Only one suction line into the pump?

[Carolwoodpacific]

I only have one suction line into the pump with no valve. Where do the pipes merge?

I did test for suction at the main drain and at the skimmer, both are working.

 

[Patrick_B]

Only you PB knows for sure, and he likely can't be found or won't remember. Not much telling really unless you dig it up. Are you having some sort of trouble that makes you ask? I wouldn't like mine to be that way, but just curious if there is trouble. It is pure speculation on my part, but it looks possible that the capped line could have been plumbed to the suction there at one time, but it's merely a guess.

I would suggest cutting out that union on the suction of the pump at some point, as it is likely to leak and become a suction side problem. I'm not saying it will, but the potential is high for that to be an issue down the line.

 

[Carolwoodpacific]

I'm not having any issues currently, after seeing everyone elses equipment I'm jealous of all those fancy three way valves. I don't like how I can't isolate the skimmer or main drain.

I don't know where I would even start trying to figure out who the PB was.

 

[JasonLion]

One common setup is to plumb the main drain to one hole in the skimmer, and have the other hole in the skimmer go to the pump. Your skimmer has two holes in the bottom, so that seems likely, though it is difficult to tell for sure without a fair bit of work. When you have this setup, there is an adapter for the skimmer you can get that lets you force more water to come from the main drain. That gives you more flexibility in how things work, but doesn't usually make all that much of a difference.

 

[Carolwoodpacific]

I'm dying to know why that line was capped. The pump motor and plumbing were replaced in 2013 according to the current homeowner.

 

[Patrick_B]

I'm curious too. If you can talk with them, maybe they can give you some clues on this stuff. Glad you aren't having any trouble.

 

[Divin Dave]

That capped line is strange indeed.

It'a right beside the return which begs the question, are all of your returns working?

If your pad is above the water level, which I suppose it probably is since there aren't any valves or check valves, you might be able to dig around the capped pipe a bit, cut the cap off and run a water hose down in it and find out where it goes.... ??

 

[bobodaclown]

The capped line could have been for a pressure or Vacuum cleaner. Do you have any capped fitting in your pool? or jets that don't work?

 

[Carolwoodpacific]

Both returns are working in the pool.

I wonder if the PB ran the return lines separately for some reason, then they were tied together at some point.

Was that common practice in 1995?

 

[JasonLion]

Running a single return line and splitting it near the pool remains fairly common to this day, though it was even more common in 1995.

Running separate lines for each return is getting more common but is still not really a standard industry practice.

 

[bdex]

I have one return line that t's off at the closest two returns then heads to the third one. On the suction side I have one line, but also do not have a bottom drain since my pool is all 4.5' deep. We contemplated putting in a center drain for ease of vacuuming. The PB would have tied it into the other hole in the skimmer.


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[zethacat]

Is it possible the pool had a water feature that was since removed, such as a waterslide?

 

[Carolwoodpacific]

A water feature makes sense. Unfortunately there is absolutely no space for a slide, or any evidence that any features were removed.

 

[prs]

If your City or County issued a permit for the pool, it might include the name of the PB.