Brother's New Pool

[jspeacock1978]

My brother and his wife just bought a house with a pool. Since I own a 7000 gallon above ground salt pool, I'm supposedly the "expert" on pools and I've been asked to fix his pool. Oh the joy of it all.

I need to take my TFT kit over this weekend and get a good read on what the chemicals look like. I have a feeling the're very wrong. I was able to get the pump working and water seems to filter correctly. The pool sweep is a different story. Since I have a small AGP I hook Wanda-the-whale up to my wall suction and walk away. When I come back, I have a sparkly pool. I've gotten to the point where I understand that the second pump is a booster pump for his old pool sweep (Polaris 230?). The pump is a PB4 with a manufacturer date of 8/2000. The pool sweep won't run, but when I disconnect it from the wall, I feel water under one condition, when the main pump is on and the valve to the booster pump is shut. Yeah, I know odd. If I open the valve between the OUTPUT of the filter and the booster pump, water stops flowing to the wall outlet for the sweep. If I turn on the booster pump, water pressure is still non-existant. If I turn on ONLY the booster pump, still no pressure. Whats REALLY odd to me is that I think this should be the SUPPLY side, but when I had the booster pump on, I closed the valve and the pump started leaking water, but stopped when I opened the valve again. I'm really sure its the supply side becuase it connects to the middle of the pump not the top.

Is it possible to wire an 110 A/C pump so it runs backwards?

I know this is a terrible picture, but it was getting dark. I'll try to post better ones when I go over on Sunday. (The red handled gate valve that connects to what looks like a white garden hose does indeed connect to the center of the pump. The other connection at the top of the booster pump disappears into the ground and I assume its what leads to the pool sweep connection ... but with the lack of pressure to prove it, who knows ...

I'd appreciate some sanity checking on this one ...


Thanks!

--Jonathan

 

[Texas Splash]

I've read and re-read your explanation many times, and I'm also confused. What about this ... is there any chance the valve itself is actually operating backwards? By that I mean just when you think you are opening the valve like most items counterclockwise, that it is actually closing it? As for the pump itself, some items can be wired to run backwards based on motor/wiring configurations, but I'm not experienced with this pump and its design. Unless someone did some recent work on it, that would seem odd too. Maybe someone else will know about that scenario specifically.

 

[gtemkin]

Can you add a picture that shows the hoses/piping for the booster pump? It would be helpful to be able to see their full run, but they're partially blocked in the photo. Thx

 

[gtemkin]

I don't own a pressure side cleaner but the Polaris 280 manual shows it uses a quick disconnect pressure regulator. It looks like that regulator plugs into a dedicated wall socket. That wall socket has a flow restrictor in it. Is it possible that when the hose is disconnected, the restrictor acts as a check valve, shutting off all flow?

To test, you should disconnect the pressure hose at the Polaris's body. If you have flow there, then a dead Polaris would explain all your symptoms.