Hi everyone , I'm very happy that I found this forum, I wish I found it before 16 years old kid from Leslie's lured me into buying 300 Bucks worth of chemicals, now I realize he did not know much, lesson learned. This post is related to plumbing problems, I also have some questions regarding chemicals, and few other things. I started reading the pool school, some terms I know , some I do not, its pretty broad, so it will take me some time. This is my first pool ever, so i learn something every day.
Short background: I bought a house built in 1985, it has a pool (full description in signature), house was a foreclosure, so I believe that owner just took all of the equipment, and afterwards bank installed equipment, but that's just my guess, i'm not sure that happened, equipment looks newish. When I finally bought it, i think bank just ran filters until it was sold, it was full of leaves and dirt. I vacuumed pool very nicely, washed the filters, added chemicals that Leslie kid suggested, and it looks pretty clear now. Last week problems started to happen, I kind of know whats going on, but I would appreciate greatly if everyone would cheap-in with some answers and ideas.
I really want to figure out this plumbing problems that started showing in last 2 weeks.
1) When my pump is on, it looks same like my hot-tub is running all the time, I thought at first that probably all the water returns to tub, but there is decent amount of water on all 4 return lines in the pool, I have 4 x 3-way Jandy valves, and I have a good idea how they function, they all have proper adjustments. When I play with return valve it starts leaking, building high pressure in filter, needle on filter goes a lot higher, something is in there and its leaking water, i'm going to open it and replace all the gaskets, i'm not sure which gaskets and where to buy, don't know either and how difficult it is. Piping is 2 inch. I hope that this faulty valve causes water restriction to return lines, and everything is being directed into my spillover spa return lines. Weird thing is when I turn Jandy valve fully on vacuum( main drain) and close skimmer side, spa is acting normally. Red arrow is where its getting crazy and leaking, yellow is my waterfall, and blue is return to pool where it gets separated to skimmer and main drain. skimmer has two holes, one is plumbed to one of the two main drain plates/holes. I cant use spa either, because when i turn Jandy valve fully to spa it starts to build huge pressure on filter and squirting water through the plate on top of the Jandy valve.
View attachment 29281
2) My skimmer is sucking water like crazy,vortex effect, it seems that all the water is getting sucked through skimmer, i mean it literally sucks it dry in seconds. I assumed that it is because water is not getting sucked in through the main drain. I have this float valve on skimmer, i left it open just a little bit, and I also moved my Jandy valve just a crack open on skimmer side so it doesn't suck all the water down. I have much greater force when vacuuming now, then before when problem wasn't there, i cant remove hose from skimmer when vacuuming unless i turn Jandy valve completely closed on skimmer side and relieve pressure on skimmer.
View attachment 29284
3) Water is also getting sucked through this little hole, what is this hole called, I think i am going to put some 2 inch plug on this hole because it is right next to my skimmer, since water is going to skimmer already what is the purpose of this intake. I stuck my garden hose into the intake pipe inside the pump, I ran water hoping to shut back some debris back through main drain plates, but all the water was coming out through this hole. After all this experimenting, my pump wouldn't prime, I try to feed the water from garden hose so the pump would catch up, and all the water was getting into the pool through this hole, then i stuck tennis ball in to this hole, filled the water through pump until it started to over flow, i closed the lid on the pump, and it caught up immediately. I don't know about this hole, i feel like plugging it.
View attachment 29283
Short background: I bought a house built in 1985, it has a pool (full description in signature), house was a foreclosure, so I believe that owner just took all of the equipment, and afterwards bank installed equipment, but that's just my guess, i'm not sure that happened, equipment looks newish. When I finally bought it, i think bank just ran filters until it was sold, it was full of leaves and dirt. I vacuumed pool very nicely, washed the filters, added chemicals that Leslie kid suggested, and it looks pretty clear now. Last week problems started to happen, I kind of know whats going on, but I would appreciate greatly if everyone would cheap-in with some answers and ideas.
I really want to figure out this plumbing problems that started showing in last 2 weeks.
1) When my pump is on, it looks same like my hot-tub is running all the time, I thought at first that probably all the water returns to tub, but there is decent amount of water on all 4 return lines in the pool, I have 4 x 3-way Jandy valves, and I have a good idea how they function, they all have proper adjustments. When I play with return valve it starts leaking, building high pressure in filter, needle on filter goes a lot higher, something is in there and its leaking water, i'm going to open it and replace all the gaskets, i'm not sure which gaskets and where to buy, don't know either and how difficult it is. Piping is 2 inch. I hope that this faulty valve causes water restriction to return lines, and everything is being directed into my spillover spa return lines. Weird thing is when I turn Jandy valve fully on vacuum( main drain) and close skimmer side, spa is acting normally. Red arrow is where its getting crazy and leaking, yellow is my waterfall, and blue is return to pool where it gets separated to skimmer and main drain. skimmer has two holes, one is plumbed to one of the two main drain plates/holes. I cant use spa either, because when i turn Jandy valve fully to spa it starts to build huge pressure on filter and squirting water through the plate on top of the Jandy valve.
View attachment 29281
2) My skimmer is sucking water like crazy,vortex effect, it seems that all the water is getting sucked through skimmer, i mean it literally sucks it dry in seconds. I assumed that it is because water is not getting sucked in through the main drain. I have this float valve on skimmer, i left it open just a little bit, and I also moved my Jandy valve just a crack open on skimmer side so it doesn't suck all the water down. I have much greater force when vacuuming now, then before when problem wasn't there, i cant remove hose from skimmer when vacuuming unless i turn Jandy valve completely closed on skimmer side and relieve pressure on skimmer.
View attachment 29284
3) Water is also getting sucked through this little hole, what is this hole called, I think i am going to put some 2 inch plug on this hole because it is right next to my skimmer, since water is going to skimmer already what is the purpose of this intake. I stuck my garden hose into the intake pipe inside the pump, I ran water hoping to shut back some debris back through main drain plates, but all the water was coming out through this hole. After all this experimenting, my pump wouldn't prime, I try to feed the water from garden hose so the pump would catch up, and all the water was getting into the pool through this hole, then i stuck tennis ball in to this hole, filled the water through pump until it started to over flow, i closed the lid on the pump, and it caught up immediately. I don't know about this hole, i feel like plugging it.
View attachment 29283