[Salt System In A Gunite Pool]

My research suggests the generally considered reasons for not converting do not include if the pool is gunite or not - they are

1) if the pool is properly bonded, older pools may not be - resulting in excessive corrosion, and

2) stonework/coping that fails - generally softer stones like limestone, etc. (lots of Texas pool owners report trouble and I suspect it has to do with the types of stones easily available in their area).

I'm in Florida and in my work area there are about ten pool owners, all gunite or shotcrete, and all but one are salt pools. YMMV.

[Depth Of Lap Pool - Pleeeease Help!]

Thanks. So 3 1/2 was too shallow for flip turns or why do you like 4 better? ...

I can barely swim. It's for my daughter, and she had previous experience in 3-1/2' deep pools and trying to do turns (she's 5'6" BTW). It runs to 6' in depth, but we use if for more than just laps.

[Depth Of Lap Pool - Pleeeease Help!]

We went with 4' on the shallow end for the area intended to support laps and I am glad we did. The pool itself is sort of a modified "L" and in the lower part of the L we have stairs and 3-1/2' depth.

[Flex Pvc]

I can't address how to patch flex, but termites don't really attack flex PVC as is sometimes reported. What happens is they are digging in search of food and flex PVC simply isn't tough enough for them to realize it's not just a patch of hard dirt - so they dig through it.

If this could be your case, then you definitely need to find a way to get hard PVC in place. If it's something else like small/sharp rocks rubbing against the flex, then there are other issues to solve in addition to a patch/fix.

Hope that helped, and if you already knew this stuff, then sorry for repeating old info.

[Pool Motor Starting Capacitor]

I think AO Smith provides that motor to Pentair/Sta-Rite and it should be motor number USQ1102.

You can try looking at this page: https://www.grainger.com/Grainger/AO-SMITH-Pool-Pump-Motor-5PE32

Once there, if it looks like your motor, click on the link for repair parts and it shows a capacitor. I don't work for Grainger, but have bought stuff from them, very reputable - you might be able to find a reference you could use local.

BTW, I don't have one of these pumps to verify any of this - just trying to help - so keep in mind I'm not running out to the yard and double checking. Still, a starting cap is relatively cheap, so....

[Pool Motor Starting Capacitor]

I think you might be better served to find the motor number. I think it should be an AO Smith 1HP motor. With that info you should be able to google up the capacitor.

[Plaster Wear]

What quantumchromodynamics is suggesting (perhaps a new plastering, with tile, etc) will be expensive. I think if that's the case it might be worth speaking to a real-estate lawyer about the seller's failure to disclose paining over a plaster finish (if they did) - depending on the laws in your area, you might get a subsidized repair from the previous owner and/or agent (if they knew).

[Algae]

My suggestion is that with a CYA value at 90 the FC level is consistently low. Daily FC maintenance values would be between 6 and 10, with algae kill values higher still.

[Led Lighting With Quartz Finish]

I think no problem with the light blue finish. Much of the light effect comes from the water itself being lit up, much like a Plexiglas panel you might see in a display.

The only question is if you should have two. My pool is 36' long and I'm glad I went with two units, but I have no experience to know what length changes from one to two.