New pool owner - help me understand my equipment!

[jrellett]

I recently moved to a house that has a pool. I've never owned a pool, and I'm having trouble figuring out what exactly everything is. Specifically I don't understand the multiple pump situation. There are a few things that I know...

1. The pipe with the orange line sends water to the solar pool heater (currently not in use).
2. The valve in blue is closed to the pool heater.
3. The pump in orange is a variable speed pump that is currently on a 4 hours high -> 8 hours medium type schedule. This pump is tied to a clock timer that when off kills the power to both pumps. The clock timer is set to turn on at 6am and off at 6pm.
4. The pump in green seems to be required for the pool sweep to run. This pump is tied to a clock timer that when off only kills the power to this pump.
5. The filter is DE filter that hits about 20psi when the pump is running on high.

My goal right now is to figure out:

1. What kind of schedule should the green pump be running?
2. What, if any, changes to I need to make to the clock timers?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Jimrahbe]

J,

The booster pump for your cleaner can only be run if the main pool pump is running. When the cleaner is on, both pumps should be running.

Most VS pumps have an internal timer that controls when the pump runs, and at what speed it runs.

When you have a VS pump, your goal should be to run the pump as slow as you can and still get the job done.

How are you currently chlorinating your pool??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[jrellett]

J,

The booster pump for your cleaner can only be run if the main pool pump is running. When the cleaner is on, both pumps should be running.

Most VS pumps have an internal timer that controls when the pump runs, and at what speed it runs.

When you have a VS pump, your goal should be to run the pump as slow as you can and still get the job done.

How are you currently chlorinating your pool??

Thanks,

Jim R.

And to be clear, the booster pump is the one circled in green? The one that seems to control the sweep?

The VS pump does have an internal timer, so I could totally decouple the timing from the clock timer and only use the internal timer. If I were to do that, I would need to set up the clock timer for the booster pump to kick in when the VS pump is running on high, is that correct? It wouldn't be recommended to run the booster while the VS pump isn't running?

I'm currently using a chlorine floater to chlorinate.

 

[Jimrahbe]

J,

You do not want to run the booster pump (In green) unless the main pool pump is on.

I am not sure you have to run the main pump on high to make your cleaner (Sweep) work. Try running that main pump at a medium speed and see if your cleaner still works ok

If the timer controls the Main pool pump and the booster pump, you can just move the wires going to the main pool pump from the Load (Output) side of the timer, over to the Line (Input) side of the timer. This will provide constant AC power to the main pump and still leave your booster (Cleaner) pump being controlled by the timer.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[jrellett]

J,

You do not want to run the booster pump (In green) unless the main pool pump is on.

I am not sure you have to run the main pump on high to make your cleaner (Sweep) work. Try running that main pump at a medium speed and see if your cleaner still works ok

If the timer controls the Main pool pump and the booster pump, you can just move the wires going to the main pool pump from the Load (Output) side of the timer, over to the Line (Input) side of the timer. This will provide constant AC power to the main pump and still leave your booster (Cleaner) pump being controlled by the timer.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Ok gotcha. The booster has its own timer so I believe I can set it up to kick on only when the main pump is running.

Thanks so much for your help!