SoCal *Splash* Pool

[Turbo1Ton]

I see the heater is right next to a window. That is a no-no. The exhaust from the heater must be at least 4' away from any windows/doors to prevent carbon monoxide fumes from coming into the house. Unless of course you are going to be venting the exhaust away somehow.

--Jeff

 

[Girija]

I see the heater is right next to a window. That is a no-no. The exhaust from the heater must be at least 4' away from any windows/doors to prevent carbon monoxide fumes from coming into the house. Unless of course you are going to be venting the exhaust away somehow.

--Jeff

Hi Jeff! Well, thank goodness that is just a plate glass window with no opening mechanism!

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Good deal! I thought about that after I posted. But better to be safe and mention it, just in case!

--Jeff

 

[Girija]

Good deal! I thought about that after I posted. But better to be safe and mention it, just in case!

--Jeff

Agree! I appreciate you mentioning it! Thank you!

 

[Dirk]

Regarding the filter drain, and maybe I'll try this myself. A length of 2" PVC with an elbow on the end might do the trick. The elbow might slip just under the drain opening and channel the water away, out wherever the other end is. Some of it anyway. My problem is, and maybe yours eventually, is that the area surrounding my pad, and anywhere remotely close, is all nice, all heavily landscaped. So even 10' or 20' away is not a good place to drain sludge.

I have two capped ABS pipes embedded in my pad's concrete, but I've never determined where they go. That's probably my fix: just a short length of hose or pipe to send the water down one of the fixtures. The mystery is why there is more than one? If one goes to the sewer system (a logical assumption), where does the other one go.

More to the point: is there anywhere for you to run a 3" ABS drain line? And stub it up as close to your filter as you can? They you could use s short pipe or hose to route water from the filter drain to the ABS pipe. Any way to tie into the existing sewer system? Or off to a corner of your yard that you care less about? Just a thought, while all the trenching is still open...

 

[Girija]

Regarding the filter drain, and maybe I'll try this myself. A length of 2" PVC with an elbow on the end might do the trick. The elbow might slip just under the drain opening and channel the water away, out wherever the other end is. Some of it anyway. My problem is, and maybe yours eventually, is that the area surrounding my pad, and anywhere remotely close, is all nice, all heavily landscaped. So even 10' or 20' away is not a good place to drain sludge.

I have two capped ABS pipes embedded in my pad's concrete, but I've never determined where they go. That's probably my fix: just a short length of hose or pipe to send the water down one of the fixtures. The mystery is why there is more than one? If one goes to the sewer system (a logical assumption), where does the other one go.

More to the point: is there anywhere for you to run a 3" ABS drain line? And stub it up as close to your filter as you can? They you could use s short pipe or hose to route water from the filter drain to the ABS pipe. Any way to tie into the existing sewer system? Or off to a corner of your yard that you care less about? Just a thought, while all the trenching is still open...

Thanks for thinking about this and coming up with a potential solution! I had to ask my husband about your suggestions because it's all Greek to me . . . He said we have a couple of nearby 3" ABS drains (one feeds into the other - maybe your second one does as well?) We'll have to check out the clearance under the filter to see if we can get a pvc elbow in there — if so, that might be the solution. Other than the ABS drain, which is about 12 -15' away, there is nowhere else in our yard to dump the sludge. Strange, my husband and I both had pools in the past and neither of us remember having to deal with that (you'd think after all these years someone would have come up with a better filter design!)

 

[HermanTX]

Strange, my husband and I both had pools in the past and neither of us remember having to deal with that (you'd think after all these years someone would have come up with a better filter design!)

Thankfully you have a cartridge filter and a backwash valve. I have a DE filter and it can leave a lot more residue. You have the capability to backwash so do that real good before you open up the filter for a full cartridge cleaning.
As @Dirk mentioned. I have thought about how to put a drain line on the filter. At least the newer Pentair filters have the drain plug facing forward, the older models had it on the backside (normally that part that is closest to a wall) and that was a real pain to access. It is something Pentair should offer as an accessory as the drain plug is a straight thread with an oring.
My thought was to make a small pan under the drain plug with a line connecting to it. Similar to what is in your attic under your AC unit to catch condensation that drains to a toilet or exits out of the roof. The issue with the filter is that you have to unscrew the drain plug first, then have the line or pan ready to catch the flood of water exiting from the filter body. Just hard to do in a tight space. Ideally Pentair would have a pipe that screws into where the drain plug is, have a valve on that pipe and some pipe after that valve so you can tie into a hard pipe line or even a flexible backwash line to divert the flow to a desired point.

 

[newdude]

As far as the filter drain goes, it’s easy enough to work around for anybody who has theirs in a location that isn’t good for draining the sludge. If you open the top bleeder valve and the pump basket cover the water in the filter will drain itself through the cartridge to the level of the bottom half in the time it takes to open the filter. It glug glug glugs and only takes a minute. Then just shop vac what’s left in the bottom half of the filter. It adds a 5 minute step to the process but if it’s only once or twice a year with a properly sized filter, its really no big deal.

My filter was in a spot that was mulched so I could just let it go and rake the mulch around to cover the sludge but It wouldn’t have bothered me at all to just shop vac it instead and take a few trips to dump it somewhere better.

 

[Girija]

Thank you HermanTx and Newdude . . . some GREAT ideas for when the time comes to deal with the sludge!

 

[Dirk]

Thankfully you have a cartridge filter and a backwash valve. I have a DE filter and it can leave a lot more residue. You have the capability to backwash so do that real good before you open up the filter for a full cartridge cleaning.
As @Dirk mentioned. I have thought about how to put a drain line on the filter. At least the newer Pentair filters have the drain plug facing forward, the older models had it on the backside (normally that part that is closest to a wall) and that was a real pain to access. It is something Pentair should offer as an accessory as the drain plug is a straight thread with an oring.
My thought was to make a small pan under the drain plug with a line connecting to it. Similar to what is in your attic under your AC unit to catch condensation that drains to a toilet or exits out of the roof. The issue with the filter is that you have to unscrew the drain plug first, then have the line or pan ready to catch the flood of water exiting from the filter body. Just hard to do in a tight space. Ideally Pentair would have a pipe that screws into where the drain plug is, have a valve on that pipe and some pipe after that valve so you can tie into a hard pipe line or even a flexible backwash line to divert the flow to a desired point.

I'm not sure if I misspoke or not, as I was projecting my own filter-cleaning experiences. @Girija's filter is a Quad DE (according to the label on the pic that was posted). Do those get backwashed for cleaning? Or drained? Or both? My cartridge filter must be drained during the cleaning process. @Newdude came up with a solution for removing most of the sludge via shop vac. That'll work. But is a DE filter full of media that would prevent vacuuming out the water? If it only needs to be backwashed, then the backwash exit pipe could be routed anywhere, including into the ABS drainage system I suggested. If it needs to be drained, and that is as messy as draining a cartridge filter, then we're back to the original dilemma. Anywho, someone with the same DE filter is needed here to describe the process. @HermanTX has a DE filter. Is Girija's Quad DE filter the same thing?

 

[Girija]

Thanks, Dirk. I'll have to run this by my husband tomorrow. Hopefully, someone will respond to your question.

 

[Girija]

Help! My deep-end rebar is underwater! I've notified the PB. They will send someone who is "on vacation" out, but I don't know if that will be today. I believe it's been underwater for at least 24 hours. Should I be concerned? (Any rebar experts out there?) Thanks!

 

[Dirk]

Should be just fine. @JamesW?

 

[Girija]

Should be just fine. @JamesW?

Thank you for the reassurance! Does that link mean I should contact and ask James?

 

[Dirk]

Thank you for the reassurance! Does that link mean I should contact and ask James?

No, that's our way of calling in the troops (experts), so he's been contacted already. That link will pop up in James' alerts and lead him to your question. James is one of our builder experts...

 

[Girija]

No, that's our way of calling in the troops (experts), so he's been contacted already. That link will pop up in James' alerts and lead him to your question. James is one of our builder experts...

Thank you! I appreciate it.

 

[kimkats]

No worries! This happens quite often. The main thing is it could cause them a bit more work as they will have to make sure it does not cause the dirt/mud to be too close to the rebar. If it is they will have to hand scoop it out.

 

[Girija]

No worries! This happens quite often. The main thing is it could cause them a bit more work as they will have to make sure it does not cause the dirt/mud to be too close to the rebar. If it is they will have to hand scoop it out.

Thanks, Kimkats! I'm surprised rust is not an issue, but happy it's not!

 

[Dirk]

I would guess most rebar shows up to most jobs "pre-rusted." It's just its nature. If yours wasn't originally rusted, that's probably the exception! (Especially in winter.) Rebar is just as likely as not to be laying around outside in some storage yard for a spell, or even a long time, before it ever ends up at a job site.

To elaborate on what Kim is describing: if mud slides off the floor or walls and fills in the deep end, the distance between the rebar and the dirt will be less than it was. And perhaps less than it's supposed to be. That distance is determined by code and/or whoever engineered the shell. The PB's crew should re-establish that distance (by removing any excess mud and/or adjusting the rebar) before the gunite is shot. Keep an eye on the space between all rebar and the dirt to make sure it is not less than it's supposed to be. If rebar is too close to the surface of the gunite, inside or outside, it can rust and/or weaken the structure. And don't panic, I'm talking about rusting over years of exposure, not the few days your rebar has been wet. None of this is supposed to be your job, of course, but the more you keep an eye on things the better.

 

[Girija]

FINALLY got shotcrete on Tuesday, 1/12/21! Started watering it 5 1/2 hours later and at least 4 times a day since. We are having the driest, hottest, low-humidity winter ever! Temps in the low 80's in the day, dropping to 48-50 degrees at night with humidity hovering in the high twenties! Terrible weather for curing concrete! Especially the LOW humidity. The pics were taken in between watering on day two - not the best representation, as it looks prettier when it's all wet. Our deep end is filling up with water (not shown), so we'll have to pump soon. May buy an oscillating sprinkler, but will still have to water the back wall and anywhere else the water won't reach. We can't imagine hand watering 4+ times a day by hand for the next twenty-odd days! The top step had to be notched out because we extended it and the pipe underneath needs to be extended.