Equipment not fastened to pad

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russenterprises

0
Aug 8, 2014
20
Near Montgomery, AL
My wife and I recently purchased a house with a pool. The pool was installed sometime after the house was built, I believe it is about 4-5 years old. I've been maintaining it using the TFP methods since we took posession of the house, and so far have had no problems.

I recently discovered that the filter, the pump, and the booster pump for the Polaris are not fastened to the concrete pad. Should I be concerned about that? It would be simple to fasten the filter down with Tapcon screws, but the pumps would be more difficult, and I'd rather not go to the trouble of fastening everything down if it's not necessary.

Here's a photo of the equipment:



Thanks,
Russ
 
No need to fasten down the equipment. Its not going to move around and if you have to replace any of it one day the holes probably would not match up. I am curious about the single ball valve to shut off the flow of water. Does that line go to a main drain?
 
Thanks for the replies, that's pretty much what I thought. As long as gravity works, the equipment is not going anywhere.

Yes, the line with the ball valve goes to the main drains. I determined that experimentally when I was draining water to reduce the CYA level. Fortunately there is a valve before the cartridge filter that will divert the flow to a waste port, that made the drain easy, but it's tough to drain below the bottom of the skimmer.
 
I guess so, since you can't shut off flow from the skimmer. You could use a plug in the skimmer and just draw from the main drain if you ever need to drain below the skimmer again. If you ever decide to re-plumb the equipment pad, be sure and add a pool valve to the skimmer and main drain lines. It'll make life a little bit easier. :)
 
I managed to drain the entire pool using the filtration pump - I lucked out and had an old (glass) pot lid which fit the seal ring around the bottom of skimmer. Some plumber's putty and dead weights forced the pump to draw up from the main - I could see the water rushing out of one hole and down the other.
Couldn't leave it unattended - it would eventually suck in enough putty to break the seal - a quick shutoff and application of more putty, and back in business.

I wonder if the plates sold for sealing the skimmer for use with a vacuum hose could be adapted (plugged) to get the same effect?
 
Sorry for hijacking this post ..

The picture of your installation seems quite common for USA pools, but I have never seen such in The Netherlands. Would you explain to me what all the equipment is? The large filter tank is that a colon with a large white plastic filter in it? Or is that what they call a DE filter?
Why do you need 2 pumps? You have 11500 gallons of water, that's 43500 liters, same volume as I have. So you could pump that with just 1 pump?

I'm not criticising, only curious about other use of equipment I'm unfamiliar with.
 
happyheathen said:
I managed to drain the entire pool using the filtration pump - I lucked out and had an old (glass) pot lid which fit the seal ring around the bottom of skimmer. Some plumber's putty and dead weights forced the pump to draw up from the main - I could see the water rushing out of one hole and down the other.
Couldn't leave it unattended - it would eventually suck in enough putty to break the seal - a quick shutoff and application of more putty, and back in business.

I wonder if the plates sold for sealing the skimmer for use with a vacuum hose could be adapted (plugged) to get the same effect?
Click to expand...

Since my first drain stopped at the bottom of the skimmer, I didn't replace enough water to get the CYA where I wanted it. There are two ports on the bottom of my skimmer, one is plugged, and the other has a little plastic door that pivots and can be set to cover all or some of the port. I didn't notice it until the skimmer was sucking air the first time, and it was too late, the door wouldn't seal. The second time, I closed that door when I started the drain, and it sealed and allowed me to drain below the skimmer.

I didn't think about the vacuum hose plate...there's a vacuum in the garage that connects to the skimmer, but I've never used it. The notebook the previous owner left with info about the pool said to use it after putting in all of the pool store chemicals to kill the algae in the water, but I've never had to do that, thanks to this site. :)
 
koffie said:
Sorry for hijacking this post ..

The picture of your installation seems quite common for USA pools, but I have never seen such in The Netherlands. Would you explain to me what all the equipment is? The large filter tank is that a colon with a large white plastic filter in it? Or is that what they call a DE filter?
Why do you need 2 pumps? You have 11500 gallons of water, that's 43500 liters, same volume as I have. So you could pump that with just 1 pump?

I'm not criticising, only curious about other use of equipment I'm unfamiliar with.
Click to expand...

Not a problem...

The pump on the left is the main pump that circulates the water through the filter. The large filter tank is a cartridge filter like you describe with a large white pleated filter cartridge in it. The second pump on the right is the booster pump for the Polaris pressure side cleaner. It is only turned on when the cleaner is in use and provides high pressure water to a return that has a special fitting to connect to the cleaner.
 
happyheathen said:
I managed to drain the entire pool using the filtration pump - I lucked out and had an old (glass) pot lid which fit the seal ring around the bottom of skimmer. Some plumber's putty and dead weights forced the pump to draw up from the main - I could see the water rushing out of one hole and down the other.
Couldn't leave it unattended - it would eventually suck in enough putty to break the seal - a quick shutoff and application of more putty, and back in business.

I wonder if the plates sold for sealing the skimmer for use with a vacuum hose could be adapted (plugged) to get the same effect?
Click to expand...

You could also connect a vacuum to the skimmer and let it sit on the floor of the pool and draw from there as well.
 

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russenterprises said:
Not a problem...

The pump on the left is the main pump that circulates the water through the filter. The large filter tank is a cartridge filter like you describe with a large white pleated filter cartridge in it. The second pump on the right is the booster pump for the Polaris pressure side cleaner. It is only turned on when the cleaner is in use and provides high pressure water to a return that has a special fitting to connect to the cleaner.
Click to expand...

Thank you for answering. Now I understad ;)
 
Just a quick note about the original question, it's generally a good idea to firmly fix pumps. They won't go anywhere (usually) but they will always twist a bit when switching on and off (torque reaction), which will eventually loosen or crack any rigid pipework attached to them, not that big a deal with plastic plumbing, but worth noting that it is a primary cause of leaks. Pumps that have rubber 'feet' or mountings to absorb NVH should always have special flexible couplings. Yours will probably be fine for years, my experience is that it will then fail while you are on vacation or an hour before all your friends turn up to swim and BBQ...
 
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