Aiming pool return fittings...

[Thinkly]

I have a fairly small pool and have always wondered this...how rough should the surface water be? In other words, do i want the return fittings pointed up and causing major "waves" or is it better to keep a more moderate flow towards the skimmer. I only have one skimmer at the deep end and the returns are at the shallow end.

The pool guy set it up last year to where the pool almost seemed more like a hot tub than a pool at times. To me it seemed like the water was so rough around the skimmer that often debris went on by. Is there any rule to this?

 

[JasonLion]

There isn't normally a need to have any disturbance of the surface. There are a couple of special situations where this might be valuable, lowering TA for example, but they are unusual.

If you don't have a main drain it is a very good idea to point at least one return down towards the bottom of the deep end. That will help improve circulation by getting the deep water to mix with the surface water better.

 

[Thinkly]

I have two main drains. I never thought about the TA aspect, but that is a good point.

 

[no-mas]

There isn't normally a need to have any disturbance of the surface...

Jason is right; however I much prefer the look of the surface when it is in motion rather than stagnant. I have my returns pointed slightly up for this reason. I also point returns "generally" in the direction of the skimmer so that skimming is maximized. Play around with it to get the result you desire.

 

[257WbyMag]

My pool is roughly the size of yours and it is quite noticeable when the pump is on. It has never been rough, per se, but the water moves quickly, especially when the waterfall is off and the returns are all doing their work (I have 6 returns).

If you want to, you can experiement with your returns by adjusting the angle on some of them. They should direct debris on the surface to the skimmers without being so forceful as to blow things by the skimmer. I have adjusted mine where the surface turns slowly in a counterclockwise fashion. Two of them are directing the flow more toward the pool floor than the surface to generate motion in the depths as well. Seems to work well but I had to mess with them for a while to get it just right.

I was wondering if your pool pump is large as well. Mine is a 2 HP pump which is VERY LARGE for a pool my size. Once it bites the dust, I will be going to a much lower powered two speed pump.

 

[Bama Rambler]

On ours the surface has to a just a bit disturbed for the leaves to float toward the skimmer. If I get it too rough they'll bypass the skimmer without being directed into it.

 

[geekgranny]

People on the board have suggested using ping pong balls, on a still day, to help adjust the returns. Boy, I wish I had known about that when we first "inherited" our pool.

I have one skimmer located on side wall closer to the deep end, end wall. Until last year for above mentioned reasons of movement of floating debris I had the three returns, on each of the shallow end walls pointing upwards just a bit, so there was just a slight disturbance on surface, and all three pointed in direction to circulate the shallow end water towards the skimmer way down by deep end. There is another return across the pool from the skimmer. I found that aiming this return directly at the skimmer, pointed up just enough to cause a slight ripple on surface, pulled the debris that went past the skimmer from staying stagnant at the deep end and shot it across the pool to the skimmer. So what could have been, on the surface, a dead spot kept the circulation going towards skimmer.

I put in two PoolSkims on the two side walls in shallow end. They have a lot of flow. To get enough flow to the PoolSkims I had to restrict the flow, using eyeballs with tiny holes, on the two remaining returns. I installed the PoolSkims so that each continued to circulate the water as before but even more powerfully than the previous returns. The shallow end wall, with restricted flow is now pointed downwards and directly towards the deep end. I didn't want to restrict the return that is directly across skimmer but had to to get adequate flow to PoolSkims but it has just enough flow to assist moving water from the potential "dead spot". It just takes a little longer to move it.

"Favored, most trusted pool guy" was here, yesterday installing my new filter and pump. I asked him about the eyeballs that have a slit in them as I wanted to experiment with gently pushing water down the wall, in shallow end, in a fan flow, to help move some sand/silt a little away from the curve from bottom to wall. He didn't think it was a good idea (consensus from some of our TFP experts). He also suggested that when I took one or both PoolSkims out of the pool for summer and put the "normal" eyeballs (1/2" hole) back on the flow coming from the "slit" eyeball, pushing that much water down the wall, could potentially damage my 14 year old plaster that I abused for years (scaling from high pH and three acid washes) before finding TFP.

BTW.... It took me a whole summer, when we first moved in, to get the returns exactly like I wanted them. I had to do "compromise" adjustment so I could keep them in the same positions during all seasons, when prevailing winds change directions.

Now that all my return eyeball fittings are new they are much easier to adjust.

gg=alice

 

[mbb]

My pool was "serviced" yesterday but some yo-yo who was at the wrong house! (He was supposed to go next door and came to my house while I wasn't home).
He left a bill for $75, told my neighbor when he asked what all he did to the pool, he replaced some fittings and siliconed a few things and backflushed. When my neighbor got home, his pool had not been touched and that was when it was discovered he was at the wrong house.
When I noticed I had a problem, I called this pool guy and he admits only to backflushing my filter! BUT he obviously changed the eyeball settings from what I had, as nothing is getting to the skimmer, just staying on the far side of the pool and swirling around. I have tried to get it back to the position I had it in but it's getting frustrating. So it looks as if the advice here is to just keep playing with it!

 

[TimS]

My pool was "serviced" yesterday but some yo-yo who was at the wrong house! (He was supposed to go next door and came to my house while I wasn't home).
He left a bill for $75...

Wow. That stinks.

I sure hope he's not trying to get you (or the neighbor) to pay that bill.

Yes, it sure can be annoying when you've gotten everything working just so, and somebody comes along and messes with it. Keep at it. You'll get it back the way you want it.

Fortunately none of my neighbors have a pool, so that's unlikely to happen to me.

BTW, haven't you turned your neighbor on to this site yet? :-D