My wife and I just bought a house a month ago, and naturally the motor has already went out. I’m trying to figure out the best route to go as far as an upgrade that fits the same specs needed. Open to variable speed motors too! Thank you in advance!

Hello,

First year pool owner and this sub has saved me a lot of headaches, so thank you for that.

I used the same pool company the previous owners used to close my pool. They told me they blew out the lines and didn’t add any anti-freeze since they got the water out. I noticed in one of my skimmers, there are bubbles coming up but not sure if it’s from water going into line or into the widget they used to plug the skimmer hole. Should this make me concerned?

Is the water not supposed to be drained below the skimmers?

Inground pool btw. Two skimmers. Located in the northern Midwest of US.

Hey everyone!
I’m in Central Ontario, Canada (about 90 minutes north of Toronto), and I’m considering adding a natural gas heater to my existing pool heating setup. I’d love some feedback from anyone who’s done something similar.
My current setup:
Inground saltwater pool, approximately 40’ × 15’, with an 8’ deep end.
Currently heated with an electric heat pump.
The heat pump works well during warmer weather but becomes ineffective when outdoor temperatures drop below approximately 10–11°C (50–52°F).
We typically like to keep the pool around 84°F (29°C).
We don’t use a pool cover, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.
Our climate:
Here in Central Ontario, we get warm summers, but spring and fall can be pretty chilly. September can still have some beautiful swimming days, but by October, daytime temperatures are often around 5–15°C (41–59°F), with overnight temperatures occasionally approaching freezing.
I’d love to extend our swimming season from early spring until at least mid-October, rather than shutting everything down once the cooler weather arrives.
What I’m thinking:
I’m considering installing a natural gas heater alongside my existing heat pump.
Ideally, I’d like the two heaters to work together automatically:
When outdoor temperatures are warm enough, the electric heat pump handles the heating because it’s more energy-efficient.
When temperatures fall below approximately 10°C, the system automatically switches over to natural gas.
When the weather warms back up, it switches back to the heat pump.
I’d prefer a setup that doesn’t require me to manually switch between the two systems.
A few questions:
Has anyone installed both a heat pump and a natural gas heater? How well does it work?
Is there a controller that can automatically select which heater to run based on outdoor temperature and operating efficiency?
Would you recommend installing the heaters in series or parallel?
What size natural gas heater would you recommend for a pool this size? I’m considering something in the 300,000–400,000 BTU range.
For those in colder climates, how expensive is it to maintain 84°F pool water during September and October, especially without a pool cover?
Knowing our climate, is this a worthwhile investment, or am I going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on natural gas for a few extra weeks of swimming?
I’m not looking to swim in the middle of winter. I just want to enjoy the pool earlier in the spring and later into the fall without relying entirely on the weather.
Would really appreciate hearing from anyone in Ontario, Michigan, New York, or other northern climates who’s running a similar setup.

Thanks!

Hi, to antifreeze my lines or not? I haven’t done it in the past, but I had a lot of work done this year and want to protect it. Does antifreeze help?

Ok I need some help here. This is my first winter with my pool. I’ve been watching a ton of videos on how to winterize (blow out lines, pull plugs etc) my pool. I’ve noticed on many of the videos there are a ton of valves where you can airlock the bottom drains. My equipment has none except for my 3 bubblers. I’m confused on how I am supposed to blow out and airlock my main drains. Photos are attached. Any help with this or general advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, I think I’m just supposed to attach my blower to the line coming out of the pump correct? I would literally just rig my blower into that hole I believe?

Hi everyone! 😊

I recently bought a house with a swimming pool in the Allier region (central France). I've been living here for less than a month, and I have absolutely no experience with pool maintenance.

I turned off the filtration system about two weeks ago because I was away, and honestly, I'm a bit lost.

The house had been unoccupied for about a year, but the pool was completely cleaned and brought back into service before the sale. I even managed to swim in it a few times after moving in without any issues.

The pool uses a saltwater chlorination system.

The pool also has a heat pump, which I haven't tested yet.

With winter approaching, would you recommend active winterization (keeping the filtration running) or passive winterization (shutting everything down) for my region?

What steps should I follow?

I also have a pool cover. Is that enough for winter, or do I need additional protection?

I've attached some photos of the pool and the equipment room.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'm completely new to this and just want to avoid making expensive mistakes. 😅

Thanks in advance! 😊

Hey guys, I have a Hayward Pump HL32950VSP around 4 years old that just stopped working. LCD screen is dead. Verified 242V with a multimeter at the L1/L2 terminals. All other pool components are fine, including its OmniLogic Relay.

I’m seeing some burned up/discoloration around the (capacitor?) by the L2 terminal. Not sure exactly what might be wrong, seeing if I can DIY repair it before spending big bucks.

Any thoughts?

Early days but it looks like a pool here in ireland have a very serious mistake with acid and chlorine

I have a couple guys coming to close the pool tomorrow. They said I needed to have it drained below the skimmer before they arrive. I put the filter on waste and drained a lot, but it seems like it’s only pulling water through the skimmers, and not anywhere else, so it stopping pumping water out when it gets low in the skimmers.

What am I doing wrong? They previous owner didn’t walk me through the system, unfortunately. Not sure if i need to move a valve or what. Thanks

We had a tile and coping renovation done on our pool in the Garnet Valley, PA area in June. by early August we noticed efflorescence on the tiles around the perimeter of the pool. The company had left the joint open for that two month time so we thought it was because of that but even after they filled the joint, cleaned the tile, the efflorescence came back immediately, mostly concentrated under the fountains so we don't know if the pool water is causing it or not. We also don't think that they put any waterproofing material under the tile before putting the tile on. We are new pool owners and not sure if this is normal or not. Thoughts? Any insight would be very helpful...the pool company is incredibly hard to get a hold of.

My facility has this 20 foot wading pool that we just replastered this year. In past years, we just drained it and let rainwater and leaves fall in and just gave it a good cleaning in the Spring. Now that we re-did the plaster, I want to actually cover it. I am having a lot of trouble finding an appropriate cover, it seems most round covers are for above ground pools or large spas. Any suggestions on where to look? I see Covers&All will sell a custom one, but its nearly $700. Thats too rich for me.

I don’t know how this got like this but the last few times I tried replacing the belly band it just would not sit right and the filter unit is fine for a while and then I come back out to this…

In closing up our pool some chlorine tabs were left in our skimmer. Found the liner looking very jacked up under the skimmer inlet the next day when going to finish up. this looks absolutely fried. Looking for any insight outside of replace the whole liner.

Our pool will be done next week and I am having trouble understanding solar covers.

My main goal is to use it to try and retain heat from our electric heater.

The issue is I have no idea what makes a good cover and what brands are best. I understand they only last a few seasons and I am fine with that. I just don’t know if that means get the VEVOR one from Amazon or the $500 geo bubble.

Is there a noticeable difference in heat retention between cheap and expensive or does it just mean I need to replace it faster?

Do I need to cover the cover with a tarp when it’s rolled up so it has better sun protection lasts longer?

What are your experiences with solar covers and what do you wish you had done differently?

Leaking right under where the cable enters. Shall I buy the replacement kit 523100?

Setting up a pool reno and was wondering what people have experienced regarding new plaster and northeast weather...pollen, brutal summer heat, winter season etc. Any rec's for a favored time?

Hi all,

We bought this house last fall when the pool was already winterized. We just had someone out to close our pool with the hopes of doing it ourselves in the future. I took notes and asked him a ton of questions, but as I'm going through it now I'm a bit confused about if/when the filter should be running.

So here's my understanding of the rough shape of closing a pool. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

1. The first thing to do is get the water down. The filter has to be on, set to waste, for that to happen.
2. Blow air through the skimmers using an air compressor until there's only air, no more water coming out of the return.
3. Add antifreeze to skimmers and pump.
4. Set the filter to "closed".
5. Put in gizzmos.
6. Add chlorine and algicide.
7. Put on pool cover.
   

But now my question is: what are the filter and pump doing throughout all of this?

We have a multiport valve.

I assume we don't want the pump to be running while air is being pushed through the skimmers. So the pump should be turned off. Should the filter be set to closed, recirculate, or it doesn't matter what it's set to, because the pump isn't running, during step 2?

Before step 3, I think we want to drain the filter and pump. What I think I remember was turn the filter to "recirculate" and, with the pump off, drain the filter and pump.

I'm confused about how having the filter set to "recirculate" or "closed" would change anything if the pump is not running. So do we turn the pump on after blowing the air through the skimmers, but have the filter on "recirculate"?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Here's my side yard situation and it's driving me nuts (35k gallon pool in Greenville SC, the equipment strip along the house is maybe 4 ft wide, house wall on one side and a 6 ft wood privacy fence on the other) – and of course the neighbor's bedroom window is about 12 ft past that fence! We've been going back and forth on where the heat pump goes since labor day 😩

A top discharge unit makes the most sense to me since the air goes up instead of straight into the fence boards, and the one i'm looking at says 37 dB (grain of salt), but even at double that i'd rather the noise and cold air go up than sideways at the neighbors. Nobody seems to agree on how far the intake sides need to be off the wall and fence, or whether cold air off the top just sinks back into a strip this narrow and gets sucked right back in! Then there's pine needles in a top fan come fall – three huge loblollies right there! How far off the wall did yours go in a tight side yard?

We hired Anthony & Sylvan Pools in 2025 to build a custom inground pool with a separate firepit area for our new home. From day one, getting this company to actually start and stay on the job required constant pushing on our end — at one point we had to reach out to their COO directly on LinkedIn just to get any movement. Once work began, it stalled again: a general contractor change on our build required pausing construction for three months (2/23/2026-5/29/2026) while a new GC was approved. Every subcontractor was notified of the pause, including A&S (represented by Trevor S). 

During those three months, Trevor never provided any email documenting exposure warnings or protective instructions in February 2026, when the plumbing was completed and shotcrete was the next phase. They simply allowed our plumbing to be exposed to the weather elements. The pool was inspected by the city on March 3, 2026 and passed. At this point, there was NO reason why shotcrete could not have been applied. In fact, the earliest written warning we have from Trevor that we have identified is July 31, 2026 after construction resumed.

On September 22, 2026 Trevor suggested that A&S would paint the plumbing to avoid replacement of the plumbing and that, although there is evidence of sun damage to the plumbing, it still holds 100% water pressure. Consequently, Trevor had A&S plumbing contractor evaluate the plumbing, and it was concluded that the entire plumbing installation required replacement at our expense.

We asked Trevor, in writing multiple times, for the evaluation done by A&S plumber such as basic documentation that any responsible contractor should have on hand: the pipe manufacturer, type, and schedule with the actual pressure test results; written manufacturer guidance on the exposure conditions and any proposed coating before concealment; confirmation that their proposed fix wouldn't void or reduce our plumbing warranty; and confirmation that any corrective work would be done at no cost to us. If they genuinely believed replacement was necessary, we asked them to identify which sections and show the findings and manufacturer guidance behind it. To date, our requests to Trevor for this technical documentation and written warranty confirmations remain outstanding and unanswered.

Nevada law is clear here. NAC 624.6966(2) requires a contractor who has taken money (they have been financially compensated to date for the work rendered) on a residential pool contract to complete the work diligently and bars refusing to perform work for any 30-day stretch. NRS 624.301(4) and (5) make failure to pursue a project with reasonable diligence, or failure to comply with a contract or written warranty, grounds for disciplinary action.

Chronic delays, stonewalling on basic documentation, and now a demand that we pay to fix damage tied to their own lack of guidance — we don't see how this adds up to anything other than shifting the cost of their oversight onto us. We are filing a complaint with the Nevada State Contractors Board. If you're considering A&S for a pool build, DO NOT! If you do, get everything on protection, timelines, and warranty coverage in writing before you sign.

I have contractor ready to go for an install in the next 2-3 weeks……we never really discussed putting it off until next spring. Location is western Kentucky, so Nov to Feb is winter (0-30f typically). Scope = 18x36 inground liner pool & 1500 sqft patio. Any strong reasons to hold off until spring.

I am trying to clean this sand ? Dust? Algae? But I am not seem to be able to manage getting rid of it. I tried vaccuming it into the filter the other day and I had a clean pool for a couple of days but now it came back. I am worried that it's the sand from my sand filter? Can that be ? The last time it was changed was 5 years ago

I live in the South. It's 90° (feels like 94°) today but the water temp is only 78. It's our first year with a pool and I can't decide if we should buy a heater and leave it open, or just close it from now until April. I was looking forward to an energy bill savings from closing it and not having to run the pump since I don't have a pump timer or variable speed. Does anyone have a heater installed but still not really use it once it's cooler out?

New pool owner as of this year. I hired a company to close my inground pool for the winter (500$). The previous owners left their big tarp and water bags. I have been managing the water that has been pooling on top of the tarp but we've had a lot of rain and it just seems to take forever to pump water off the cover. I am looking into getting a custom safety cover and install anchors for next year. I just want to hear people's thoughts on this, is it worth the initial money. It seems like it would be easier to close for winter and maintain through fall months with leaves and rain. I'm in Ontario, Canada, so we do get cold winters and a good amount of snow.

Thanks!

I’m not officially closing until 11/11, but the weather is about to get not so pool-friendly. I am SO happy to still be swimming in mid October (in Tulsa, OK). I just moved into this house 8/21, And excited to have a full season next year! Though short, it’s already been such a benefit to have this pool.

Thanks to this sub for helping me through the great algae bloom of 2026. Till next year yall! 🤩