Re Piping the pumps

[tpm]

Hello again
I am going to attempt to change the piping so my water feature works on another pump. And my swimout to the other pump. So I am basically going to crisscross the connections. I have never worked with PVC before but think I can handle it. In the picture you will see I am also going to add 2 ball valves to make it easier to access the pump strainer. (you would think the pool builder would have thought of that, although he is the one that piped the water feature to the wrong pump so go figure).
Looking at the picture if anyone thinks they have the best way of re-piping it please let me know. If possible I will try to keep most of the piping under the surface.

So the pump on the left will be used for the wate rfeature ONLY. The swimout will be tied in with the filter / heater so it gives warm water
Thanks

 

[waste]

Tom, you've got the right idea - the Pool Goof plumbed it wrong and it should be plumbed as you're thinking

It looks like you'd have enough room to use 2 90* for the cross over on the waterfall and 2 45* and a 90* (or 2 more 45*) for the swimout. The 45*s should allow you to go around the waterfall pipe. Dig down ~ 2' and cut ~1' out of each uprising pipe to give you enough room. You may have to glue the final 2 connections on each line at the same time to fit things together ( you need the movement of fresh glue in 2 directions to get them together) As you haven't worked with pvc before, this may be a little unclear, but I'll help walk you through it when the time comes :-D

 

[tpm]

Thanks Ted

I am hoping to tackle this on Monday or so. Will let you know how i made out,
I'm sure I'll be asking more questions before then however.

 

[sbluhm]

I re-plumbed my old pump and filter last year, and I came across this site which had some useful tips on working with PVC, different types of joints, etc.. might be worth a read if you've never worked with PVC before.

http://www.troubleshooters.com/pool/repipe/index.htm

My only advice is to give some thought in to making sure you have unions and couplings where you need them for easy maintenance. Looks like you already have a lot there, but sometimes installers don't put them in (more expensive and they won't be having to deal with repairs), or we forget to put them in while we're fixing pipe. Unions and couplings can also make the gluing/installation a lot easier, as you minimize times when you have to be gluing two sides of a pipe at the same time or you give yourself some extra length to play with.

Good luck!

 

[tpm]

I finally got around to repiping everything. It went well with me directing and my brother doing the actual work. (I had neck surgery). The water feature is much stronger now being on the dedicated pump. The swimout area now has the heated water from the heater and filter going to it. Lost a little pressure in the swimout returns being there is now 7 total returns but overall I'm happy. I put a manual gate valve on either side of water feature pump as well as the swimout. I only have the swimout returns cracked open during the week to keep some water moving in that cove so to speak.
Pictures were taken on my iPhone as it was drizzling and didn't want to take the good camera out. Thanks to everyone for the help. Oh we had a little trouble getting a prime seeing as it is an above ground pump for the water feature (why in part I put the gates there) and found out we forgot to glue the return gate fitting when it shot out at us. All is good now. I really don't like flex piping but it came in handy as I just had to dig back and cross the lines. Worked out well

 

[waste]

Way to go Tom!

If I'd known we were dealing with flex pipe, my advice would have been a little different

Very glad it's all set now!

Watch out for your neck when diving in to enjoy the pool 8)