Replumb equipment pad pipes to 2" from 1.5" should be ok?

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kreedaz

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Jan 15, 2015
15
Tempe, AZ
I have just purchased a house with a pool, and am a first time pool owner. Pool details are in my sig. I assume the pool was built in 1979 with the house, but at any rate it has, as far as I can tell 1.5" piping for most of the way.

I have purchased some new equipment to refresh my equipment pad, and I will be adding a SWG, VS pump, a Flow-Vis flow meter, and a 520 sqft catridge filter. All of the equipment comes with 2" ports. I thought it would be easier to just cut the old 1.5" pipes off at the ground, then step up with a bushing to 2" and do all the above ground piping with the 2", so I don't have to install reducers at every equipment point. Plus it appears there have been several repairs over the years, and I don't like all the elbows and couplers, and piping paths.

If I am understanding the sticked post "Hydraulics 101... have you lost your head" at worst, this will be a non issue; and at best it will be a minute improvement due to lower head. Is this true?

For reference, I have included a pic of my existing pool equipment "pad"

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah194/John_Jingleheimerschmit/Old Pool setup_zpstauv2t6q.jpg
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

What you propose is a good idea. There is a lot of head loss in all the fittings/turns on the equipment pad, so increasing to 2" can certainly help.

I redid my pad and spent a LOT of time thinking / visualizing so that I could remove as many 90 degree fittings as I could ... probably did not make a huge difference, but I wanted to be as efficient as I could.
 
kreedaz said:
If I am understanding the sticked post "Hydraulics 101... have you lost your head" at worst, this will be a non issue; and at best it will be a minute improvement due to lower head. Is this true?
Click to expand...
Based upon the equipment in your signature, increasing the pipe and fitting size on the pad would reduce head loss by about 7%. That would actually increase the power consumption of the pump UNLESS you reduce the RPM to compensate. So assuming you did change the RPM and at 65 GPM before and after, the VS would use about 100 watts less power (1050 vs 1144 watts ~10% power savings). But again, you have to reduce the RPM to realize that. Most people don't because it is a small change in RPM (2500 vs 2580).
 
thank you all for the feedback,
@mas985 I will be sure to reduce the RPM's, since I am buying a VS pump to replace the old single speed. I also plan to purchase
@jblizzle when you say "good pool valves" I assume you are referring to things like the Jandy series of valves. Are there other options? For good ones i mean, or is Jandy really the way to go?

Finally, one more question... relating to plumbing... and I almost feel dumb asking, the answer seems so obvious, but I want to make sure...
I have 5 return lines in the pool.
2 of them are plumbed to the bench in the deep end. If I cover up the eyeball (like say if I rotate the eyeball too far and it actually blocks the pipe, I get water that shoots (up to 4 inches high or so) out of the pavers on my deck. This happens no matter which return I plug. So I assume these 2 returns are "Y'd" together beneath the decking. I am thinking this is bad, and would indicate a leak (loose fitting, broken pipe, etc) I mean, this isn't normal right?

I think it is a loose fitting that is probably ok most of the time as I don't really notice a significant drop in pool levels, so i don't think it is a leak per se... I am guessing it might only be a problem when i plug the eyeball and the added pressure blows the fitting back a bit.

Thanks again.
 
Pool returns are usually all plumbed together in a loop so the flow from the returns stays balanced. There are some pools that have some sort of 3/4"-1" vent or air venturi in the deck that is tied into the return line. My brother's pool in FL has them too. They have been mentioned in some threads here and I don't recall anyone really knowing what they are for.
 
It is fairly common for spa style jets, with bubbles, to show up around benches in certain styles of pool design, a kind of semi-spa experience. They are usually on their own valve, so they can be turned off.
 

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One benefit to using the larger pipe and fittings is that the noise of water going through can be reduced. At the same gpm, water goes much faster through 1.5" than 2". In some cases the sound difference can be significant
 
Just an update for anyone that cares...
I did complete my pad upgrade this weekend, and I did use the 2" pipe and everything worked just fine. it took me 3 days to get it done (you probably aren't going to want me to do your system, I charge by the hour ;) ), and the pool started getting an algae bloom I think during that time, but hopefully I caught it in time.

I also used all Jandy never lube valves, since none of the valves (well besides the one jandy valve I already had) on my old system worked, (even the ones that still had handles didn't actually turn)

Mas985 was right, those 2 bench returns are in fact venturi returns. With the new pump running anywhere above 70% or so, these returns bubble like crazy.

Thanks all for the responses.
 
kreedaz said:
Just an update for anyone that cares...
I did complete my pad upgrade this weekend, and I did use the 2" pipe and everything worked just fine. it took me 3 days to get it done (you probably aren't going to want me to do your system, I charge by the hour ;) ), and the pool started getting an algae bloom I think during that time, but hopefully I caught it in time.

I also used all Jandy never lube valves, since none of the valves (well besides the one jandy valve I already had) on my old system worked, (even the ones that still had handles didn't actually turn)

Mas985 was right, those 2 bench returns are in fact venturi returns. With the new pump running anywhere above 70% or so, these returns bubble like crazy.

Thanks all for the responses.
Click to expand...

I know this was almost 2 years ago, but I was wondering if you have a picture of the re-piped pad? I am about to undertake a similar refresh and was planning to do a similar 1.5" > 2" upgrade for all the pad plumbing.
 
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