Pipe connection

[muyushi]

Hi guys. I'm new here. I just bought a house with a pool. I used to live in Ohio and I have no idea about pools. I did some search online and try to maintain it by myself. I turned the pump off and noticed the spa drained water into pool or somewhere else. Could you please help me take it look at the pictures? I don't know what those valves for and whether they are in the correct position. I appreciate your help.

 

[ozdiver]

Welcome to TFP and pool ownership.
You have made an important 1st step, realizing you need help and finding it.
We'll try to set you on a good path.

Ok, need some info.
This pool has an attached Spa and has one skimmer. Correct?
The 1st photo is the input to the pump.
Seems to indicate the left pipe will be the Spa Drain, the far right will be the Pool Drain the one between with the valve without a handle will be the skimmer.
Presently it is set to draw water from Pool (not the Spa) without a handle I cannot tell if the skimmer valve is open.

Now for the return side.
The black valve up top is to control flow either to the Spa jets on the left or Pool (far right) and Spa (mid right with valve without handle).
The is also an interesting crossover pipe with ball valve (red valve) between the 2 Spa returns, this would be so all return jets could be used when in Spa mode. The crossover appears to be open.

There is a capped pipe on the far right that may be for a Spa blower that was either never installed or was removed. That is what gives you the bubbles.
Some of these old pools did not have blowers and merely had siphon jets that rely on the water flow to drag air into the stream.

So right now is is in a state that it could circulate the pool and spa for filtration.
It could heat the pool.
But to run the Spa you will need a pipe wrench, new valve handles or ideally new valves.
The red crossover valve will have to be replaced to be functional as the handles cannot be replaced on these.

Oh, and the Spa draining is due to the lack of non return valves on the Spa return. It is merely the water level equalizing back to the pool.

 

[muyushi]

Thanks a lot! You really helped me a lot! From what I understood, I labeled the picture, I don't know if it's correct. This is the first time I'm trying to maintain the pool. It's all green now. It seems like the valve connects to the pump is in the right position. I tried many times this morning. At first it drain the spa out. Right now the spa jets, spa drain, skimmer, pool jets are working properly. The only problem is the spa drains water out when I turn the pump out. I thought it was a bad valve. Is there anyway I can either install a non return valve or replace a bad valve by myself? I don't know why all the handles are gone. I was expecting there are some labels on those pipes.

 

[ozdiver]

You labelled correctly.
You could install a non-return valve and it would be placed below the crossover pipe on the Spa return.
Because of the pipes either side of it you may need to cut not only that pipe, but the Pool return too.
That way you could flex the pipes up enough to fit the valve.
You would then just use a union to rejoin the pool return.

What sort of filter is it? A cartridge. Doesn't look like a DE or sand filter as there is no backwash valve.
That being the case you will want to clean it since you don't know when it was last done.

To do this you turn off pump.
Release pressure in filter usually by a relief valve @ the vacuum pressure gauge on top of filter.
Remove the white filter drain plug and let it run out.
Next you remove the waist band around filter.
The top half should now lift off.
Inside will be probably one big pleated filter cartridge, or sometimes multiple thin ones.
There will be couple of nuts to remove the top manifold then they will lift right out.
Hose out the filter housing.
Depending on the state of the cartridge(s) you can at least hose them off thoroughly.
Inspect them for damage/holes.
To properly clean cartridge of all the suntan oils etc that collects on them use either one cup trisodium phosphate (TSP) to five gallons water; or (3) one cup dishwasher detergent to five gallons of water to soak the cartridge in overnight.
Rinse well.
If there is a buildup of calcium, iron or algae a bath in 1:20 diluted Muriatic Acid may be required.
For both of these you need a plastic garbage can big enough to at least half submerge the cartridge.
Soak overnight inverting half way thru to get entire filter.
Hose off and reassemble.

Run the pump and once it is re-primed and running record the pressure.
This is the 'clean' pressure of your system.
Follow this instruction to decide when to clean filter next...
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/140-routine-pump-filter-maintenance

 

[muyushi]

It is cartridge. I called a pool guy and he told me the filter was too old and it would cost 400 bucks to get a new one. I found one online and only cost me 220 bucks.

 

[muyushi]

BTW, is there anyway I can turn the main drain and spa drain off, only use vacuum? I used some "sink and sweep" and I'd like to vacuum the pool.

 

[ozdiver]

Good work on the filter!
I would suggest doing all your vacuuming and pool cleanup, (SLAM) prior to replacing filter cartridge.

If that valve over the Skimmer line is a 3 way and not just a shutoff for the skimmer line, yes.
I would imagine that valve is in a state of allowing partial pool drain and partial skimmer water thru.
If you can turn it to shut of pool drain entirely then you get skimmer only.
The valve that controller spa drain is already closed in favor of pool inputs.

 

[muyushi]

I'll find a handle first and try to turn it off. You are the best!!!!!

 

[muyushi]

I got a new 3 way valve today. After I installed it I noticed the one with a valve without a handle was not skimmer. The far right one is skimmer. it's weird. So I turned off the skimmer and tried to use the main drain, but it wasn't working at all. It was just sucking air. I don't know if there's a leak or what since I can't dive into the pool and take a close look.

 

[ozdiver]

Did you get a valve or valve handle?
It was a bit better than a 50/50 guess on those two.
The bigger pipe tended me towards that being drain.

With that knowledge, did you find that this valve was set to skimmer only?
So when you turn valve to 'real' drain it loses it's prime by drawing air.
How long did you run it that way prior to switching off? I could take a couple of minutes to re-prime if it has been shutoff for the foreseeable past.
Is their any air leak around valve itself?

This is not catastrophic, many people choose not to have a main drain at all.
So if that pipe is leaking somewhere you can't get at, then retire it.
The Skimmer is much more important in the grant scheme of things.
For the rare instance that you want to drain your pool below skimmer level (water replacement to remove hardness or CYA) then use a drop in pump.