Booster Pump Return No Longer in Use - now what?

[Gigem94]

My polaris pump died on me and I needed parts for the polaris 280, so I decided to go with the Dolphin M400. I've removed the booster pump, my question is, do I cap off the lines or do I just connect them?

I need to aerate my pool to lower my TA and was thinking of keeping it looped and using that return and getting the requisite PCV parts. Although I'm not sure if it would give me enough pressure to do much aeration.

My alternate thought is to cap the line which (I think) would give a little more pressure to the remaining return lines and I could use one of those, but I really like the quick connect feature of the Polaris return.

Or, I could just leave it all alone and keep my simple aerator method and go grab a beer and enjoy some Sunday football. But I would like to know if people cap off their old booster line or loop it.

IMG_2467 | Mike | Flickr

Anyone have any thots?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I'd plumb it into the return line with a 3 way valve either before the pool/spa split or completely on the pool side. This way you have a port in your pool with a nice powerful return flow. You can make any number of fun, sprinkler-type attachments to plug into the old polaris port. I have a split return from my waterfall fall pump with an extra wall port in the pool to help control the flow. I rigged up a PVC hose nipple to it that allows a hollow pool noodle to slip onto it. The kids can put a pool noodle on the fitting and then direct the flow like a water cannon at each other....they love it. I get a little annoyed when they decided to flood my landscaping around the pool with pool water, but it's worth it to see them battle for the "Noodle of Power!!"

 

[pooldv]

I picked C and did nothing with mine. I think it will aerate pretty well if you turn the booster pump on with no cleaner connected. Have you ever done that before?

 

[Gigem94]

I don't have a pump any longer and have simply looped the line where the pump used to be so I'm only getting a small amount of pressure out of that return now. When the booster was active, it had awesome pressure and I'm sure would be a great aerator. I think I've decided to leave it alone especially since it's football season.

 

[pool&spatech]

sometimes we turn old pressure lines into dedicated suction lines, as long as the 1.5'' line doesn't get reduced to 3/4'' underground, what starts out as 1.5'' line at the pool equipment, and also ends up 1.5'' on the pool wall, sometimes gets reduced to 3/4'' underground, and a suction cleaner won't work, most pressure line conversions i have done though have been 1.5'' from end to end

 

[Major_in_MS]

Even with my booster pump off, I get enough flow through mine to run my fountain when I need to aerated my pool. I bought the Polaris fountain that connects to the same quick connect that my old polaris cleaner connected to. Here is a picture of my fountain running with only the pressure from my main pool pump, the booster pump is off. When the fountain is not connected, I have a eyeball jet on a quick connect that I plug into the outlet.

One bonus that I have found from running the fountain, I can tell when my sand filter needs backwashing simply by the height of the fountain. When the fountain only reaches about half of the height that it reaches after a fresh backwash, then I know that it is time to backwash again.

Eyeball Jet: https://amzn.com/B004VU97AY
Fountain: https://amzn.com/B000LRGZAQ


Zodiac 7-400-00 Polaris WaterStars Fountain System