Drip. Drip. Drip. - Help? Encouragement? Advice? Insults?

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Thank you!

I came up with another mini project.

I have a wonderful whirlpool going right now that I made by screwing a pvc elbow into my return instead of the hayward eyeball. I was thinking of trying to add a PVC tee to that somehow so I can have the water to continue in the elbow direction but also divert some down towards the bottom of the pool to stir that up.

No idea if that will work or if it will take away too much of the flow from the whirlpool direction. I bought a tee and a piece of pvc to connect them with so I'll find out tomorrow.

Another idea was to connect more pvc coming down from the tee and bring it all the way to the bottom of the pool maybe with another elbow to aim it wherever I want. Kind of like a second return without having a second return.

Again, I have no idea if splitting the return water like that can be done or if it would reduce the flow too much and I'd end up with 2 weak returns instead of one strong one. I'll play with it tomorrow. No glue involved and no leaking because it's under the water! :)
 
If you are working with a 1-1/2" elbow, you can use reducers in your tee. 1-1/2" tee, two 1" reducers, and a short piece of 1" pipe for your straight out, and a longer 1" piece and elbow to the bottom of your pool would work to split the flow. You will get a little more flow from the straight section that you will from the bottom, but it will work.
 
Sounds like I might be making another trip to lowes!
I wish I could find a coupler that I could use instead of having to buy and cut the pvc pipe. The only thing they ever have is a coupler that goes over (slip?) Vs one that goes inside. I don't want to cut the piece I bought only to find out I'm not going to use it but oh well. I guess it's only $3.12 wasted if that happens.
 
Nope.

I just went out and I reached in and just held the tee up against the elbow. The water takes the path of least resistance (straight in the elbow direction) and the other opening (90 degree turn for tee) becomes a nice little suction!

Now thinking of it, I guess this is how things like cleaners you hook to your garden hose work. Or the pool skim thing...I wonder if I could DIY one of those?

:crazy:
 
Yes I did!

Now the backwards engineering wheels are turning in my head! How can I use my extra intex floating skimmer and somehow rig it up to work like a pool skim?

Hmmmmm. First things first, the return is too high up to put anything above it. I'd have to use pvc to route it down a little. I'm thinking, but not necessarily doing. I love shopping for stuff but hate getting ready to leave the house.
 
lol

I'm just sitting here googling and watching youtube. Not much effort. LOL I did draw a little picture on a post it note. I don't understand why someone hasn't made their own "pool skim" type skimmer.

The only diy I can find is for tropical fish tanks and ponds.

All it took was for me to hold that tee on there and see the sucking action to think...hey why can't I stick a bag on the end of this and have my own pool skim type skimmer?

When something seems like a good idea and I can't find anyone else who has done it I have to think maybe it can't be done? But really, the intex floating skimmer kinda looks just like the pool skim one except the hole is in the bottom instead of the side. Maybe too many turns in my return would hinder the flow too much for it to work?

It just seems like, why can't I aim the elbow down, attach a length of pvc to it, another elbow to aim it out, another short length of pvc, then a tee. Attach the top sucky part of the tee to the bottom of the intex floating skimmer (somehow) and have a pool skim? I could even put a sock in the skimmer instead of the basket and I wouldn't need the bag part that the pool skim uses.

Maybe it just wouldn't be sucky enough. Makes me think of the movie "Elf" and the mail room scene...ooohh sucky!
 
Well ... when you figure out your "sucky" problem ... run over here and figure out why I can't get this vacuum to suck ... This sparklypoolitis is interfering with my relax time! LOL!

--

I figured out the problem ... only I need a 32' long arm to vacuum by myself ... I think a trip to lowes for a new fitting is in my future as well!

Anxiously awaiting your new invention!
 
This is what I've been working on today. Years ago I filled my side yard with marble rocks and landscaping fabric because it was really wet there and grass wasn't growing. It looks really nice when it's all weed free but every year more and more stuff grows and it's such a pain. Last year I started replacing the landscaping fabric and what a pain it is! I was working too much so I gave up on it.

I started it up again yesterday and I've done all down the right side. First I have to move allll the rocks out of the way, then lay the stuff then move all the rocks back. Tedious to say the least. Then when you get up around the pond...for a few years I was having all sorts of issues with my gutter and downspout overflowing all my plants whenever it rained which dumped dirt allll over the rocks and fabric which of course helped even more garbage to grow so the pond area is horrible to deal with the rocks are all muddy and I don't want to put dirty rocks back on the new fabric because they'll bring all that dirt with them for stuff to grow in! I just spent at least 30 minutes scrubbing rocks with a little brush. Now that's ridiculous!

When I get back up to finish that section I'm just moving the cleanest rocks and covering everything else. I need more rocks anyway...

It seemed like such a good idea years ago...



Oh, I also need more/different stepping stones. They're too far apart and I can't find anything like this style anywhere so I can add more...never ending yard projects abound!
 

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Here's something else for you tinker with Beens, how do you chlorinate your pool? Do you manually add bleach everyday? If so, you should look at building a very simple automatic chlorinator using a Stenner Peristaltic pump.... I'm putting one on my pool this year... I'll post a pic of the one I'm getting online from your country :) I can't get Stenner pumps in Australia... :-( I'm getting one with the Stenner Tank as I am making it stand alone next to my filter and my solar pump.... Its actually the last pic in my thread which is in my signature.... Things have slowed down here... Just trying to save some cash so I can buy more stuff.... :)
 
LOL!

When you first put it in you think, "ahh it's good for 10 years!"
Then cut to 10 years later and you are in my shoes. "Ugh. This stuff needs to be replaced and it has 349720347934234 rocks on it!"

I keep thinking about what I want to do around the pool and how I can do something without being permanent. I just keep coming back to just cleaning it up some and putting some mulch in there. The problem for me is, about 3/4 of the area around the pool actually has a "ditch" from when we leveled. The back is high and the front is flat. If I put mulch around that 3/4 area it's fine because it's deep and it has nowhere to go. In the "front" where we didn't have to dig to level it's just flat with the grass. If I put mulch there I can only assume it will work its way into the grass and make a mess. I don't know if I can get away with putting some kind of border just around the front though.

I'm tempted to just do the mulch and see how it goes with nothing between it and the grass in that front part. It might work and it would be easier than trying to do a border that is only part way. A full border is too much work for a house that I want to leave some day...I won't want to take it apart and I can just see a real estate agent's eyes bugging out of their head when they see the pool. :shock: "Take that down or you'll never sell this house!"

They won't appreciate my oasis. lol


laceygirl,

I was thinking about that last year and did some reading on it. I like the idea of automation! I just don't know about adding any more pump/electric stuff back there since I don't have outlets. My pump is plugged into an extension cord that comes from my side yard (the only outdoor outlet) and works its way around my fence to the back corner.

I'd love to have someone come wire something for me but besides the $$ they'd probably take one look at the pool and the size of my yard and say, this isn't even legal! :( Of course it's not a "permanent" pool so I know the rules are different but I'm afraid to have someone come and tell me I'm going to die because my pool is wrong or something.

I'm doing the whole "ignorance is bliss" thing.
 
Blah.

I've sprung a leak. The intake side just decided to start dripping from the threads of the hose adapter.

Is there any chance that a "better quality" threaded hose adapter would make any difference? I am using a piece from the lowes pool section. I could go buy an official hayward one from Leslies. Would it make any difference? Would the threads be somehow different or better?

It's a slow(ish) drip. Getting annoyed here. I had to backwash today because pressure was up and my backwash hose shot water all over the place because it too has sprung a ton of leaks.

I wanted to hook up the skimmer for a little while and it seems like when I change anything with the flow of water I risk making something leak. It doesn't seem like that should be the case.
 
I used the pipe sealant that a lot of the experts have sworn by for connections 1.5" and over. I hate the idea of removing the stupid thing again.

Unfortunately I had to leave for work and I noticed that this leak is a pretty steady drip which is worse with the pump off. I don't usually leave my skimmer hose connected when I am not at home to monitor the basket, but when I removed the hose to just let it pull from the intake the drip got worse too.

I had to leave the skimmer hooked up and hope it doesn't suck anything big in before I get home after 1030 tonight.

How does a leak get worse with no pressure?Ugh. I just hope it's ok while I'm here at work.
 
Beens, I'm sorry to hear about your leak. I still have a leaking skimmer with a drip............ drip............... drip............... and after hurting my shoulder and possibly tearing my rotator cuff on it, I am so done with it that I don't care!!!!! It can drip a drip every so often. I'm over it! Just got done with a pak of steroids, and have a full script of muscle relaxers and pain meds... I'm still in a lot of pain! Just waiting on the MRI to get authorized now and maybe some warm water to do therapy in! Wouldn't that be ironic!!! Kill my shoulder on the pool and use it help heal my shoulder! :lol:
 
I still don't understand the leaking. I'm ready to blame it on the "non professional" part I'm using for the hose adapter, but really I don't believe that buying the hayward one from leslie's is going to help. That's probably what I'm going to do though.
 

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