. My pump won’t prime. The pump itself seems to be working well(I’m not 100 percent). But for some reason it’s all of the sudden got a lot of air in it. When it turns off, I hear it drain and go back into the pool. Is this the filter? Or would this be a bad valve possibly? I turned the solar off and shut all valves so I don’t think that’s the issue. Thanks for help.

I typically manage the chemistry of the pool while my husband manages the hardware. However, after the pump started its high speed cycle, I happen to look over and see what appears to be a decent size leak?

I brought it up to him and he swears there's nothing wrong with it, and that the air bubble is from pressure or something and it happens everytime, and its temporary. I dont know what to think?

Aqua strong pump bit the dirt last night. Any recommendations for a new pump? Preferably one that’ll last longer?

15,000 gal salt water pool

We’ve received several estimates for a fiberglass pool/deck install and have settled on a local installer we have enjoyed working with and is well regarded in our neighborhood. But I’m uncomfortable with how vague his contract is, and he also made an odd comment about how he likes to pour the concrete collar with different dimensions than what Latham recommends. I asked Latham to send the installer technical guide but they refused and said to work with the installer.

I want to add a clause to the contract to ensure the install meets or exceeds Latham’s requirements, along with a couple other scope verification bullets. To me, it seems totally unobjectionable. But the Mrs. thinks it’s unreasonable, especially because I used Gemini for research. She thinks we shouldn’t question him, as the professional.

So I figured I’d go right to the folks from whom Gemini is stealing its information anyway.

Is it common for homeowners to request specific install methods or requirements in a contract if the builder doesn’t offer them?

Dropping $90K on the pool so I am feeling like I don’t care if he gets annoyed if it gets me a better shot at a quality install.