Hey all,
I became a pool owner last year and have quickly turned into a full-blown pool nerd — and a TFP evangelist.
With the size of our pool, I couldn’t help but feel like the flow was just too dang low.
I wanted to share my experience doing some pad-side plumbing upgrades this past week, since it was something I contemplated over and over.
Background:
At this point, I'm still dialing in the new return port's eyeball and the return Jandy BVSU015's to try to get a nice circulation pattern.
Since I’m still a pool novice, I’m not here to blindly recommend this — just wanted to share my numbers and experience as a bit of a “science experiment.”
Please feel free to pick this apart and tell me where I went wrong or what I could improve. In the future, I would love to add a SWG and go cartridge to save some space and make future plumbing projects easier.
I became a pool owner last year and have quickly turned into a full-blown pool nerd — and a TFP evangelist.
With the size of our pool, I couldn’t help but feel like the flow was just too dang low.
I wanted to share my experience doing some pad-side plumbing upgrades this past week, since it was something I contemplated over and over.
Background:- Pool size: 44×22 ft, 50,000+ gallons, 11.5-12 ft deep
- Pool age: Built in the ’60s or ’70s (hybrid pool: gunite/plaster floor with fiberglass walls — still hanging in there!)
- Underground plumbing:
- 1.5” skimmer line — One skimmer for the whole pool. It's rough with how many trees we have. Betta SE has been helpful.
- 1.5” main drain line
- 1.5" return line going to two returns
- (Now previously) unused 1.5" line that was a pressure-side vacuum with booster.
- Pump: Pentair IntelliFlo3 1.5 HP (2” union slip fit, 1.5" inside fit)
- Filter: Triton sand filter (not sure what the model is, the sticker is wearing off)
- Heater: Pentair MasterTemp 400
- Starting flow: ~35 GPM at 99% RPM. 39 GPM on a really, really good day.
What I Changed:
- Suction side:
- Installed Jandy 4715 3-way valve to combine the skimmer and main drain into a 2” trunk (previously 1.5"). This replaced two seized up, basic ball valves that I'm sure restricted flow.
- Return side:
- Converted unused pressure-side vacuum line into a new dedicated 1.5” return
- Added a second Jandy 4715 3-way to split the 2” return trunk into two 1.5” returns (existing and converted vacuum line)
- Installed full-port Jandy BVSU015 1.5” ball valves on each return line (no room on suction).
- Other:
- Re-plumbed all pad piping to 2” PVC (pump ➔ filter ➔ heater ➔ returns)
- Installed a flow meter (H2Flow) on the return trunk
Preliminary Results:
- Flow
- 65–72 GPM at 99% RPM (60-70% improvement)
- 35 GPM at 65% RPM
- Filter pressure dropped:
- From ~20-22 psi ➔ ~14–15 psi at the same RPM
- Turnover time:
- I'd be lucky if I could get the pool to turnover once in 24 hours. Now, I can turn it over almost twice in a day if running full-blast.
- Usability:
- I can now control the flow of both suction and returns much more easily.
At this point, I'm still dialing in the new return port's eyeball and the return Jandy BVSU015's to try to get a nice circulation pattern.
Since I’m still a pool novice, I’m not here to blindly recommend this — just wanted to share my numbers and experience as a bit of a “science experiment.”
Please feel free to pick this apart and tell me where I went wrong or what I could improve. In the future, I would love to add a SWG and go cartridge to save some space and make future plumbing projects easier.
Last edited:
