The flow looks especially strong at the infinity wall because I have four floor returns just inside that wall pointing straight up. I have a vacuum gauge and I will see if I can hook that up to the suction Bowl drain. The pump is definitely louder at full speed but also definitely not cavitating. I know what that sounds like from my plant engineer days.How does the flow look at full speed?
How loud is the pump at full speed?
You can add a vacuum gauge and a pressure gauge to see what the head loss is.
You can add a flowmeter to see what the flow is.
Right but the thermostat opens less with higher flow rates through the exchanger because the temperature drops with flow rate increase in the heat exchanger. So the thermostat is more like a flow rate regulator and tries to keep the flow rate through the heat exchanger constant for constant temperature with varying flow rates through the rest of the heater.The thermal regulator opens by heat.
What is the diameter of the outlet of each return?The flow looks especially strong at the infinity wall because I have four floor returns just inside that wall pointing straight up.
The infinity Basin has two returns one at each end that are CMP elongated drains with 3-in each that are combined into a 4 in underground that then runs up to the Elbow at the pad where I have a four to three inch reducer bushing. Then 3 in to the pump suction Union fitting. The main Pool and Spa returns are two and a half inch..What is the diameter of the outlet of each return?
Is there a grate over the return?
Here you go, you get an early preview. First video was setting the level with forming on inside below the 12" tile. Second was video from last night. Third was video inside the pool. There's no valves in the gutter pipe yet. When I have them installed I expect to be able to increase the flow over the back edge ~ 3X. Didn't want post these to the main thread 'till I have the valves installed so I can show max flow over back edge and add a few with ruler at edge to show the measured flow height.With all of this talk you have not shown us the water in motion as of yet. I think it is time to see it all in action!
This sounds like the suction side of the pump. I was asking about the return side of the pump. How does the water return back into the pool?The infinity Basin has two returns one at each end that are CMP elongated drains with 3-in each that are combined into a 4 in underground that then runs up to the Elbow at the pad where I have a four to three inch reducer bushing. Then 3 in to the pump suction Union fitting. The main Pool and Spa returns are two and a half inch..
All of the return fittings are elongated CMP fittings with a grate.
This would indicate flow rate is close to 200 GPM which does not seem possible with the heater in line. Plus it well exceeds the maximum flow rate of 120 GPM.We must be getting a heck of a lot of flow out of the big pump. I am measuring between a quarter of an inch and 5/16 all the way almost all of it is right at 5/16. We do have a slight breeze blowing in across the pool. But even the infinity edge has 5/16 of an inch. This is without closing the gutters off. Maybe I'm getting more flow then I should be through the heater? This is without an external bypass I wonder if it has an internal bypass? I don't think it does, I will double check.
Yes that's right sorry. The returns go to the four floor returns in front of the wall or to return to the pool wall plus one to the spa or three small returns to the bubblers on the sun deck.This sounds like the suction side of the pump. I was asking about the return side of the pump. How does the water return back into the pool?
I didn't actually measure this yet but it looks to be about 2 in. That probably includes overnight evaporation less than half an inch.How much does the water level drop in the trough from pump off to pump on?
Use that difference to calculate the volume in motion.
For example, if the trough is 32 x 2 feet, each inch is 40 gallons.
If the drop is 2.8", then that is 112 gallons extra in the pool.
If the pool is 18 x 32, each inch is 358 gallons.
1 gallon = 0.0027933" in the pool.
112 gallons = 0.31285" = 5/16" lift.
It's kind of hard to tell but the inside of the infinity Basin has three coats of waterproofing on it. The top Edge and wall Edge are bare concrete and you can see a little difference in color. I checked the inside of the basin pretty carefully first couple of days that we had water to verify we were not leaking any out. There's just a tiny change in the level that I expect is evaporation.What is the schedule for getting that Infinity trough finished?
Pool water in contact with bare concrete is not great. The concrete is not waterproof and it will absorb pool water. That absorbed water will travel to parts of the concrete exposed to air and you will start to see efflorescence develop. The pool water will also leech alkaline calcium components out of the cement. It needs to get finished as soon as you can. I realize getting the plumbing setup is fun and there’s lots to do there, but the edge troughs and the main trough need to get finished.