Suspended particles in the pool water

[corymunson]

I have a question about tiny suspended particles in the pool water. My pool looks crystal clear. I am keeping my chlorine around 8.5ppm and when the CC is around 0.5 I shock the pool. The pool seems to like a pH at around 7.2-7.4. Alk 40 and Polyquat 60 6oz about every 4 weeks.

When I’m in the pool with a dive mask on I can see small particles suspended in the water. They seem to be at level below the skimmer to the bottom. Is this because the pool is AG pool with a bottom drain to pull in water to filter? To me this seems the most plausible reason that this stuff is not going through the filter.

I have been toying with an idea of making an intake that will pull in water from near the bottom. Are there any homemade designs out there? Are there any good commercial products out there that will adapt into the skimmer or am I stuck with getting an automatic pool cleaner? I do plan on putting in a bottom drain when the liner is changed in a few years if we keep the AG pool. My wife really wants an in ground pool but we have space, septic system distance issues (ours and our neighbors) and Property Tax issues.

[Leehicks79]

Not an expert, but could be because the pump and filter are mismatched. I have about the same size pool and they have said on here that I could go down to a 1/2 or 3/4 HP pump. The explanation being all those suspended particles are getting shot through the filter at such a high rate of speed that there's no time to filter it out.

[corymunson]

Can I just use a lower HP motor or do I have to buy a whole new pump?

[PoolDoc]

Installing a lower HP motor would simply cause a motor burn-out; motor load on pool pumps is determined mostly by the impeller . . . and not at all by the motor.

If you have a 1 HP impeller, you can use a 1 HP motor, OR a 2 HP motor. The 1 HP motor might be slightly more efficient, but the 2 HP motor would work just fine. Do it the other way, matching a 2 HP impeller with a 1 HP motor would simply result in burning the motor up, as the 'small' motor tried to turn the 'big' impeller.

You *may* be able to downsize your pump, by installing a downsized impeller, plus a new seal. It depends on the exact model of your pump.