Water Feature, separate pump? Need advice!

[bcre3306]

Hi

I am near the end of my build and the PB came up with a question that I am looking for advice on. He stated that if we wanted to at this point in the build to add a separate pump for the sheer water fall that we could do it now. From reading on here it looks like it would be suggested to have a separate pump for this?!?! The PB is suggesting a 1HP pump for it.

My second question is in looking at the design diagram it looks like it would be easy to add the pump in but I am 100% new to pools so maybe I am over simplifying this. I'm attaching the plumbing for the pool but in my eyes couldn't I just add the pump in line of the 1 1/2 sheer line? Lets say I was to tackle this myself what would you suggest I need to do.

Thank you!!

 

[Jimrahbe]

3306,

Ask your pool builder where the 2nd pump is going to get its water.. You can't have two pump sucking water from the same source.

I doubt that your single pump will be able to run everything all by itself, even running at full speed.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[1poolman1]

Hi

I am near the end of my build and the PB came up with a question that I am looking for advice on. He stated that if we wanted to at this point in the build to add a separate pump for the sheer water fall that we could do it now. From reading on here it looks like it would be suggested to have a separate pump for this?!?! The PB is suggesting a 1HP pump for it.

My second question is in looking at the design diagram it looks like it would be easy to add the pump in but I am 100% new to pools so maybe I am over simplifying this. I'm attaching the plumbing for the pool but in my eyes couldn't I just add the pump in line of the 1 1/2 sheer line? Lets say I was to tackle this myself what would you suggest I need to do.

Thank you!!

A separate pump would allow the sheer to operate while the spa is in use. Could also add it to the bubblers for the same purpose. The suction for a separate pump like that would usually be in the wall instead of the floor.

 

[JJ_Tex]

If you do not have your equipment yet, make sure you do not let them put in the "mineral" part of your Fusion Soft since that can cause staining and other issues. Even better, have them put in a Jandy or other SWG system.

Nature2 Fusion - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[ChrisLPC]

Yes get a separate pump. The only time I have not used a separate pump on builds was just a pool and deck jets. We still upgraded to a Hayward 3000 it has 3” plumbing for the inlet and outlet.

 

[bcre3306]

If you do not have your equipment yet, make sure you do not let them put in the "mineral" part of your Fusion Soft since that can cause staining and other issues. Even better, have them put in a Jandy or other SWG system.

Nature2 Fusion - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

I just checked and the blank cap is still on it so I will make sure they don't put the cartridge in....thank you so much for the advice!!

 

[bcre3306]

Yes get a separate pump. The only time I have not used a separate pump on builds was just a pool and deck jets. We still upgraded to a Hayward 3000 it has 3” plumbing for the inlet and outlet.

Thank you for the advice. So what type of pump would you suggest, it's only a single waterfall about 50ft from the pool equipment. Also if I were to do it myself what would be involved. Assuming based off an earlier comment I would need to plumb out a water line before the main pool pump to feed the water feature, plumb the output of the pump to the 1 1/2 sheer line and then wire the pump into the aux relay. Also assuming if it's a single speed pump I should put a ball valve on the line out to control the flow of the water?!?

Thanks again!

 

[1poolman1]

Thank you for the advice. So what type of pump would you suggest, it's only a single waterfall about 50ft from the pool equipment. Also if I were to do it myself what would be involved. Assuming based off an earlier comment I would need to plumb out a water line before the main pool pump to feed the water feature, plumb the output of the pump to the 1 1/2 sheer line and then wire the pump into the aux relay. Also assuming if it's a single speed pump I should put a ball valve on the line out to control the flow of the water?!?

Thanks again!

This is not a DIY project if there is no dedicated suction line to supply the extra pump. You do not want two pumps pulling from the same source.

 

[Jimrahbe]

3306,

Where are you in the construction stage??? If you already have completed the gunite stage, it it too late.

Jim R.

 

[bcre3306]

3306,

Where are you in the construction stage??? If you already have completed the gunite stage, it it too late.

Jim R.

gunite is already done. PB claims it can be done so we will see.

 

[JJ_Tex]

gunite is already done. PB claims it can be done so we will see.

Maybe he is going to use some sort of booster pump? All of the setups I've seen have separate suction sources, generally another set of drains usually on the wall to keep it from sucking up debris.

 

[bradgray]

gunite is already done. PB claims it can be done so we will see.

Don't steal water from your filter pump. Bear in mind your PB is not going to be servicing your pool after it's done. He is not held to continual motivation that it works as well as it can or should.

We've seen it done on the consolidate section (after all intakes) many times and have perpetual frustration with those pools because they airlock frequently and it makes vacuum/priming loss a pain to prevent and isolate.

The alternative is to rob a suction, like your vac line. But that's a concession I don't think you'll need to make.

If I inherited your build at this stage, I'm sticking with your diagram and planning on choosing single feature at a given time. And I will be pleasantly tickled if I can do more.

 

[bcre3306]

Don't steal water from your filter pump. Bear in mind your PB is not going to be servicing your pool after it's done. He is not held to continual motivation that it works as well as it can or should.

We've seen it done on the consolidate section (after all intakes) many times and have perpetual frustration with those pools because they airlock frequently and it makes vacuum/priming loss a pain to prevent and isolate.

The alternative is to rob a suction, like your vac line. But that's a concession I don't think you'll need to make.

If I inherited your build at this stage, I'm sticking with your diagram and planning on choosing single feature at a given time. And I will be pleasantly tickled if I can do more.

Hi Brad

You are spot on, they want to steal the vac line. If I were to do that can you help me understand exactly what I would lose? Sorry I am completely new to pools so trying to learn here!

 

[bradgray]

Hi Brad

You are spot on, they want to steal the vac line. If I were to do that can you help me understand exactly what I would lose? Sorry I am completely new to pools so trying to learn here!

If your pool is uncovered, having a suction vacuum will dramatically improve the cleanliness of the floor of your pool.

Without a floor cleaner, you'll end up having to manually vacuum your pool to capture debris that sinks to the bottom. And you'll need to use the skimmer line to do so.

Without a vac line, you can still have a robot floor cleaner. Lots of fans of robot vacuums on TFP. I'm not in that group due to cost and failure rates from personal experience, but my pools are also filled with rough users. So YMMV.

My point is simply that I personally see losing that cleaning feature as a concession over a possible chance you can't use every single feature AND wall returns at the same time with your filter pump.

If you wanted to, you could add an actuator to close your standard wall returns 100% and send all flow to the features. But I don't think that's going to be necessary. We have many pools with more demanding features than yours (scuppers + slides) that run well on a single VS pump.

I obviously can't guarantee that. So if you're feeling that you want a guarantee, then you now know what you're trading for it.