2.5in above ground/2in underground

[leered]

Hello,

I need to upgrade the pool equipment for a 40k gallon pool with spa (4 pool return lines, farthest return line at ~ 40-50 ft).

Former setup: 1 WhisperFlo 1.5hp , 1 pump (Century) for pool cleaner, 1 pump (Purex) for spa jets, 2 mechanical clocks, filter (DE, broken), missing heater
New equipment: 1 Intelliflo 4x160 (3050), EasyTouch 4 + IC40, Sta-Rite SR400NA Max-E-Therm heater, Hayward C425 filter

A pool guy recommended using 2.5 in PVC pipe ( not carried by Home Depot or Lowes) for plumbing (above ground) , even though underground it's only 2in PVC.

Will this actually help? Any thoughts will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Lee

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

For the above ground plumbing, you won't see any noticeable reduction in head loss.

Scott

 

[JasonLion]

There are some small advantages to using a large pipe size on the equipment pad if you have multiple pipe runs out to the pool in each direction. That gives you a larger pipe size for places where the flow from more than one pipe combines. The advantage is small and PoolGuyNJ is correct that you won't see any noticeable improvement.

 

[Durk]

I presume all the equipment is 2in. inlets and outlets? It can't make much difference. I would be sure to go with the larger outside connecting valves (2" outside/2.5" inside) valves on 2" plumbing rather than the inside ones (2"inside/1.5"outside). The choke point at the valves is more important than the short pad runs, in my view.