Looking to cool my pool, have a few questions?

[thedeadliving5]

As always, I love the site, and look forward to your quick responses! With the heat here in AZ, my pool has been averaging anywhere from 92-95 degrees and it's not much fun to swim in. I have read through several posts on here related to fountains, but before I buy one or make one, I have a few questions:

1. How does one cap off a return?
2. I have 4 returns, if I were to cap one or convert one to a fountain, would that affect my skimmer production?
3. When choosing a return for the fountain, the logical choice is the return closest to the pump, correct?
4. Can I just unscrew the white pvc head/cap (aerator) and connect a fountain there and leave the returns alone?


Thanks!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

1. How does one cap off a return? In my case it was a return meant for the Polaris cleaner. Look for a return that will accept a thread coupling.
2. I have 4 returns, if I were to cap one or convert one to a fountain, would that affect my skimmer production? The return is pressure side of things, the skimmer is on the suction side of the pool. It should have no effect on your skimmer.
3. When choosing a return for the fountain, the logical choice is the return closest to the pump, correct? I dunno, but for us it was one that we could control via a valve at the equipment pad to crank up or down the pressure (makes the fountain shoot higher or lower).
4. Can I just unscrew the white pvc head/cap (aerator) and connect a fountain there and leave the returns alone? Yup.. may take an adapter fitting, but easily done with simple PVC from Lowes.


Thanks!

Welcome! Look in my siggy line for Skippy's cooling fountain. Works a charm for us!

Yip

 

[thedeadliving5]

Thanks for the fast response, I was hoping to put something together this weekend and I think I will remove the current Aerator, it doesn't serve much of a purpose other than to make my 8 month old puppy go crazy trying to bite the water

As for the returns and the pressure/suction side of things, that brings up another question. I have only had my pool for a few months, build completed in April and my Intelliflow is running 14 hours a day during the week at 1900RPMs. I have tried to lower this to save electricity, but if I lower it to anything less than 1900 RPMs, the return furthest from the pump starts to bubble/gurgle. I went as low as 1000 RPMs to see what would happen, that return pretty much gurgled every few minutes, but nothing more. Is it ok to leave it in this state since I have the other three returns or will this affect the flow of leaves and what not from hitting the skimmer?

 

[Vickery]

Do a search on "pool coolers" in the site and you will find plenty of examples of home made coolers. I built mine per that inspiration and can drop the pool by 5-6 degrees overnight.