Polaris 280 newbie

[Blooze]

We have just bought a home with our first pool (inground) and it came with a Polaris 280. The booster pump is wired in with the main pump so it won't run unless the main is on. The question we have is with the Polaris attached to the pressure outlet on the side of the pool and the booster pump off, it still moves around, albeit slowly, due to pressure still coming out of the outlet. Is this normal and will it hurt anything? I don't remember the HP of the main pump right off hand, but I know the pool guy was surprised it was as large at it was for our size pool (~35x15 bean shaped and 5' deep at the deep end).

I'm sure we'll have a ton more questions as we go along.

 

[atttech-2]

Welcome to the forum

It's not normal for a 280 to move without the booster running that must be a monster main pump to cause the Polaris to move but it will not hurt the Polaris. If you look in the pool school link at the top of the page under the how to section there is a guide for determining pump run time. Since it appears you have a large pump it is going to move a large volume of water at a fairly high electrical usage. The guide will give you an idea of how long you need to run the pump each day it is probably less time than you might think. If the original pump ever dies or If electrical rates are high where you live switching the pump out for a 2 speed pump could pay for its self in a couple of years.

As you learn about your pool it is helpful if you can update your signature to include info about your equipment like you see at the bottom of my post. This will make it easier for those answering your questions understand what you are dealing with. Instructions on how to update your signature can be found here Read This BEFORE You Post

 

[Blooze]

Thanks. I checked when I got home and the pump is a Hayward SP4020. Says 2.0 HP; 1.35 SF, 2.70 THP. Figure pool is around 15000 gallons at 3' deep at shallow end and 5'deep at other end. About 35' x 15' bean shaped.

Also noticed the flow switch quit working today. We have an Aquarite swg system. Just got all the salt added yesterday and was sitting at 3000 ppm. Pulled sensor and it's missing the flipper part. Have one of those on order.

 

[atttech-2]

while you are waiting on the flow switch you can use plain bleach aka liquid chlorine to keep your FC up so you don't develop any algae. If you have not had a chance take a look in pool school start with the ABC's and ask questions as you think of them. There are many on here willing to help.

Besides reading throught pool school the bigest thing you can do to help your self is get a good test kit, most on here get the tf-100 form tftestkits.net it has more reagents than the other reccomended kits but you can't go wrong wiht any of the reccomended kits in pool shchool.