Poor man's endless swimjet

[johndoe]

I'm putting together ideas and pieces for my winter projects this year. I will be installing a new liner on my doughboy and I'll be adding extra returns and skimmer. I've been looking at a lot of water treadmill, swim currents etc. but very $$$ for this diy guy.I've found a 2" pvc solvent drain fitting with gaskets similar to a return jet and I'm thinking, what if??
http://www.lowes.com/pd_253153-138-4209 ... Info=Oatey

I could try to install 2-4 on one end, fed by a 2 hp pump with suction lines on the opposite end. If 2 hp wasn't enough I could add another pump.... Am I crazy? See any major draw backs? :idea:

 

[Bama Rambler]

That could work but before I made a bunch of penetrations, I'd hang a 3" header over the side and plumb some 1½" or 2" fittings into it and see if it'll do what you want. You could also run a 3" suction over the side too. That way you could test out several configurations before cutting holes in the walls.

 

[johndoe]

that is a good idea, hate to ruin my new liner right away!

 

[WhoDat?]

Do you have any update on this project?? I have been thinking of the same thing... I have a 3600 gph pond pump and I was thinking of doing something similar... Less invasive, but similar... I figured it would only cost a few dollars if I'd build something that hangs over the side of the pool that would hold the pump and whatever type of jet I can make... I was thinking a 1.5 inch PVC about 3 ft long with a few drilled holes in it to create the flow... But I don't know if I'll have enough flow.... So I came across this post.... Any update?? Suggestions??

 

[kellybrianx]

I've been mentally designing this as well for some time. Would love to hear any updates

 

[WhoDat?]

I have an extra 1hp pentair pump and I tried... I built a contraption using 2" PVC ... I put 3 "t" on it that were 2" by 3/4"... Then I put jet type water hose fittings on it... 2 of the jets were about 1.5' apart and at the surface of the water and 1 was in the middle just under the water... The jets didn't let the pump get prime... So I took them off... The 3/4 inch openings created quite a bit of flow... However it wasn't enough.. I could swim pretty easily against it... The kids had fun with it.... I still have all the parts but haven't tried anything else... I have a higher gph pond pump I may try...

 

[keastman]

I used to have a indoor swim spa and I believe it had a 5 hp multispeed motor for the central jet, so I believe you guys will need to think "bigger" if you want a current that you can swim against and not overpower it.

 

[gtojohn]

Glad to see I'm not the only one considering this.
Still plumbing my pool. Currently I'm running a 1.5 hp pump with just hoses no jets. Unrestricted its doesn't look overpowering. I do have 2 other 1.5 hp pumps. I'm thinking 3 pumps feeding 6 large jets in a 4' wall panel might do the trick. Speed control would be number of motors on/off. My pool should be open in about 2 weeks...once things are back together I'll be able to make a little progress.

 

[jongig]

Yes, think much bigger:

My pool has a swimjet system that consists of three jets/returns and two 5HP pool pumps (Badujet system). It's a huge system and works well. My research showed two types of systems, one like mine with jets and the second was just flowing water. The jet system works by not only moving water but by jetting it out at high pressure. This causes a much larger flow in the pool about three feet from the jets. In fact where I swim is about 8-15 feet from the jets. The second system just flows water at very low pressure but by a huge volume. My system is about 800-1000 GPM and the second system is probably 10 times this. I bought the best I could because I like to swim but even with 10HP I can still outswim the flow if I really try.

The jets are a very odd design (German made) and incorporate the jet in the center of a 6 inch square housing that has about a 1.5 inch jet opening and the return around that. You could never get sucked into the unit with this design. It also incorporates air into the flow which seems to soften the jet of water. The system uses a standard air button to turn on/off at the pools edge.

The downside of this system is the initial cost and the electricity to operate it since it becomes a play toy. The PVC at cost was about $3,000 in my install alone. With so much pipe in the ground it also cools the water when running. The pump pad is about 35 feet from the pool and it's still fairly loud when the pumps are running.

If I had to do it all again I would have just made the pool longer.

My last thought to this is that with all this water I should do more and have another water feature like a boogie board ride. When someone figures this out let me know.

 

[Mosrite123]

Not crazy. The big question is pump capacity. Hard to find out what gpm pump capacity we need.