Dreaded inherited pool with incomprehensible (to me) plumbing

[dchichi]

Good afternoon,

At my former residence, I had an inherited pool that I eventually figured out and ran successfully for 15 years. Then. . . I moved.

Now I have another inherited pool, apparently with a Polaris 3900 Sport vacuum cleaner, and an auxiliary pump. I have absolutely NO idea what to do with this thing. My old pool had a suction side Hayward Navigator. That, I understood.

This Polaris has me completely confused. First, I am supposed to be looking for a dedicated cleaner return line? What does that look like?

Second, how do I operate the auxiliary pump? I pulled the owners manual on the cleaner, but it isn't much help.

I realize these are incredibly stupid and basic questions, so even a link to a video or another manual or how to guide would be extremely helpful.

Thanks so much in advance for any help you can provide!

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

The dedicated return for the Polaris looks like this.

The universal wall fitting should be semi-permanently installed in the side of the pool. That may be all that you see if the sweep has been removed. The quick disconnect should be at the end of the Polaris hose. It is used when you want to install or remove the Polaris from the pool.

The 3900 is one of the better Polaris units in my experience. It uses pressure to suck debris from the bottom and deposit into the Polaris bag. There "should" be a timer for the aux pump to run the Polaris 1-2 hours a day depending on need.

 

[Jimrahbe]

D,

Welcome to TFP... a great place to find the answers to all of your pool maintenance questions, whether your "Ark" is "New" or not...

Somewhere you should have a timer box of some type, that controls your main pool pump. Most likely in the same box, or something close by, will be timer or switch for the booster pump. To run your cleaner you will have to have your main pump and booster pump running at the same time. And, the hose connected as pointed out above by Rocket..

If you can't find it, post some pictures of your control or timer boxes..

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[sktn77a]

I've seen worse! Everything appears to be plumbed correctly. One of your returns should have the 6 sided universal wall fitting (it may have been replaced with a screw-in return jet). If you can't figure it out, turn on the booster pump (there's probably a switch on the back side of that electrical box) and see which return increase in force.

 

[ajw22]

You have two pumps. The pump between your filter and heater provides pressure for the Polaris cleaner. You need to find the control or timer that pump is connected to.

The top flexible pipe from that pump feeds into the dedicated return line the Polaris connects to. Someone else posted above what that connection looks like.

 

[ajw22]

I've seen worse! Everything appears to be plumbed correctly. One of your returns should have the 6 sided universal wall fitting (it may have been replaced with a screw-in return jet). If you can't figure it out, turn on the booster pump (there's probably a switch on the back side of that electrical box) and see which return increase in force.

I would not turn on the aux pump before confirming there is no plug in the cleaner line in the pool.

 

[sktn77a]

I would not turn on the aux pump before confirming there is no plug in the cleaner line in the pool.

Of course. I was assuming none of the three (?) returns were closed off.

 

[dchichi]

You guys are absolutely AWESOME.

I found the dedicated pool cleaner line, and the booster pump switch. I had absolutely no idea what I was looking at, but thanks to you all, I'm starting to get my head wrapped around what I've got.

Thanks a million, once again!