After doing quite a bit of reading on here I have a feeling my pump may be overpowered for my pool. My pool is a 10,000g "Antigua" (kidney shape) fiberglass IG pool with one skimmer, one main drain and two returns. It was installed last October and is plumbed with 1.5" flex pipe up to the pump station. It is a very basic setup plumbed with a single ball valve to adjust the flow between the skimmer and main drain. I do not have a water feature, spa or automatic cleaner.
With both returns pointed towards the bottom of the pool they create a noticeable flow at the water surface. If the ball valve is turned to full skimmer air is continuously introduced into the pump chamber. A simple water test over the pump basket cover and all exposed plumbing do not stop the bubbles from entering the pump basket. Since I do not have an automatic pool cleaner, I manually vac the pool by connecting the vac hose directly to the skimmer (no vac plate is used). If I turn the ball valve much at all with the pool vac connected air is continuously introduced into the skimmer basket. I do prime the vac hose by holding it against the return until the air is forced out. Also, if the water levels drops much below the the mark half way up the skimmer the skimmer will begin to pull in air.
I'll try to give as much info as possible about my pool set up:
Equipment
1hp Hayward Super Pump (single speed, 1.1 Service Factor)
Hayward Star-Clear C1200 cartridge filter (120gpm)
Hayward CL200 in-line chlorinator (not used)
Raypak 130,000BTU heater
Piping - again, all piping up to the equipment pad is flex piping
~25ft of 1.5" piping to main drain, 5-6' rise between drain and pump
~25ft of 1.5" piping to skimmer
~40ft of 1.5" piping to return 1
~60ft of 1.5" piping to return 2
Eyeballs in returns appear to be 1.5" in diameter with 7/8" openings
The pool seems to be doing fine other than the air introduction into the pump basket. It only took a day to go from "pea soup" to relatively clear when I opened it in early April. I remember it taking a week or more with my previous pool and the sand filter. The pressure on the filter gauge read 10psi when it was new and had only risen to 11psi when I cleaned it last week after 2 months of operation including clearing up the "pea soup" upon opening. The gauge does go to zero when the pump is turned off.
I'm assuming my pump is over sized?
Will replacing the impeller with a smaller one lessen the flow and improve filtration? Is that possible with my current pump?
Should I get a smaller pump to reduce water flow and increase filtration time...if so what size pump should I get?
Lastly, can anyone give me a "guesstimate" of my pump run time with my current setup? Since it appears to be over sized I would like to run it as little as possible.
Thank you for your help
With both returns pointed towards the bottom of the pool they create a noticeable flow at the water surface. If the ball valve is turned to full skimmer air is continuously introduced into the pump chamber. A simple water test over the pump basket cover and all exposed plumbing do not stop the bubbles from entering the pump basket. Since I do not have an automatic pool cleaner, I manually vac the pool by connecting the vac hose directly to the skimmer (no vac plate is used). If I turn the ball valve much at all with the pool vac connected air is continuously introduced into the skimmer basket. I do prime the vac hose by holding it against the return until the air is forced out. Also, if the water levels drops much below the the mark half way up the skimmer the skimmer will begin to pull in air.
I'll try to give as much info as possible about my pool set up:
Equipment
1hp Hayward Super Pump (single speed, 1.1 Service Factor)
Hayward Star-Clear C1200 cartridge filter (120gpm)
Hayward CL200 in-line chlorinator (not used)
Raypak 130,000BTU heater
Piping - again, all piping up to the equipment pad is flex piping
~25ft of 1.5" piping to main drain, 5-6' rise between drain and pump
~25ft of 1.5" piping to skimmer
~40ft of 1.5" piping to return 1
~60ft of 1.5" piping to return 2
Eyeballs in returns appear to be 1.5" in diameter with 7/8" openings
The pool seems to be doing fine other than the air introduction into the pump basket. It only took a day to go from "pea soup" to relatively clear when I opened it in early April. I remember it taking a week or more with my previous pool and the sand filter. The pressure on the filter gauge read 10psi when it was new and had only risen to 11psi when I cleaned it last week after 2 months of operation including clearing up the "pea soup" upon opening. The gauge does go to zero when the pump is turned off.
I'm assuming my pump is over sized?
Will replacing the impeller with a smaller one lessen the flow and improve filtration? Is that possible with my current pump?
Should I get a smaller pump to reduce water flow and increase filtration time...if so what size pump should I get?
Lastly, can anyone give me a "guesstimate" of my pump run time with my current setup? Since it appears to be over sized I would like to run it as little as possible.
Thank you for your help
:lol: