What to Do About a Noisy Pool Pump

A pool pump is a basic pump that constantly cycles water and chemicals to the pool. The chemicals, though safe to humans, can damage the internal components of the pump. They may corrode some of the parts, which can cause water to be misdirected or the pump to work harder to circulate the water, which makes noise. Read on to learn how to silence your noisy pool pump.

Check Seal
Your pool pump should be sitting flat in its location. When it is not flat, the internal mechanisms will cause it to shake and jostle around. If the pump is screwed down, tighten the screws. You can also attempt to use wood wedges or pieces of brick or concrete to keep it still.

Close Lid
The vibration cause by the pool pump could cause the screws holding the lid in place to come loose. A telltale sign of this problem is that water spilling from under the lid. To solve this problem, simply tighten the screws.

Fix Seal
Over time, the chemicals you use to clean the water can damage the rubber seals inside the pool pump. When these seals are corroded, the water does not flow properly, which can cause the pump to be noisy. Turn off the pump and drain the water from it. Open the top of the pump and inspect all of the rubber seals. Look for a discoloration or seals that are rotting or brittle. You can easily replace these pieces with parts from a pool store.

Remove Debris
The pool pump is a powerful piece of equipment that circulates gallons of water every minute. This powerful suction will not only suck up water but will suck up leaves, bugs and gravel. These materials will get caught inside the filter basket and when it overflows this material can wind up in the main housing of the pool pump. Turn the pump off and remove the lid. Drain the water and dump the filter basket. Turn the whole unit over and make sure any other debris is left behind falls out.

Add Cover
Naturally noisy pool pumps can be silenced by adding a cover around the canister to insulate the noise. You can also make your own pool pump cover for little money. Measure the circumference of the pool pump and cut out a piece of 1-inch thick foam to meet the height and length of the pool pump. Attach Velcro to each end of the foam. Cover the foam with duct tape. Wrap the cover around the pool pump.

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Isolation Test- Leak Detection

So you have arrived at the conclusion that your pool is leaking or losing water and you need to now begin the process of elimination commonly used to diagnose leaks in swimming pools. The point of the isolation test is to separate the pool environment into multiple sections, specifically the plumbing / filtration system and the pool structure itself.

Depending on how much your pool is leaking, when it loses the most water, and water factors affect the rate of water loss you should be able to take a step closer to fixing the leak in your pool. The isolation test will help you to separate the plumbing system from the rest of the pool to point you in the right direction with the next pool leak test.

Pool Plumbing Leaks

The basic concept of the isolation test is to run the pool for periods of time under different conditions to determine if this changes the rate of water loss. Use a pencil to mark the exact water level on the faceplate for the skimmer and then wait 24, 48, or 72 hours depending on how fast your pool is losing water. During this test the filter is running as per normal and there is no cover on the pool. After you have recorded the water loss for a specific period of time you then repeat the test by refilling the pool and marking the water level again. This time you will have the pool covered and see how much that changes the rate of water loss. Finally you repeat this process a third time but this time you turn the pump and filtration system off completely. The results from performing this simple test will tell you definitively what part of your pool is leaking.

Leak Test Results

If the pool leaks at the same rate regardless of what conditions you place it under then it is very likely the plumbing system is not to blame. In this case the pool shell itself may be leaking which means you should inspect all lights, stairs, gaskets, returns and skimmers closely for damage or signs of leaks. The main drain hydrostatic relief valve or equalizer line running to the skimmer could also be the problem. Specifically likely is a structural leak such as a crack in a concrete pool or a hole in a vinyl liner pool. You can try the water level test to further diagnose the origin of the water loss from the pool structure. If the pool leaks more with the plumbing system running this is a clear indication that there is a leak in the filtration system. The plumbing system runs at upwards of 20psi to 30psi in some cases and this can accelerate the rate of water loss if the leak is located in the return lines to the pool. Leaking return lines is the most common cause of pool plumbing system leaks. Do not discount the possibility of the water escaping from the pump or filter so be sure to check all possibilities. To help you confirm leaking plumbing lines you will need to perform a pool pressure test. If the pool leaks more when the plumbing system is shut off this could likely indicate a leak in the suction side of the plumbing system such as the skimmer line or main drain suction lines. Of specific concern would be the skimmer itself as a crack in the skimmer body or in the threaded connection where the pipe connects to the underside of the skimmer could manifest a leak with these characteristics. A water level test, dye test and pressure test of the plumbing system may all be required in order to determine definitively where the leak is coming from in this circumstance.

Pool Water Chemistry

The first step in learning how to properly balance your swimming pool chemicals is learning what the value of each of these chemicals should be. If you understand what chemicals you need to test for, and what the values of those chemicals should be, then the only remaining step is to learn how to properly test the water. Collectively this will give you complete control and understanding of how to balance your swimming pool.

Pool Sanitizer Levels

The most important chemical in your swimming pool is the sanitizer. Sanitizer, most commonly chlorine, is what keeps bacteria from growing to harmful or even dangerous levels in your swimming pool water. A lack of chlorine in the water will allow bacteria to grow unrestricted which poses a significant hazard to bathers. (3-5ppm) Chlorine is measured in parts per million abbreviated to PPM in swimming pool water. The ideal range for chlorine in your swimming pool is anywhere between 3 to 5 ppm of free and active chlorine.

Minimum Pool Chlorine Levels

In theory as little as one part per million of chlorine is enough in your water to keep the water safe and clean. At one part per million of free chlorine in the water all bacteria is dead within 60 seconds. The disadvantage with having one part per million of chlorine is the reserve. Chlorine reserve is the amount of chlorine in the pool currently available to kill bacteria.

If you have only one ppm of free chlorine in the pool then the chlorine reserve is very small. Even a moderate size bather load or increase in debris or bacteria in the water could overcome the amount of chlorine in the pool. This would leave a chlorine deficit which would allow bacteria to grow unrestricted. It is unacceptable for a swimming pool to go for any period of time without a minimum of one part per million of chlorine in the water.

Free Chlorine vs Total Chlorine

There are actually three types of chlorine in your swimming pool. Free chlorine, total chlorine, and combined chlorine . Free chlorine is the most important chemical in terms of what you need to be aware of in your swimming pool. This refers to the amount of chlorine currently available to kill bacteria in the water. Combine chlorine refers to chlorine that has already combined with organic material or bacteria in the water. Total chlorine is the amount of free chlorine and combined chlorine put together.

Cyanuric Acid Pool Stabalizer

Cyanuric acid stabalizer is required in swimming pools in order to maintain chlorine levels in the water. Direct sunlight would otherwise deteriorate free chlorine levels at an advanced rate and cyanuric acid at approximately 50ppm can prevent (reduce) this. Consider stabalizer to be like suncreen for your chlorine. In levels too high the stabalizer can prevent the chlorine from being active so do not let your CYA (cyanuric acid) level climb higher than 80ppm and be sure to have your stabalizer levels checked every time that you bring your water into a water lab.

What Is Super Chlorination

There is an occasion where you want your swimming pool chlorine levels to be much higher than 3 to 5 ppm. This is called super chlorination. Super chlorination is something that needs to happen periodically in swimming pool water to kill cryptosporidium bacteria. Where all other bacteria in your pool water will die within 60 seconds at one part per million of chlorine Cryptosporidium has a hard outer layer that requires a much greater concentration of chlorine. It is possible to kill Cryptosporidium with lower about levels of chlorine however the amount of time this takes is far too great. In order to kill Cryptosporidium at a reasonable rate in swimming pool water you need to increase the free chlorine level to 10 to 15 ppm for a full 12 hour period. Super chlorination is something that you should do weekly in commercial environments or less often such as biweekly or perhaps monthly and low turnover residential pools. The pH of swimming pool water is where most operators get confused and make mistakes. Learn from the experts how to test and control swimming pool pH

Swimming Pool pH
Swimming pool pH is the measurement of the relationship between acids and bases in the water. The pH scale goes from 0 to 14 with the range of seven being approximately neutral zero would be acidic and 14 would be basic. The exact neutral measurement for pool water is the value of 7.4 which is the approximate pH of the human eye. The closer that you can match your swimming pool water to your own body chemistry pH the more comfortable you will be in the water.

Swimming Pool pH Range

The range of pH that you want to achieve in your swimming pool is between the values of 7.2 and 7.8. If you can manage to keep your pH inside of this range then you have accomplished one of the more difficult tasks in balancing your swimming pool water. Failure to keep your water inside of these ranges can result in cloudy water, poor swimming conditions and even early failure of integral swimming pool components such as your pump and heater.

Acidic Pool Water

If the pH in your pool is lower than the value of 7.2 then this is known as an acidic state. The pool water is more acidic than neutral and you would want to rectify this problem immediately. Prolonged periods of time where your pool water is in this acidic state is the most likely cause for early failure to your pool components such as your heater. A swimming pool natural gas or propane heater can cost upwards of $3000 to $5000 and can easily fail inside of a single-season due to prolonged periods of time where the pool water is in an acidic state. The lower that your pool water drops below 7.2 pH, the more aggressive the acidic state. Any pool water with a pH below 7.0 will begin to feel uncomfortable and have the drying effect on the skin. You may also notice a faster reaction of red eyes when swimming in acidic pool water.

Basic Pool Water

Pool water with a pH value in excess of 7.8 is said to be in a scaling state. This scaling state is a result of the water being too basic, or too alkaline, and must be adjusted back into the idea pH range in order to limit potential damage to pool components and maintain a proper pool water balance. While an acidic pool water state is very bad, an alkaline state is not much better. This will also result in cloudy water conditions and mild irritation to the skin of sensitive bathers. While it may not cause heat exchanger failure on your new heater in a single season, it may accomplish the same in two or three seasons if left unchecked. This is a growing problem due to the increase in salt water pools which have the propensity to push pH levels very high. Traditional chlorine treatment is more likely to gradually push pH levels lower while the new trend of salt water sees a very sharp increase in pH levels.

Adjusting Pool pH Levels

Adjusting pH in your pool water requires adding acids and bases as needed. If the water is too acidic then you need to add some bases to the water and if the water is too basic or too alkaline, then you will need to add something acidic to the water to balance it. On its own swimming pool pH would fluctuate constantly. This would result in a very difficult process of maintaining balanced pool water, so a new concept is introduced. The concept of a buffer that helps the pH to resist changes in the water is extremely helpful in maintaining balanced pool water. This buffer is known as total alkalinity. Before you can adjust the pH in your pool water you need to understand how to buffer the pH with the total alkalinity

Pool Water Alkalinity

Total alkalinity is the measurement of alkaline materials in the pool water. The function of total alkalinity in the water is to act as a buffering agent to help prevent fluctuations in the pH. Without total alkalinity it would be almost impossible to keep the pH of the water anywhere near the ideal ranges.

Total Alkalinity Levels

The range of value for your total alkalinity will change depending on who you ask. Chemical providers and swimming pool professionals alike will differ in the total alkalinity levels however the correct alkalinity level for your swimming pool should be between 100 to 150 ppm. The exact ideal level of total alkalinity is 125 ppm. You may find however that pushing your alkalinity up to 150 ppm will be helpful in order to control pH fluctuations. The higher that you push your total alkalinity levels the less likely your pH will be to fluctuate.

Relationship Between pH & Alkalinity

There is a direct relationship between pH and total alkalinity. You may have already realized this since basic water is also referred to as alkaline water, and we are also measuring the total alkalinity of the water. This relationship between total alkalinity and pH levels are the single main source of confusion when it comes to learning how to properly manage and maintain swimming pool water chemistry levels. If you can learn to manage and balance both your total alkalinity and your pH you have certainly mastered the most difficult part of the swimming pool water care.

How Does Alkalinity Buffer pH?

While the relationship between pH and total alkalinity is very complicated it can be simplified somewhat. If you can achieve a neutral balance, as in pH between the ranges of 7.2 to 7.8, in water that has the large volume of both alkaline materials and acidic materials that water will be resistant to pH fluctuations. In this circumstance adding a small amount of acidic or alkaline material to the water would represent only a small fraction of the total amount of acidic or alkaline materials already in the water thereby resulting and very little overall change to these values. Having a total alkalinity level in the range of 100 to 150 ppm will allow you to introduce acids or bases to the water such as chemicals or bathers with out or minimally impacting the pH and total alkalinity readings. You can now either choose to learn about the order for correcting pool chemicals or continue with the pool values and definitions and go to the section on calcium hardness

How To Add Pool Chemicals

Easily the biggest mistake that people new to swimming pool water care make is the order that they add the chemicals to the water. Not only can it be a waste of time to add the chemicals in the wrong order, it can be a huge waste of money. Maintaining swimming pool water is expensive enough but adding the chemicals in the wrong order can completely waste that entire batch of chemicals. If you add in the wrong order it is possible that you will end up right back where you started and need to repeat the process again in its entirety. This as most pool owners already know is a costly enterprise.

Pool Chemical Order

When adjusting swimming pool chemicals you must always follow the alphabet. Alkalinity is the first chemical to correct followed by either your bromine or chlorine, and then the pH. Being that calcium hardness is rarely corrected in swimming pool water it is omitted from this equation, but in theory following the ABCs you can never go wrong.

How Much Time Between Chemical Doses

When adjusting your swimming pool chemicals you should leave a minimum of 12 hours between different chemicals. Though it is possible for some chemicals to be added and not interact with each other to err on the side of caution it is a good idea to leave a 12 hour spacer. This 12 hour period gives ample time for the chemicals you have added to diffuse completely into the pool volume. PH and alkalinity readings may take up to 24 hours before accurate tests will be delivered. For this reason it is very important to be patient with adjusting your pool chemicals. Over adjusting, or overcompensating is a very common problem that people experience with swimming pool water care.

How Much Chemical To Add At Once?

When making your chemical adjustments use approximately half of the total chemicals that you believe that you will need and wait an appropriate period of time, either 12 or 24 hours and then retest the water. By always incrementally adjusting your chemicals you will avoid overcompensating and reduce the amount of money that you are spending on your pool chemicals.

Get Your Water Professionally Tested

Another major mistake that people new to swimming pool water care will make is to guess at the chemical about the pool requires. There is an exact right chemical for each water condition. If you do not know what the water needs and just decide to wing it and put in some chemicals, the chances of you getting it right are extremely small. It is strongly recommended especially during the learning period to have your water professionally tested at a swimming pool and hot tub water lab facility. If you have not balanced your pool chemicals the most likely problem to encounter is Pool Algae

How To Add Pool Chemicals

Easily the biggest mistake that people new to swimming pool water care make is the order that they add the chemicals to the water. Not only can it be a waste of time to add the chemicals in the wrong order, it can be a huge waste of money. Maintaining swimming pool water is expensive enough but adding the chemicals in the wrong order can completely waste that entire batch of chemicals. If you add in the wrong order it is possible that you will end up right back where you started and need to repeat the process again in its entirety. This as most pool owners already know is a costly enterprise.

Pool Chemical Order

When adjusting swimming pool chemicals you must always follow the alphabet. Alkalinity is the first chemical to correct followed by either your bromine or chlorine, and then the pH. Being that calcium hardness is rarely corrected in swimming pool water it is omitted from this equation, but in theory following the ABCs you can never go wrong.

How Much Time Between Chemical Doses

When adjusting your swimming pool chemicals you should leave a minimum of 12 hours between different chemicals. Though it is possible for some chemicals to be added and not interact with each other to err on the side of caution it is a good idea to leave a 12 hour spacer. This 12 hour period gives ample time for the chemicals you have added to diffuse completely into the pool volume. PH and alkalinity readings may take up to 24 hours before accurate tests will be delivered. For this reason it is very important to be patient with adjusting your pool chemicals. Over adjusting, or overcompensating is a very common problem that people experience with swimming pool water care.

How Much Chemical To Add At Once?

When making your chemical adjustments use approximately half of the total chemicals that you believe that you will need and wait an appropriate period of time, either 12 or 24 hours and then retest the water. By always incrementally adjusting your chemicals you will avoid overcompensating and reduce the amount of money that you are spending on your pool chemicals.

Get Your Water Professionally Tested

Another major mistake that people new to swimming pool water care will make is to guess at the chemical about the pool requires. There is an exact right chemical for each water condition. If you do not know what the water needs and just decide to wing it and put in some chemicals, the chances of you getting it right are extremely small. It is strongly recommended especially during the learning period to have your water professionally tested at a swimming pool and hot tub water lab facility. If you have not balanced your pool chemicals the most likely problem to encounter is Pool Algae

Swimming Pool Algae

Algae is a non-flowering plant that grows in water where no sanitizer is present. The growth of organic material in swimming pool water is intended to be prevented by sanitizer such as bromine or chlorine. In a situation where pool water does not have a measurable sanitizer content algae will likely form.

What Causes Pool Algae?

If you have algae in your pool and you can't figure out why, it is almost certainly to be a result of a lack of sanitizer in the water. The first thing you should do is check and closely monitor your free chlorine levels. It is possible to be under the impression that you have chlorine in the pool when in fact there is no chlorine currently active. A good example of this is free chlorine and total chlorine levels. Many home pool test kits have both free chlorine and

total chlorine test areas. If you mistakenly look at total chlorine instead of free chlorine you may believe that you have sanitizer in the pool when in fact algae is growing unrestricted in a sanitizer free environment.

Copper Can Cause Chlorine Lock

Another example of this is swimming pools which have high levels of copper in the water. Elevated copper levels can be a result of a couple of different things. One of the most common reasons for elevated copper levels in pool water is a crack in the heat exchanger of a gas heater. This would allow copper from the heat exchanger to leach into the water. Another example of this is a pool that has received high doses of algaecide. Many commercial algaecides' are copper concentrations. Copper in high doses can render chlorine in active. If a high level of copper is in the water then even though there is chlorine present it is not able to kill bacteria. In this example algae would grow despite having chlorine levels.

Getting Professional Water Analysis

If you have algae in your swimming pool it is strongly advised to bring your water to a professional swimming pool water test analysis lab. They can analyze normal as well as a number of additional factors in your water to determine exactly what the nature of the problem is and more importantly how to correct it efficiently. Not all water labs are created equal so it is important to specifically request a full water analysis including phosphate levels, iron, copper, manganese, borate as well as the TDS or total dissolved solid levels.

Different Types Of Pool Algae

There are a number of different types of algae that can grow in a swimming pool. Most of these start in a chlorine free environment and can be resolved by increasing and maintaining chlorine levels. Green Algae is by far the most common type of swimming pool algae. Green algae can be removed by using sustained chlorine levels or a does of algaecide product. The critical step in this process is to be sure to sweep the entire pool area, floor and walls, to break open the algae prior to treating. Yellow Algae is a very stubborn form of algae sometimes called brown algae as it can manifest in yellow to brown colors. This is a chlorine resistant form of algae that forms during very sunny periods. It is often mistaken for filter sand and can be determined by feeling it. Filter sand is very coarse and gritty where yellow algae is slimy. It is important to physically remove this algae from the pool before trying to treat it chemically with a sustained sanitizer level. Black Algae is a form of algae found almost exclusively in concrete and plaster swimming pools. It grows mostly in shaded areas of the pool and will first be visible in crack, corners and crevices. Black algae also has a skin type layer that must be mechanically disturbed to allow chemicals in the water to reach the algae. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the order of adjusting pool chemicals section