New Pool Construction - Questions about pipe dia and Suction

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R

REFlad

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Apr 25, 2010
14
Hello Everyone,
I am very new at this, and have been talked into building a vinyl pool for my wife. We have purchased a 16 x 32 vinyl pool kit, and have recieved almost all of the parts. I have been studying how to plumb the pool, and have noticed that many folks like the 2" lines for this size of pool.

Our pool has a 1.5 HP Hayward Super Pump, with 1.5 in. fittings. This gives me 50.76 GPM, which means I will turn over the water in about 7.2 hours, with a figure of approx. 23,000 gallons of water.

My first question is, is this enough? Since it is a new construction, I was thinking about converting the 1.5" lines to 2" lines, even though the pump inlet/outlet is 1.5", (as well as the 24" sand filter).

To give you more info about the pool, it came with 2 skimmers, and I am wondering if this is: 1) Overkill - Do I really need 2 skimmers on this size. and 2)If I go with 2 skimmers, do I loop the connections to equalize the suction, or just tee off and adjust the pull of each skimmer at each skimmer.

Any advice on this would be very much appreciated.

Thanks,

REF
 
I would go with 2" piping as much as I could. You won't regret that.

Since you have two skimmers I'd install them. You don't really know if you're going to need two but if you have them installed and you ned them it's a non-issue. If however you don't install them both and wind up needing two it's a big issue. You can always shut one off if you don't need it or regulate the flow between the two.

I'd run piping from each skimmer back to the pad. That way you can adjust them individually. I also recommend additional returns for that shape pool. There's currently a thread here about a long narrow pool that needs a return in the far end and doesn't have one.
 
Re: New Pool Construction - More Questions

Thanks for the help. I didn't even think about regulating the skimmer suction from valves at the pad. I will certainly go with 2" lines as much as I can.

I will search for the info/discussion about the Return Line on the narrow part of the pool. This should be doable, since the pool came with 3 Return Lines - 2 with eyes, and 1 for a Polaris 165. Should I also valve and regulate these individually at the pad too?

I have another question concerning the electrical box at the pad. I want to have an easy to control pool, but cannot afford the digital timers and such. What can I do to be able to time the pump and heater, as well as turn on and off the 500W pool light from both the pad and the patio, which are across the pool from each other? What is the recommended electrical box, and where do I find them? Should I go with an Intermatic type of timer box, and wire the light to be switched outside the circuit breaker box? What are my other options?

And about the heater, if I want the pump to be on a timer, I have read that I will need a timer to shut off the heater 2 minutes prior to shutting down the pump. The pool came with a Jandy LRZ250EN heater capable of being put into standby remotely. What is the best and most economical way of controlling the pump, heater and light?

Any advice will be appreciated, since there are so many options.

Thanks
 
REFlad said:
Our pool has a 1.5 HP Hayward Super Pump, with 1.5 in. fittings. This gives me 50.76 GPM, which means I will turn over the water in about 7.2 hours, with a figure of approx. 23,000 gallons of water.
Click to expand...

So how did you get to 50.76 GPM?

A 1.5 HP Super Pump can deliver close to 75 GPM on 2" plumbing.
 
The Manual has a table, and rates the pump at 50.76 GPM with 1.5" pipe. I figure that the inlet is 1.5 inches with this model, so this would be the max this pump will handle. Is this the correct way to think about the pump? Would I get a rated 75GPM by adapting the 1.5" to 2" at the pump entrance and exit ports?
 
Those published numbers in the manual are simply recommended maximum flow rates based upon a water velocity of 8 ft/sec and do not really represent what the flow rate of the pump will end up at. The flow rate of the pump is determined by more than just the diameter of the plumbing. It is also dependent on the total length of pipe, the number of fittings, equipment such as the filter, heater, swg, etc. Bascially everything that has water flowing through it will add head loss to the pump and reduce flow rates. So the flow rate you end up with will likely be much lower than what is in the table but it depends on the plumbing design.
 
Thanks for the info, Mark.
So should I adapt from 1.5" to 2" right at the pump, or should I let the 1.5" go straight out the 10 x diameter of 2" pipe, and then adapt? Or does it not really matter for quietness and efficiency...
 
I would just go with all 2" and use transitions at the pump and filter. Also, I think this was mentioned earlier but run separate lines for each skimmer and main drain pair if you have one.
 

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