Hansps

Ouch!!! What kind of damage? I'm about to blow a gasket. The pool company was recommended and had a good Better Business Bureau rating. I'm afraid if I fire them I may get another bad pool company. I wonder if I'm better off just paying my neighbor to take care of the pool. He has some prior experience with pools (but not salt water) and can take weekly water samples to the pool store for analysis. Fuming in Wisconsin, Hans

It's concrete. Wow, that's all fantastic info. I appreciate your help.

Thanks, This makes me livid. All I can do is trust their "expertise", give them a check, and hope for the best. I hate not being there to keep an eye on them. Heck, if I was there I'd do the up keep myself. Good thing I've got a neighbor who looks out for me. I'll be going down their on Saturday...... Will that give them enough time to correct the problem? Thanks again, Hans

I have a CompuPool chlorinator. Since I'm only at my FL home occassionally I'm totally dependent on the pool service to do the right thing. What is the usual cause for calcium carbonate formation? If it's CaCO3 wouldn't my alkalinity by sky high? The pool was constructed in early June and I've only been there for 7 days since. This is my first pool and all of my knowledge is from you guys, so forgive my newbie questions. Thanks, Hans

Hi, I'm a part time FL resident. My neighbor uses my pool and just called me and said there are salt crystals all over the tile, skimmer, etc.. The pool girl happened to show up while the neighbor was there and said her salinity checker was broken. Any way, everything is gritty. I suppose someone added too much salt and now they'll have to drain some water and refill to get the salt concentration back down. Is there anything I should be aware of or tell the pool company? Thanks, Hans

Just curious, what did you decide to do? I think some of the other guys are correct.... When all is said and done you'll love your pool.

FWIW I just had my first pool completed in April. It's approx 12' x 23'. Several contractors suggested 3'6" to 5'6" but the guy I settled on tossed out the option of only going to 4'6". I couldn't be happier with my decision. I can stand at all times with drink in hand . Personally I wouldn't find a 6' depth useful for anything. It's nice to be able to walk or swim at any point in my pool. I don't think you'd want to dive into 6' anyway. I'd only change you pool for an additional 1K if you find it appealing to walk up to chest level and not have to tread water, swim, or find a float. I spent years swimming laps, now I just like hanging out in my pool. I'll be curious to hear what you decide. Cheers, Hans

Thanks, I'll ask my neighbor to check up on the pool guy and let me know if this is normal. Maybe he just forgot to take it out.

I'm an seasonal FL resident so have a pool sevice care for my pool while I'm up north. My neighbor just called me and said the pool guy drops the cleaner into the pool and lets it run for days on end. Is there any down side to this? Thanks

They won't help heat the water if there is rain or cloudy days with cooler air temps, but can help prevent further heat loss from evaporation. Thanks, That's what I got from what I read.

Hi All, I have a small Ig pool in Florida and am a first time owner. My water temp was close to 90 degrees which I really enjoy. We had a stretch of several cloudy rainy days and my water temp dropped noticably eventhough the daytime temps were in the low 90s. Total rain was maybe 4+ inches. I assume the temp drop was due to the rain. I've been reading about solar blankets and have found conflicting info. How should I use a blanket to heat the pool the most given I live in a hot humid environment with little wind. Do I leave it off during the day, only put it on at night when the ambient temp drops below the water temp, etc? Can a blanket actually add heat to the water (in my environment) or does it only keep the heat from escaping? Thanks, Hans

Yes, my pool is around 8000 gals. I know, an intelliflo is probably overkill, but it's just so cool. I'm glad your math agreed with mine - I've never done these calculations prior to having the pool . It would have been a real bummer if I did it all wrong. Cheers.

Hi All, I've been a first time pool owner for about a month now. I did a lot based on what I read on this forum. Thanks to all that contribute, you all help so much. At any rate, I got the intelliflo VS and put a flow meter on it. The VF model would have been awesome but cost a bit too much for me. Unfortunately I'm only a part time resident at my house with the pool and wasn't there for any of the construction. The flow meter starts at something like 40 gpm so only helps me "estimate" lower flows using the pump affinity laws which I got from you guys. It's a blast doing the calculations. Using various known speeds and flows, I've determined I get somewhere between 20 and 24 gpm at default setting #1 (750rpm). That's so amazing.... I have a salt system and was wondering if 750 rpm would create enough to flow go through my chlorine generator. No problem!!! I run my pump at 750rpm for 12 hours. This gives me 2 turnovers per day. You can't even hear the pump and my pump is the envy of the neighborhood. I'm just so stoked about my set up and am glad I stumbled on to this site several months ago. I really feel like I've got a reasonably good understanding of flow dynamics and how my pump works. I'm slowly educating my pool guy since he's use to fixed speed pumps and from the old school of "bigger is better". My saying is "how low can we go". Actually I'm happy at 750 rpm since in a post I read it was suggested the optimal speed for the intelliflo tends to be around 1000rpm. Thanks again. Cheers Hans

Thanks Mark, How do you do measure the power (GPM/Watts or rpm/Watts)? Also, will my SWG alarm if the flow is too low? That question may be premature in that I'm up north and can't even tell you the model I have. I assume it's a Hayward since that's my builders prefered product (hence his lack of familiarity with intelliflo). Cheers, Hans

Right on! I knew you guys would come through. I assumed there was some type of relationship between the flow at 1560 rpm and at a lower rate. I just needed to ask the experts. In reading some of your other posts, it sounds like 1000 rpm is the most efficient rpm to run the intelliflo at. So using the formula you posted, 50*1000/1560 = 32gpm. Since my pool is approx 7000 gallons I would need to run the pump for a bit more than 3.5 hours for 2 turns. Or, would you suggest going lower on the rpms and doing a longer run. I have a salt system and 75 sq ft cartridge filter and assume there is a mininum flow rate for them. Is that correct? Sorry for the neophyte questions. Your general postings have been fantastic in educating me. Thanks, Hans