katthepoolchick

Okay what is happening is the salt water is corroding the seal pretty fast. This is something that I have experienced with my salt water pool customers as well. I have talked to my distributor about the issue and they informed me that they believe A.O. Smith is working on fixing the problem. Once that seal corrodes that salt water is shooting directly into the motor killing it faster than normal chlorine water. Don't get me wrong i love salt systems I think they are great, but this is one of those things that is a downside. What I would suggest if you are getting about 1 1/2 years out of one motor you may want to have the seal changed out, which is easy to do, maybe every 8 months. I know that sounds like a pain but a seal is around 15-25 dollars and it is a lot cheaper than a motor. Hopefully one of the motor manufacturers will come out with something soon to help with this problem. I've had to warranty 3 pumps this year due to that reason (they all failed within a year).

Is there a salt water system on this pool?

I am a dealer of Trilogy and San Juan Fiberglass Pools. We have been installing San Juan pools for about 20 years and Trilogy pools for about 2 years. I am in Tennessee and we chose Trilogy because we loved the solid surface, it is a great pool. San Juan is a great pool they are the innovator of fiberglass pools never had any problems with them. I would stay away from Sun Pools, they are very thin. We were actually going to become a dealer and I went to an open house at one of my distributors and I had about 3 builders tell me stay away.

Well I have to say that is quite a high CH reading. Normally if a customer has a super high reading I would have them do a stain and scale to prevent calcium buildup on you equipment. Keep an eye on your pump and seals to make sure no leaking has started. Your stabilizer reading is a little high, the only way to lower that though is to dilute the water.If you drain the pool again or dilute it, do not add any stabilizer or calcium to the pool. Your Tabs/Stix will add the stabilizer as well as any dichlor shock. You want your CYA level to be around 60 ppm. Since you are using cal hypo you are pushing your calcium level up more and more. As for the phosphates, if they are staying high on a regular basis, see if you can find a pool store that carries Natural Chemistry Phosfree and Pool Perfect + phosfree. It takes the place of using an algaecide. Great product. Also SeaKlear has a great phosfree product.

I can say that I am a pool store owner in Tennessee and I am a dealer of Trilogy pools and they are a great pool. As for the person installing it, don't go by what is posted online. You need to go in and talk with both companies. I love when a customers comes into the store and sits down with me to discuss their dream pool. Also, depending what the negative comments are, you sometimes will get customers that are impossible to please who will go online and completely bash you, but you don't hear all the positive things about the company. You need to ask to see some of their pool installs if possible. Spend as much time with the builder or potential builder as you can, you will get a feel for who is the better choice.