r/swimmingpools

So the covers work that are supposed to warm them? Does anyone have any ideas? It’s pretty deep, like 8 ft I think. Any ideas/suggestions help!

Have spent hours with Gemini trying to open up my pool, usually pay someone but last year they did a bad job so doing it myself.

I've gotten them to work if only a skimmer and main drain valves are open. If I open the other one but by bit, it gets to a point where the pump takes in air and then there's no suction from the skimmer. Same thing happens if I switch which skimmer is open. What can I try? I ordered some lubricant for the O ring in the pump lid so will try that once it gets here, but I'm not sure if that will fix it.

Hi,

I’ve been struggling with a problem with our swimming pool for two years now, and with the start of the new season I’d really like to finally solve it:

Our pool is crystal clear, but it still has a light green coating that’s very hard to remove. It’s not just spots—the entire pool, including the bottom, has a green tint. The only way to get it off the liner is by heavy scraping or scrubbing.
But with a pool that’s 10x5 meters and 2 meters deep, that’s basically impossible to do manually.

After endlessly trying almost everything I could think of, I found out through YouTube that this might be iron staining, and decided to try ascorbic acid. That turned out to be a perfect solution: as soon as I add even a small amount, the staining literally disappears instantly. Last year I added 2 kg at once and within an hour the entire pool was completely blue again.

However, the next problem is that while the iron stains dissolve, as soon as I bring the chlorine level back up, the green staining immediately returns to the liner—so I’m back to square one.
I tried repeating the process and immediately following it with a metal sequestrant, but with the same result: after a few days, everything turned green again.

Now that it’s still relatively cold outside (the water is only 8°C), I don’t need to add chlorine yet, which gives me some extra time to work on this.

My new plan is: add ascorbic acid to remove the stains, then drain about 3/4 of the pool to get rid of most of the dissolved iron. I can’t drain it completely due to groundwater levels and the risk of the liner floating.
Then treat the remaining water with a metal sequestrant and filter thoroughly. After 24 hours, refill the pool with fresh tap water.

Does anyone have experience with this issue, or are there any experts here who have thoughts on this or know about a better approach?
All help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

https://preview.redd.it/nw7yuwpssdwg1.jpg?width=2705&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f495b8090cf6166a355002def96c75372f68bd09

https://preview.redd.it/5ddsoxpssdwg1.jpg?width=2705&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d907d14f64be4a5e01458eef7098a5b87e5860b4

My Dolphin pool robot finally gave up after 11 years of service (which seems pretty good?). Looking for recommendations for a new robot.

In ground, salt water, about 15,000 gallons. Would be great if it’s wireless/app controlled.

Thanks!

Need advice …

Just took on a new property that has a swimming pool, built in 1920, about 14’ deep. Last opened about 4 years ago, tons of debris and the equipment is mostly shot. There is a person who manages the property (and other properties with pools) who is mildly familiar with this pool helping me try to assess the situation and get it open again. Still holding water very well. I replaced the sand in the sand filter.

My question today - the pump motor is shot, I will be replacing the old Hayward superpump with a new pentair VS pump soon. But for the first cleaning and cycle of the pool, I am considering:

A) replace the motor only in the Hayward pump ($250) and wait to replace the whole pump until I’m sure the pool is salvageable. Or

B) getting a cheap Amazon pump ($300) to run through a few cycles, then replace it with the pentair pump later or

C) just get the pentair VS pump now and it should be fine or better on the first few cycles and worth getting it right the first time.

Advice?

And for context have never owned any pool before, but am a very solid DIYer and the property (300 year old barns etc) needs more $$ elsewhere besides the pool… so on a budget and not yet in a position to spend a lot on professional pool maintenance. Have had some folks come out and they just seem to see dollar signs when they see this pool :).

We recently sold a house with a pool. We had a betta skimmer and during their house tour, the buyers took a picture of it running in the pool. Before the final sale the pool was closed for winter. We bought a house with pool and took the skimmer with us for new pool.

The contract states pool equipment conveys with house. They just opened the pool and their realtor reached out with a picture of the skimmer in the pool asking for this piece of pool equipment. I responded it’s an external skimmer and does not convey since it’s not attached and/or essential to the function of the pool, we consider the external skimmer an accessory. The pool of course has is own skimmer.

What do you ask think, should we have left the betta skimmer or were we right to take it with us?

I've been lurking in this sub, learning about the cleaning and chemical side of opening our pool for the first time. We're based in a pretty tourism-heavy area of Europe, and have received some outrageous quotes for opening the pool and ongoing maintenance over the summer, so we've decided to do it ourselves.

I thought I was pretty on top of understanding things and ready to start the process until I finally managed to get into the pump house. Now I'm feeling super confused. Everything looks so different to what I've seen in tutorials, and I still can't actually tell whether the pool is chlorine or salt. There's also a huge mineral deposit on the pump, which I'm assuming isn't normal. The pump itself is a "Saci Pumps Optima 100 M"

Would love some advice or even just some pointing in the right direction if possible. I've attached photos for reference.

https://preview.redd.it/jir3tazpndwg1.png?width=571&format=png&auto=webp&s=00381f12b592cdfcc85e9cf63217b434b640e32d

https://preview.redd.it/pqvuhazpndwg1.png?width=566&format=png&auto=webp&s=5dc9e55b37323b74af874d7c2b551a40c40154da

https://preview.redd.it/npmuodzpndwg1.png?width=569&format=png&auto=webp&s=fcf71a057b661789120e46746babebb410c49420

https://preview.redd.it/hr42sazpndwg1.png?width=578&format=png&auto=webp&s=22fa276ff1624f7b0d0125e54ce0cec968de81ed

https://preview.redd.it/9f6a0bzpndwg1.png?width=575&format=png&auto=webp&s=4159f1bdce8e40891d3e973bde248be9a8e0634a

I've been cleaning up a pool that was unused for a while, and most of it’s looking much better now. However, the waterline and the shallow steps keep getting dirty really quickly. The steps themselves are wide, with a gradual slope, so it’s tough for the robot cleaner to get to those areas effectively. I’ve been brushing them, but it doesn’t last long. My robot cleaner does a good job on the floor, but doesn’t really help with the waterline or steps. Is this just something that happens with pools, or is there any low effort way to keep those spots clean longer?

Due to a few different reasons, I vacuum to waste alot with my pool, my vaccum to waste doesn't go through the pool filters or main pump, it is done by a secondary pump with no filters.

My pool is deep and big 6.5ft deep and about 160,000 litres.

Is using floc 2-3 times a year and vacuuming to waste an issue? I have an abundance of water, so I am not concerned about water costs.

I just want to make sure Floc isn't going to cause any long term issues, water is tested regularly and it's a concrete pool.

How often does the sand need changed? I dont remember where I don’t think it was this group but someone sand not to dump it out cause it could mess up filter. And what would be the best way to get the sand out?