owner/builder plumbing question.....

[cword]

More questions with this pool build. I bought a subsciption to the "How i build my own pool "site to help me with my owner/build but the order in which the guy that is doing my pool just doesn't match up with that site so often! I am hoping there is more than one way to do the plumbing. He ran all the plumbing lines last week and they are sticking up as you can see in the picture. Nothing is attached to any equiptment yet. He says the next thing we do is the decking, so they can pour the equiptment pad at that time,(no sense having them come out twice with concrete) then hook up the plumbing. But that does not match up with what others seem to be doing. He says my next step is to grade for my deck, frame it up, place the electrical , then pore the decking and equiptment pad. Then hook it all up. But what if there is an issue then? All the piping is under concrete. Can anyone tell me if this is OK? Thanks again.

please click here for picutre


http://s282.photobucket.com/albums/kk26 ... umbing.jpg

 

[Poolidiot]

IMO, The order he is doing things are not that bad IF he does a pressure test on all the plumbing before he pours concrete. If it was mine I would tell him, no pressure test (which he might have already done)with me watching, no pour.

 

[Belldiver]

I ran all my plumbing lines to where my equipment pad would be and brought them up in the correct spot, Tee'd them all together and pressure tested them to 50 psi. I did not pour my equipment pad until I poured the decking. I see no reason there would be any difference if the equipment is hooked up or not. I think alot (most) wait to hook up equipment until late in the construction.

I'll repeat though...

Absolutely make sure it is pressure tested before pouring the concrete.

 

[lovingHDTV]

Pressure testing is the same thing done when building a house. It is also a very easy test to do before you purchase a home to check for leaks.

Should work just fine with pool plumbing also.

 

[cword]

No pressure test

IThank you for all the replies. I asked him last week if the plumbing had bee pressure tested yet. His reply "No, I never pressure test my plumbing. I haven't had a problem yet." So...... I think I will be doing the pressure testing myself. I found a pool site that said to do this you "Cap all return lines, pool cleaner line, and plug skimmer. Connect all plumbing at the equipment and put a gage and hose bib at one end. Pressure up system with water to 40 PSI and leave until the deck is poured"
It doesn't sound that complicated. I hope Lowes or home depot carries the gage, hose bib and caps. Is this process fairly simple or should I once again bring in a third party to get it done? Thanks again.

 

[Belldiver]

This is not difficult, but you will have to T all the stub ups together at the equipment pad, add a hose bib valve and pressure gauge and purge most of the air with water. You will also have to plug your main drains and skimmers, with either threaded PVC fittings or rubber wingnut style plumber plugs. Use PTFE teflon paste on the threads if you use the threaded PVC fittings.

Are your plumbing stub outs inside the pool capped? If not you'll have to cap them. I added a hose bib on a couple of mine so I could purge the air from the bottom up to the equipment pad area. It is more effective to pressure test with water than air, so get as much air out as possible. I also installed a "riser" up out of each skimmer with a gauge and hose bib. I actually ended up separating my plumbing runs into three separate circuits and tested them separately. One for both skimmers and the main drain, one for the pool returns, and one for the water features and booster pump return. That way if there is a problem, it is easier to isolate. There's a picture of some of my plumbing Tee'd together with the hose bibs and gauges in my build post. Link is in my sig.

I don't know if your plumber left plenty of stub out on the inside of your pool. Just make sure when you cap them inside, there is still plenty to cut back to eventually attach your return eyeball fittings at the correct depth. This is true of all of this pressure testing, make sure to leave enough to cut off to the final installation heights at the pad and at any water feature rough ins.

Ask again if you have any more questions...

 

[Belldiver]

One more quick note...

Sometimes threaded PVC to PVC fittings are difficult to seal 100%. The PTFE paste for PVC works better than teflon tape. I never could get one of my skimmers to seal at the threads completely, but I cleaned the skimmer completely dry and could see the very small leak at that point only. It held pressure just fine, but would leak down from 40 to 10 psi over 15 minutes. If you are losing pressure anywhere, check the threaded fittings first.

It is also normal to lose just a couple pounds on the gauge right after you come up to pressure and isolate from your pressure source. But it should stabilize fairly quickly.

I bought a clothes washing machine hose to attach my garden hose to the pool plumbing. You'll need something similiar, a double ended female-female hose end.

Your average household water pressure will be in the 40-65 psi range so that should be plenty for your pool plumbing.

 

[Poolidiot]

Re: No pressure test

I I asked him last week if the plumbing had bee pressure tested yet. His reply "No, I never pressure test my plumbing. I haven't had a problem yet." So...... I think I will be doing the pressure testing myself.

You are way easier then I am, I would be telling him, in no uncertain terms that this would be his first to test and he would not get a payment draw until it was tested and passed the test. :x

 

[lovingHDTV]

Re: No pressure test

I I asked him last week if the plumbing had bee pressure tested yet. His reply "No, I never pressure test my plumbing. I haven't had a problem yet." So...... I think I will be doing the pressure testing myself.

You are way easier then I am, I would be telling him, in no uncertain terms that this would be his first to test and he would not get a payment draw until it was tested and passed the test. :x

I'm with Poolidiot. As I've learned to be quite assertive also when dealing with these guys. Don't let him tell you he wont do it as you hold the $$. That is why he is there.

 

[cword]

I agree with what you are saying about telling him to do it. However...... if as he says "I never do that" then should I really trust him to do it properly. I was thinking if this was a 2 or 3 hour job my husband and I would just do it ourselves. I'll let you know what we decide.