Summary: If your Polaris like mine operates under pressure from an auxiliary booster connected at the output of your sand filter then you too may be acutely aware that a failure upstream will let it run dry, entailing a massive repair bill. But it seems elementary to me that the installation of a pressure switch would keep it off until the input to the sand filter has reached, say, 15 to 20 psi by which time it can safely be energized
The switch would of course measure water pressure relative to ambient air and a load capability to handle the requirement of your booster, typically 13 amps. If you’ve already undertaken such a mod or know who might carry such a switch could you please send me a link with some info about it—Thank you kindly--Some detail follows:
But if you’re like me the first couple of times it goes west in that manner you might assume the trouble was caused by a fault in the booster itself so after the third such catastrophe and faced with still another repair bill of $103 you reluctantly cough up $385 for a brand new one. After it also fails however, compelling still another repair (3 x $103 = $309), you consult your Friendly Local Pool and Spa outlet, who explain that only a momentary loss of water can cause them to self-destruct
Thus an expenditure of almost $700 leaves you in a state of fugue since there are so many ways a failure upstream can deprive it--while I couldn’t fathom how the Pool Establishment could have allowed so chancy a state of affairs. When I made my proposal to a pool “expert†he advised that my suggested switch was a fallback (I was treating a symptom not the cause) and that instead I should (1) install a second timer that would delay powering the booster an (2) always watch very carefully and at all times the water level at the input to the system
I replied (1) that the second timer wouldn’t do a bit of good if the main pump should quit for any number of reasons and (2) only a frantic busybody could spend that much of his day monitoring his pool contrivance; to wit:
Thus your main pump can lose prime or start blowing air for reasons not immediately obvious. Intake is derived most likely from your skimmer port , eg, when water level has fallen to near the its bottom edge some air is drawn in along with the water though it's hard to imagine the mixture could so damage the booster. However other possibilities are:
1. As I pointed out above to the “expert, â€stoppage of flow but allowing the booster to continue running by
….(a) mechanical failure of main pump or
….(b) electrical at or inside it, eg, loose terminal, broken wire, etc
2. Tubing from skimmer to main pump partially empties thus losing prime so that next time the system is re-energized it is unable to draw water, blowing the system full of air. Thus I find it incredible that the Pool Establishment would allow a system where the main pump is situated at a higher level (No doubt because they save a few dollars upon installation if they don’t have to dig a pit for the pump) so you’re in trouble with
….(a) air leakage at input to main pump from
……..(1) failure to adequately tighten the cover of its input pump-basket vessel
……..(2) worn or damaged O-ring
……..(3) a problem with some intermediate system such as an in-line chlorinator or
……..(4) cracked tubing
……..(5) during maintenance you should happen to somehow energize the booster before connecting the main pump…...
….(b) A sudden leak in the pool itself or you inadvertently allow the surface level to drop below the skimmer after a period of system disuse (during extended maintenance for instance)
….(c) Cracked tubing underground (good luck finding it)
Under these circumstances--if you catch it right away--the only way to restore the system to operation is to prime it with a big bucketful of water poured into the vessel, then quickly closing it, remembering of course the O-ring. While doing so remember also to hold down the right side of your mouth with your left index finger while farting to the tune of Auld Lang Syne
I'll never get over in this day and age of aerospace exploration and miraculous new invention how primitive are our pool systems wherein the tiniest flaw causes disastrous, irreversible damage entailing exorbitantly expensive repairs while reinforcing the almost universal notion that the pool owner must be mostly wealthy while the “engineer†who provides us with such technology --since he cannot read a clock--after work is tapped on the shoulder by his secretary who must then lead him to the door when his wife now drives him home
The switch would of course measure water pressure relative to ambient air and a load capability to handle the requirement of your booster, typically 13 amps. If you’ve already undertaken such a mod or know who might carry such a switch could you please send me a link with some info about it—Thank you kindly--Some detail follows:
But if you’re like me the first couple of times it goes west in that manner you might assume the trouble was caused by a fault in the booster itself so after the third such catastrophe and faced with still another repair bill of $103 you reluctantly cough up $385 for a brand new one. After it also fails however, compelling still another repair (3 x $103 = $309), you consult your Friendly Local Pool and Spa outlet, who explain that only a momentary loss of water can cause them to self-destruct
Thus an expenditure of almost $700 leaves you in a state of fugue since there are so many ways a failure upstream can deprive it--while I couldn’t fathom how the Pool Establishment could have allowed so chancy a state of affairs. When I made my proposal to a pool “expert†he advised that my suggested switch was a fallback (I was treating a symptom not the cause) and that instead I should (1) install a second timer that would delay powering the booster an (2) always watch very carefully and at all times the water level at the input to the system
I replied (1) that the second timer wouldn’t do a bit of good if the main pump should quit for any number of reasons and (2) only a frantic busybody could spend that much of his day monitoring his pool contrivance; to wit:
Thus your main pump can lose prime or start blowing air for reasons not immediately obvious. Intake is derived most likely from your skimmer port , eg, when water level has fallen to near the its bottom edge some air is drawn in along with the water though it's hard to imagine the mixture could so damage the booster. However other possibilities are:
1. As I pointed out above to the “expert, â€stoppage of flow but allowing the booster to continue running by
….(a) mechanical failure of main pump or
….(b) electrical at or inside it, eg, loose terminal, broken wire, etc
2. Tubing from skimmer to main pump partially empties thus losing prime so that next time the system is re-energized it is unable to draw water, blowing the system full of air. Thus I find it incredible that the Pool Establishment would allow a system where the main pump is situated at a higher level (No doubt because they save a few dollars upon installation if they don’t have to dig a pit for the pump) so you’re in trouble with
….(a) air leakage at input to main pump from
……..(1) failure to adequately tighten the cover of its input pump-basket vessel
……..(2) worn or damaged O-ring
……..(3) a problem with some intermediate system such as an in-line chlorinator or
……..(4) cracked tubing
……..(5) during maintenance you should happen to somehow energize the booster before connecting the main pump…...
….(b) A sudden leak in the pool itself or you inadvertently allow the surface level to drop below the skimmer after a period of system disuse (during extended maintenance for instance)
….(c) Cracked tubing underground (good luck finding it)
Under these circumstances--if you catch it right away--the only way to restore the system to operation is to prime it with a big bucketful of water poured into the vessel, then quickly closing it, remembering of course the O-ring. While doing so remember also to hold down the right side of your mouth with your left index finger while farting to the tune of Auld Lang Syne
I'll never get over in this day and age of aerospace exploration and miraculous new invention how primitive are our pool systems wherein the tiniest flaw causes disastrous, irreversible damage entailing exorbitantly expensive repairs while reinforcing the almost universal notion that the pool owner must be mostly wealthy while the “engineer†who provides us with such technology --since he cannot read a clock--after work is tapped on the shoulder by his secretary who must then lead him to the door when his wife now drives him home