I've got a pool and am taking ownership of it, rather than having a Pool Guy do it. Yay!
I have a pool shed full of plumbing and equipment, and only a vague grasp of what it is and what to do with it. Any information you can add or processes you can share on how things should be done would be very much appreciated!
Here's a picture of the equipment shed. It has doors, lights, and a roof and isn't just outside. That's nice, isn't it?
(Clicking the picture will take you to Flickr, where you can zoom and get the huge original photo, if you want more detail.)
Here's what I know:
Electrical boxes:
The black box at the topmost is the controller for the solar heating on the roof. It has power and works. It has a couple of thermostats and operates the leftmost of the three valves to turn the solar on and off as appropriate.
There are two grey boxes below and slightly to the right of the solar controller. One is a timer for the Polaris pump, the other the timer for the filtration pump. They're simple electric motor times with triggers on them, and they both work. I know which is which and how to set them.
Below and slightly to the left of the solar controller, in a black box is an older electric timer which I have no idea what does. It's turned off.
Below the two pump timers is another black box, with another timer that I have no idea what it does. It's turned off.
The white box below and slightly to the right of the pump timers is a 110v timer. It controls the outlet below it which has nothing plugged into it. Maybe it was the Christmas lights or something. It doesn't do anything now.
The beige box on the left, at about the level of the bottom of the pump timers is a pair of switches. They look like ordinary light switches behind an outdoor cover. I think they control the pumps; I'm not sure if they're before or after the timer. Hopefully after, so you can force the pumps off and work in safety. I'll find out, that's straightforward.
Plumbing:
The two black pipes that run straight up the wall go to and from the solar heating panels on the roof. I've had the leaks in those repaired and they work; they're in use and we have warmer pool water because of it. Yay!
There are three valves at the end of those pipes. The leftmost one is controlled by the solar controller to open or close the solar. The other two are manual values to shut off the input and output of the solar as needed. Closing both of the manual valves and switching the solar controller to "off" disables the solar heating.
Only barely visible in this picture, behind the rightmost of the solar valves is an ordinary hose valve. I believe this is used to drain and winterize the solar system. There's another like it on the far side of the peak of the roof. Opening both should allow the whole system to drain via gravity. (Or make a huge mess if you don't close the valves, and pour pool water out my roof. Entertaining but stupid.)
The big black dome on the right is probably familiar to several of you; it's a Sta-Rite System 3 cartridge filter. The pressure gauge is on top and does work; the system was off when I took this picture. You can't see it in this picture (look here if you really want to) but the drain from the filter is plumbed.
To the left of the filter are two pumps. The central one is the main filtration pump. It's a old single 3hp motor (information plate, if you want to see) and it's noisy. It works well, though.
The rightmost pump is a booster pump, also old (dated April of 1995) and noisy which runs the Polaris pool cleaner. The cleaner drags around slowly when the main pump runs, but this booster makes it really fly about, occasionally breaking the surface and flinging water about. It's funny.
There's also a couple of what I now know to be Jandy back-fill valves.
Operation:
I know how to set the timers, and how to start and stop the pumps.
I've seen a YouTube video on how to clean the filter. (You can see there's a little moisture; the filter drips a bit.) It doesn't look hard.
Open Questions:
I don't know how to drain the pool if I need to. How is that done?
I don't know how to use the main drain; everything appears to come from the skimmer, and I don't see a valve. How do I use the main drain?
When the main pump runs, there's a tremendous wash of water in the clear cap of the pump basket; it isn't full, but looks like a waterfall. Is that normal?
The filter drips. Is that likely to need a new o-ring, or will a little of the spray silicone sort it out?
What have I missed?
What other maintenance is needed that I haven't figured out?
I have a pool shed full of plumbing and equipment, and only a vague grasp of what it is and what to do with it. Any information you can add or processes you can share on how things should be done would be very much appreciated!
Here's a picture of the equipment shed. It has doors, lights, and a roof and isn't just outside. That's nice, isn't it?
(Clicking the picture will take you to Flickr, where you can zoom and get the huge original photo, if you want more detail.)
Here's what I know:
Electrical boxes:
The black box at the topmost is the controller for the solar heating on the roof. It has power and works. It has a couple of thermostats and operates the leftmost of the three valves to turn the solar on and off as appropriate.
There are two grey boxes below and slightly to the right of the solar controller. One is a timer for the Polaris pump, the other the timer for the filtration pump. They're simple electric motor times with triggers on them, and they both work. I know which is which and how to set them.
Below and slightly to the left of the solar controller, in a black box is an older electric timer which I have no idea what does. It's turned off.
Below the two pump timers is another black box, with another timer that I have no idea what it does. It's turned off.
The white box below and slightly to the right of the pump timers is a 110v timer. It controls the outlet below it which has nothing plugged into it. Maybe it was the Christmas lights or something. It doesn't do anything now.
The beige box on the left, at about the level of the bottom of the pump timers is a pair of switches. They look like ordinary light switches behind an outdoor cover. I think they control the pumps; I'm not sure if they're before or after the timer. Hopefully after, so you can force the pumps off and work in safety. I'll find out, that's straightforward.
Plumbing:
The two black pipes that run straight up the wall go to and from the solar heating panels on the roof. I've had the leaks in those repaired and they work; they're in use and we have warmer pool water because of it. Yay!
There are three valves at the end of those pipes. The leftmost one is controlled by the solar controller to open or close the solar. The other two are manual values to shut off the input and output of the solar as needed. Closing both of the manual valves and switching the solar controller to "off" disables the solar heating.
Only barely visible in this picture, behind the rightmost of the solar valves is an ordinary hose valve. I believe this is used to drain and winterize the solar system. There's another like it on the far side of the peak of the roof. Opening both should allow the whole system to drain via gravity. (Or make a huge mess if you don't close the valves, and pour pool water out my roof. Entertaining but stupid.)
The big black dome on the right is probably familiar to several of you; it's a Sta-Rite System 3 cartridge filter. The pressure gauge is on top and does work; the system was off when I took this picture. You can't see it in this picture (look here if you really want to) but the drain from the filter is plumbed.
To the left of the filter are two pumps. The central one is the main filtration pump. It's a old single 3hp motor (information plate, if you want to see) and it's noisy. It works well, though.
The rightmost pump is a booster pump, also old (dated April of 1995) and noisy which runs the Polaris pool cleaner. The cleaner drags around slowly when the main pump runs, but this booster makes it really fly about, occasionally breaking the surface and flinging water about. It's funny.
There's also a couple of what I now know to be Jandy back-fill valves.
Operation:
I know how to set the timers, and how to start and stop the pumps.
I've seen a YouTube video on how to clean the filter. (You can see there's a little moisture; the filter drips a bit.) It doesn't look hard.
Open Questions:
I don't know how to drain the pool if I need to. How is that done?
I don't know how to use the main drain; everything appears to come from the skimmer, and I don't see a valve. How do I use the main drain?
When the main pump runs, there's a tremendous wash of water in the clear cap of the pump basket; it isn't full, but looks like a waterfall. Is that normal?
The filter drips. Is that likely to need a new o-ring, or will a little of the spray silicone sort it out?
What have I missed?
What other maintenance is needed that I haven't figured out?