Can you hook up pool fill to irrigation line?

[ummgood]

Ok so my pool builder wants to hook up my fill line to the hose bib on the back of my house. The problem is it is over my raised deck about 12 feet above ground level. His idea is to add a splitter, drill though the deck run the pipe into the ground down my 12 foot tall slab. This in my eyes will make it difficult to protect during a freeze. Plus the eyesore and the hole in my deck. I can't paint it because it will have foam insulation. Plus there will be a shut off on the top of the deck to drain the line. What if it freezes when I go on vacation? What a pain.

I have a irrigation main going right by the pool with two irrigation valves they are relocating as part of the job. The amount of pipe needed to tie into the irrigation is less than the amount to go down the house. I asked for him to hook up to that and he said his friends in the business don't recommend it and he has never done it. Should I fight this? I hate the idea of it hooked to the house and going though the deck and down the slab. Plus freeze protection would not be an issue with it buried in the dirt. Would this be a problem with the plumbing permit?

 

[tim5055]

I can't imagine that it would be a permit issue. If it is like every irrigation system I have worked on there is a pressurized supply water pipe going to those valves and would be a perfect source for your pool fill.

If the irrigation was put in recently (less than 10 years or so) they already have a back flow preventer where the irrigation system supply pipes split off the potable main so there should be no issue with that.

I would have him "T" off that supply pipe, put a manual ball valve in a yard box and use that as his water source.

I'm sure you are just in a situation where he has never done it that way before and is unsure of how it will work.

 

[Divin Dave]

No reason you cant hook the autofill to an irrigation main.
If you make sure the connection is downstream of the PBV valve or backflow preventer on the sprinkler main, then you should be fine and not need a permit to connect to the sprinkler.

If you cannot connect into the sprinkler downstream of the backflow preventer or PBV, then you will need to install one for the autfill and that would require a permit.

 

[Corleone]

That's how they did mine.

 

[grottoguy]

The PBs I spoke with all wanted to hook up to the irrigation line because it was easier for them. The quotes were all cheaper than hooking it up to my hose bib

 

[ummgood]

I honestly don't think they understand. I asked for it and he is going to talk to the owner today. He told me that they are concerned that it would turn on and flood the pool. WHAT? I told him to hook up to the live line before the valve. Nothing would be "Turning on" and it would basically the same thing as hooking to the hose bib without having about 15 feet of pipe visible outside of the ground.

 

[JonnyB]

I belive the City of Austin requires an RPZ for hazardous water. The RPZ can not be installed in a pit. And your irrigation is probably an DPZ. The dpz is required to be tested every 10 years while the pool RPZ must be tested every year

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For a clean install, tap the irrigation main line and run that to the desired RPZ location. At this point do a 90 degree up and the pipe must extend at least 12" above grade. Hook up the rpz and run the plumbing to the pool underground.

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Yes you will have the rpz exposed. BUT they do make rpz rock covers...yes they look cheesy but they help protect it during a light freeze.

 

[Corleone]

I belive the City of Austin requires an RPZ for hazardous water. The RPZ can not be installed in a pit. And your irrigation is probably an DPZ. The dpz is required to be tested every 10 years while the pool RPZ must be tested every year

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For a clean install, tap the irrigation main line and run that to the desired RPZ location. At this point do a 90 degree up and the pipe must extend at least 12" above grade. Hook up the rpz and run the plumbing to the pool underground.

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Yes you will have the rpz exposed. BUT they do make rpz rock covers...yes they look cheesy but they help protect it during a light freeze.

Yep, this is what I have in Southern California as well.

 

[Divin Dave]

I honestly don't think they understand. I asked for it and he is going to talk to the owner today. He told me that they are concerned that it would turn on and flood the pool. WHAT? I told him to hook up to the live line before the valve.

This guy your dealing with obviously doesnt have a clue... smh. So he thinks if the sprinkler came on accidentally (or not) it would flood your pool?
And he doesnt see the irony that the water spigot he wants to hook up to should be on ALL THE TIME, and that WON'T flood the pool?
It just isn't logical thinking. Dr. Spock would have a field day with that guy.

 

[jblizzle]

Does Austin also charge a ridiculous amount of money for a permit to install an auto-fill? Seem to recall that in a previous thread ... like related to that RPZ.

 

[crabboy]

One thing you may have to consider is if you have a master valve for the sprinklers. I have one by the meter at the street and the controller opens it when any one zone is activated. I don't have an autofill, but I did run the sprinkler line behind the pool to fill it via a 1" line as well as a hose bib. I do have to rig the master valve on with an alligator clip within the controller.

Bonus of using the sprinkler line is high pressure and volume, I get about 95psi static pressure at the bib and close to 30 gal / min. It filled my pool in under 12 hours. Using a hose off that line is great for hosing off the deck and cleaning the filters.

 

[ummgood]

Thanks everyone.

The pool builder is adamant that I don't need the rpz if I don't have an auto fill. I do have in my contract for a fill and drain line so I have a sinking suspicion that I will need one when the city does my inspection. I asked the specific question. We will see. Yes I am the one who posted the crazy amount for the auto fill. I am just having a fill and drain put in for now.

I don't have a master valve for my irrigation. I verified tonight. Plus I know that I behave a live line connected to the city right by the pool because the previous owner said it had a leak a couple years back and flooded that part of the yard.

 

[JonnyB]

Thanks everyone.

The pool builder is adamant that I don't need the rpz if I don't have an auto fill. I do have in my contract for a fill and drain line so I have a sinking suspicion that I will need one when the city does my inspection. I asked the specific question. We will see. Yes I am the one who posted the crazy amount for the auto fill. I am just having a fill and drain put in for now.

I don't have a master valve for my irrigation. I verified tonight. Plus I know that I behave a live line connected to the city right by the pool because the previous owner said it had a leak a couple years back and flooded that part of the yard.

If the fill line is below the pool coping the inspector will say you need an RPZ. If its above then not needed.

 

[ummgood]

If the fill line is below the pool coping the inspector will say you need an RPZ. If its above then not needed.

Thanks! I am pretty sure it will be under the coping. No way it can be above so I am guessing they just aren't prepared for this. They have it in my contract so we'll see if they want me to pay for the RPZ. I am prepared to fight for them to pay it.

 

[jagger2005]

I removed 4 sprinkler zones in my yard to put in the pool. I asked the PB if he could extend a fill line from one of my no longer used valves to the pool. That way when I need to add water, I can just turn on the timer and forget about it. He had no issue with the request.

 

[JonnyB]

Thanks! I am pretty sure it will be under the coping. No way it can be above so I am guessing they just aren't prepared for this. They have it in my contract so we'll see if they want me to pay for the RPZ. I am prepared to fight for them to pay it.

I would still run the line from irrigation and if a RPZ has to be added just splice it in.

 

[ummgood]

I removed 4 sprinkler zones in my yard to put in the pool. I asked the PB if he could extend a fill line from one of my no longer used valves to the pool. That way when I need to add water, I can just turn on the timer and forget about it. He had no issue with the request.

Yeah I don't know why he has such a problem with it. Who knows...

I would still run the line from irrigation and if a RPZ has to be added just splice it in.

That is my plan. In fact this morning I realized that the hose bib solution would also be a trip hazard. 80% of my deck is actually on the slab for the foundation. It overhangs the slab by 4 feet. The hose bib is over the slab. So in order to drill through the deck he would have to route the line over to where there is no slab which is right where the stairs start. I could see someone tripping on the pipe by the stairs and falling down the stairs.

 

[santacruzpool]

Our pool is right next to our main sprinkler supply line - and a now capped off hose bib that we are relocating above the pool. We will have a manual fill line that will connect to this line. Since our home is only 3 years old we have a back flow prevention valve on our irrigation line down at the street already, it should meet the requirements and get approved by the city when we get to that point.

It is nice to attach into the existing line and use it for water needs. We are having to move some irrigation boxes right by our pool as well, but fortunately I discovered that several of our irrigation zones are not affected by the pool build. I was worried that all of our irrigation wiring and piping went around our yard by our pool.

 

[ummgood]

First let me thanks JonnyB again.

Everything you said was dead on. For an update I really pressed my pool builder today. They were then telling me they needed to run the line for the pool fill from the street and since the water to my house is on the opposite side of where they are trenching for electrical it was going to mean they tear up the other side of my lot. This was due to a new reason that I couldn't have non-potable water used to fill my pool. Since the irrigation system is considered non-potable because it is after the backflow they would have to tie in before the backflow. I really pushed and said that can't be right because the pool itself is non-potable.

So my sales guy finally decided to start asking and ended up calling the city. Basically there are two things they would have to do in order to pass the plumbing inspection if they taped into my irrigation line. The first is my additional hose bib being added would have to be specially colored for non-potable water. The second is they have to move my fill line into the bond beam of the pool so the pool water cannot get back into the water line. Because they are moving the fill line into the bond beam right above the tile line I now don't need the costly backflow that needs to be inspected every year.

That then lead me to ask if I could get some kind of auto fill if the fill line was moved and he said that was an interesting question and would call the city again. If I can get an auto fill for less money I'll probably do it because I didn't want to originally spend the $1800 they quoted me for it.

 

[jjwalker]

make it difficult to protect during a freeze. ?

Austin...really?