Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

I recently read the corded versions are generally superior to cordless. More power. And there have been a few house fires attributed to battery powered cleaners catching fire while charging. 

Can you leave it plugged in and in the pool for a couple days at a time. Like if I’m out off town for 3 days can I put it in before I leave and get 2 separate cleanings out of it?

Posted (edited)
On 3/28/2025 at 5:01 PM, Herbie Hancock said:

Broke down and bought the Pentair Prowler 930W robot vacuum. Fuck me running that thing is badass. Can’t believe it took me so long to pull the trigger

Looked at Pentair and decided to go with Aiper instead. Why pentair? 

Edited by Mother mopar
Posted
I recently read the corded versions are generally superior to cordless. More power. And there have been a few house fires attributed to battery powered cleaners catching fire while charging. 
Can you leave it plugged in and in the pool for a couple days at a time. Like if I’m out off town for 3 days can I put it in before I leave and get 2 separate cleanings out of it?

I don’t know if one is more powerful than the other. I also run my power from outlet down by the pool so a fire would damage the pool house and that’s it. Mine has currently been in the water for 2+ weeks at the moment and zero issues.
Looked at Pentair and decided to go with Aiper instead. Why pentair? 

Because my buddy owns a pool business and he recommended it. And he got me this one at cost.
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

We put a pool in my old house in 2022 and are using the same guy for our new house. Yard is different, but we’re looking at similar design. Contract signed. They came and marked today. It’s freaking us out because it looks different marked out than we planned (how it’s oriented in the yard). They’re coming at 8 to dig but I want to abort everything st this point (we’ll still do the pool, just not sure about the current design). And I will still use this guy. Am I crazy or should I just trust the builder. In 2022 he talked me into some things and out of some things. Pool came out awesome.

We originally started with pool+kitchen area. Ditched the kitchen area for the pool. The pool design was a backseat during the whole process.

I typically don’t get stressed out, but I’m there now.

Posted
8 hours ago, kmac30 said:

We put a pool in my old house in 2022 and are using the same guy for our new house. Yard is different, but we’re looking at similar design. Contract signed. They came and marked today. It’s freaking us out because it looks different marked out than we planned (how it’s oriented in the yard). They’re coming at 8 to dig but I want to abort everything st this point (we’ll still do the pool, just not sure about the current design). And I will still use this guy. Am I crazy or should I just trust the builder. In 2022 he talked me into some things and out of some things. Pool came out awesome.

We originally started with pool+kitchen area. Ditched the kitchen area for the pool. The pool design was a backseat during the whole process.

I typically don’t get stressed out, but I’m there now.

Why not just talk to the builder. 

Posted

Tried to yesterday after I got home but haven’t heard back yet. The plan this morning is to tell him where it needs to be and see where we go from there.

Posted

Excavation guys were here early. I let the head guy know this wasn’t going to work. “No problem. We’ll move it over.” Pool guy called. He hates me now (got his info here for my first pool). He just asked what I wanted. Told him exactly and he said done. They’re digging.

Feeling a lot better

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 1
Posted
On 3/29/2025 at 5:37 PM, Your Mom said:

I recently read the corded versions are generally superior to cordless. More power. And there have been a few house fires attributed to battery powered cleaners catching fire while charging. 

Can you leave it plugged in and in the pool for a couple days at a time. Like if I’m out off town for 3 days can I put it in before I leave and get 2 separate cleanings out of it?

i have the dolphin and it's in the pool full time unless we're swimming. 3+ years no issues

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted
7 hours ago, El Tri said:

i have the dolphin and it's in the pool full time unless we're swimming. 3+ years no issues

I've had the Dolphin Explorer for almost 3 years and it is solid. One time it wouldnt run but a 10 minute repair from a youtube video fixed it.

Posted
8 hours ago, kmac30 said:

Excavation guys were here early. I let the head guy know this wasn’t going to work. “No problem. We’ll move it over.” Pool guy called. He hates me now (got his info here for my first pool). He just asked what I wanted. Told him exactly and he said done. They’re digging.

Feeling a lot better

Glad it worked out out 

Posted
9 hours ago, HiggyBaby said:

For anyone contemplating live Oaks near their pool…. my recommendation is maybe no. IMG_0634.thumb.jpeg.d0012fa81216aaab5e93996d8f3759ab.jpeg

yeah, I have a massive live oak that overhangs the pool and it is a daily fucking beating

Posted
22 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

yeah, I have a massive live oak that overhangs the pool and it is a daily fucking beating

I had a storm that caused mine to land in the pool, deck, and roof of back porch.

After having one for 5 years, no pools are not worth it.   They are the ultimate money pit.  I've spent 30x more on my pool than on my divorce.  

Posted
16 hours ago, Bill Brasky said:

I had a storm that caused mine to land in the pool, deck, and roof of back porch.

After having one for 5 years, no pools are not worth it.   They are the ultimate money pit.  I've spent 30x more on my pool than on my divorce.  

Yes, but if you have a hot tub, think how much you are saving on contraception

Posted

How hard is your water?  I'm connected to a private water company and I've about given up trying to keep away the calcification along the water line along the tile

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 4/2/2025 at 4:33 AM, HiggyBaby said:

For anyone contemplating live Oaks near their pool…. my recommendation is maybe no. IMG_0634.thumb.jpeg.d0012fa81216aaab5e93996d8f3759ab.jpeg

Geez, and I was gonna complain about the rubber tree. Not complaining any more.

Posted

Anyone know about pool cancer? We’ve never had any signs or symptoms. The pool was finished in early 2019. I don’t know who the concrete supplier was. We may be selling the property and a potential buyer wants to test the pool, despite it not having any symptoms. Opinions?

Posted

Is there really a scientific way for a lab to test the pool concrete mixture for the “cancer” ?? What will they rely on?
If their lab says it got the cancer do you have to disclose to other buyers even though the pool is fine as of now?
I assumed all the pool cancer issues would have developed by now

Posted
On 4/13/2025 at 10:55 PM, Bevo said:

Anyone know about pool cancer? We’ve never had any signs or symptoms. The pool was finished in early 2019. I don’t know who the concrete supplier was. We may be selling the property and a potential buyer wants to test the pool, despite it not having any symptoms. Opinions?

 

On 4/15/2025 at 12:50 PM, williemackgarza said:

Is there really a scientific way for a lab to test the pool concrete mixture for the “cancer” ?? What will they rely on?
If their lab says it got the cancer do you have to disclose to other buyers even though the pool is fine as of now?
I assumed all the pool cancer issues would have developed by now

Unfortunately we are dealing with it now. Look for white lines (these are the cracks) visible in the pool. We noticed the first crack in the spa bench. The dark lines are all the cracks so far.

The only way to test is to have cores drilled out and sent to a lab for testing. We did not do that only because it’s obvious because of the visible damage.

IMG_6715.jpeg

IMG_6714.jpeg

  • Rage+1 1
Posted
3 minutes ago, TexEx15 said:

 

Unfortunately we are dealing with it now. Look for white lines (these are the cracks) visible in the pool. We noticed the first crack in the spa bench. The dark lines are all the cracks so far.

The only way to test is to have cores drilled out and sent to a lab for testing. We did not do that only because it’s obvious because of the visible damage.

IMG_6715.jpeg

IMG_6714.jpeg

 

 

Is the solution to tear everything up and redo the entire pool?

Posted
On 4/18/2025 at 10:22 PM, TexEx15 said:

Yes the only fix is rip out and rebuild.

I'm in the same boat.. No, pools are not worth it.

It seems there are thousands affected and very few have or likely will see any compensation. My builder went OOB. The concrete company that mixed the faulty concrete is OOB. The  respective insurance companies are finding any reason to not pay out.. it's a mess. 

Posted

mentioned upthread, also have concrete cancer. our builder filed claim with his insurance 6/2023 and we just now heard from them in february. they notified us of a 2 yr statute of limitations where if we haven’t filed suit, we lose the option to. they also said they were working to settle the claim and that we could send over estimates for rebuild. we got a few and they came back basically twice as much as when we initially built in nov 2020. 

we’re going to continue to hound the insurance for the next few weeks and if there’s no settlement offer, we’re going to have to file just so we don’t lose that option. fml this is the worst. 

Posted

I wonder if pool builders will switch to fiberglass reinforced rebar (GFRB) or graphite reinforced rebar (FRP) and if it would solve the problem of pool cancer. It just seems like the lack of fly ash (or whatever they blame the problem on) is a bit distorted. On the other hand, it doesn't seem like concrete along the coast has consistent problems holding up over the years even though you would think salt water would seep into the rebar reinforced concrete.

Posted (edited)
On 4/18/2025 at 10:09 PM, TexEx15 said:

 

Unfortunately we are dealing with it now. Look for white lines (these are the cracks) visible in the pool. We noticed the first crack in the spa bench. The dark lines are all the cracks so far.

The only way to test is to have cores drilled out and sent to a lab for testing. We did not do that only because it’s obvious because of the visible damage.

IMG_6715.jpeg

IMG_6714.jpeg

Sorry you’re dealing with this and hope you’ve found some resolution. Went through the nightmare starting in ‘21 and new pool was finished this time last year. I just saw your one of the DMs I had…do hope you’ve got some light at the end of the tunnel.
 

 

Edited by Tailgate
Posted (edited)
On 4/28/2025 at 8:04 PM, Bevo said:

I wonder if pool builders will switch to fiberglass reinforced rebar (GFRB) or graphite reinforced rebar (FRP) and if it would solve the problem of pool cancer. It just seems like the lack of fly ash (or whatever they blame the problem on) is a bit distorted. On the other hand, it doesn't seem like concrete along the coast has consistent problems holding up over the years even though you would think salt water would seep into the rebar reinforced concrete.

From my understanding…and I’ve talked to a lot of folks about this including engineers…the only affected pools were poured with shotcrete. There have been no known cases with gunite.

Edited by Tailgate
  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
8 hours ago, Tailgate said:

Sorry you’re dealing with this and hope you’ve found some resolution. Went through the nightmare starting in ‘21 and new pool was finished this time last year. I just saw your one of the DMs I had…do hope you’ve got some light at the end of the tunnel.
 

 

We are at the tail end of negotiations with insurance companies. We will not be made whole but it should be enough to make rebuild feasible, which is sadly better than a lot of folks.

8 hours ago, Tailgate said:

From my understanding…and I’ve talked to a lot of folks about this including engineers…the only affected pools were poured with shotcrete. There have been no known cases with gunite.

Gunite is less susceptible as I understand it but it can happen. It all has to do with the mix including size and type of aggregate material etc… our rebuild will be gunite from a company that works with an engineering firm to test their mix design for ASR reactivity. My pool builder setup a call with the company owner so I could ask questions to get comfortable that this would not happen again. It was a really good call.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

We shot our old 1 in Round Rock in July 2020 with Gunite. Hope Ive passed any issues.

Im building a new 1 here in Georgetown now.
The house permit/inspection process and now the pool requirements here in Georgetown are fucking insane. Almost make Austins look easy. Damn. They require more on a pool than the house.
Glad the house is done.
On to the pool, ughhh.

Posted

Last year I discovered a great product for fighting algae -  PoolRx.  I've struggled for years to keep algae under control.  Last year I tried PoolRx and it kept my pool algae free with no effort.  I wish I had discovered it a long time ago.  Just chunk it in your skimmer basket at the beginning of summer and forget about it.  It's a copper based mineral puck that costs about $60 on Amazon.  Good for the entire summer season.  

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 1
Posted
4 hours ago, BottleRocket said:

Last year I discovered a great product for fighting algae -  PoolRx.  I've struggled for years to keep algae under control.  Last year I tried PoolRx and it kept my pool algae free with no effort.  I wish I had discovered it a long time ago.  Just chunk it in your skimmer basket at the beginning of summer and forget about it.  It's a copper based mineral puck that costs about $60 on Amazon.  Good for the entire summer season.  

Beware of the copper adding up over time and causing other issues.  I have a salt cell chlorinator so pretty easy for me to combat algae with chlorine and only chlorine (never had any in 4.5 yrs).

https://www.troublefreepool.com/wiki/index.php?title=Copper_in_Pool_Water

 

  • Hook 'Em 3
Posted
On 5/6/2025 at 7:11 AM, BottleRocket said:

Last year I discovered a great product for fighting algae -  PoolRx.  I've struggled for years to keep algae under control.  Last year I tried PoolRx and it kept my pool algae free with no effort.  I wish I had discovered it a long time ago.  Just chunk it in your skimmer basket at the beginning of summer and forget about it.  It's a copper based mineral puck that costs about $60 on Amazon.  Good for the entire summer season.  

Already getting a tad bit, how long does it take for the PoolRx to work?

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted (edited)

Moot point now since the temp is coming up on its own, but I was trying to run the heater earlier this weekend to bump the pool temp a little. It runs for about 3 minutes before going into standby because it thinks the pool temp is hot enough. Where is the fault here? Does the heater have an internal temperature sensor that’s gone bad or am I getting a bad reading from the main pool sensor which is installed in the PVC near the pump. For reference the pool temp is around 77° and then when I run the heater it spikes to over 120° and shuts off the heater.

IMG_1285.jpeg

IMG_1304.jpeg

IMG_1291.png

Edited by HiggyBaby
Posted

Anyone ever heard that old plaster makes algae hard to get rid of?

Our pool is 32 years old. Pool guys is telling us this. Never has been an issue before. Pump/filter are new and work like a champ.

Posted

Do they have a water “tint” for pools?

I recall a fish-safe product for koi ponds, that tints the water blue and lasts a couple weeks. Dunno if that’s a thing for pools or not.

For something stubborn, and if it was engrained in the plaster, wouldn’t a week or so of high chlorine soak it out?

Posted
Anyone ever heard that old plaster makes algae hard to get rid of?

Our pool is 32 years old. Pool guys is telling us this. Never has been an issue before. Pump/filter are new and work like a champ.

I would think if you had it that bad you could drain the pool and acid wash it and that would be the end of it. Sounds like someone trying to take you for a ride. I have a very reputable and trustworthy expert; I’ll reach out to him and report back.
Posted
On 5/6/2025 at 11:33 AM, PantsTent said:

Beware of the copper adding up over time and causing other issues.  I have a salt cell chlorinator so pretty easy for me to combat algae with chlorine and only chlorine (never had any in 4.5 yrs).

https://www.troublefreepool.com/wiki/index.php?title=Copper_in_Pool_Water

 

Rep for citing https://www.troublefreepool.com/ - great resource for pool owners.  Highly recommended.

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
Posted
3 hours ago, Herbie Hancock said:


I would think if you had it that bad you could drain the pool and acid wash it and that would be the end of it. Sounds like someone trying to take you for a ride. I have a very reputable and trustworthy expert; I’ll reach out to him and report back.

 

2 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Thanks. That was my thought. 

 

It could also be that you are not able to keep enough free chlorine to adequately sanitize and, hence, eliminate the algae.  If you have been using chlorine pucks for an extended amount of time, you might have a high enough level of cyanuric acid (stabilizer) that you cannot get enough free chlorine to sanitize.

Leslie's can be good for testing for that.  They'll try to sell you all sorts of algaecide, etc.  If your CYA is too high, you have a couple of options: (1) drain and refill to get CYA to a proper level (2) put tons of liquid chlorine in (no CYA).  


https://www.troublefreepool.com/blog/2019/01/18/free-chlorine-and-cyanuric-acid-relationship-explained/

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
Posted
On 4/30/2025 at 7:54 AM, TexEx15 said:

We are at the tail end of negotiations with insurance companies. We will not be made whole but it should be enough to make rebuild feasible, which is sadly better than a lot of folks.

Gunite is less susceptible as I understand it but it can happen. It all has to do with the mix including size and type of aggregate material etc… our rebuild will be gunite from a company that works with an engineering firm to test their mix design for ASR reactivity. My pool builder setup a call with the company owner so I could ask questions to get comfortable that this would not happen again. It was a really good call.

we are wrapping up our “negotiations” this week. aka we’re taking what we can get and feeling pretty fucking lucky just for that.

we’ll be rebuilding but so far we’ve only had one company actually come out and talk to us. they mentioned that their insurance requires them to test the gunite now. not sure if it’s bs or not. either way i’m not looking forward to reliving the build process. 

  • Like 1
Posted
19 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Anyone ever heard that old plaster makes algae hard to get rid of?

Our pool is 32 years old. Pool guys is telling us this. Never has been an issue before. Pump/filter are new and work like a champ.

Black algae will embed itself in the pores of your plaster.  You have to be incessant with scrubbing and chlorinating.  One method I want to try this year is rubbing a chlorine puck across the spots I have.  I'll report back later thus summer.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted
On 5/14/2025 at 11:07 AM, HiggyBaby said:

Moot point now since the temp is coming up on its own, but I was trying to run the heater earlier this weekend to bump the pool temp a little. It runs for about 3 minutes before going into standby because it thinks the pool temp is hot enough. Where is the fault here? Does the heater have an internal temperature sensor that’s gone bad or am I getting a bad reading from the main pool sensor which is installed in the PVC near the pump. For reference the pool temp is around 77° and then when I run the heater it spikes to over 120° and shuts off the heater.

IMG_1285.jpeg

IMG_1304.jpeg

IMG_1291.png

Don't know what heater you have, but sounds like your water sensor is going flaky.  Maybe go out there, wiggle the wire around and see if the signal changes on your readout.

Posted
Thanks. That was my thought. 

He confirmed that what you were told is nonsense. He worked for a pool builder for a decade before striking out on his own in 2014. Said he’s never come across a problem that draining and acid washing couldn’t fix. Showed me some absolutely heinous before and after pics of pools and said none of them required replacing.
  • Like 1

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...