Flow through returns, skuppers and bubbler slowing down.

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C

carpenterss

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Silver Supporter
May 13, 2016
32
Lewisville Tx (Castle Hills)
I don't know anything about pumps or hydraulics, but I'll try to describe what is going on and maybe someone can point me in the right direction. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Pool opened in Oct - no issues with pressure/flow out of returns, skuppers, bubbler. Over the winter I close the manual valve for the skuppers to avoid freezing those up per PB suggestion.

In Feb, PB drained and acid washed the pool to get rid of a cosmetic defect in the finish. Refilled the pool and turned on the skuppers again. I turned this valve all the way open. Everything seemed ok for a while. I got the TF test kit and went to work getting the chemicals balanced.
At some point, I realized there was no flow coming out of the return from the spa (which flows over a small wall into the pool). I think the green haze in the spa may have tipped me off. I had messed with the valves trying to get the return in the spa going again and ended up turning them all wide open. Called the PB and a worker came out and said he balanced the valves and everything was fine and that I should not have everything wide open. Dunno? But this time I took a picture of the handles on the valves so I know exactly where he had them. Still the flow out of the returns in the spa and pool kinda seemed weak.

About four days later the return in the spa wasn't putting anything out again. I made very slight adjustments until I could get some flow out of everything and left it alone. It still isn't great. Skuppers are barely putting anything out.

The pump is running at 2600 RPM and pressure guage is about 21.
Maybe unrelated, but I have been adding pool conditioner (CYA) to get those levels up. Directions say you can slowly add to skimmer. I added the third gallon in about three weeks tonight and then the skuppers pretty much shut down. I messed with valves again and kinda got things going, but again, it doesn't seem right to me.

One other thing I noticed is that the water flows through the pool sweep even when that isn't running. Not sure if that is correct or not.

Thanks.
 
G,

I suspect your filter needs to be cleaned or at least backwashed.

With a pump speed of only 2600 RPM, I would think your filter pressure would be closer to 10 than 21..

When was the last time you cleaned or backwashed your filter?

BTW.. We live in Texas, we don't close our pools in the "winter"... :p

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Thanks for the replies.
I backwashed once in late November and have also cleaned the SWG. I will try the backwash again and see what happens if that is what ya'll are suggesting. I guess I am a little confused. I have been reading a bunch of threads on pool care to try and learn, but I thought I ran across a thread on backwashing here that indicated people usually do it too much. Some indicated they only did it once a year, but maybe they have a shorter season. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I'll post a followup when I get that done. Thanks.
 
G,

TFP recommends to backwash or clean DE filters when the pressure increases by 25% over the clean pressure.

This gets a little more confusing when using a VS pump like you have. Since you can change your pump speed, the filter pressure will also change. So you need to know the clean filter pressure in relationship to a specific pump speed.

So for example... After you clean your filter you would pick a speed say 2,500 RPM and then record the clean filter pressure.. Then from time to time your would run the pump at 2,500 RPM. When the filter pressure at that speed has increased more than 25% from the clean pressure, you would need to clean the filter again.

It is true that some people only clean their filters one or twice a year, but they still have to check from time to time to ensure that the pressure has not increased by 25%. They can also do this because they maintain their water chemistry by TFP standards.

In your case, based upon your description of the problem, it sounds as if your filter is full. Bad water chemistry can cause a clean filter to become full in just a few days...

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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