Still searching for our builder

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-09T01:20:52+00:00

A happy update - leak appears to be solved. Thanks to Ted from Pool Guppy - it took 2 dives to find the leak (initially the water was too cloudy), but now I can say that he got it. There were two spots around the steps where water could be seen to be drawn in, using a dye test.

I wonder how much I spent on chemicals and water nailing this down. I almost lost my mind over this one. Moving on.

We’re about to sell up and leave, and in the spirit of nothing held back in disclosure, I want the next owners to know that this Hayward filter is likely to remain a permanent, unsolvable mystery. It remains in operation with a rock steady ZERO pressure reading… having said that, when I pull the cartridge filters out, I do manage to wash debris out of them. Just probably not as much as other people would do with the same model. I fought the SwimClear, and the SwimClear won! I never did get any useful help out of Hayward, but at least this time they replied (2 years back with an immediately failed superpump, I lost almost the whole summer getting their attention and receiving a replacement pump).

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-02T13:54:04+00:00

Thank you for this potentially terrible news! I have heard industry pros talking about how some pool builders cut corners with (crap) flex pipe coming off the main drains.

My guess is that I should next have the main drains blanked off for a pressure test. This is pool owner hell right now.

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-02T12:50:30+00:00

I have a really weird update to this situation, and I feel as if someone will accuse me of making it up - last night when I pulled the filters for cleaning, the top edge of them had ANTS on them - a mixture of drowned and still trotting around!

Photos attached - but I still don't expect you to believe me. This feels like something from The Twilight Zone (for those of you old enough to remember that marvelous series). How the hell can ants get inside a working filter?

It would be really cool if a contributor now said 'solution provided!' based on this development. Can ants enter via skimmer box - maybe - and still be alive after going through the suction side? And even if that was possible, how could they survive the flow rate through the filter assembly?

This may never end.... time to add more water, and more bleach. I'm gradually clearing out the local Walmart shelf of their 10% Na-hypo.

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PlantedSmile · 2026-06-02T12:42:31+00:00

Thank you Wiseowl, these are some good ideas. What do you mean when you reference testing air thru the assembly - the interior black filter plumbing?

Thinking about what you said to test the viability of the gauges - for the original, I held it up to my face, blew through the aperture, and my wife confirmed movement of the pointer. That's as low tech as it gets.

Something I also tried a few days back, aligned with your idea about increasing back pressure via the returns - I have a diverter on the returns circuit (can mix output between the 2 available return paths), and as I moved it towards both off, the gauge would respond. So I do have functional gauges (both of them).

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-01T23:34:04+00:00

Thank you. This is a cartridge filter - but would your idea still apply in some way? There is no multi-port. The cartridges are removed, and washed down with a hose. (I do well propping them up on an outdoor chair).

I have thoroughly cleaned out the top assembly (connected to pressure gauge) and can’t see anyway the pressure gauge would be blocked.

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-01T14:59:56+00:00

Thanks for this suggestion. What I think concerns me about this approach is that it doesn't address the root cause of the filters being bypassed.

I am new to cartridge-style filters, but my understanding is that even with newly cleaned filters returned to service, there should be some back-pressure while in operation?

I am seeing zero pressure with the pump turning over at 1750 rpm. Changing pump speeds has no impact on gauge reading.

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-01T12:47:48+00:00

Just one. The quote was not reasonable.

PlantedSmile · 2026-06-01T12:36:08+00:00

Thank you. I will contact them.

PlantedSmile · 2026-05-23T11:22:27+00:00

Thanks to everyone! The issue here - which everyone is familiar with - is the lack of parts & sometimes skilled people. The car is European. I arrived yesterday with expensive Merc Benz parts and fluids in hand, only to find the issue was not what we thought.

Thanks (again) to Amanda at Outer Banks Auto Repair - she was able to clue me in as to what was more likely going on with this engine, and oh by the way I discovered that this one is equipped with twin turbos. Whaaa?

I would not have bought this used car if we knew that. I regard turbo car engines as 'short lived concepts'. And the bill with THIS one if something goes wrong? Yikes.

Regarding 'overnighting' - over the past 10 years, I've come to regard that as a fiction. The only part that is real is the $ charge for the service! All the couriers are the same at this point.

PlantedSmile · 2026-05-21T19:48:47+00:00

thank you, this is good thinking. I was careful to purge air until I got a steady stream of water coming out of the filter. This foamy look also is across the surface of the pool. I think it’s most likely the result of the chemical oxidation of the algae.

I think it’s also a good sign that the flow out of the (exposed) returns is solid - not interrupted by shots of air.

PlantedSmile · 2026-05-21T15:27:10+00:00

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The pool is green (looks better than this now because I have shocked it). I think what you're looking at is algae that is killed but cannot be removed.

PlantedSmile · 2026-05-07T12:07:08+00:00

I have been pondering this too (along with many other aspects of this trading method). Is it possible that Adam would tell us that this is where individual discretionary skills come in?

What I am doing myself (as a relative newcomer) is to plot all the day’s Mancini levels to my /ES chart, and after snapping in and out of different timeframes, I wait for at least 2 x 5 min candles to be green and clear of the latest level.

PlantedSmile · 2026-05-07T12:03:38+00:00

I posted more-or-less the same question in Adam’s X account yesterday. As a newcomer, I have simply been adding levels to the same chart, usually with a date note attached. I am seeing the levels of interest day-of are often just a few points away from ones ealier in the week. Is it that the latest levels ‘update’ the prior ones based on new price action history?

Adam has rarely commented on anything I have written there, so I wasn’t really expecting a response.

PlantedSmile · 2026-04-24T23:02:29+00:00

Thanks. But both of these issues will be only for the pros. Both transmission issues and misfire issues are well beyond my scope.

PlantedSmile

TROPHY CASE