New pool open, filter plumber backard. What next?

[cword]

Well..... It’s me again. The owner/builder with a screw up at every turn. This time it's in the plumbing. I got water going last Thursday; finally got power to the pump on Monday. My water does not look right. I have a dark grey plaster and instead of dark blue water it is greyish greenish. Looks like lake water. I don't know if it's in the plaster job (have concerns about that as well, but holding my breath)...... or the filtration; however I have found a mess up in the filter plumbing. I have the Pentair TR100 with the push-pull valve. When my husband and I were doing the initial start up of the filter we noticed that the up and down positions were opposite from what the directions were saying. The filter position was in the down position (instead of the up position) and the backwash position was in the up position (instead of the down) We were able to get it going, be we had to do the ups and downs opposite.
I have finally figured out that the side valve is plumbed for the DE filter not the sand filter. The top and bottom lines are reversed. It should be top pipe to backwash, middle from pump to filter, and bottom from filter to pool. Instead the top goes from filter to pool; the middle is the same (from pump to filter) and the bottom from filter to waste. My question is..... As long as I know they are reversed and move the handle in the opposite directions for filter and backwash, will it work properly; or does it have to be re-plumbed to the correct configuration. I think I can switch the two that are backward without too much difficulty, but don't want to if I don't have to. I would like to fix this myself if possible. I would appreciate any advice.

 

[JasonLion]

You need to plumb the filter so the water flows in the direction it was designed for. If all that is wrong is the push/pull valve then no problem, but if I am following correctly water is running through the filter backwards and that is not OK.

 

[Backglass]

If it make you feel any better when I re-plumbed my pump and turned it on for the first time this season...my daughter came running behind the shed yelling "Daddy! It's overflowing!".

I went running out to see water gushing OUT of my skimmer. Yup. I had the return & skimmer pipes swapped. A quick swap of the pipes and proper flow was restored.

It was a rookie move and quite embarassing...even if it was in front of a six year old. :lol:

 

[cword]

Thanks for the help and shared story! We switched the 2 that were backward last night and it was working fine. However I am not sure if the vacuum in the filter is 100% this morning. You know that small clear plastic bulb at the top of the filter that fills with water after the air is sucked out? When we primed the filter that clear bulb was full of water, but this morning there is no water in that bulb. If you look down you can see the water just below the eye level, and I can hear the water in the filter, but I don't know if it lost it's vacuum. Does that clear viewer need to be full of water at all times (like it was right after we primed it and got it working?) As for suction and the returns, they are working very well. I wonder if my main drain is pulling? Is there a way to check and see if my main drain is working? I know the skimmers and returns are working, however I have a spa too with a drain so I am concerned that maybe the spa drain is working, but not the main drain. Any help? Thanks as always.

 

[JasonLion]

You can check the main drain with a little food dye. Release some dye right next to the drain and see if it gets pulled in or not.

A little tiny bit of air in the filter is not a problem, particularly if you are just starting up. If the filter slowly fills with air you may have a suction side leak or the water level may be too low in the skimmers allowing a little air to get it.