Auto-fill

[tcat]

New house, new pool. I have an "auto-fill" feature for when level goes down. I just drained 50% of my pool (5K Gallons) to get CYA down. I noticed that once I started refilling, water "poured" into the pool from a side nozzle (as fast as a hose). When I got up this AM I still had 8" to go, but nothing coming out of that opening. Under a cover there is a toilet-like shut-off spewing a small stream of water. Does this sort of "feature" have 2 flow rates? One "full speed" to a certain level, and one to "maintain"?

Question #2: How do you keep Polaris hose from getting tangled? About every other day the "snake" gets caught in a wheel, and everyday the hose gets so tangled it restricts its travel. Is this just one of those daily tasks?

Got 8" of fill to go... hopefully my CYA will be cut in half. I'll check it later today, but I assume if my FC was "right" for my high CYA level (100), my FC level should still be right? What normally gets "off" on a 50% refill?

 

[JasonLion]

Autofill valves are either on or off, though if the pool is close to the autofill level they can turn on and off quickly as waves move the float up and down, giving an intermediate rate. Probably your water pressure varies, and is lower in the morning.

There are small adjustments you can make that will prevent the hose from getting tangles. Unfortunately I am not a Polaris expert, so I can't tell you how to do that, but I do know there are ways to take care of it.

Just about every level can change after a drain and refill, though not all of them always do. Test everything once the pool is full and the pump has been running for at least an hour to mix everything together.

 

[march2012]

New house, new pool. I have an "auto-fill" feature for when level goes down. I just drained 50% of my pool (5K Gallons) to get CYA down. I noticed that once I started refilling, water "poured" into the pool from a side nozzle (as fast as a hose). When I got up this AM I still had 8" to go, but nothing coming out of that opening. Under a cover there is a toilet-like shut-off spewing a small stream of water. Does this sort of "feature" have 2 flow rates? One "full speed" to a certain level, and one to "maintain"?

Question #2: How do you keep Polaris hose from getting tangled? About every other day the "snake" gets caught in a wheel, and everyday the hose gets so tangled it restricts its travel. Is this just one of those daily tasks?

Got 8" of fill to go... hopefully my CYA will be cut in half. I'll check it later today, but I assume if my FC was "right" for my high CYA level (100), my FC level should still be right? What normally gets "off" on a 50% refill?

polaris tubing shouldnt get caught on the wheels. There are instructions you can find online. I dont really know how to solve the problem since mine never got tangled. But in the instructions, the floats on the tube closest to the polaris should be closer together. That should help the tube stay a little higher. Also the tube shouldnt be longer than the furthest point in the pool.

 

[tcat]

I'll check out the Polaris manual and make sure all is "to spec". Is there supposed to be a "cut" in the hose? About halfway there is a hole from what looks like someone intentionally cut with an exacto knife. At first I thought it was a "jet" to propel the hose... but now I'm not so sure. When it goes to the surface, it spews a fountain about 10'.

Will be running chem test tonight. FYI, it took 2 hours to empty 5000 gallons, and 15 hours to refill.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Sounds like you need a new hose; there shouldn't be any cuts in it.

 

[tcat]

OK, tested after 50% refill.

Last week:
pH = 7.5
FC = 11.5
CC = .5
TA = 150
CH = 500
CYA = 90

Today:
pH = 7.5
FC = 5.5
CC = .5
TA = 150
CH = 340
CYA = 65

I'm still paying the pool guy who comes Wednesday. Should I add some bleach today, add enough to shock to24? I still have a couple tabs in the auto-chlorinator.

edit: Thanks for steering me to the Polaris manual... mine was about 6' too long, and floats were all in the wrong place. I was able to remove 6' (including the leak), so all should be much better.

 

[tcat]

Bought 3 new "swivels" and now no more tangles! They were leaking and hard to turn when cleaner was running, now no problems!

Still stumped on the auto-fill feature. I keep playing with the level on the toilet gadget thinking the level should end up lower, but every morning level is 1" above where I want it (center of tile). If I turn the faucet connection off, level stays put. But level doesn't go above where it stops, so probably no leak at the valve. Inside the bowl at the pool where the toilet valve is, there's a small outlet (or inlet?), and level always seems to stop at the center of this pipe. I would guess it's overfill protection, but after a rain, level doesn't seem to go down (never noticed it, but I do drain the pool soon after a rain). Looks like I may have to live with level 1" above where I want it... but just want to be sure I'm not running water constantly.

New house, new pool. I have an "auto-fill" feature for when level goes down. I just drained 50% of my pool (5K Gallons) to get CYA down. I noticed that once I started refilling, water "poured" into the pool from a side nozzle (as fast as a hose). When I got up this AM I still had 8" to go, but nothing coming out of that opening. Under a cover there is a toilet-like shut-off spewing a small stream of water. Does this sort of "feature" have 2 flow rates? One "full speed" to a certain level, and one to "maintain"?

Question #2: How do you keep Polaris hose from getting tangled? About every other day the "snake" gets caught in a wheel, and everyday the hose gets so tangled it restricts its travel. Is this just one of those daily tasks?

Got 8" of fill to go... hopefully my CYA will be cut in half. I'll check it later today, but I assume if my FC was "right" for my high CYA level (100), my FC level should still be right? What normally gets "off" on a 50% refill?

polaris tubing shouldnt get caught on the wheels. There are instructions you can find online. I dont really know how to solve the problem since mine never got tangled. But in the instructions, the floats on the tube closest to the polaris should be closer together. That should help the tube stay a little higher. Also the tube shouldnt be longer than the furthest point in the pool.

 

[march2012]

Bought 3 new "swivels" and now no more tangles! They were leaking and hard to turn when cleaner was running, now no problems!

Still stumped on the auto-fill feature. I keep playing with the level on the toilet gadget thinking the level should end up lower, but every morning level is 1" above where I want it (center of tile). If I turn the faucet connection off, level stays put. But level doesn't go above where it stops, so probably no leak at the valve. Inside the bowl at the pool where the toilet valve is, there's a small outlet (or inlet?), and level always seems to stop at the center of this pipe. I would guess it's overfill protection, but after a rain, level doesn't seem to go down (never noticed it, but I do drain the pool soon after a rain). Looks like I may have to live with level 1" above where I want it... but just want to be sure I'm not running water constantly.

New house, new pool. I have an "auto-fill" feature for when level goes down. I just drained 50% of my pool (5K Gallons) to get CYA down. I noticed that once I started refilling, water "poured" into the pool from a side nozzle (as fast as a hose). When I got up this AM I still had 8" to go, but nothing coming out of that opening. Under a cover there is a toilet-like shut-off spewing a small stream of water. Does this sort of "feature" have 2 flow rates? One "full speed" to a certain level, and one to "maintain"?

Question #2: How do you keep Polaris hose from getting tangled? About every other day the "snake" gets caught in a wheel, and everyday the hose gets so tangled it restricts its travel. Is this just one of those daily tasks?

Got 8" of fill to go... hopefully my CYA will be cut in half. I'll check it later today, but I assume if my FC was "right" for my high CYA level (100), my FC level should still be right? What normally gets "off" on a 50% refill?

polaris tubing shouldnt get caught on the wheels. There are instructions you can find online. I dont really know how to solve the problem since mine never got tangled. But in the instructions, the floats on the tube closest to the polaris should be closer together. That should help the tube stay a little higher. Also the tube shouldnt be longer than the furthest point in the pool.

Autofills have an outlet tube (I have blocked mine as I never want to drain water because we get so little). It is possible that your autofill is set completely above the drain level of your outlet. You should be able to lift or push down the autofill float to see where the water comes in. You should be able to adjust the height of the float to control how high the water gets. The range probably isnt that much (a few inches?)

 

[tcat]

Yeah, I've done that. Screwed it down so the float is an inch under water (have to push the lever way down to get the water to spurt out the outlet) Definitely no water coming out of the float gizmo. No way to see if something is leaking below water lever. I'll plug that overfill pipe and see if the water keeps going up.

 

[triptyx]

At 65 CYA, and given you're trying to reduce CYA, why do you have any tablets anywhere in your pool?

As to the AutoFill - mine has a "cooler" valve (it's a float valve from a swamp cooler - yay AZ!) - when the float is closer to cutoff the flow is lower than when the float is fully depressed (as when I was refilling my pool after draining to reduce my orbital CYA level). Is it possible your autofill valve is misadjusted?