16 July 2024 Finishing Up my OB Pool

[ajw22]

As many will know from national news we're getting pounded this week with Florida rainy season storms.

Florida Tourist Board reports every day in Florida is 85 degrees and sunny.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Rain water falling into a pool creates a large amount of aeration at the surface, essentially increasing the offgassing of CO2 and causing pH rose. Also, any rain water that hits the decking and runs into the pool will absorb minerals from the environment and have high pH. So the rain really doesn’t help much in terms of pH control. The plaster is still curing too and will take months to settle down. Just make sure you have a good source of muriatic acid and keep plenty on hand. The pH rise will get less frequent over time.

Try to minimize your use of the infinity edge as much as possible. That drop represents a lot of aeration and will only keep pressure on the pH. When you pipe the gutters into the basin, I suggest making sure the pipes exit close to the basin surface so the amount of splashing is reduced. It’ll also keep the noise down as well.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Florida Tourist Board reports every day in Florida is 85 degrees and sunny.

Send some this way … the triple digits and 0% RH is getting a bit old

 

[JamesW]

When you pipe the gutters into the basin, I suggest making sure the pipes exit close to the basin surface so the amount of splashing is reduced.

You can make the pipe end below the water surface.

 

[ajw22]

Send some this way … the triple digits and 0% RH is getting a bit old

Tucson needs a better Tourist Board.

 

[tommelton]

My 11000 gallon pool took over a year to lessen the new plaster (pebble) effect on PH. Closer to 18 months.

-Tom

 

[Davegnh]

Tucson needs a better Tourist Board.

They've done something right convincing millions of people to live in a desert. My wife was in Phoenix last week for temp ranged from 104 to 114.

 

[setsailsoon]

I started a separate thread on the automation since it seems like a totally different subject and completely different people seem interested in that kind of stuff and they're probably not really looking for anything to do with construction. But in case anybody here wants to follow along here's where the thread is. I will say this about my automation plans. I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew. I really struggled to get the pump control working and I think that's one of the easiest to configure. Without a LOT of help from experts on here, I'll be back ordering an Intellicenter.

Chris

 

[Katodude]

We will get you through this. The hardest parts are done. Just sent you a PM with some pictures.

On another good note, it’s sunny now!!!! However, all this rain has dropped the pool temp down to 81. Very unacceptable for the Mrs.


Hmmm. Learned something else today. I always thought that rain was acidic, go figure.

 

[setsailsoon]

We will get you through this. The hardest parts are done. Just sent you a PM with some pictures.

On another good note, it’s sunny now!!!! However, all this rain has dropped the pool temp down to 81. Very unacceptable for the Mrs.


Hmmm. Learned something else today. I always thought that rain was acidic, go figure.

Welcome home Andy, and thanks for the encouragement... much needed. I was about ready to give up and order an Intellicenter then getting the RS485 working was a huge shot in the arm! Today I'll try to get the other pump working and make some plumbing changes to get the infinity wall only on the big pump. But I only have one connector so I'll move it while I wait for the other one to arrive. Hoping I can just set the pump address for it as 2 instead of one and use the same single port... make sense? If I can get the temp working plus a valve and a relay I think I'll be ready to mount the control box outside.

I'll also go through the PM I'm pretty sure I've messed something up in setting up the temp probe. My pool temp is the same. My Mrs. also feels the same... I think we're all married to the same woman. But please don't tell her I said that.

Chris

 

[Katodude]

Yes just set the second pump up as 2. You should be able to run multiple pumps on a single port.

Valves are super easy to do. The hardest part is done.

Also the port where you’re plugging the thermistor into make sure the dip switches are set for 10K. Those ports can be configured for multiple functions.

 

[setsailsoon]

Yes just set the second pump up as 2. You should be able to run multiple pumps on a single port.

Valves are super easy to do. The hardest part is done.

Also the port where you’re plugging the thermistor into make sure the dip switches are set for 10K. Those ports can be configured for multiple functions.

Great, thanks... for the thermister IO port I found that mine has dip switches instead of jumpers. I think I recall you mentioned this when you set up my board. Just to be sure I contacted support at Sequent because their manual still showed jumpers even for my version 4. The settings are actually printed on the board but just to rule out interpretation error on my part they showed me very quickly how to set the dip switches. Thought this might be days of email exchanges but no. They responded in minutes on their chat window. Fantastic outfit!

Chris

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Hmmm. Learned something else today. I always thought that rain was acidic, go figure.

Pure rain water, when it forms in the upper atmosphere has a neutral pH. However, the droplets will absorb a small amount of CO2 from the air making the pH drop slightly. As the rain falls, it can pickup or absorb other gases or particulate matter which can shift the pH to higher levels. As soon as the water touches down, it will almost always absorb alkaline substances from the surface making the pH rise fairly rapidly. So, the pH of rainwater really depends a lot on your location and what pollutants are in the air. Low pH rain water (“acid rain” … stupidest terms ever coined ) typically occurs in industrialized areas where there are higher levels of sulfur or nitrogen oxides In the atmosphere. Some of the lowest pH waters occur near active volcanos due to high sulfur levels or near deep ocean vents. Lava flows into seawater can actually generate large clouds of HCl gas from the thermal conversion of saltwater brine into hydrochloric acid.

 

[setsailsoon]

OK, had a delay working on the RPi but made great progress on that. So I went out to modify piping. After all the comments from experts here I decided it definitely makes sense to use the big pump in dedicated service to the infinity wall and zero edge gutters. Didn't even think about the max flow through the heater is supposed to be limited to 120 gpm when I did the original piping. So I've "cut and pasted" the pvc to make this happen. Not super pretty because I had to use the pump union fittings that were already glued in but definitely have a LOT more flow. Will work on the filter pump piping next. Just need to connect it to the heater circuit. Should be pretty easy. Something that I figured out on the large unions around the pump and equipment are really hard to get at and grip well enough to snug them up. They don't need more than snug but sometimes even that is difficult. I tried a lot of things and didn't want to damage the outter connections with a pipe wrench. A strap wrench works perfectly. This one has a belt with groves that grips these things perfectly. Simple to snug up with no damage to the plastic fittings.


Below are some photos and link to the album that has new video of the new flow without the heater in line. Definitely a BIG difference. Note the flow at end appears way higher and it is but not because it's out of level. That's because the eyeball fitting is missing so it's an open 2" pipe the other 3 along the wall are restricted down with 3/4" eyeballs. Here's a link to the 1 minute video.

Chris

 

[proavia]

Show us some pics of the "not so pretty" equipment pad and your latest handy work.
Don't be shy - most all of us have had a "not so pretty" pad at some point.

 

[JamesW]

That's because the eyeball fitting is missing so it's an open 2" pipe the other 3 along the wall are restricted down with 3/4" eyeballs.

Why are you adding restrictions to the flow?

The only way to get the full flow out of the pump is to keep the head loss as low as possible.

 

[JamesW]

It still seems too weak.

Have you measured the trough water level differences?

Have you checked the vacuum and discharge pressure?

 

[JamesW]

The pump should be able to hit 280 GPM and I do not think that you are getting anywhere close to that.

 

[setsailsoon]

Why are you adding restrictions to the flow?

The only way to get the full flow out of the pump is to keep the head loss as low as possible.

I was trying to direct it with the largest eyeballs I could find locally. Could easily remove the other fittings and see what that does to discharge pressure. I'll try that as soon as it gets a day or so of sunlight. With all the rain Pool temp is down to 82 deg... that's freezing to us!

Chris

 

[setsailsoon]

It still seems too weak.

Have you measured the trough water level differences?

Have you checked the vacuum and discharge pressure?

Not yet - got diverted to automation... that's now waiting on tech support so I'll have time for that tomorrow.