water flow problem

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whodat?2

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Apr 8, 2014
51
Louisiana
hey guys, i'm pretty new when it comes to pools. I inherited one last summer. It's a salt water pool and i have lots of questions but i'll keep this specific to plumbing as i think i should fix that first rather than worry about the water. Bascially the pool has 2 jets, one on each end and i used to be able to plainly see a 'current' moving around the pool. Now i can see the jets pushing water out only about 6 inchs. I can feel the pressure coming out and it seems a little low. I have a couple ideas as to what is wrong.

1. I vaccumed the pool but didnt leave the skimmer basket and something is clogged between the skimmer and the strainer in front of the pump. I'm not getting much of any trash in the strainer. My neighbor has a tree which drops tons of these little stringy deals which has a very clogging effect. They clog drains all over my property but they are soft. They just have a way of clumping. I have taken my garden hose with a high pressure nossel and a towel and shot it up the strainer's pipe for 10 mins, then back the other way through the skimmer hole and back and forth. This seems to have made things somewhat better but i'm not getting the movement i used to get. And nothing really came out of either end when i did this.

2.Secondly, i have a pool cleaner which has a terrible design. It's a hayward i think but the important part is that the hose isnt a hose. Its a serious of stupid plastic pipes which since i got the pool, i have fixed over and over again. What happens is at the joints, a leak will spring and the pressure will be lost and the pool cleaner quits moving. At the base of the hose its connected to what i guess is a jet. Right near there in the pool wall, i have a dial which goes from 0-5 which i guess manages pressure of that jet. well i have a couple small leaks in the pipes but now at the base (where it connects to the pool) is a pretty good leak. I know that i'm losing pressure for the pool cleaner there but am i also losing pressure throughout the system. I have included a crude diagram.

oh the pressure gauge reads about 30 for whatever that means












pool.jpg
 
You don't state your filter pressure, however, here's a little something you can look at:

Try opening the pump strainer, and with the power OFF (however you need to do this), check the impeller intake for any debris. Quite often, with small stringy tree debris, it will pass through the strainers, and get caught in the impeller vanes. If you need to separate the pump halves to completely clear it, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.
 
The hole I'm talking about is on the pump side of the strainer attached to the pump, where the water is sucked into the pump itself.

Since you now state your filter pressure is 30, I have to ask, when was the last time your filter was cleaned? What type of filter is is will determine how to clean it. See Pool School for basic instructions.

Can you add your pool information to your signature? That will help us to better help you.
 
The pressure should be somewhere between 0psi and 40psi :mrgreen: There is no way to know as it is a function of plumbing, pump size, equipment, etc and different for every pool.

If you have never cleaned the filter ... then that would be my first step. At least give it a good backwash, ideally, open it up and clean the sand as described here: http://www.troublefreepool.com/thre...ot-how-to-fix-it?p=58929&viewfull=1#post58929
 
That depends on a lot of factors. Once you have learned how to backwash and rinse your filter, your pressure will come down. This will become your baseline. You will need to backwash and rinse when your filter pressure rises 20% over your baseline.

As you are new to pool upkeep, I am going to make a strong suggestion that you purchase a good test kit, either the TF-100 or the Taylor K-2006. The TF-100 is the better deal, as it has more of the reagents you will need. Again, Pool School for the info on test kits.Best also to go with the XL option, and the speedstir. This may seem to be an expense, but it really isn't. It is a wise investment towards your being able to keep you pool water clear and safe, without having to rely on --quite often bad -- pool store advice.

P.S. Jason, thanks for that extra link, I'd forgotten about that.....
 
Oh ... you said you never cleaned it, thought that meant backwashing. You should only backwash when the pressure rises 20-25% over the clean pressure. Still likely a good idea to open it up and check/clean the sand.
 

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hey thanks man! I cleaned what seemed like very little out of the impeller. I honestly didnt think it would make any difference and boom, water is moving again. I'm going to try and clean the sand today then it's on to the water. I think my salt cell needs to be cleaned as last year it quit producing cholrine and i just added bleach for the rest of the summer.
 
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