Cooling fountain - risk of breaking a return off?

[Auburn02]

I'm probably not alone when I say it's Dang hot right now. Here in southern Alabama we've been in the upper 90s all week, with triple digits 3 days in the next 7 day forecast. My pool is 94 degrees. Now don't get me wrong, when the heat index is 110+ even 94 feels good but I could go for some 87-90 degree action personally.

I think the best/quickest option is the old aerating/evaporation mister fountain setup. I've read @YippeeSkippy's excellent thread (Skippy's New Fountain) which is fantastically helpful, except I don't have a polaris fitting with a quick connect as an option. My pool has three returns, one on the sun shelf and two on the opposite side. I'm thinking the ideal place for such a fountain is on the shelf, it can hopefully help cool the pool but would also be an option to just sit there under the mister. Now, onto my questions.

1. With a normal threaded return, has anyone come up with a way to attach such a fountain with some kind of quick connect? Obviously if I build the whole thing in one piece, I won't be able to thread it on because the pool itself (the 12" deep shelf) will not allow the entire contraption to rotate 360 degrees to thread in place. Plus that just sounds like a headache. I'm thinking something like an elbow that threads into the return fitting, then another set of threads on top of the elbow to thread on the rest of the setup, so installation would be 3 steps - remove return, thread on elbow, thread on rest. Anyone else built one besides Skippy that had to deal with a similar scenario? Haven't had much luck with search yet, but I feel like I've seen others.

2. Now the biggie, I cannot begin to emphasize how much I will stress upon my 8 year old daughter to not grab/touch/pull/hang from the fountain, but it would also be nice to be able to just leave it in for a few days in a row or longer, but I'm curious just how much of a risk it is if she (or a friend) does do just that and gives it a good pull. In my head I envision the worst possible scenario, the fitting breaking off flush with the side of the pool and having to pull up decking to get to the back side for a proper repair. But, maybe I'm overthinking it? Ideally there would I guess be some sort of weak spot in the construction such that any force exerted would snap it off or pop it loose well away from the wall fitting, just trying to visualize what that might look like.

So, any thoughts or ideas or examples you all could share? Thanks!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I has a polaris fitting originally for a Polaris 165 sweeper included with the pool build. I *think* some returns can be unscrewed, but not mine , so I'm little help here. Can you take a pic of your returns so perhaps someone can tell you if yours can be changed?

cannot begin to emphasize how much I will stress upon my 8 year old daughter to not grab/touch/pull/hang from the fountain, but it would also be nice to be able to just leave it in for a few days in a row or longer, but I'm curious just how much of a risk it is if she (or a friend) does do just that and gives it a good pull.

How about putting it in and running the fountain at night when it will cool the most, and remove it during the day?

 

[Auburn02]

Very good

I has a polaris fitting originally for a Polaris 165 sweeper included with the pool build. I *think* some returns can be unscrewed, but not mine , so I'm little help here. Can you take a pic of your returns so perhaps someone can tell you if yours can be changed?



How about putting it in and running the fountain at night when it will cool the most, and remove it during the day?

I do know for sure they can be unscrewed, I’ve swapped out the return fittings once before. You make a good point about just taking it out before using the pool, though I did envision days of sitting on the sun shelf while the fountain rained over me.

I went through the Home Depot PVC section and nothing really spoke to me. I may just order up a ready made setup from Amazon.

https://a.co/d/d4OQPO9

Pool water is up to 95 today.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

95º- Oh yeah... you need that fountain! Just remember that night time use cools the most.

Maddie

 

[1poolman1]

Polaris 1 Return Line Kit​

Polaris 1-1/2" Expansion Connector (#9-100-8011)

Polaris 1-1/2" Expansion Connector (#9-100-8011)

www.poolpartsunlimited.com

 

[Auburn02]

Polaris 1 Return Line Kit​

Polaris 1-1/2" Expansion Connector (#9-100-8011)

Polaris 1-1/2" Expansion Connector (#9-100-8011)

www.poolpartsunlimited.com

Thanks for the link. Ultimately I waited a day too long on the one I linked previously, it's now showing it would take a week to be delivered from Amazon and our 5 day forecast has 3 more triple digits on it. The pool is up to 96 as of yesterday.

I ordered 2 of these, should be here tomorrow. I'm honestly not sure if we'll get to realize the evaporative benefits these tout since humidity is Dang near 100% at night, but worth a shot at least. Otherwise I will seriously need to consider a chiller. It's a major bummer coming home from a day in the sun and just wanting to jump in and cool off, but touching the pool is literally uncomfortable.

 

[remedy]

Auburn,
You are correct about nighttime humidity severely limiting evaporative cooling ability. I tried the fountains you are contemplating with very limited success. I broke down last summer and bought a Glacier chiller. It is well worth it!! I don’t run mine at night due to high humidity(central South Carolina) but running it during day will keep my pool in the mid 80’s when the air temp is in the upper 90’s. I highly recommend the Glacier.

 

[Auburn02]

Auburn,
You are correct about nighttime humidity severely limiting evaporative cooling ability. I tried the fountains you are contemplating with very limited success. I broke down last summer and bought a Glacier chiller. It is well worth it!! I don’t run mine at night due to high humidity(central South Carolina) but running it during day will keep my pool in the mid 80’s when the air temp is in the upper 90’s. I highly recommend the Glacier.

Appreciate that feedback.

We actually had a good rain late yesterday and the temps have been down in the lower 90s for a couple of days, so the pool was *only* 90 degrees at 11 p.m. last night when I installed one of the fountains. After running overnight, it was 88 this morning. Not sure if that's a strong enough data point just yet, but we expect to be in the 100+ temps for the next 3 to 4 days with no rain in the forecast. So the pool water will be back in the mid 90s in no time and I'll get to really put them to the test to see if I'm going to keep them or not.

 

[otter86753]

I have this fountain purchashed in 2017, but it is currently unavailable. Here is a similar one that says it has all the flexible plumbing required for most/all situations. The original one I bought certainly had what I needed. Using this, I can cool the pool 6-8 degrees overnight...YMMV.

 

[Auburn02]

Well I only gave it a few days but I'm calling this one a bust for me. Sure, I noted a 5 degree temperature drop overnight but I get a similar drop overnight without them too. My real test was over the course of a few days where we hit 100 or so each day, at 5 p.m. my water temp was 94. I installed two of the fountains and ran them nonstop. At 7 a.m. the water was 88, at 11 a.m. the water was 91, at 1 p.m. the water was 92, then around 3 p.m. we got a pop up shower that invalidated the last couple hours of the test but I'm pretty confident it was going to get back to 94 or darn close. Ah well. The family and I like the pool on the warmer side anyway (89-91 is all good with us), I'll just have to live with it (a.k.a. stay out of it) on these random heat waves when the water surges to 94+. If it becomes more of an issue, I'll look down the chiller route a little closer but as it stands, for a normal summer temperature, we don't want to cool it down any further.

 

[otter86753]

A

Well I only gave it a few days but I'm calling this one a bust for me. Sure, I noted a 5 degree temperature drop overnight but I get a similar drop overnight without them too. My real test was over the course of a few days where we hit 100 or so each day, at 5 p.m. my water temp was 94. I installed two of the fountains and ran them nonstop. At 7 a.m. the water was 88, at 11 a.m. the water was 91, at 1 p.m. the water was 92, then around 3 p.m. we got a pop up shower that invalidated the last couple hours of the test but I'm pretty confident it was going to get back to 94 or darn close. Ah well. The family and I like the pool on the warmer side anyway (89-91 is all good with us), I'll just have to live with it (a.k.a. stay out of it) on these random heat waves when the water surges to 94+. If it becomes more of an issue, I'll look down the chiller route a little closer but as it stands, for a normal summer temperature, we don't want to cool it down any further.

Another viable option is to shade the pool. I only have garden walls and one Canary Island Date Palm to shade the pool and like yours, my pool would get to 92-94 on a daily basis. I used the fountain for a while, but when the pandemic hit and I was WFH, I used these portable umbrellas (I have two of them) which I move once in the morning and once in early afternoon, to keep the pool 86-88 degrees. I couldn't risk having them damaged in winds, but now that I'm permanently WFH, I use this very effectively.

 

[Auburn02]

A


Another viable option is to shade the pool. I only have garden walls and one Canary Island Date Palm to shade the pool and like yours, my pool would get to 92-94 on a daily basis. I used the fountain for a while, but when the pandemic hit and I was WFH, I used these portable umbrellas (I have two of them) which I move once in the morning and once in early afternoon, to keep the pool 86-88 degrees. I couldn't risk having them damaged in winds, but now that I'm permanently WFH, I use this very effectively.

Solid idea. I have one umbrella in a stand that I’ve been positioning over the shallow end steps in the afternoon, but it’s a little light so I have to make sure to move it away when we’re not right there. The idea of a sail shade over part of the patio that would give some afternoon shade on the pool could be on the table as well.