Tips & Tricks

My swimming pool pump motor just hums,

admin — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:14:54 +0000

Have you ever walked out to your pool equipment and it’s not running, the only thing you hear is the pool pump humming. Well there are three things that might have happened , one there is something stuck in the impeller ,two the capacitor has gone bad, or lastly the motor has gone out all together. The first one on the list is pretty easy to fix and you don’t need much knowledge. First turn the power off the the swimming pool equipment,then remove the lid off the pump,remove the pump basket, inspect the basket , does it have any holes or breaks? If so replace it,next take a small screwdriver and put it in the suction hole located at the bottom of the pump pot ,where you removed the basket. It will go back to the face of the impeller, feel around to see if there is any debree ,such as leaves twigs etc, you might even put the water hose in to wash away debree if you felt some in there,next go to the back of the pool pump motor,there you will find the bearing cap,it should have a cap on it ,take a small flatt head screw driver and pry it off .You will be able to see the end of the motor shaft,take a wrench or cresent wrench and turn it ,clock wise then counter clock wise ,if at first it is very hard ,after you have turned it back and forth it will free up.stand back and with everything away from the pump turn the power on for a second .If you hear it running again, your done ,put the basket bearing cap and pump lid back on.Ok if the pump motor still humms and doesn’t run turn the power back off,on the top of the motor you should see a small hump about 2 to 3 inches ,this is where the capacitor is located.Take a nut driver or sockett wrench and remove the cap, slide the capacitor out of the housing ,remove the two wires from the top of the capacitor and replace it .turn the power back on ,if its running ,woo hoo your done ,if not you will need to replace the motor.

My swimming pool is cloudy ?

admin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:54:37 +0000

When you walk out to do your weekly check on the swimming pool and you notice that the water seems to be cloudy, there are two areas to look at ,the chemical levels are out of balalance ,or the filtration needs attention.First thing I would check is that the free chlorine levels are above 1.5 and the combined chlorine levels are not much higher ,then I would put my attention towards the p.h levels. Most home owners don’t know that when the p.h gets above 7.6 most of the free chlorine in the pool is turned off. The higher the p.h the less effective the chlorine is. By lowering the p.h you can make the chlorine in the pool more effective. On a gunite swimming pool almost anything can raise the p.h , rain,adding some kinds of shock, filling the pool with tap water etc, so it is very important to not only check the chlorine levels every week but keep a close eye on the p.h levels. OK so I adjusted the p.h and the pool still is not crystal clear , the next thing I would check is the filters. Turn the pool pump off and remove the filters from there tank ,check to see if they are torn or dirty, soak them in a trash can or container with degreaser for about 1 to 2 hours ,then give them a good rinse , reinstall them back in the filter tank. if you have d.e filters after you turn the pool pump back on add 8 one pound coffee cans of d.e back to the skimmer.One note if you have allot of very small debree in the pool it would be a good idea to add some clarifier to the pool, the will act like a bonding agent and stick all the small particle together so that the filter can easily filter them out of the pool. Well you have the chemicals balanced ,the filter cleaned, the next thing I would check is the circulation of the pool ,with the pump running you should be able to see the jets in the side of the pool shooting out ,and you should see the water at the top of the pool circulating in a clock wise rotation,make sure that the jets are turned slightly up and to the left .Your swimming pool is like your toilet in that the water at the top moves in a clock wise rotation, in the pool this make everything at the bottom vortex towards the drains in the bottom of the pool. Well I hope this has helped ,this is one of the most frequent service calls we get .

Cleaning Your Filter

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:00:50 +0000

Taking care of my customers pools, we schedule there filters to be cleaned twice a year. The filter clean in September is to get the pool ready for winter, we also inspect all the equipment,i.e freeze gaurds etc, the other time we schedule the filters to be cleaned is around March ,this is to get the pools ready for the summer. We also check the stablizer levals,salt, etc. The key I have found to getting the filters good and clean is to first rince off any large debre , then to put the grids if it is a d.e filter or the cartridges in a solution of water and degreaser. I have found that unless you remove the oils off the filters you will not get to the dirt under . Let the grids or cartridges soak in the trash can full of water and degreasier until you see the oils comming off , atleast 20 mins. then take them out and give them a good rince. Male sure to inspect them for any tears or holes , if you find any replace that grid or cartridge. reasemble the grids or cartridges back in the filter, makeing sure to add the manufactures recomended amount of d.e back after the systen is started back up ,if it is a d.e filter system. I hope this has been helpfull ,this is just my opinion of what you should do.

Choosing A New Plaster

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:51:23 +0000

Most of you with swimming pools have had to go through getting the pool replastered, when everyone comes to your house to give a bid and recomend a type or color of plaster, don’t ask to see plaster jobs that they just finished, insted ask to see pools that are over a year old. You will find that this will give you a trueier idea of what your plaster will look like in your pool. Some companies use plaster die, some use colored sand ,most use a different product, they also use different start up procedures. You want to get your moneys worth and not have to be replastering your pool again in 5 years ,so do your home work, find a company that has been around a while, has good referancies, was glad to give you a list of older pools they have done, the start up is included in there bid. This was my opion everyone has one.

Pool and Spa Lights

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:43:06 +0000

Have you ever gone out to turn on the pool and spa light only to find out that niether one works? Yes it is possible that both went out at the same time,but it is not likely,the most likely thing that happened is the gfci is tripped, yes on your pool and spa lights,also electrical plugs within 10 feet of the pool or spa,they are connected to a gfci , just like the one in your bathroom.If for any reason water got into the plug,or j box for the lights, like the sprinkler shot into them, it will trip the gfci. So first thing before you call in the service company,check to see if it is tripped, if it is firts go check to see where the plug or box is that got wet, most likly you pluged in the lanscape lights to the plug and the sprinklers shot into the plug.Make sure that that plug is covered to keep water out, then try to reset the gfci, if this doesn’t work now its time to call in the service pros.I hope this tip helped, as always there are different opions and ideas, this was mine.

Chemicals And Green Pools

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:33:42 +0000

Before chemical treatment

Most home owners think when there pools turn green,that all they need to do is to add some shock, and poof it will turn blue again. When this doesn’t work they go to the pool store and buy expensive algicides , when this doesn’t work they call some one in to fix the problem. Its not that swimming pool techs went to school or got a degree in swimming pools ,that makes them more knowledgable than the home owner ,but it is that the home owner has to rely on information they get, most of the time from the local pool store, remember most are very good ,and helpfull, but they all make most of there money selling chemicals. To start off if I got a call to go out to your house becouse of a green pool, the first thing I would do is to get out my test kit and test the p.h, the chlorine, and the stablizer levals. The p.h affects the chlorines effectivness levals, at a p.h of 8.5 only %10 of the chlorine in the pool is working, where as at a leval of around 7.2 %100 is effective. Next the stabilizer levals, most home owners don’t know that stabilizer does not have sun block in it, all it does is slows down the oxidation levals of chlorine, thus the higher it is the slower your chlorine will burn out or oxidise the bacteria and algie. Ok after getting my readings, lets say that my stabilizer levals are not over 50 ppm, and my p.h levals are 8.5 ,and i’m not showing any chlorine , the pool is about 20 to 30 thousand gallons, the first thing I will do is to do the p.h demand on my test kit to see how much acid I will need to add to drop my p.h to around 7.2,then I will add the acid around the pool. The next thing I would do is to superchlonate the pool,this means to add 10 times the normal leval of shock to the pool.Me personaly I leave the pool equipment off until I have killed all the algie in the pool. I will wait 24 hours then come back to the pool and see where my chemical levals are and make adjustments to them, by this time most of the algie should be dead and laying on the floor of the pool, if not I will repeat the steps again until it is. Then take the filters apart and give them a good cleaning. I hope this will help you take care of the green monster in the backyard, remember this is what I would do to fix the problem, there are plenty of other ideas, and opions , lol every one has one.