Connecting a Pool Fountain to My Coleman 18 foot AGP

[BnBFreeman]

Yup, I am back again! I thank everyone on this forum who has helped me work through issues of setting up my first pool. Got another question.

Background:
Our pool water has become as warm as bath water (one "virtue" of living in Florida). Did some research and found that attaching a pool sprinkler to the return will help lower the temperature 3-10 degrees (I can't afford the $1,500 cooling systems). Unfortunately the sprinkler has a standard 1.5 inch fitting whereas my Coleman pool doesn't.

I went to Lowes and got a 3 inch to 1.5 inch condenser PVC pipe and attempted to attach it to the return on my pool wall. Unfortunately the threads do not line-up and I cannot get the darn thing to connect. I fiddled around with other avenues but none worked. I was able to hold the 1.5 inch pipe from the sprinkler in the return and it worked (as long as I held it). When I did this, the sound the pump made went up dramatically...which I am assuming means there is too much pressure in the pump.

Question:
Assuming I am not the first person to experience this issue, is there anyone out there that has an idea for me to fix my problem?

I am willing to provide whatever information you may need to help me through this...I am trying to do it in the most expeditious and least expensive manner but at this point I am willing to try almost anything. THANKS!

 

[grannydi]

We have this fountain, purchased from Amazon for less than $25, attached to our Intex 22' pool. It comes with a bunch of different fittings and with a little jerry-rigging my husband got it going without a lot of hassle.

Amazon.com: Nepta Blossoming Water Fountain: Patio, Lawn Garden

I live in Phoenix, where the highs are above 110 right now. Running the filter/fountain about 6 hours per day, our water is about 82. I let the fountain run over night last night and our water was almost too cold to swim in today.

Diana

 

[bkyrdguru]

What did your husband do to make it work?

 

[BnBFreeman]

What did your husband do to make it work?

Yeah, that was what I was about to ask.

And is it causing the pump to be overpressurized? That looks pretty sweet and if it just connects to the return, I am willing to do that.

 

[grannydi]

He unscrewed the return cover with the little eyeball thing on it, and cut out the eyeball. Sanded it. Then glued a small pvc elbow in place of where that screen was. Attached the hose from the fountain with a stainless steel hose clamp, so that the elbow points downward. Then we ordered another return cover, in case we wanted to take the fountain out at some point.

I could try to take a picture of it, but it's underwater. I usually take it off when we use Wanda the Whale because the fountain hose gets in the way. I'll definitely take a picture the next time I remove it to vacuum.

No, it doesn't even make a difference in the pump pressure. In the picture, the fountain is about 12 feet high. We have it on the medium adjustment and my husband also poked a few holes in the hose to reduce the pressure so the fountain would not go quite so high. On the high setting, it shoots more than 16 feet in the air, and when the wind blows it sometimes blows water out of the pool. We have ran it overnight a few times now just to cool the water and we set the pump to recirculate and adjust the fountain to the low setting. It still shoots 10-12 feet in the air. We are using the Intex 2650 pump, sand filter and SWG, and we also have a Hayward wide mouthed skimmer hooked up to it.

Last year we were using the smaller Intex pump and sand filter (Maybe 1600? Something like that?) with a separate SWG, and the fountain also worked well with that system, but the spray was maybe 5 feet lower on each of the adjustments.

I know the fountain got crummy reviews on Amazon but for $25 I decided to take the chance, and it has made a huge difference in our water temps. This is our second year using the same fountain, so it was well worth the $25 investment.

Diana

 

[BnBFreeman]

He unscrewed the return cover with the little eyeball thing on it, and cut out the eyeball. Sanded it. Then glued a small pvc elbow in place of where that screen was. Attached the hose from the fountain with a stainless steel hose clamp, so that the elbow points downward. Then we ordered another return cover, in case we wanted to take the fountain out at some point.

I could try to take a picture of it, but it's underwater. I usually take it off when we use Wanda the Whale because the fountain hose gets in the way. I'll definitely take a picture the next time I remove it to vacuum.

No, it doesn't even make a difference in the pump pressure. In the picture, the fountain is about 12 feet high. We have it on the medium adjustment and my husband also poked a few holes in the hose to reduce the pressure so the fountain would not go quite so high. On the high setting, it shoots more than 16 feet in the air, and when the wind blows it sometimes blows water out of the pool. We have ran it overnight a few times now just to cool the water and we set the pump to recirculate and adjust the fountain to the low setting. It still shoots 10-12 feet in the air. We are using the Intex 2650 pump, sand filter and SWG, and we also have a Hayward wide mouthed skimmer hooked up to it.

Last year we were using the smaller Intex pump and sand filter (Maybe 1600? Something like that?) with a separate SWG, and the fountain also worked well with that system, but the spray was maybe 5 feet lower on each of the adjustments.

I know the fountain got crummy reviews on Amazon but for $25 I decided to take the chance, and it has made a huge difference in our water temps. This is our second year using the same fountain, so it was well worth the $25 investment.

Diana

That must be awesome. Tried to do this last night...attempts 3-6 of this venture. Nothing like what you described is seen on my Coleman connections. There is no eyeball to remove from the pool connections. I literally have tried everything I can for this darn thing and cannot figure it out. Very frustrated.

 

[jeffchap]

I made this out a a few dollars worth of PVC to do exactly what you're talking about. It's between my pump and the return in the pool wall. There is a plunger valve on the wall that I can close partially to divert more water thru the hose.

I had to add an extra rubber gasket at each end to get the Intex hoses to tighten down enough to stop leakage.

There's an off-the-shelf garden hose shutoff valve at the other end of the hose so I can turn it off without getting out of the pool.

 

[BnBFreeman]

I made this out a a few dollars worth of PVC to do exactly what you're talking about. It's between my pump and the return in the pool wall. There is a plunger valve on the wall that I can close partially to divert more water thru the hose.

I had to add an extra rubber gasket at each end to get the Intex hoses to tighten down enough to stop leakage.

There's an off-the-shelf garden hose shutoff valve at the other end of the hose so I can turn it off without getting out of the pool.

I'm trying to go from the return connector inside the pool. I can't find a picture of it online and am not home to take a picture of it. The connectors inside the pool are not standard 1.5", 2", or 3" therefore I can't modify it to use PVC fittings. I am lost.

 

[jeffchap]

I understand. But if you're willing to simply run the garden hose over the side of the pool, all you need to do what I did is get an extra Intex hose and insert this tee between your pump and the return. Then you don't need to worry about trying to find something to mate up with the odd-sized fittings inside the pool.

 

[grannydi]

BnBFreeman, I tried to take some photos so maybe that will explain better.

On the outside of the pool, there is a valve, where the hose attaches and the other end goes to the filter. On the inside of the pool, where the water comes back into the pool from the filter, there is a plastic fitting that screws over the hole. The fitting has a screen over it and reminds me of an eyeball because you can move it around and point the flow of the water in different directions. My husband cut the screen away, sanded it and then glued the pvc elbow inside that fitting where he removed the screen. The other picture is what it looks like attached but its hard to see because the fitting is under the water.

Does this help?

 

[grannydi]

BnBFreeman, once he cut that little round screen out of the inside of that fitting, he just took the fitting to Ace Hardware and kept trying different sizes until he found a little elbow that fit inside and glued it in. You can still move the elbow around, because it's the outer part of the fitting - that ring - that turns. If that makes sense.

Diana