Hi guys, last summer you all really helped me (new owner) in getting the water balance of my pool straightened out, and I've read lots since then. My water is doing great.
With that bravery under my belt, for some reason, I now believe that I can "fix" some equipment issues with my pool. This may be my first bad assumption. Pool is 3-4 yr old, 18,000 gallons, in ground, plaster with sandstone tile surround, Aquapure SWG, Hayward sand filter. First pool; I've owned the house about 1.5 years and I've never done plumbing things, but I'm fairly mechanically/logically minded.
In the spring I noticed a "rust trail" coming down the backside of my sand filter. Upon inspection, I could see water in the bottom of the pressure gauge that was dripping out. I bought a new gauge at the pool supply store, and replaced it (yea me!). I couldn't replace the "post" that goes down into the filter itself (although the replacement kit came with one) because I just was not sure how to get the filter apart. This was one month ago and there is no more leak from the gauge but I saw some seepage from the nut under the gauge one day, on the post, that went away by turning it a few times. This could play into my later problem, or not.
OK, then thru water testing I saw the chlorine going down and kept bumping the SWG up with no improvement. I decided to remove the cell and clean, which only required one trip to home depot to get a strap wrench. It did need cleaned, no doubt, but that did not fix the low chlorine problem. I scrubbed the sensors too. I tested the AquaPure board, and it did the test reads perfectly, so decided I need to put in a new cell. I have the new cell on order, will get it this week and feel pretty confident replacing it. When I took the cell off, all the water naturally flowed out of everything, but I went thru the start-up steps to get it all back up and running. All this may matter to my final problem, or not.
About a week later, everything working fine, last thing I need to do, the easiest I think!--my Pentair Legend pressure-side vacuum has been getting stuck when it hits anything going forward and the reverse does not work consistently, and it's not making the rounds to clen the pool well. I did all the "routine" things in the manual like re-aim the water outlet, etc. No real help. The wheels had almost 40 rpm on test, kind of fast, and the reverser failed the "3.5 minute" test. It just does not want to reverse, unless it wants to when it wants to then it does. So, this weekend I put on two new front tires, and put on a new reverser. I put the hose back in the pool fitting (easy-connect), and turned everything on, and the pentair booster pump was 50x louder than before, really really loud. I turn all the pumps off and go look in the pool (the equpment is 30 feet away, and I'm doing this alone so it's back and forth, back and forth) and the hose has come out of my wall. So I put the hose back in the wall, go back and turn the pumps on, and LOUD NOISE from the booster. Not a "something is hitting something" noise so much as a "train is coming" noise. Turn it all off, look in the pool, hose has blown off again. So then I leave the hose off, and turn on the pumps, and the booster is lstill oud, and I check the pressure from the hose-connect in the pool and water is coming out fine, and some air. Uh oh. I turn everything off. I then turned on the main pump, had lost my prime, got it primed and running, ran for a while and it's all working fine. No air. Connected the manual vacuum hose to the skimmer outlet and manually vacuumed. Still all works well. That's where I am now. Filter pressure is fine.
But my booster pump is loud, and I don't know what to do. For now, I have disabled the timer and don't use it. I think it's cavitated, but that could be the internet talking. I think I did it because i didn't let the main pump run for a few minutes before I turned the booster on--probably more like 10-20 seconds. There was an air bubble in the main filter basket at the top, and there normally is for a few minutes after the main pump comes on until there isn't. (could this be a slow leak around the top of the sand filter, where I didn't replace the post? or maybe the filter lid.) If the booster is cavitated, how do I know and how do I fix it? There is no valve on the "out" side of the booster, so I can't slowly shut down a valve to build up water. And why did/does it blow the vacuum hose off the wall? Too much pressure, sure, but why? Am I out of my depth (pun intended) and should just call the pool man?
Thanks you for making it though my saga. I really want to learn this equipment, so your help is greatly appreciated.
Sandra
With that bravery under my belt, for some reason, I now believe that I can "fix" some equipment issues with my pool. This may be my first bad assumption. Pool is 3-4 yr old, 18,000 gallons, in ground, plaster with sandstone tile surround, Aquapure SWG, Hayward sand filter. First pool; I've owned the house about 1.5 years and I've never done plumbing things, but I'm fairly mechanically/logically minded.
In the spring I noticed a "rust trail" coming down the backside of my sand filter. Upon inspection, I could see water in the bottom of the pressure gauge that was dripping out. I bought a new gauge at the pool supply store, and replaced it (yea me!). I couldn't replace the "post" that goes down into the filter itself (although the replacement kit came with one) because I just was not sure how to get the filter apart. This was one month ago and there is no more leak from the gauge but I saw some seepage from the nut under the gauge one day, on the post, that went away by turning it a few times. This could play into my later problem, or not.
OK, then thru water testing I saw the chlorine going down and kept bumping the SWG up with no improvement. I decided to remove the cell and clean, which only required one trip to home depot to get a strap wrench. It did need cleaned, no doubt, but that did not fix the low chlorine problem. I scrubbed the sensors too. I tested the AquaPure board, and it did the test reads perfectly, so decided I need to put in a new cell. I have the new cell on order, will get it this week and feel pretty confident replacing it. When I took the cell off, all the water naturally flowed out of everything, but I went thru the start-up steps to get it all back up and running. All this may matter to my final problem, or not.
About a week later, everything working fine, last thing I need to do, the easiest I think!--my Pentair Legend pressure-side vacuum has been getting stuck when it hits anything going forward and the reverse does not work consistently, and it's not making the rounds to clen the pool well. I did all the "routine" things in the manual like re-aim the water outlet, etc. No real help. The wheels had almost 40 rpm on test, kind of fast, and the reverser failed the "3.5 minute" test. It just does not want to reverse, unless it wants to when it wants to then it does. So, this weekend I put on two new front tires, and put on a new reverser. I put the hose back in the pool fitting (easy-connect), and turned everything on, and the pentair booster pump was 50x louder than before, really really loud. I turn all the pumps off and go look in the pool (the equpment is 30 feet away, and I'm doing this alone so it's back and forth, back and forth) and the hose has come out of my wall. So I put the hose back in the wall, go back and turn the pumps on, and LOUD NOISE from the booster. Not a "something is hitting something" noise so much as a "train is coming" noise. Turn it all off, look in the pool, hose has blown off again. So then I leave the hose off, and turn on the pumps, and the booster is lstill oud, and I check the pressure from the hose-connect in the pool and water is coming out fine, and some air. Uh oh. I turn everything off. I then turned on the main pump, had lost my prime, got it primed and running, ran for a while and it's all working fine. No air. Connected the manual vacuum hose to the skimmer outlet and manually vacuumed. Still all works well. That's where I am now. Filter pressure is fine.
But my booster pump is loud, and I don't know what to do. For now, I have disabled the timer and don't use it. I think it's cavitated, but that could be the internet talking. I think I did it because i didn't let the main pump run for a few minutes before I turned the booster on--probably more like 10-20 seconds. There was an air bubble in the main filter basket at the top, and there normally is for a few minutes after the main pump comes on until there isn't. (could this be a slow leak around the top of the sand filter, where I didn't replace the post? or maybe the filter lid.) If the booster is cavitated, how do I know and how do I fix it? There is no valve on the "out" side of the booster, so I can't slowly shut down a valve to build up water. And why did/does it blow the vacuum hose off the wall? Too much pressure, sure, but why? Am I out of my depth (pun intended) and should just call the pool man?
Thanks you for making it though my saga. I really want to learn this equipment, so your help is greatly appreciated.
Sandra