I had a ball valve below my skimmer that broke the second time I tried to use it and never got around to replacing it. when I have to shut off my skimmer I just use one of those old style flat rubber drain covers. about 5 inches in diameter and less than a 1/4 inch thick. think I got it at Ace.
Decoy’s Above Ground Pool Saga
- Thread starter Decoy205
- Start date
Thanks! Yup that’s the type. I thought there was plastic thing I could use . Paranoid about using metal in the new pool tearing up the plastic or messing up the liner. Gotta be real careful I guess.
Throw some wraps of electrical tape on the jaws of the pliers and go gentle. The end cap thingie comes off pretty easy, the eyeball pops out and the repeat for the threaded fitting. Or the 3 piece fitting comes out as one piece and you can take it apart away from the pool before reassembling. Don't put it back as 1 piece or you'll inadvertently tighten the cap and never be able to adjust the eyeball.
If you do happen to mark up the fitting, they are $10 and get replaced every 2nd or 3rd year due to yellowing anyway.
If you do happen to mark up the fitting, they are $10 and get replaced every 2nd or 3rd year due to yellowing anyway.
Thanks dude! I have the other flat tool that removes the inner threaded piece so I can put the plug in. Just need to get that outer ring off.
3.5 hours for them to tear down the old and put up the new? OMG... I wish I would have bought a round lol. Oval is such a pita to put up
Keep in mind, 'they' are good at it and do it for a living. I spent a day taking mine above ground down. I also helped a neighbor change a liner twice and both took a day, with several of us.
JoeSelf
Gold Supporter
You have teflon tape on the pipes before slipping on the new hoses, right?
I never used tape on the plastic hoses like that before! I thought it would just get pushed outta the way when getting them on. I got back up today though. A buddy helping is me with back fill and does plumbing! Gonna get me set up with most of the pvc work.
True but 3.5 hours? It took us 4 days to put up an oval not counting the ground prep. I am positive a round pool would have taken less than half.
This was a great tip and easy. I took the tub stopper from my bathroom and it I was 3 inches wide with a 1 1/2 plug at the bottom. It stopped the water no problem. Thanks!
Yesterday one of my contractor friends came by to help with the backfill and plumbing.
We started with backfill and used the sifting technique @Newdude mentioned above and it worked great.
We ran out of original fill dirt because the old pool had a dish in the middle and the pool installer has to steal some dirt from the back and drag it to the middle plus we had a slope so the back needed more fill then the front.
Pics:
We got some bags of top soil to fill in some of the back. The plan was to get it filled. Get the electrician here to do the bonding then finish under the deck with more dirt and weed fabric and add stone on top graded away.
Second we addressed the leaky pool hoses.
Here’s how we ended up:
In hindsight I think we should’ve done the pump to filter first to get that Union closer to the filter.
We didn’t have time to do the skimmer and there was no leak there so we let it be until the next time he comes.
I think adding a Union at the top section before the elbow goes into the filter will work so I don’t have a huge pipe hanging off the filter at close.
There’s a drip where the return line screws into the filter he said the tolerance on the filter fitting is crappy and thinks the liquid plumbers tape will fix that since the regular tape wasn’t enough.
Some questions for TFP:
1. Is the top soil a problem since its more wet than the sandy soil I had there? I wanted to get a more dry dirt but that’s what we were able to get quickly.
2. Do you think putting the Union at the top will be a good idea?
3. When doing pvc from the skimmer, do you glue the fitting right to the bottom of the skimmer? Or use one of this rubber adapters first?
Thanks as usual folks. Gonna keep working on chemistry today as the pump is now operation!
-John
We started with backfill and used the sifting technique @Newdude mentioned above and it worked great.
We ran out of original fill dirt because the old pool had a dish in the middle and the pool installer has to steal some dirt from the back and drag it to the middle plus we had a slope so the back needed more fill then the front.
Pics:
We got some bags of top soil to fill in some of the back. The plan was to get it filled. Get the electrician here to do the bonding then finish under the deck with more dirt and weed fabric and add stone on top graded away.
Second we addressed the leaky pool hoses.
Here’s how we ended up:
In hindsight I think we should’ve done the pump to filter first to get that Union closer to the filter.
We didn’t have time to do the skimmer and there was no leak there so we let it be until the next time he comes.
I think adding a Union at the top section before the elbow goes into the filter will work so I don’t have a huge pipe hanging off the filter at close.
There’s a drip where the return line screws into the filter he said the tolerance on the filter fitting is crappy and thinks the liquid plumbers tape will fix that since the regular tape wasn’t enough.
Some questions for TFP:
1. Is the top soil a problem since its more wet than the sandy soil I had there? I wanted to get a more dry dirt but that’s what we were able to get quickly.
2. Do you think putting the Union at the top will be a good idea?
3. When doing pvc from the skimmer, do you glue the fitting right to the bottom of the skimmer? Or use one of this rubber adapters first?
Thanks as usual folks. Gonna keep working on chemistry today as the pump is now operation!
-John
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There may not be enough clearance at the red line, so use the blue line if you have to. It still won't be any weight at all to have it there. And it won't be awkwardly wanting to grab you anytime you are out there.
Nothing should be touching the pool. Z-E-R-O. Unless the wall is resin or its one you can bury. But otherwise anything touching the wall will retain moisture and be the eventual downfall of the pool.
Yup. See above.
Always go pvc when possible. Fernco fittings are a guaranteed headaches down the road the same as the flex pipes are.
Yes the blue line is what I was thinking. The way we did the return there was no way to fit it where the red line is.
Now I’m in a spot where I don’t know how to deal with the slope and space from where the deck is. Eventually that dirt will erode onto the pool wall like the old one.
Ok cool Well glue right to the skimmer!Always go pvc when possible. Fernco fittings are a guaranteed headaches down the road the same as the flex pipes are.
I didn't say it would be easy. I also didn't say it would die before 15 years.
if it's under the deck it doesn't even have to be pretty and you could cut it back and use cinderblocks for the retaining wall. Was the old one carved into the hill the same way ?
I didn't say it would be easy. I also didn't say it would die before 15 years.
Was the old one carved into the hill the same way ?
First, thanks a lot @Newdude for your fast and helpful reply’s. I’ve been stressing a lot of this but having quick and thoughtful responses has made it a little less painful. This is all new territory for me. I really appreciate your time and experience.
Yeah the old one was buried just about a foot on the side where the deck is. And slowly graded less as it went to the front. I’m not sure if it started that way but it definitely eroded to that over time.
They had the dirt fill in to make the grade smooth and plastic weed barrier with the pea gravel on the sides. Under the deck more weed and tree root wrap. Then rock over that and they covered it with mulch. Which definitely doesn’t help drainage.
So I was thinking as you say, maybe do a small retaining wall under the deck. Somehow smooth the grade on the back sections that aren’t under the deck so there is not a trench. Then weed fabric not plastic an use River rock around the pool with edging to hold in the rock.
That's how we do, my friend. If I'm busy there's a small army behind me
Keep the saga updates comin !!!
Seriously it’s awesome! This Place has been a huge help for me.Last night I tested the water. Yesterday I added more chlorine. Didn’t measure because it was a long day. And I got about 1.5 lbs of cya in there. Was going slow so I don’t over shoot.
The pump was only going for a few hours since we were doing the plumbing and it was 90 degrees so all the FC from the night before was gone! Here are my readings from 7:30pm about 15 mins after adding chlorine
FC 3
CYA < 30 ( will add more today)
Ph 7
TA 70
CH 50
Gonna add another pound or so of CYA and some more chlorine and retest.
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Always the smart play when adding CYA / CH / salt that only come out by draining.