Auto-Fill: Must Have or Pain in the Rear?

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T

Texas Spartan

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Apr 22, 2011
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I am one day into my second pool build and we have spec'd in an autofill because we would burn up pumps when we leave on vacation with our old pool when the water level got too low. My PB says he hates them because they are unreliable. I was hoping a few experts might weigh in on the topic and help me make a call to install it or leave it out. It's "free" in the contract so it's not an issue of cost but of maintenance and reliability.

Thanks!
Jason
 
I'm by no means an expert and don't have one myself. I would personally think that if it is a "free" option that I would be inclined to get it and try it, if you don't like it, you could always choose later to not use it... but would cost you later if you decide you want to try it and didn't do it with install.
 
I like mine. I was down at my brother in laws taking to him and his neighbor and they were both complaining about having to fill up their pools. I just smiled and said that is one thing I don't have to worry about. I went out of town for 10 days and never had to worry about it. Also the way mine is even if it broke I could just turn the valve off at the house and turn it on when I needed it. It seems pretty much a straight forward design and works well so far. It is just a float with a valve next to the pool in what almost looks like a skimmer.
 
I can speak from my experience only. I am happy that I've got the autofill. I am typically away during the week and can't regularly watch the water level. During one week when the pool got filled, but autofill was not connected, I got the water level very low (evaporation - live in Houston) and pump was sucking air at the skimmers.
Now with autofill working - I am no longer worried when I am away.
Autofill (the one that I have) seems to be very simple construction - similar to what you can find in the toilets. Toilet filling mechanisms seem to work fine for years, so I hope the pool autofill will be reliable as well
 
Last year I paid to add an autofill when getting the pool resurfaced. Had one at my previous pool and after forgetting to turn off the hose a few times at this house, it was certainly worth adding.

Mine had as ball valve at the house, but also a valve on the back flow preventer near the pool.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short ;)
 
I don't have a true auto-fill with a valve, but I have what I think is a nice option: My PB plumbed in a 1/2" pvc pipe, flush with the side of the pool, almost right underneath the diving board. It's just a foot or so away from the overflow outlet. When I had my landscaping done, I had the irrigation guy hook that 1/2" pvc to my sprinkler system, and set it as a separate station on my sprinkler controller.

I'm in North Texas, which has been recently annexed into the bowels of H-E-|_-|_ by Lucipher himself :twisted: , and am running good-ole-reliable Station 23 three times a week for 13 minutes at a stretch. I do find that once or twice a month I go and manually run that station, just to top the pool off. My wife swears I do that just to freeze her out of the pool (it's well water - chilly!) :goodjob:
 
Must have !

Many years ago I bought one that hangs over the edge of the pool, and it is fed by a garden hose. The workings look like an adapted toilet filler, but it works. A couple years ago, I left water in it when it got below freezing, and the ice expanding broke the PVC pipe it was made of. I replaced the PVC with PEX, and it's been fine ever since.

We have a pretty good amount of evaporation, and having the pool filler means I can leave for a weekend or a week and I can be sure that the pool water level is at least enough (it doesn't do anything about removing excess water from rain).
 

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I have one on my pool and it is the same exact device that is used to fill a toilet tank. Works great as I can lose 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of water a day in Phoenix. Only suggestion I would make is to connect the water line to your auto fill so it still runs if you turn your main water line to your house off. When I go on vacation, I like to shut the water off in the house but still need the pool autofill to work. (Have know people that have not done this and came back to a broken water pipe and a flooded house.)
 
A quick update - we had the autofill installed but had to keep on the PB because the plumbers tried to tie into our soft water and not the main line before the softener. We're about a week or two out from being done so once we have some use of the atu-fill under our belts I'll post my thoughts on it.
 
I have an auto fill and I wish it was on my water softener. The calcium levels are very high here and the evaporation rate is insane. In the 6+ years I've had the pool, I have had to replace the float on the auto fill once. It's an option I wouldn't be without.
 
Texas Spartan said:
A quick update - we had the autofill installed but had to keep on the PB because the plumbers tried to tie into our soft water and not the main line before the softener. We're about a week or two out from being done so once we have some use of the atu-fill under our belts I'll post my thoughts on it.
Click to expand...

What does your fill water chemistry look like (unsoftened vs. softened)? If you have high CH and/or high TA fill water I think you may regret not connecting to the softener.
 
Having the option would be great. Depending on the characteristics of your fill water, you may want to hold off on refilling prior to expected rains. I've had great luck this year with rain filling up my pool. My fill water is high in CH (150) and TA (220!!) so I love it when rain tops up my pool.
 
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