We have an L-shaped vinyl inground pool with attached spa, which is about 15 years old. It therefore has two separate pumps -- a main pump and one just for the spa. It also has a Laars gas heater, and a Jandy Ray-Vac in-side automatic vac which runs as part of the same system as the regular filtration. We have a CompuPool SWCG system which is connected to our filter timer and only runs when the filtration system is on.

On Wednesday, August 28, my kids and I used the pool with the heater on. The heater automatically shuts off when the filtration system shuts off. I forgot to turn off the heater switch on Wednesday, so I presume the heater was on while the pool was on from 10am to 6pm on Thursday. Friday morning at around 11am I noticed the pool was not running. The first thing I did when I looked at the equipment was put the heater switch to the off position. Then I looked at the timer, which is a traditional dial with movable time selectors. I noticed that the clock dial was still on about 6pm, when the pool should have shut off the night before -- except the on/off switch was still in the on position. This indicates that the power cut off BEFORE the pool shut off, or as it was about to do so. So, I went over to the circuit board inside my house and saw that the double switch that controls the pool had flipped. So, I went outside, reset the clock and turned the timer switch to off, went back inside to flip the circuit switch back on, and then back outside to turn on the pool. It did indeed power on, and everything seemed fine.

This morning, Saturday, I looked out my window at around 11:30am and noticed that once again the pool was not running. I went outside and saw the clock had stopped only a little while before, and the switch was in the on position. Went back inside to check the circuit board, and saw that the switches had again flipped. I made a mental note at that time that I remembered that right around the time the clock had stopped on the pool timer that I had been inside on the computer, and noticed that our APC (battery back-up box) had been clicking on and off. I went to flip the switch back, and this time noticed that I needed to click it all the way off first, and then when I went to click it back on, some odd sounds came from behind the circuit box. They didn't sound like sizzling or anything -- almost more like knocking. Nonetheless, the switch clicked on -- but when I went outside to turn on the pool equipment, NOTHING.

Went back to the board and also happened to notice that the separate switch which controls the pool lights was also flipped off, and when I flipped it back on and went outside to turn on the lights to test them, they did not go on. Also, there is a surge-protected outlet on the same circuit as the pool light, and when I pressed the "test" button it clicked out, but when I went to press the "reset" button back in, it will not click back in.

So! Any ideas, anyone -- before my pool stagnates and turns green?