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OFFICIAL Swimming Pool Maintenance Discussion Thread

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Deal Guru
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Apr 24, 2006
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Mississauga
Best place to buy 18kg (giant bucket) of bromine in the GTA? Any good/reputable pool liner installers (in-ground)?
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Jun 13, 2008
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Tijuana wrote: Any good/reputable pool liner installers (in-ground)?

We used a company called Vinyl Masters a couple of years ago and highly recommend them. Our pool has built in stairs and has sharp 90' corners so it's very hard to get a liner to conform to the pool wall without pulling away. The way Vinyl Masters does it is they custom cut the liner at the site and "weld" the pieces together so they fit tight to the pool walls. The person who started it actually started years ago wrapping car dashboards that were damaged by the sun with new vinyl and one day someone asked him if he could do the same thing to a pool.

http://vinylmasters.ca/
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Apr 14, 2009
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Vaughan
flyboy320 wrote: We used a company called Vinyl Masters a couple of years ago and highly recommend them. Our pool has built in stairs and has sharp 90' corners so it's very hard to get a liner to conform to the pool wall without pulling away. The way Vinyl Masters does it is they custom cut the liner at the site and "weld" the pieces together so they fit tight to the pool walls. The person who started it actually started years ago wrapping car dashboards that were damaged by the sun with new vinyl and one day someone asked him if he could do the same thing to a pool.

http://vinylmasters.ca/

They did mine last week, the only issue is they don't work for the general public. You need to have a pool company book them for your job.
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Jun 13, 2008
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coffeeguy wrote: They did mine last week, the only issue is they don't work for the general public. You need to have a pool company book them for your job.
Oh, that's new then. When they did ours a couple of years ago it was no issue.
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Sr. Member
Dec 25, 2006
781 posts
790 upvotes
Ottawa
I have a quick question regarding salt cells. When you open your pool in the spring (I'm opening mine on Monday), how do you know how many bags of salt to initially add to the water? Do you start your salt cell right away, or do you shock the water first? I have owned an inground salt water pool for the past few years, and I have always relied on the pool places to tell me what to add when I bring my water to get tested. Just wondering if I should add salt right away, and what you guys used to calculate how much to add. I'm not sure they are even testing water in my area at this point, because of the lock down. Thanks a lot.
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Oct 9, 2001
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Toronto
marksmithy69 wrote: I have a quick question regarding salt cells. When you open your pool in the spring (I'm opening mine on Monday), how do you know how many bags of salt to initially add to the water? Do you start your salt cell right away, or do you shock the water first? I have owned an inground salt water pool for the past few years, and I have always relied on the pool places to tell me what to add when I bring my water to get tested. Just wondering if I should add salt right away, and what you guys used to calculate how much to add. I'm not sure they are even testing water in my area at this point, because of the lock down. Thanks a lot.
I have a mesh safety cover and try to use all the winter snow melt/rain water to fill up the pool to as close to the fill line as I can each year (nailed it this year! = less city water needed). I start up the system but leave the salt chlorinator OFF and shock the heck out of the rain water in the pool and run the pump continuously until the water is clear... I then turn on the salt chlorinator and add a couple bags of salt (with generator set at zero = not producing any chlorine) and wait a day or so to see what the PPM number on the chlorinator is (aiming for 3200) and add one bag at a time until I reach that 3200PPM number.

Not sure your situation with cover etc... but hope this helps! Bring on the warm weather so we can open our pools!
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Dec 25, 2006
781 posts
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Ottawa
brockster wrote: I have a mesh safety cover and try to use all the winter snow melt/rain water to fill up the pool to as close to the fill line as I can each year (nailed it this year! = less city water needed). I start up the system but leave the salt chlorinator OFF and shock the heck out of the rain water in the pool and run the pump continuously until the water is clear... I then turn on the salt chlorinator and add a couple bags of salt (with generator set at zero = not producing any chlorine) and wait a day or so to see what the PPM number on the chlorinator is (aiming for 3200) and add one bag at a time until I reach that 3200PPM number.

Not sure your situation with cover etc... but hope this helps! Bring on the warm weather so we can open our pools!
Thanks a lot. My pool is covered by a tarp. There is usually over a foot of water on the tarp, which the pool guy pumps off before removing. I usually have to top the water level with a hose. Unfortunately my salt generator is a little old school (Zodiac DuoClear), so there is no digital reading for me to go by. Does anyone have a recommendation on a device I can use to check the salt PPM of the water? I know there are salt strips I can use, but I always find them a little confusing/inaccurate. Thanks so much
Jr. Member
Oct 22, 2005
152 posts
9 upvotes
Finally opened up the pool however found the salt chlorinator not powering on (Hayward Aqua Rite). Good news is water chemistry is good just that chlorine is at zero :S Couple of questions:

1) Any reco on good / trustworthy place / person to fix this in northern GTA (Aurora/newmaket area)?
2) Or any experts who's willing to give it a shot at troubleshooting? Detail: Fuse intact, cable connecting to flow switch is snapped, not sure why, could this be the cause? Power light is not on, no flow light is constantly on. Pump / filter / heater all working accordingly.

New pool owner (moved recently) so lots to learn...

Thanks in advance.
Jr. Member
Mar 21, 2004
155 posts
11 upvotes
North York
Anyone has any experience pool liner out of track, the edge is sagging?
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Dec 2, 2002
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Any recommendation on a pool robot? I’m tired of vacuuming the bottom everyday.
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Oct 12, 2007
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Winchester
Yuan wrote: Anyone has any experience pool liner out of track, the edge is sagging?
Get the vinyl liner warmed up and pull it up with one hand while the other hand (or person) pushes the bead back in the track's groove. You can warm the liner with hot water pour in behind the liner across the length of the part that is out of the track. I've had this happen a few times over the years and the hot water method has worked like a charm for me. Good luck.
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Oct 12, 2007
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As for how many bags of salt to add, I know that I have to add 8-9 bags every winter because the water coming in (I also have a mesh/safety cover) is not salted. Our pool is roughly 100,000 Litres and IIRC, the amount I pump out in the Fall is roughly one third the volume of water in the pool and I added roughly 30 bags of salt to the pool when we had it installed all those years ago.

I use the test strips because my chlorinator is so old that it does not have a ppm readout and I have no trouble using the strips - the issue is that I use two a year and they expire before I get through the container.
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Sr. Member
Apr 3, 2010
876 posts
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Toronto
Bought a house with a pool last year and opening it up this week. We are quite excited. I have a few questions if y’all can help.

1. Do i need to get a pool vacuum ? There is quite a bit of settled debris at the bottom of the pool - any recommendations?
2. Any recommendations for a pool heater and installer in the GTA?
3. Did you buy your chemical testing kit and do the testing yourself?
:)
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Oct 12, 2007
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smacd wrote: After lots of research last year, we bought this one: https://www.poolsuppliescanada.ca/dolph ... eaner.html It works very well for us.
I did lots of research and ended up with this one: https://www.poolsuppliescanada.ca/hayward-navigator-pro-pool-cleaner.html. Based on its lackluster performance, I should have kept researching...
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Oct 12, 2007
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Soul_Rebel wrote: Bought a house with a pool last year and opening it up this week. We are quite excited. I have a few questions if y’all can help.

1. Do i need to get a pool vacuum ? There is quite a bit of settled debris at the bottom of the pool - any recommendations?
2. Any recommendations for a pool heater and installer in the GTA?
3. Did you buy your chemical testing kit and do the testing yourself?
You need a vacuum. Get a basic one (like this) along with a hose (like this), a pole (like this) and a vacuum plate (like this). That's your starting point. Pool cleaning robots are a level up from this. Also, get a brush and net attachments for the pole.

You can do your research and buy your heater online and you will save a thou or two. If you're replacing an existing one, the plumbing, gas, and electrical are already there. A gas fitter to hook it up is a couple of hundred and the rest depends on how handy you are. If you are installing a heater where none previously existed, it's a far bigger job.

I get my water tested in the spring at the pool store (it's free). I use test strips to monitor throughout the rest of the season. We have a salt chlorinator.
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Deal Addict
Dec 10, 2005
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Bought a house with a pool. Still no opened. Just checked the pump and seems it has just an on-off switch with no timer? Is it worthwhile to get a timer installed?
Newbie
Sep 29, 2014
47 posts
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Toronto, ON
Have the same one. Bought this year. Best bang for your buck but only if you have a small pool. Cord is only 45 feet so have to consider distance from outlet to deepest furthest part of pool
Deal Guru
Oct 6, 2007
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Kootenays
CaptSmethwick wrote: I did lots of research and ended up with this one: https://www.poolsuppliescanada.ca/hayward-navigator-pro-pool-cleaner.html. Based on its lackluster performance, I should have kept researching...
I wasn't overly thrilled with mine at first, as a bit of debris was always missed. I then tried it with the circulation turned off and it was much better at getting virtually everything.
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Oct 6, 2007
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Kootenays
Stravic wrote: Have the same one. Bought this year. Best bang for your buck but only if you have a small pool. Cord is only 45 feet so have to consider distance from outlet to deepest furthest part of pool
Our pool is a fair distance from the outlet, so I bought a 40' 12/3 extension cord at Costco (the green 2 pack they sell) and despite the instructions saying not to use an extension cord, it works fine. We have a storage box near the pool that we keep the robot in, so I have the extension coming from the GFI outlet to the box and plug the robot in at the box. There is no way to knock the cord into the pool without it unplugging first.

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