I’m desperate for help at this point. We rent a home and the property manager company uses a vendor warehouse to contract the pool service. I’ve literally been trying to get help for hours and nobody can even figure out what company services my pool (complete poopshow). The pool guy was just here today but we were both working. He cleaned the pool and Now the fountains aren’t working. We find that when the fountains aren’t running in conjunction with the jets. Anyway, attached is a picture of my pool’s plumbing. Does anyone have any idea what dials I would need to turn and how to get the fountains to work with the jets? We find when one or both is shut off the pool gets green fast! Thank you for any help anyone can provide.
Can anyone please help?
- Thread starter Rex7
- Start date
No labels is a nightmare. That whole plumbing is a nightmare. You need to experiment with the valves, being careful to NOT block all flow from the filter.
Welcome. Are any of the inlets labeled? If you’re finding the pool water getting green, thats an indication of inadequate chlorination. Sounds like your pool service isn’t doing a very good job.
DrewLG
Gold Supporter
Pool equipment is conceptually simple: A pump suctions water from the pool, then pushes it through a filter and returns it to the pool. There are usually valves on the input side before the pump (Suction valves) and valves on the output side after the filter (Return valves), to adjust where the water comes from and where it goes. I'll describe what your valves do and then explain how to adjust them.
In front of the pump, your system has a single Suction valve which chooses between two water sources. It could be choosing between a skimmer on the pool wall and a drain on the floor of the pool, or between two skimmers, or between the pool and an attached spa -- you haven't described your setup, so I don't know which. The valve can be adjusted to draw 100% from one source, 100% from the other, or from anywhere in between. Importantly, the valve can also be completely closed, preventing any flow of water to the pump. DO NOT RUN THE PUMP WITH THAT VALVE CLOSED.
The other 7 valves, after the filter, are Return valves. Each directs water to a different pipe that returns to the pool somewhere (pool-wall returns, spa jets, fountains, etc). There are 8 of these return pipes, and you can adjust the valves to direct water to any combination of them simultaneously. As with the Suction valve, the Return valves can also be completely closed, preventing any flow from the pump to the return pipes. DO NOT RUN THE PUMP WITHOUT AT LEAST ONE RETURN PIPE OPEN.
Ok, so here's how to adjust the valves:
If you look opposite the valve handle, you'll see a tab that says "OFF". Each valve is at the center of a "T" of three pipes; rotating the OFF tab in front of a pipe will close that pipe while leaving the other two open. Rotating the OFF tab so it's opposite the stem of the "T" -- so it isn't in front of any pipe -- leaves all three pipes open. For example, in your photo the Suction valve is set to leave all three pipes open, and it looks like nearly all of the Return valves are also set to leave all three pipes open -- I've marked with a red line the two pipes that are definitely closed, and with a yellow line the pipe that's partially closed.
If you follow the pipes from the filter, you'll see that the seven Return valves are in series, one after the other. Water comes into each valve through the stem of the "T", and the valve can direct that water to either arm or to both arms of the "T".
One arm from each valve goes to a return pipe that curves down into the ground and returns to the pool. The other arm just goes to the next valve in the series.
The last valve in the chain controls two outputs; each of its arms goes to a return pipe that curves into the ground and returns to the pool.
To figure out what each Return valve controls:
First open all the Return valves completely ("OFF" tab opposite the stem so all three pipes are open) and turn on the pump. Then close-and-open one return pipe at a time. Watch the pool to see what changes (or better, have a helper watch), make a note, and then move to the next valve in the series. MAKE SURE as you rotate the valves that you always leave an open path from the pump to at least one return pipe.
After you've figured out the Return valves, you can do the Suction valve. Start with all pipes open, the way it's shown in the photo, and then slowly close one arm while a helper watches the pool skimmer to see whether more or less water flows through it. If the pump starts to sound different or you see air suddenly filling the pump under the clear lid, turn the valve back.
Once you figure out which suction pipe comes from the skimmer, and where each of the return pipes go, label each pipe with a marker (or with pool-equipment stickers that you can buy on Amazon).
Good luck.
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