IPvFletch

Thanks PoolClown! I have an LXi, not an LX. Maybe mine is LoNox? It is Propane I know that much. So based on this diagram and also my update above (please re-read) it is beginning to sound like my next step is: - vAC voltmeter checking all over the place, or - Call a trained Jandy professional No other "low-hanging fruit" you guys can think of? It would still be helpful to know/see where the blower itself is. It could be something silly like a stick or acorn is stuck in it's intake. I'd like to at least confirm that before risking my life with the 120vAC..

Update, see above..

Update: Ok, so I checked the water pressure sensor. I got resistance when my booster pump came on and none when it was off, so it is working. Plus, my heater actually says "no flow" and then when I turn on the booster pump, it goes away. So that rules that out. Next step is the blower motor. I was reading through this wiring diagram from the manual. Oh man, it's actually starting to make sense to me the more I look at it. http://www.jandy-downloads.com/heaters_lxi_manual.pdf I traced the wires from the "comp ign" switch to the ignitor board. On there is another Y/BK wire which goes to the air flow switch. I think this is the Honeywell 1.0" WC PF thing I found in there. The wires trace right so it must be. From Google, I was able to figure out that this is indeed an Air Pressure switch (made by Honeywell): http://www.northamericahvac.com/servlet/the-5245/Honeywell-Air-Pressure-Switch/Detail This switch has air tubes plugged into the main fire box down below. So I know this is basically to sense air flow into the hot fire box. I'm guessing air must be pumped into the fire box or else the fire could not breathe, right? So this sensor must be to check if the blower is working? You think? I could likely test continuity on it if I knew how it worked. Next step is the blower itself. I figured out from the diagram this is actually 120vAC. This means I'm scared of it. I was scared of that whole board actually. Also, the 5 wires going to the blower are all thick wires in a molex type of plug. I couldn't even wedge my voltmeter wires in there if I wanted to. Plus, I still haven't gotten a good answer on which need to be hot, which are negative, etc.. So I'm not going to play with that one just yet. I do realize I could unplug it and check voltage from the board harness itself, yes, that would be a lot easier, but I'm still afraid of 120vAC right now and won't push my luck unless I have no other choice. Not sure what else to check. I don't know how to further disassemble my heater to get to where the actual blower is mounted. I'd like to see it and/or see if there's any obstructions in there. I noticed a 2nd host from the Honeywell air pressure sensor switch that goes to some other box down below behind the fire box. I'm not sure if it is a second chamber or if it is an inlet port from the bottom of the heater, for air to come in. I can't really see "under" my heater because it is sitting right on the ground. I could have too much debris there, I don't know.. I will need to rig up some kind of coat hanger or something to pull out some of that debris under there. Ideally I'd like to jack up the heater an inch or two but I have all my water pipes plus my gas line connected, and it would be really hard to move it more than like 1cm w/out stressing a pipe... Not sure what else to do here, other than turn to a local Jandy authorized serviceman and have him check it out.. Thanks! Kevin

Stupid question: Doesn't the blower fire up and purge the system BEFORE the igniter is triggered? Therefore, if the blower isn't even coming on (1st step), the problem is with the blower, right? Next stupid question: How do I see the ignitor? My manual says there is a window to look in with heating coils and an orange glow. I can't even find the window. Do I need to use a mirror on the bottom of the heater? What if there's a bunch of debris under the heater, could that be interfering with the blower? Update: I blew a bunch of debris out from under the heater, not sure if that helps or not though. I also noticed right now the heater says "no flow" because my pump was off. This means my water pressure sensor is working because that goes away when the pump is on. That rules that out. I keep reading the intake is on the bottom of the heater, but then there's this air pressure slider on the side which is adjustable. Which is it? When I look at the troubleshooting section it says to ensure nothing is beneath the heater. Will have to verify what I blew out cleaned out underneath good. But what if a critter crawled up in there and died? How would I know? I can't just pick up my heater cuz it's hooked up to my pipes.. Also, I keep reading there's a fan tubing, what is that, is that for like if I installed my LXi indoors?

My Jandy LXi heater seems to not be working. It looks like it normally does, even lets me choose between Pool or Spa. It says Remote TSTAT enabled, which I believe is for my Jandy remote. I go to fire it up (booster pump is running already of course) and nothing happens. After a minute or so, it says "Ign Fault". I never hear any noises, no blower sounds, not even for a second. I read through the manual and found the whole ignition process (something like pre-blower, check air pressure sensor to let blower keep going, 15 second purge, then igniter gets warmed up, then gas, lastly flame sensor lets it stay on or kills the gas). I removed the front panel and I see the wiring and boards in there. One of the boards has a red light which flashes once. The sign next to it says it is an Ignition fault. Go figure!! I'm at a loss on what to do next. I took off the top grate and checked for debris. I see some leaves in there, but nothing crazy. I vacuumed it out and also put the shop-vac on blower to blow some more out. It's funny cuz the blower makes it sound like the heater is working, but alas it's just my shop-vac moving the same air in that chamber. *sigh* I'm not sure what else to try. I might call Jandy, but am hoping I can get some more ideas here. I found one thread on this but it isn't helping: http://www.poolspaforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26484 I have a voltmeter but no clue where to begin testing. The heater worked fine last season right before winter. I didn't winterize it (didn't know I had to until I just read in the LXi manual today) but I never winterized it before and never had a problem. It's just now 3 years old. Any ideas??? Thanks!

Thanks for the info Check Geek. I do understand how CYA affects FC and I do understand that Trichlor adds a lot of CYA and I may need to drain my pool in a few years to get rid of some of that build up (it would also get rid of the copper build up, no?). So you are saying Arch/HTH has added Copper so that it does not need to have as much FC (which is adding the CYA because it is stabilized CL)? So their take on Copper is that it will help reduce the amount of CYA but Copper then has it's own side effects anyways, so what do they really buy? I've been using Trichlor Dual Action HTH (with Copper sulfate) tabs for 1.5 years now. My pool has never had an algae outbreak, although I've seen some build near my scupper when I forget to check the tabs (they last ~2-3 weeks). My pool is sparkling clean right now, but I'm beginning to worry about Phosphate levels now as you indicated. I've not had to EVER use any algaecide or shock or anything else (just the Trichlor tabs). If you think my Phostphates are building - how can I go about testing them? I have the big custom TFP-1000 kit from (I think it is your designed kit?) the online store posted here. I get the Polyquat 60 weekly - you are saying to substitute Trichlor with that to avoid CYA/CH build-up, right?

Woah, ok glad I asked! I've used about 200 tabs of the Orange Lid (Dual Action w/Copper Sulfate) now for ~1.5 years. No staining yet, but I will STOP USING IT RIGHT NOW (glad I just ran out). The HTH Triple Action (Yellow lid) is indeed 68% Cal-Hypo. Is this better than Trichlor or do you think it contains the Copper as well (I don't have any on hand to look)? It only yields 46% available FC so it sounds kind of weak. I understand about not mixing Cal-Hypo and CL directly together in a feeder/skimmer. Otherwise, I will plan on using true Trichlor if I can find it (pool supply store? *gulp*) and will return the Orange Lid Dual Action which I just bought as a refill, and I just now checked, and it DOES contain Copper Sulfate (1.5%) and Other intert ingredients (5%). It yields 84% FC though which is nice. So where to look for pure Trichlor?? Thanks!!

If you're filling your new pool for the first time, I would say let it keep filling. If you don't, the plaster might show the water liine stain (where you stop it) FOREVER (until you replaster). You can drain later if need be. I'm no expert, but I've gotten all sorts of crud and debris in my pool. It is still crystal clear and I'm lucky if I test it monthly (I'm a BAD ROLE MODEL, DON'T LISTEN TO MY ADVICE!!!). I've found that the filters generally get everything you don't want. The acid gets the rest. The particles and debris absorb all the other non-water liquids and eventually get trapped at the filter and later removed. To speed this up you could put one of those sponges (go to your pool supply store - but don't buy any of their chemical crap, just the sponges) and leave it in your skimmer and discard when it is really nasty and you have Japanese beetles living on it for dear life. It will absorb lots of fluids like tanning lotions or laquer thinner.

I have one of those Rainbow Trichlor feeders in my system. It holds 12 CL tabs and keeps my CL levels just right. While I realize "stabilized tabs" add CYA, I'm monitoring those levels and will take action when necessary (either drain some water out or stop and go back to liquid bleach). In any event, my Question is which Tabs to get? I was told "Trichlor" but when I go to Home Depot all I find is HTH branded Dual Action (orange lid) and Triple Action (yellow lid) tabs. I've been getting the orange-lid Dual Action tabs and have used them for the past ~12 months without any issues. But are those the right ones? I was almost wondering if Dual Action meant Dichlor and Triple Action meant Trichlor, in which case I have been using Dichlor w/out knowing it (whoops!) but I'm not sure that is 100% accurate. I'm also not sure that would be such a bad thing.. ?? Any ideas on this???

From another forum - this is likely efflorescence from the limestone being wet often/frequently/constantly. Also from the plaster in the brick work getting wet the same. So the likely easiest and least invasive solution is instead of trying to chip it off, use HCl and water, 25:1 mostly water, so and brush it into this stuff to loosen it up and wipe it off. Don't get any on your hands of course and rinse it thoroughly immediately and during.

Anyone?

Hey folks - I had a pool built about 15 months ago and it has been going great except I've started to notice what I believe to be Chlorine stains on the limestone surface of my raised beam. I'm pretty confident it is a stain and chemical related because I've sprayed it with a 50/50 Bleach/Water mix and it doesn't go away like algae does (I've done this before and I know what algae looks like). Now obviously my waterfalls aren't 100% perfect and so water is running down some of this limestone. Limestone is porous in general and I asked my PB about this when I was choosing stone, but he assured me "the limestone is from the best quarry around and it is super dense". It matches my house (all white limestone block) so that is why I chose it inially. In hindsight I wish I chose some auqua/torquoise colored stone and tile... GEEZ!! I also have a lot of calcium showing on my stone/tile and even down into the plaster area. I'm confident this is coming from the limestone wall above and the constant water being washed down parts of it. The calcium is also showing stains in a few spots but luckily with a crow bar or pick I can easily knock that off in chunks so it is not too bad. I get a lot of calcium buildup on the tile (well I did in the course of a year) which I also was able to get mostly off but you can see remnants are still there - it's impossible to get it all off - I even tried the suggestion of a forum member here, to use a circular wire brush buffing bit in my power drill - that was impossible to hold still and didn't really help - the crowbar is the only tool out of like 10 I have tried including the drill/brush, steel wool (too yucky), sponges, a handled wire brush, and more... I was also told the calcium would be made by the plaster, but I don't think that is what is causing this. I think that will be IN my pool only and at the bottom of my gray plaster I do have some spritzes of white calcium stuck on the floor here and there. They kind of look like little sunburst and actually look OK so I don't even really mind that at all. What do YOU all think (I should do to resolve this)?? Some other pics of my pool:

Quick Update: I retested TA Total Alkalinity again today just to confirm it is really that low and it is, I got 30ppm again. But this pool is ~3 weeks old, so I am not surprised it is that low. I guess the next question is should I leave it be and let it build up it's TA over some time or should I give it a boost??? If so, the PoolCalculator told me to get from 30ppm to 100ppm, I need to add 139oz by weight or 111oz by volume of baking soda. My first question is should I add 139oz of Baking Soda at once, or over a 3-4 day period, or what? And I dump it slowly it in front of a running jet at the deep end, right? A 70ppm bump in TA is surely to increase my pH, so how do I figure out how much Acid I need to dump in along with it? Or should I just spend a few days getting my TA perfect, and THEN go and try to fix the new higher pH by adding Acid? Or should I just do like one day of Baking Soda and then that night test Acid and do Acid, and then the next day same thing.. until I get to 139oz or my desired TA level???? BTW, I spoke to a friend last night who has had his pool for 3 years. They get algae quite frequently, esp. in summer and just use DiChlor and TriChlor and a lot of shock and some WSCP stuff which is an algaecide.. but he doesn't do any BBB and hated on me using liquid chlorine, he says it will be destroyed when the sun hits it but I told him his CYA wasn't high enough that is why... Who is smoking crack? Me with this silly BBB stuff or him? I just feel like nobody I know does this BBB and many of them do have great success with their pool.. so this BBB is really odd to me... It would be good if you all could share your perspectives... Thanks in advance, Kevin

There are four OTO tests in my kit. Anyways, this one turns blue to yellow, the other green to red, like you say. I added 3 drops to get it to clea/light yellow, as per the instructions. So 3 drops mean 10ppm per drop, or 30ppm, but I don't know if this means 30ppm is my TA meaning I'd need to add 70ppm to get it up to 100ppm, *OR* do I need to ADD 30ppm to get it to the ideal TA range?????

I just did my OTO test for TA (Total Alkalinity) and I added 3 #3 drops to get it to light yellow. The fourth did nothing more, so I guess the result is 3. That means 3 x 10ppm = 30ppm according to the chart and instructions. But does this mean my TA is LOW or HIGH??? I mean, do I have 30ppm and I need ~100ppm, so add 70ppm?!?!? OR does this mean add 30ppm to get to 100?!?!??! I am thinking it means my TA is 30, so I guess most of you guys when testing TA add like 10 drops of #3, as you are all already at 100TA probably, right?? My pool is only 3 weeks old, so I figure my TA is low. Here are the other results I got: Residual Chlorine: 2.25 pH: 8.2, the instructions say to add 1C acid unless I need to fix my TA first TA: 30ppm, whatever that actually means I need a better test kit - this I know.. But I just got back from the store with BBB and Acid and I'm ready to do some chemistry now!!! MOUAHAH!! =D Confused, Kevin