- Jul 22, 2013
- 4
Hey all, i'm new to the board but am hoping I can find some feedback from those much wiser than I. I've been operating pools (public/commercial) for years, but I seem to have met my match.
A little background, the pool is a rectangular indoor pool, 55K gallons, no deep end. The pool was originally built by a Gold's Gym and was built from what I can tell for the occasional lap swimmer and group aquatics class. Not surprisingly, Gold's had no idea what they were doing and my non-profit organization has purchased and owned the facility for the last three years. Needless to say, our bather load is significantly higher than anything Gold's ever experienced.
My problem is clarity. I've had to go to the extreme of shutting the pool down for two days to do a 3/4 drain and refill as well as use clarifier, and everything was fine for about 1 month and the cloudiness has returned. We have two sand filters that aren't more than a year old, chemicals are all balanced, no channeling in the filters, everything I can see and go off of from my background looks good.
Now, my question is this. I believe the problem with our inability to keep the pool water clear lies in the fact that the pool wasn't built for our bather load. I suspect that the main drains are getting overwhelmed by the skimmers and here is why:
- 4 skimmers come into one 3 inch line to the pump
- 2 intakes from the bottom main drain come into one 1 inch pipe to the pump
- 1 pipe that's usually closed for the vacuum
When I close the skimmer valve completely, the system loses pressure and while water still comes into the pump, it's obvious that the pump isn't pulling nearly enough. But when we open the skimmer valve about 25% the pump fills and the system has no air in it.
Could the fact that my 4 skimmers are coming into my pump in a 3 inch line and my main drain coming in with a 1 inch line be the cause of my clarity issues? I'm of the opinion that the skimmers overwhelm the main drains and 98% of the water going though the filters is from the skimmers and not pulling from the middle of the pool.
Suggestions or comments?
A little background, the pool is a rectangular indoor pool, 55K gallons, no deep end. The pool was originally built by a Gold's Gym and was built from what I can tell for the occasional lap swimmer and group aquatics class. Not surprisingly, Gold's had no idea what they were doing and my non-profit organization has purchased and owned the facility for the last three years. Needless to say, our bather load is significantly higher than anything Gold's ever experienced.
My problem is clarity. I've had to go to the extreme of shutting the pool down for two days to do a 3/4 drain and refill as well as use clarifier, and everything was fine for about 1 month and the cloudiness has returned. We have two sand filters that aren't more than a year old, chemicals are all balanced, no channeling in the filters, everything I can see and go off of from my background looks good.
Now, my question is this. I believe the problem with our inability to keep the pool water clear lies in the fact that the pool wasn't built for our bather load. I suspect that the main drains are getting overwhelmed by the skimmers and here is why:
- 4 skimmers come into one 3 inch line to the pump
- 2 intakes from the bottom main drain come into one 1 inch pipe to the pump
- 1 pipe that's usually closed for the vacuum
When I close the skimmer valve completely, the system loses pressure and while water still comes into the pump, it's obvious that the pump isn't pulling nearly enough. But when we open the skimmer valve about 25% the pump fills and the system has no air in it.
Could the fact that my 4 skimmers are coming into my pump in a 3 inch line and my main drain coming in with a 1 inch line be the cause of my clarity issues? I'm of the opinion that the skimmers overwhelm the main drains and 98% of the water going though the filters is from the skimmers and not pulling from the middle of the pool.
Suggestions or comments?