PCC 2000 Help

[rcwso]

I have roughly a 20-22k gallon pool that has a PCC 2000 system. I bought the house with this pool and system already installed. I have had trouble the past couple of months determining if the system is working correctly. The valves do not seem to be rotating at all. There is a lot of dust/dirt on the bottom of the pool that will not go away. It just doesn't seem to be cleaning very well. Below are the details.

1. The pool is about 6-7 years old. I have owned the house for 1 year.
2. Pump PSI is about 25-30 at all times. To include after cleaning the filters etc. Sometimes a bit higher until I clean the filters again.
3. The Pump is on the opposite side of the house from the pool. Between 80-100 feet away from the pool.
4. The pump is a 3 HP pump.
5. Currently the valve for the skimmer vs the drain is set to about 60% drain and 40% skimmer.
6. This is a chlorine pool.
7. I have a spa that is connected to the pool and runs on the same system.

This has the PCC 2000 in-floor system. It runs both the pool and spa. As far as I can tell it is a 9 port system. This is based on some old diagrams I have found. Below are some of the issues I am having.

1. Some of the valves seem to float at times.
2. Some of the valves seem to never go down.
3. There does not seem to be a lot of pressure out of some of the valves at times as well.
4. The rotating heads never rotate.
5. I don't notice anything coming out of the valves that are on the walls of the pool ever.

I have attached a picture of my valves/ports. There is one valve on the system that I am not sure is even set properly. I can hear the system running and the gears turning but am not aware of what is happing or if they are receiving enough flow to get the whole thing to work. Both Port Housings are set to "RUN" not "Pause." The valve that I am referring to seems to be fully open.

Any thoughts or help to see if this is even working as advertised or not?

Thanks.

 

[swanny]

I seem to have the problem where some valves don't seem to close with my PCC thats about 7 years old (bought my house last year as well). I've been kinda assuming my module has reached its EOL and needs to be replaced but depending on your post maybe there is something else. For the heads not rotating, that depends on the heads.. Did they rotate last year? If so then it might be a pressure issue ( the heads need a specific amount of pressure to rotate properly. ) In some designs the heads on slopes don't rotate as they are just to create flow to the main drain.

Brian

 

[swanny]

Just wanted to bump this up and see if anyone has more knowledge the PCC systems.

 

[ATXPool]

I have a PCC 2000 that I also acquired when I bought my home (I didn't install it). After hearing many stories of how these don't work, I finally was able to get my system working reasonably well. I always get some residual dirt/sand because the drain was not placed in an ideal location. My system is performing better, once I figured out some pointers on how to "dial-in" the PCC-2000.

A lot of great information came from this blog: http://kurtatparamount.wordpress.com/technical-forum/

Some things that I had set incorrectly:

• Drain clogged and didn't have enough flow
  Fixed head return pressure (aimed at drain) set too high
  Pump basket seal worn-out and allowing air into system

After fixing these, the system works much better. The leaves on the bottom almost always get cleaned with just a small amount of residual dirt that I vacuum out.

Some nozzles will have less pressure when multiple nozzles are tied to the same port. In my system some ports are tied to 1 nozzle and some to 4. The ones with 4 have lower pressure each in order to maintain a constant flow from the pump that's approximately equal to the 1 nozzle flow. This is accomplished by using a variable sized insert on the nozzle to restrict the flow as needed.

Check out the blog. It's the most useful resource that I've come across for new owners to PCC-2000 systems.

 

[Woodberg]

I've got a PCC-2000 system and it works great. It really seems complex, but once you understand it, its actually very simple and easy to troubleshoot. ATXPOOL's right about Kurt's blog it has great info. Also, you can call Jim Circlin at Paramount. He has always called me back quickly and is very knowledgeable and helpful.

One question I have about your setup is whether you have a separate pump for the PCC-2000 system. I have one and I know that it is recommended by Paramount. They reason is so the system will not bog down when your pool filter starts to get clogged. All that is really happening is that the water from the pump is rotated from zone to zone by the ports. It would appear that you have 9 zones between the pool and spa. If you take off the top of one of the ports, you can take the gear assembly out in one piece. You might have to pry it a little, but it is all just one unit. Once it is out you can see down into the PVC pipes going to each zone. You may need a new O ring on the port housings. You mentioned that multiple zones stay up at the same time. If this is really the case, they you could have a problem with the water valve. You can purchase a new valve from Paramount. If its just 1 head staying up, there is probably just something stuck in the head.

Other than that, you just have the heads in the pool. There is a tool you can get which fits on the end of your pool pole which allows the heads to be removed. The large heads in the bottom of the pool are removed by turning them counter clockwise. The small heads on steps and seats are removed by turning them clockwise. I would suggest taking each head out and checking how it works. You should be able to push the head in and out and see how it rotates. If its not popping up right, you may need a new spring. Each head has a spring. I would be willing to bet you just need to clean out any gunk that stuck in them. Its a good idea to run the system with a head out and let it flush the pipe out. You have to do this 1 head at a time. A good way to do this is to set the valve to pause on one zone and then one by one, take out each of the heads in that zone and flush them out.

Do you have a leaf canister on the pool deck somewhere. Mine is by one of the skimmers. It would have a clear plastic lid and is connected to the main drain? On my pool, any leafs that get sucked in the main drain, end up in this basket. I bet in 3 years, I've only cleaned out my pump baskets 5 or 6 times. They all get stuck in the leaf canister first.

Hopefully this helps. If you have other questions, I'll try to help.

 

[rock]

It really seems complex, but once you understand it, its actually very simple and easy to troubleshoot.

I don't claim to understand my PCC2000 system, but mine is exactly as Woodberg described (a separate booster pump, debris canister, and 3" pop-up heads, with two 6-port water valves topside). Mine, like the OPs, is also not working well. Like the OP, some heads stay up, some aren't gushing, and the result is debris in the pool. Not the least of my problems is figuring out how much time to run the cleaning system versus the filtering system (which are on separate pumps).

I'm still googling for troubleshooting information (that's how I found this); the following references I've found may be useful to the OP:
PCC2000 Owners Manual
Water Valve Cleaning DIY
Description of how the system works
Paramount PCC2000 Cleaning System FAQ
Kurt At Paramount Technical Forum