Replumbing upgrade gear...

[muski]

Hi --

I decided to replace the 20+ year old gear in my pool shed. Just purchased a Pentair Intelliflo VS Pump, Clean n Clear Plus 320 sq ft filter and an EasyTouch 4P control panel & wireless network adapter. I also bought a FloVis Flow Meter.

I will have an electrician do the line voltage wiring, but I will do the low voltage and plumbing myself. I had a couple of questions.

1) I've seen the term 'vacuum to waste' which is something I don't currently have. I'm not totally sure how to implement one, but was wondering if it's as simple as putting a Jandy 3-way valve after my pump and before my filter? So when I want to vacuum to waste I just turn the valve and send the water to my garden? Or is there more to it than that? (Or do I really even need one?)

2) I'm assuming I should install the Flovis Flow Meter after the filter, before the Pool inlet?

3) So the Flovis Flow Meter will show me the GPM for whatever pump speed I use. Do I also need to put pressure/vacuum gauges on either side of the pump as well? Is the only purpose of measuringTotal Head for computing GPM, or are there other good reasons to monitor this? If so, can anyone recommend a set of pressure/vacuum gauges and tell me where I should install them? Do they go on the pump drains directly? Or should I put in the PVC piping close to either side of the pump?

4) I am thinking about adding some automated liquid chlorine dispenser (later -- I haven't picked a solution yet). Since the Flovis is also a check valve, could I put the liquid chlorine injector after the Flovis, just before the Pool inlet?

Thanks -- what a wonderful resource this is.

muski

P.S. The solar part of my plumbing is rather mysterious, so I'll put that in a separate post...

 

[mas985]

1) Vacuum to waste is usually accomplished with a backwash valve but since a cartridge filter doesn't have one and if you think you need one, then you will need a manual 3-way valve before the filter. Where is your location? If you close the pool it might come in handy but if you are like me and don't close the pool, you will probably never need it.

2) After the filter and before the solar valve. This will prevent the filter from getting back flushed.

3) With the flow meter, you should not need another measurement although technically, a flow meter isn't necessary either. All are somewhat useful when trouble arises but not normally required.

 

[muski]

My pool is in Northern California, so we never close it. However, we have lots of trees and sometimes we get some really nasty stuff on the bottom of the pool (oak tree moth-worm frass) that instantly clogs the filters. I was thinking I'd have a vacuum to waste just so I could suck that stuff up and not clog up the filters...

Thanks for your help!

 

[muski]

Two more questions...

1) I have a booster pump for my Polaris 280. It's fed by a T fitting after the filter. I noticed that when the pool pump is on and the booster is off, there is a small amount of water pumping through the vac (it moves slowly). Should I install a 3-way valve and actuator that only opens when the booster is on? Or does this not matter?

2) My drain is plumbed directly to the bottom of my skimmer, and I have no way of controlling flow. I seem to have zero flow into the drain. Does this matter?

 

[mas985]

1) It shouldn't matter unless it bugs you.

2) It shouldn't matter too much either unless you are not getting enough circulation to the bottom but usually the cleaner helps with that. I take it your skimmer does not have a float like this:

The float is designed to reduce the flow rate to the skimmer so more will come from the attached main drain. However, I think it is better to have higher flow rate to the skimmer to remove the surface debris and since you have a cleaner, that should take care of circulation at the bottom.

 

[muski]

No, there's no float. But I'll take your advice and leave it as is. That way I also don't have any entrapment issues.

Thanks!