txpoolguy

Check the label on your filter for another name such as Jandy, Hayward, Pentair, etc. Aquatech is a buying group, not a manufacturer of equipment. A model number, if you can find it, will identify it precisely.

If you don't anticipate a large debris load, the Navigator is a great cleaner & will replace the Kreepy easily.

Most of what you post looks okay. The one thing I notice is the pump is a different brand than the other equipment. If you change the pump to a Hayward, to match the Hayward filter & Goldline (by Hayward) SWG, you may be able to get an extended warranty. A MaxFlow 2 pump or Super Pump will work very well with that installation, and may extend your warranties.

That seems small for a 25k pool. I'd probably recommend a larger filter, but with your space constraints, I don't know if you can or not. Is there no way to make more space available, or perhaps move the filter to an area that has more space?

I can't remember where that is at, offhand. You can call Hayward Tech Support at (908) 355-7995 and they can walk you thru it. When autosense is disabled, it removes all auto-sense related information from the other menus, so it will have to be enabled. Sorry I can't be more help, but try the number above & they should be able to walk you thru it.

I think the Tropic Isle brand has been obsolete for 10+ years. You might find a few parts with an internet search, or contact a few pool service companies with websites to see if there are any parts around still. Someone may be able to suggest parts from another source that might work on that heater. Most likely, it's time to replace it. The newer units can be far more fuel efficient, so if you use it frequently, your cost will be recovered pretty quickly.

What filter do you currently have? Filters are rated by the size of particle they remove from the water. DE filters have the best filtration on first pass, removes the smallest particle, including algae spores. Cartridge filters are medium and sand filters allow the largest particle to pass. If you've been happy with your sand filter, you can probably stay with a similar size. Since you live in a desert area, staying with a Sand filter may be your best choice, considering quality of filtration, ease of maintenance, backwashing, etc. If you have trouble with water clarity, Cartridge or DE filters will improve that & you will use fewer products like clarifiers, floc, etc., although your sandy environment may increase the maintenance needed on your filter. Proper water chemistry will aid your filter in keeping the pool clear. Since you have an issue with the height of the filter tank, you may want to stay with the same thing you have. Generally, DE and Cartridge filters are taller than sand filters, unless you get a small one, which may not be a good idea with a 25k pool.

One of the reasons that I stay away from trying things like this is, when one person designs it properly & uses it successfully, another person will design it poorly & hurt themselves or their family while using it. I'm sure someone has done similar things, but I wouldn't make a recommendation. The principles are sound, but most people don't want to invest the time, trouble & dollars to engineer it correctly. Heater venting has injured or killed many people, so normally I don't go much further than that.

It's probably still a configuration or setting somewhere. If everything were enabled, you should still display pH & ORP, although your readings will currently be inaccurate because of the bad probe.

Floating chlorinators are a way of dispensing chlorine continuously, although at a slow rate of erosion. Even if the pump is not working, floaters still dispense. For larger pools with higher demand, you may require multiple floaters. Drawbacks are: children like to play with them, slow erosion rate, unattractive appearance. Everyone has their preference, but I like floaters unless children are present since it keeps the high concentrations of chlorine out of the equipment. Inline feeders work well, but have their own hazards. They explode if you ever mix other chlorines other than trichlor tablets inside the feeder. Mr. Yellow Cloud lives in the inline feeders as well. Make sure there's a check valve after the last piece of equipment & before the inline feeder. However, in some instances they are best.

Hopefully the new pH sensor was installed wet - if the sensors stay dry for more than an hour or so, they are dead. ORP is not a measurement equal to the amount of chlorine in the water. Some of the other guys can probably explain it much better but I'll give it a stab. ORP = oxidation reduction potential. As the "effectiveness" of the chlorine in the water rises, so will the ORP, even though your chlorine residual is the same. When pH drops, ORP rises even with no increase in chlorine. The reverse is also true, as your pH increases, chlorine is not as effective, so ORP drops. Chlorine in the water is part of the ORP measurement, but it's not measured like your test kit measures chlorine. If he has disabled the "auto sense" in the main controller (chemistry wizard?), then neither pH or ORP will be displayed until that is reactivated.

I can't recommend the 360, doesn't clean a pool well and consistently. If you're looking at a "self-contained" like Aquabot, look at the Shark-Vac by Aquavac/Hayward. It's very price competitive & should clean the whole pool pretty well. Is the slope between the deep & shallow end very steep & long? Many cleaners will struggle with a steep slope like that.

If you've not had problems with deep circulation in the past, then continue what you've been doing. Some pools don't do as well in deep end unless you force the water down there.

No suntan lotions??? I'll bet the women in your life weren't happy with that one.

This is one of those questions that is highly debated. Part of the answer depends on how many return jets you have. Your goals are to keep water/chemicals circulated and also to help direct surface debris towards the skimmer/s for maximum cleaning. If you have 4-5 return jets, my preference is to adjust them so that there is a slight movement on the pool surface, and are pushing water in a circular motion around your pool. If you have a jet that would have to be pointed at a skimmer, point it downward or away from the skimmer as too much flow can prevent the debris from going into the skimmer. If you have a return jet near steps or benches, the jets can also be positioned to help sweep debris off the step. If you are limited to 1 or 2 return jets, then you may have to point one into the deep end to force deep circulation & use the other one to move the surface. You can purchase return jets with different size orifices, giving each jet a different pressure.

my opinion... Unless you have a LOT of debris, vacuuming to waste simply wastes water & chemicals. Your filter should be capable of holding the small amount of debris collected during vacuum. It's likely that you will get a small amount of debris back into the pool after vacuuming, and there's no realistic way to avoid this - some pools are better/worse than others. However, if you choose to vacuum to waste, a rinse afterwards will not hurt anything and might keep a few particles from getting back into the pool.

A few years ago, Hayward bought AquaVac, who makes Tigershark, etc. The Shark Vac is a less expensive model of the TS line.

fyi, according to Hayward, you can now order CX3000J1, which is the screen only. They've decided to start using it again.

Interesting... with no DE, filtration quality should be far worse than with sand. Kind of like using a screen door to filter water. Might take a few days/weeks for enough particulate to accumulate, but let us know.

I think it's in the configuration menu, where you select if you're using auto-sense or timed feed. You'll have to re-enable the chlorinator, then select timed feed.

If you still have the manual with an incorrect diagram, then you may have some luck. I went back & looked at a ProGrid manual that I've used for several years, and also looked at the current owner's manual online. I don't see any diagram like you describe. That's not saying you don't have one, but it would be surprising.

Bryan, are you an industry professional, or a homeowner who has gone thru this? 1. Size of the company isn't terribly relevant. Sometimes larger companies are able to respond faster, but not always the case. 2. You're on the right track here. If the individual company isn't a BBB member, they may not have accurate info. BBB is just a "letter writing competition", anyway. Check with your city permit office to find some customers from last year, last month, etc. that may not be on the referral list. Talk to friends, relatives, co-workers. If you can find a city inspector, he might be able to shed some light on who he has fewest problems with. 3. Agreed. 4. Agreed. 5. Agreed - read the contract. If it's not on there, you didn't pay for it & they won't give it to you. Talk to neighbors, etc. who built pools recently to find out what issues they ran into. Every pool builder has problems, the difference is how they respond to them. 6. I'll add this one. Don't let PRICE be your main issue. You will get what you pay for. A company that is 2000.00 higher may well give you far greater value & saving 2000.00 may cost you far more in coming years. On what criteria did you base your recommendations for these builders in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex?

Much of your choice depends on your specific environment. If you have a backyard or pool area that will collect a lot of debris, a larger filter can be helpful. A smaller filter will be fine with less debris load. Regular maintenance and cleaning will extend the life of the cartridges and save you $$ down the line. There's not really a suggested cleaning interval as it varies between pools, but 3-4 times a year is generally pretty good. Sorry Poly

The pump and heater should be "relatively" quiet. Compare it to your a/c compressor running, perhaps a bit louder than that. The pump will be louder than the heater, as heaters don't make much noise. If you have brick walls surrounding the equipment, it can bounce the sound around and make it sound louder. Installing a fence or screen between the pump and your window will reflect a lot of the noise in a different direction.

My personal experience is limited with Zeosand, but I hear very good things from people who do use it. It's more expensive, but gives a far higher quality of filtration than sand. I've also heard that, after installing the Zeosand, you should start the filter in backwash, as it takes a LOT of rinsing to reduce the amount of initial dust that goes into the pool. Be sure to read up on which brand you use, as I don't think it's compatible with Baquacil & some other alternative sanitizers.