Pool Timer Question

1,620 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by Aggiehunter34
justsomeguy
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AG
I'm new to the pool world and just bought a home with a (Chlorine)pool in West Houston 10 months ago and the pool is less than 10 years old and has been completely resurfaced prior to them listing so it's in fairly good shape, though I'm finding out that "fairly good shape" by the pool inspector still comes with several faults that would cost upwards of $3,000 to remedy apparently. The "command center" is a Hayward Ecommand 4 using a Swimclear cartridge filter(4 cartridges). The pump is a Hayward dual speed 2.4 HP pump

Problem 1:
I cannot pinpoint when this occurs but within atleast a 15 hour period, the timer seems to be behind the correct time by 10 minutes. Fast forward to a couple days and it's off considerably to where the pump is running in the middle of the night thinking it's 10 am. I've been told the entire main circuit board must be replaced to remedy. I would have thought replacing the timer or the timer circuit board would remedy, logically speaking. Any ideas here?

Problem 2:
Not that this is a necessary "problem" but the pool light doesn't work. Hot tub works flawlessly. The main pool light tries to come on and does for a second and then goes off. I'm guessing there's a frayed wire somewhere underground in the conduit or water got in the light itself. Apparently you have to replace that entire light with the long 50' of wire as one piece and cannot split in a new light. Seems irrational but okay. $450 for light and my guy wanted $500 to put in. Can't be that difficult right?....right?

Problem 3:
The expansion joint around the pool is completely deteriorated and needs to be replaced. Was told $1k for this as well. Again, couldn't be difficult I wouldn't think.

TIA everyone. I'll try posting pictures as well just in case.
flown-the-coop
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AG
I cannot speak to Problem 1.

On Problem 2, the conduit behind the light is flooded hence the reason the light housing and 50' feet of wire must be one sealed unit. And it's the reason their are several hundred dollars. I would certainly splurge on a color wheel remote operated LED light when replacing. The labor to install would be higher as he has to dive down, unhook old light, fish the wire out, fish new wire in, dive down and reattach housing. Water, expensive light, electricity, seems like something I would not DIY.

You probably could do the mastic yourself. I am sure there are videos on removing old and reapplying new and you could judge whether you want to tackle. $1000 seems high but not sure how much mastic you are replacing.

We need to regrout our coping in next year or so. Considering whether I want to DIY it.
GigEmAgs08
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AG
For the pool light, I would recommend purchasing on Amazon yourself and paying someone to install. This is something you could do yourself likely though. All you do is disconnect the power, cut off the light and tie your new power cord to the old one and pull it through. Then you wire the new one in.

The light fixture for main pool looks to be about $250 on Amazon. I did my hot tub light a few years ago. Paid $100ish for the smaller light and a pool guy charged me $115 to install. It was easy enough. I was worried I wouldn't successfully pull the wire through and make a bigger issue out of it.
Potcake
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AG
Problem 1, I'm not sure if yours works like ours, but you may want to ensure the start and stop pins are secure on the dial and not loose enough to move around.
TexAg1987
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Problem 1 - a quick internet search shows that this is a common problem with this system. Only remedy appears to be to replace the circuit board. Some say it is $500. Yikes!

I had a different/similar problem on my control board where I would get an error on my system and it wouldn't work. Most "pool techs" said to replace the board. I kept looking around and found one place that said to check the solder connections in one particular place on the back of the board. I did and it was cracked. A few minutes with a soldering gun and it was as good as new. Maybe pull it out and give it a look before spending that kind of cash.
justsomeguy
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AG
Thanks for all the replies everyone. I think the led light is around $450 so not sure if that's the right one you're looking at. $250 sounds much better. It's only one single wire that goes to a circuit on the main board. I've seen that. I've also unscrewed the entire light and taken it out and there's a ton of wire coiled in there. I could get out of the pool and walk around with the thing it's so long.
TexAg1987
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justsomeguy said:

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I think the led light is around $450 so not sure if that's the right one you're looking at. $250 sounds much better. It's only one single wire that goes to a circuit on the main board. I've seen that. I've also unscrewed the entire light and taken it out and there's a ton of wire coiled in there. I could get out of the pool and walk around with the thing it's so long.

That is partially so you can pull it out and change the bulb out of the water.
Ikanizer
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AG
Problem 1 would be far down my priority list.
Problem 2: Why don't you just take the lens off the fixture and try replacing the bulb? Buy a new gasket before you do it or it will probably leak. The conduit that comes off the back of the light niche is designed to be flooded. The only reason to seal it at the niche is if the conduit is leaking somewhere below the elevation of the water line of your pool. You can seal it with two part epoxy putty but then you will never be able to change the fixture. I did that a few days ago on my current pool because I had a leak. The guys that replaced my deck evidently broke the conduit. I also had to replace the light and I bought one with a 15 foot cord and put the switch close to the pool deck edge.
Problem 3: If you mean the gap between the coping and the pool deck then you can seal that with a self leveling mastic called SikkaFlex available in several colors at HD or Lowes.
justsomeguy
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AG
Thanks for the info! Yea I have to replace the entire light assembly. Can't just replace the bulb. The first problem is really more important because what ends up happening is that the pump just doesn't run eventually. I believe the timer thinks it's only 2 years old when it's really 9
CalAG
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AG
justsomeguy said:

I'm new to the pool world and just bought a home with a (Chlorine)pool in West Houston 10 months ago and the pool is less than 10 years old and has been completely resurfaced prior to them listing so it's in fairly good shape, though I'm finding out that "fairly good shape" by the pool inspector still comes with several faults that would cost upwards of $3,000 to remedy apparently. The "command center" is a Hayward Ecommand 4 using a Swimclear cartridge filter(4 cartridges). The pump is a Hayward dual speed 2.4 HP pump

Problem 1:
I cannot pinpoint when this occurs but within atleast a 15 hour period, the timer seems to be behind the correct time by 10 minutes. Fast forward to a couple days and it's off considerably to where the pump is running in the middle of the night thinking it's 10 am. I've been told the entire main circuit board must be replaced to remedy. I would have thought replacing the timer or the timer circuit board would remedy, logically speaking. Any ideas here?


This is indeed caused by the circuit board as others have posted. I had this problem start last fall, and it continued to get worse and worse, until the clocked essentially stopped working at all and just stayed at 3:32 am. That makes your automated pool system decidedly manual.

Bad news is that the board is indeed $500 to purchase.

Good news is that it is a relatively easy DIY job:

Step 1:

Copy all of your settings from the configuration section of your controller. I have a slightly different controller, but the settings you are looking for are the ones that tell the controller which relay does what, and which pump is hooked in to the system. It isn't hard but it is time consuming. Once I figured out the pattern it was pretty easy to copy down. This should be the menu with items labeled "freeze protection" and indication as to whether there is a count down associated with a given activity (think spa heater). This is not just the timer settings.

Step 2:

Buy the new board. I suggest copying off the information first, because you don't know how long that board is going to last. Mine went for several months in 'manual' mode before I replaced it. But if it had gone out before I copied everything down, I would have been in deep...

Step 3:
Shut off power to the pool controller. My controller box has 4 circuit breakers that are covered by the trim that allows me to access the control board. I didn't want to mess with that box at all until I knew it was completely dead, so I turned it off at the house breaker.

Step 4.

Take lots of pictures that trace every line going to the board. There will be several, many are the same color, but go to different places. I actually labeled them as I went.

Step 5.

Take more pictures.

Step 6.

Take off all the connections to the board and label them

Step 7.

Remove the board and install the new board.

Step 8.

Reattach the wires.

Step 9.

Turn power back on and program according to the information you copied in Step 1.

Step 10.

Enjoy the automated pool experience until the next thing goes wrong...
OnlyForNow
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AG
The light might be easier than you think.

You need to be sure the lens gasket is still good and there is no water in the light casing itself, if so, that may be the cause of the "short."

Could also just be a bad light. I wouldn't think a 10 year old pool would need a new light, as ours is 20 years old, and while the bulb has died, the lens and case are still good. I replaced my bulb with a multi-color LED, and didn't replace the gasket initially, but did after a while as I could see water pooling in the lens.

They typically put some kind of conduit around the cord that runs from the house to the pool though and sometimes that goes bad, so if there is a fault in the cord, it could be anywhere between your house and the pool (that's why labor is $500) and if you have a large concrete deck or patio, it'll be more because that'll have to be demo'd then replaced.

I personally, would buy a new bulb ($100 bucks on Amazon) and see if that solves the problem. You probably don't need anything but a phillips screw driver to unaffix the light housing from the pool and then you can bring it up to the surface and work on it dry on the pool deck.
Ikanizer
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AG
If you know you have to replace the light fixture then you need to buy one with the correct length of power cable attached. I replaced mine about 2 weeks ago and thought it would be hard to pull the old one out but it took about a minute or two. It was 100 ft long. I lowered the water level in my pool to below the top of my chest waders. I disconnected the cable at the switch and it was easy to just pull it out. There was a rubber stopper around the cable in the conduit opening on the top of the light niche but it was not sealing. I attached a parachute cord to the end of the old cable and used that to pull the new cable in through the conduit. Since my conduit was leaking somewhere under the pool deck I sealed the conduit around the cable in the light niche using two part epoxy putty. They sell it at the pool store. I did it all by feel. Pool is now full and not leaking. But I can never replace the light fixture again. I got my wife to help feed the parachute cord and pull in the new cable. She thinks I'm a skilled pool repair man now.
justsomeguy
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AG
You are a skilled pool person now! I wish I could just replace the bulb. That would solve everything but it's not replaceable. I'll buy the light and see about running that wire myself.
OnlyForNow
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AG
In your first post, you said you didn't know what was wrong but suspected a frayed wire.

Did you find out that is the issue?
TexAg1987
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Is the light controlled thru the pool panel ?
May be another symptom of a bad board.

Sounds like it is tripping something if it comes on then turns itself off.
Aggiehunter34
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S
I run my pool 24/7. I lowered the RPM rate on my pump and it consumes the same amount of energy than before. You need to know how many gallons your pool is so that you can determine how many times the water can turn over in that 24 hour period.
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