Help with pool equipment at a house i just bought.

[miller18]

I just bought a house with an inground pool. I had a hardside above at my house house and thought pool is a pool. BOY WAS I WRONG. Part of the contract was a functioning pool. We had a freeze a week before closing and pool equipment was damaged. Seller is working with me to get it fixed.
They do not seem to know much since this was parents house and they passed away. The pool seems small to me. The pump is 3 hp pentair vs pump (not working) filter os xlean and clear 520. This seems like too much for a small pool. By what i have figured pool is 12,000 to 15,000 gallon. No spa no heater but i plan on getting a heater later.
Does the pump and filter seem correct for this size pool??
There is also a pipe coming out of ground next to filter with a rag stuffed in it. What is the purpose of this?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

A 3HP Pentair IntelliFlo VS pump and a CCP 520 cartridge filter are very suitable for your pool.

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

How to select pool equipment - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Jimrahbe]

18,

The bigger a VS pump, the slower you can run it and still move a lot of water. The slower you can run it, the less it costs and the quieter it is..

The larger the filter, the less often you have to clean it..

I have three 'small' pools and they all have 3 HP IntelliFlo pumps.. They have been running 24/7, mostly at 1200 RPM for 10 or more years.. Less than $20 bucks a month, and newer pumps are now twice as efficient.

My two rent houses have old DE filters, but when they die they will be replaced with large cartridge filters...

Don't be penny wise and pound foolish...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Lake Placid]

Echoing Jim and Allen…l You’d be well served by those pieces of equipment. Do you have a pic of the pipe with the rag in question?

 

[Jimrahbe]

18,

Why is the IntelliFlo "not working"???

What does it do, if anything? Not working could be many different things.

Edit.. Show us several pics of your whole equipment pad..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[miller18]

Welcome to TFP.

A 3HP Pentair IntelliFlo VS pump and a CCP 520 cartridge filter are very suitable for your pool.

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

How to select pool equipment - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Thank so much!!! This helps put my mind at ease!!

 

[miller18]

Echoing Jim and Allen…l You’d be well served by those pieces of equipment. Do you have a pic of the pipe with the rag in question?

Yes I do. I attached them. Thanks so much for helping me!!

 

[miller18]

18,

The bigger a VS pump, the slower you can run it and still move a lot of water. The slower you can run it, the less it costs and the quieter it is..

The larger the filter, the less often you have to clean it..

I have three 'small' pools and they all have 3 HP IntelliFlo pumps.. They have been running 24/7, mostly at 1200 RPM for 10 or more years.. Less than $20 bucks a month, and newer pumps are now twice as efficient.

My two rent houses have old DE filters, but when they die they will be replaced with large cartridge filters...

Don't be penny wise and pound foolish...

Thanks,

Jim R.

Thank you so much. This helps a ton!!! I have seen scary posts about too big of pump and filter will cause plumbing issues so this advise puts me at ease. I will replace with exact same pump.

 

[miller18]

18,

Why is the IntelliFlo "not working"???

What does it do, if anything? Not working could be many different things.

Edit.. Show us several pics of your whole equipment pad..

Thanks,

Jim R.

The he screen has water under it and so the start stop button does not work. When we first moved in it ran a few hours a day I guess on the automatic settings the previous owners had it on. One day I was cleaning leaves out of the pool and I noticed it was making a loud clicking sound and it went off and never turned back on. I will go and take more pictures tomorrow when it is day light and post for you. Thanks so much for the help!!

 

[miller18]

18,

The bigger a VS pump, the slower you can run it and still move a lot of water. The slower you can run it, the less it costs and the quieter it is..

The larger the filter, the less often you have to clean it..

I have three 'small' pools and they all have 3 HP IntelliFlo pumps.. They have been running 24/7, mostly at 1200 RPM for 10 or more years.. Less than $20 bucks a month, and newer pumps are now twice as efficient.

My two rent houses have old DE filters, but when they die they will be replaced with large cartridge filters...

Don't be penny wise and pound foolish...

Thanks,

Jim R.

The new 3hp VS pump came today. I still have the clean and clear 520 filter. when I turned it on after we installed it I put it on speed 4 to get the pool filtered quickly since it has not been filtered in a month since we bought the house. it only ran for a few minutes and cut off. PSI was at 20. So I out it on speed 2 at 1700 RPM and the PSI in filter dropped to 0. Does this sound normal? Is the. pool still filtering?.

 

[Lake Placid]

Have you opened the filter to see how dirty the cartridge is? How does the water feel coming out of the returns when the pump is on? Is it a strong steady flow or does it feel weak?

 

[Jimrahbe]

18,

If you have no heater, and a 520 filter, a low filter pressure is to be expected at low RPMs..

Filter pressure is not a measure of how good the pump is, but rather how much effort it takes to push water through the filter..

I have a 30 lb. gauge and at 1200 RPM have about 1 lb. of filter pressure and plenty of water flowing back to the pool.

I assume you checked the filter before you installed a brand new pump... ???

What specific pump did you get???

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[miller18]

Have you opened the filter to see how dirty the cartridge is? How does the water feel coming out of the returns when the pump is on? Is it a strong steady flow or does it feel weak?

Yes we cleaned the cartridge when we moved in since we didn’t know how long it’s been since they were cleaned. Flow is strong and steady.

 

[miller18]

18,

If you have no heater, and a 520 filter, a low filter pressure is to be expected at low RPMs..

Filter pressure is not a measure of how good the pump is, but rather how much effort it takes to push water through the filter..

I have a 30 lb. gauge and at 1200 RPM have about 1 lb. of filter pressure and plenty of water flowing back to the pool.

I assume you checked the filter before you installed a brand new pump... ???

What specific pump did you get???

Thanks,

Jim R.

Yes filter is fine. Seller bought same pump Pentair 3hp vs pump

 

[Lake Placid]

I put it on speed 4 to get the pool filtered quickly since it has not been filtered in a month

Yes we cleaned the cartridge when we moved in since we didn’t know how long it’s been since they were cleaned. Flow is strong and steady.

What does the water look like? It’s very possible the cartridge is plugged since you haven’t run it in a month causing your erratic pressure gauge readings. Open the filter and check the cartridge for debris.

 

[miller18]

What does the water look like? It’s very possible the cartridge is plugged since you haven’t run it in a month causing your erratic pressure gauge readings. Open the filter and check the cartridge for debris.

we cleaned them and the inside of the filter when we moved in. The Texas pollen has been bad so we cleaned them again. I also have 4 brand new filters to put in when Spring is over. Water is crystal clear. the plaster is stained form the leaves and acorns from the huge oak trees by my pool. I believe we are going have to deal with the staining until we can get the trees cut down. I got the limbs directly over pool so pool could get some sun but the rest of the trees will have to wait until we save some more money.