Plumbing advice..

[jvrobert]

Hi - here's a picture of my current plumbing situation. I don't like it. Among other things, I'm not getting enough suction (even with main drain off) on my vacuum for my PoolCleaner, I only get 8 or fewer RPMs. I am also interested in adding an Intermatic panel (I'm using Z-wave automation for my house so their z-wave box makes sense) and want to use actuators to control vacuum, waterfall, maybe aerator.

Anyway - I think I can get rid of the stupid half-buried valve on the vacuum and put a 3-way Jandy hooked up to Pump/Pool Cleaner/Skimmer, and keep the On-Off for main drain as-is, right? But I'm not really sure how to plumb my pressure side wisely to allow actuator control of waterfall/aerator. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[easttn]

Ive noticed your picture doesnt look right to me. It looks like the small rock waterfall valve is hooked into the suction side of the pump which wouldnt make sense since you couldnt suck water up a waterfall. Its probably the angle at which the picture is taken. Also if the filter inlet is the fitting on top and the filter outlet is the fitting on the bottom then they are both on the same pipe?????

You might get more help with more pictures at different angles.

 

[jvrobert]

Ahh, yeah does look like it in that picture But the pipe from that actually goes down to the ground and back to the filter output. Here's another one (maybe slightly better). No, the Ozonator isn't plugged in and I won't be, previous owner bought it.

 

[easttn]

Ive never messed with a side mount filter but if you look at this picture:
http://www.intheswim.com/Pool-Equip...Side-Mount-Sand-Pool-Filters-in-ground-pools/
Then you are missing the multiport valve. A vital piece of equipment for your filter. Also you dont have a pressure gauge.

1) What is small stick on top of the black pipe? Is that supposed to be a valve? Does it have model numbers or something? If thats not a valve of some sort then your water is bypassing the filter the way its plumbed in.

2) Where does the grayish pipe on the right go to?

3) Where does the white vertical pipe connected below the black fittings go?

4) The fittings for the waterfall and return has to come from somewhere, but does it come from the white vertical pipe in #3? If it does then why is the pipe vertically buried in the ground unless it goes somewhere else too.

5) Do you have a brand and model # on the filter?

 

[jblizzle]

While the multi-port valve is nice, it is not a requirement. The existing black push/pull backwash valve is sufficient.

Adding a 3-way valve on the cleaner suction line would certainly give you better control. Note that ideally, you want the common pipe (in this case going to the pump) to be in the middle port of the 3-way valve, which is not as easy with your setup.

I am not sure I would mess with the pressure side plumbing. You can add an actuator to automate the waterfall, but I might leave the aerator and the other mystery pipe as-is. Unless you want to do a major replumbing.

 

[jvrobert]

easttn - yeah, I have a push/pull valve though oddly it's "backwards", lol. I push it down to backwash, in the open/pulled position it is going through the filter. I'm 90% sure I plan to replace the sand filter with a big old cartridge filter in the coming months for various reasons. That other pipe is my backwash to my (clogged, which sucks) drain. White vertical pipe goes underground and loops back to pressure side connections - kind of weird. Filter is an S310S, but as above I plan to replace with CCP520.

jblizzle - yeah, makes sense. I was toying with idea of 3-way valve on aerator/mystery/output but it might not be worth it, probably the only actuator positions I will be able to do will be the pool vacuum and the waterfall anyway

 

[easttn]

Ok, Ive never seen a valve like that. If it were mine I would put a 3 way valve where the T is atop the skimmer pipe and get rid of the black valve on the right. That way you could shut off the main drain and/or the skimmer and concentrate the flow through either/or or even divide it up between the two. You could leave the pool cleaner pipe there and just turn the valve on and off. That is just me though. It looks like there is a female threaded fitting just to the right of the black valve so you could unscrew it and start there after you cut the other 3 pipes. As far as actuators goes, I cant help you any there.