The AGP journey part 2 - it's swim time down under

Jump to latest Follow Reply
AusPhil

AusPhil

0
Jan 23, 2018
181
Canberra ACT
The journey for this year includes a new three speed pump, SWCG unit and a new equipment pad to set it all up on.

Let's get out of winter mode first though........

It's Springtime down under and time to prepare to open the pool up. Last summer we put up a 24x12 Bestway pool Bestway 12'x24' x 52" Site Prep, setup and Post setup changes and mods
Around 6 months ago we pulled the solar blanket over the pool for the last time and then placed the OEM black plastic cover over that as well.
it gets cold enough here in winter that I usually loose the garden hose ends every winter as i forget to take them off and they freeze and burst... i know bit dumb. It's certainly not northern US cold though.
As the future plan is to have a SWG we have increased the salt levels to around 2000-2500 (untested) which will have depressed the freezing point far enough that the -6/-7 type temps we see shouldn't have worried the above ground piping. Theory seems to have played out really well with the pump running about 1hr in the middle of the day just to stop and stagnation in the pipes and pool and now signs of any frozen water.
Some frozen water on top of the cover some mornings but no ice in the pool itself.

I hate winter so combined with some health issues the love expressed for even the closed pool was essentially non existent. I did drop in a few litres of bleach over winter and conducted the first test on the water about 6 weeks ago with FC=4.5, CC=0 mmm not bad...... water was crystal clear. Just stuff lying on the bottom making the pool look ugly.

At the end Sept the water finally creep over the magic temp number so I've increased the random release of bleach into the pool over the last weeks and we are now around 1000ml every few days ... I'll be really glad to commission a SWCG.

5th Oct we pulled the black pool cover off and reeled up the solar cover to see nice crystal clear 20c water with a bunch of non algae type Crud on the bottom to be vacuumed up ... an hour or so later back to nice clean pool.

Since then the weather was been a real mix with single digit overnight temps still normal. The pool water has reached a not so bone chilling 21 twice but still not staying above 19c overnight even with the solar cover doing a decent job of trapping the heat. We have a week of high 20's low 30s for the end of October and Sat 2nd Nov is predicted at 28c so hoping the week warms the pool up enough to use it to cool off on the weekend :)

I know, pictures needed ...........
 
One of the things that has bugged me is the default Bestway pump. fairly certain it was the 2100gph version. It worked perfectly well to skim the surface with the bestway over the wall skimmer and could be used to vacuum by closing one of the two ports giving just enough suction.

Spent some time looking around earlier in the year and had settled on the Pentair EnviroMax 800 three speed pump. One of the online shops ended up having a 20% off sale and we ordered one a few weeks ago. Awesomely it turned up inside 48hrs and got installed a couple weekends ago now.

240v AC and everything just plugs in over here so this stuff is reasonable simple. I had bought a power monitor meter to check the watts drawn by the old pump and to see what the new one would be using at various speeds.

The old Bestway pump is surprising energy efficient, watts being used was around 210w @ 240v. As you may guess energy savings were not the goal here, the goal was to have more suction/water flow for vacuuming and for back washing the sand filter.
Plugged the Pentair in and run it up on medium speed and checked power draw..... gradually decreased the rpms to 1700 to match the power used at around 210w.
This gave me 6PSI on the sand filter instead of 4PSI before so we have greater volume flow for the same power which is giving better circulation and skimming action.

all the equipment needs to be moved to a new equipment pad before we get to far into spring/summer
 
As far as liquid bleach goes the main hardware chain over here (Bunnings) carries returnable 15l (4us gallon) containers of 12.5% and i'd picked up 2 of them back in March. These are blue plastic with air tight seals.
With all the horror stories on here with older bleach and check the date stuff i fully expected the chlorine to have degraded but adding a set value and retesting 30 min later showed the expected FC rise based on the % and amount added.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sydney Pool owner
The new pump in it's temporary location next to the pool
_Z206877 by Phil Gartner, on Flickr

And this will be the new equipment pad, i've got a space 6' x 3' there that will allow a nice spacious layout and hopefully easy access to everything .... got a shipping advice today for the new SWCG unit and we will plumb in take offs for a possible solar heating setup on top of the garage roof :)
Just need to finish this with some more rock fill then a 2" concrete slab. The current plan is to bring the pipes up at the front of the pad.

The blackpoly piping actually has nothing to do with the pool and is for garden irrigation system
_Z206872 by Phil Gartner, on Flickr
 
speaking of overkill stakes .... when we do the plumbing it will all be 2" and the pump and SWCG are 2" but the existing Sand filter is only 1.5". To actually get 2" fitting i have to move up to a 32" version so it looks like we will buy a new sand filter and look at selling the existing 21" ....
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Let's add to the story, had Thursday/Friday off last week and finally got some more progress on re-plumbing to a new equipment pad
Thursday we got the concrete mixed with 5 loads in the mixer, this photo is after it was brushed to roughen it up a little, did brush it again so it wasn't quite that rough :)
030573-_Z140004 by Phil Gartner, on Flickr

Friday was a day digging the trench for the pipes, most of it was all crowbar work as we have a lot of rock and hard clay just under the top soil level. I'm not yound or fit any more so this was a all day (with breaks) type job.

Sat was laying the the pipes and generally trying to ensure that we didn't cut things to short ..... having to get under the old garden bed edging was just a pain ...
030594-_Z170025 by Phil Gartner, on Flickr

And of course the trench i thought was pretty straight wasn't so straight once we got the pipes laid down :)
030596-_Z170027 by Phil Gartner, on Flickr

Neat and tidy before they exit up to the pad
030583-_Z170014 by Phil Gartner, on Flickr

The two pipes with the level on them connect to the 3way valve and then into the pump, they should be the right height to give a nice straight run into the pump.
030592-_Z170023 by Phil Gartner, on Flickr

Waiting on the new 32" sand filter to be delivered .... seems 1 of 2 boxes has arrived at the local depot but no clue from the tracking were the second box is.....
 
Back up with your camera. Take shot so we can see the whole picture. Use paint or something to draw what you are thinking. We can look it over and tweak it for you.

*interesting* discussions??? What did they want or not understand?

Kim:kim:
 
kimkats said:
Back up with your camera. Take shot so we can see the whole picture. Use paint or something to draw what you are thinking. We can look it over and tweak it for you.

*interesting* discussions??? What did they want or not understand?

Kim:kim:
Click to expand...

I'll dry fit some more bits tomorrow evening, and then try and get a more overhead image and draw it out, thanks .....

The "interesting" discussions was me tearing service desk supervisor a new one for their pathetic service...... take into account i work as an Incident Manager with long term customer service experience... guess i don't put up with poor service anymore.

The filter was shipped last week out of QLD, (about a 1600 mile journey) but north of the bush fires so i expect some delays .... the filter body and the 6way multi come in different boxes and the online tracking split the delivery into two tracking numbers at the first depot...... only the small box showed as being in my local depot on Monday. Called the service centre and was told that despite what the online tracking showed both boxes were in the local depot and would be delivered .... and they would call back to advice when delivery would be made...
Tuesday no delivery, no call
Wednesday, small box delivered, no call, no big box and small box just left at front door
At this point I called again and got the same run around and story i got Monday and when I asked to speak to a manager had a large loud argument just to get transferred .... supervisor eventually agreed it was a poor situation and someone would call back.
At this point the online tracking still only showed one parcel but showed the entire order delivered!!!!
Thursday (today) Checked tracking before work, no change, though later it showed on board for delivery
Arrived home to find big box on a pallet left at the side gate, no call, and no follow up from the service centre...

This is some of the worst customer service i've experienced for a while from a courier company.
 
Well my pool has no circulation at the moment now we have started to move things. i normally don't run the pump overnight so my only concern will be FC levels tomorrow.

I know it's relatively simple compared to most ingrounds but even so it feels like a mechano set that needs to be precisely lined up in three dimensions
There is a 2 way valve to go in the SWCG down pipe so i can shut off water from the pool as we are below water level for most of the area, only the SWCG and the top of the sand filter will end up above the water level.
We are catering for a future solar heating on top of the garage roof but I'll just cap the ends for the time being
_Z230049 by Phil Gartner, on Flickr

The original return valve is now replaced, interestingly the factory fitting and hole was a little bit larger but it seems nicely sealed and it's not moving, connect up the union and plumbing to it tomorrow.
_Z230053 by Phil Gartner, on Flickr
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tjie77
Brad_C said:
Have you made sure your pump and pipe work will support the flow required to properly backwash the sand filter? That's a monster.
Click to expand...
Hey Brad
the pump specs indicate it should have enough liters/min to match up with the recommended backwash rate... its all 2” / 50mm piping with dual independent 50mm runs from the pool up to the three way valve in front of the pump... trying to minimize losses were possible.
expecting the actual back washing will be minimal :)
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply