DIY inground pool kit

[johnm160]

it sometimes pulls the shallow end when starting to fill. I leave vacuums on until a foot or more of water in deep end. gotta make sure its tight. dont sweat water sitting in the pool. drop any sump pump or cheap garden hose pump in the pool with no hose on it and protect the pool bottom from it with something. run it and it will circulate the water just fine for time being, just throw some CYA in it to get close and some liquid chlorine and it will be just fine. I go weeks sometimes like this while other stuff is getting done

The sump is a great idea. I never would have thought of that hopefully I will have filtration running by tomorrow night. I pulled the liner off the stairs for the 3rd time. I just can’t seem to get it to a place where I am happy with them. I ended up with wrinkles on one side and a bit away from the wall in the other. The track in the back of the stairs does not hold great in the slot I put in the back of the stairs. Some gorilla duct tape helped with that. Shame I had to pull it off again.

On a positive note my TF-100 arrived today.

 

[jimmythegreek]

Tape works and bags or salt. I'll tell you a secret of the trade.....grab a garden hose adapter and run it to the nearest sink faucet. Long hose amd hot water the liner turns to putty and you can really work it. Be careful domt go bananas. Suction cups like for glass is what we use sometimes. Plungers work too.

Dont worry about filtration focus on completing things. Turning water around amd some CYA amd chlorine will keep water clear for weeks on end

 

[johnm160]

Tape works and bags or salt. I'll tell you a secret of the trade.....grab a garden hose adapter and run it to the nearest sink faucet. Long hose amd hot water the liner turns to putty and you can really work it. Be careful domt go bananas. Suction cups like for glass is what we use sometimes. Plungers work too.

Dont worry about filtration focus on completing things. Turning water around amd some CYA amd chlorine will keep water clear for weeks on end

Will try the hot water trick in the morning. 27 mil liner so it’s a bit of a pain to stretch. What are the suction cups for?

 

[jimmythegreek]

Stretching the face of liner over stairs. One guy in each end gets them tight. Try the 30mil liners they're stiff amd heavy

Remember not full blown hot you can melt the liner with boiling water just nice and hot

 

[johnm160]

Stretching the face of liner over stairs. One guy in each end gets them tight. Try the 30mil liners they're stiff amd heavy

Remember not full blown hot you can melt the liner with boiling water just nice and hot

My hot is only set to about 125-130 degrees. Thanks for the tips. Hopefully this is the last go round with these steps.

 

[johnm160]

Hot water was a big help.

 

[johnm160]

Pool is full, over full actually it got away from me while I was doing some electrical work. Is this air bubble in the top of the pump basket Normal?

I am not very impressed with the suction at the skimmers. There are 2 plumbed with 2” pipe. They are not both home runs. They are t connected near the edge of the pool. I read about him running them both after they were already done. If I put in the sliding plate in the bottoms of the skimmers will that increase water speed into the skimmers and / or help balance them? or did I screw myself by not home running them both of them to the pad?

 

[kimkats]

Do you also have a main drain? Is it on it's own valve? Is one skimmer stronger than the other?

Bubble in the basket-is the o-ring on the lid lubed up? Every once in a while mine will get a bubble if I have been messing with my equipment. After a while it goes away as the air gets out of the system. We will keep working on it!

 

[johnm160]

Do you also have a main drain? Is it on it's own valve? Is one skimmer stronger than the other?

Bubble in the basket-is the o-ring on the lid lubed up? Every once in a while mine will get a bubble if I have been messing with my equipment. After a while it goes away as the air gets out of the system. We will keep working on it!

There are main drains. There is a 3 way valve that controls flow between it an the skimmers. The closer skimmer is stronger unless I block it with my hand then the other one takes over as stronger.

The main drains are on a 3” pipe I might need to close them to just barely open since it is such a large pipe.

The big air bubble did eventually work its way out. I did nothing to the o ring on the pump. I wired it up, primed it and turned it on.

 

[kimkats]

You will have a bit of learning to do with your system. Make notes of how open you have the skimmer and main drain. Then start tweaking it. Does it work better with the main drain open 1/2 and the skimmers all the way? You can also throw ping pong balls in the water to watch your water flow. If needed you can adjust the return eyeballs to help move the water to the skimmers better as well.

Next time you are out and about pop into Lowes or Home Depot for sole o-ring lube. It comes in a little tube and should be by the pool stuff. Shut off the equipment. Open up the pump basket. There should be a black o-ring inside the lid. Take it off and rub some lube all the way around the o-ring. Make sure to have a couple of paper towels to wipe your fingers off with as it is messy.

Kim

 

[johnm160]

They do work better with the main drains mostly closed but they still do not seem to pull the same. The close one pulls decent. The far one the basket floats.

 

[kimkats]

If I put in the sliding plate in the bottoms of the skimmers will that increase water speed into the skimmers and / or help balance them?

I bet that will be very helpful to balance things out. You are on the right track. There are quite a few people who do not have home runs for their skimmers. We can get you balanced and running purrfect with notes and trial and error.

 

[jimmythegreek]

It's always gonna be like that water takes the path of least resistance. Suction lines need to be home runs always. In the old days they used to plumb main drains into the other port and it's worked because the flow was low it's easier to pull out of the skimmer so drains pulled little. What you should do is close the drains either off or just a little open depending on what water needs you have for possible features. See what size threads you have in the strong skimmer amd make a bushing from the top. Can use a PVC plug and drill it out to an inch to start install from the top. I've seem rubber plugs amd also a plate used whatever works. Choking down the strong one will balance it out amd pull more from the other.

 

[johnm160]

Good stuff than you both. It is 2” threads on the skimmers. Ok next question since variable speed pumps are new to me. Is it normal for the pump basket not to be completely full on lower speeds? Hard to see in the pic past the condensation but the water is about an inch below the top of the basket. If I ramp the speed up the basket fills. I have not lubed the o ring yet

 

[jimmythegreek]

Yeah its normal. As the pump breaks in yiu may get less of it. It should start as am air pocket amd progress as the hours go by it shouldnt be immediate upon low speed

 

[ajw22]

Next time you are out and about pop into Lowes or Home Depot for sole o-ring lube. It comes in a little tube and should be by the pool stuff. Shut off the equipment. Open up the pump basket. There should be a black o-ring inside the lid. Take it off and rub some lube all the way around the o-ring. Make sure to have a couple of paper towels to wipe your fingers off with as it is messy.

Pool Lube - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[johnm160]

Yeah its normal. As the pump breaks in yiu may get less of it. It should start as am air pocket amd progress as the hours go by it shouldnt be immediate upon low speed

Pump ran all night to circulate the salt that dissolved from my weights that held the liner in place in the stairs. Seems the garbage bags I put them in did not protect them. Oops.

I dug up the tee connector for the skimmers. I am going to home run the second one. Probably not immediately but I need to make the new connection and run it over to the fence line before my excavation guy gets here Tuesday to grade and drop the paver base down. Then I can run it up to the pad and connect it at my leisure. So I suppose I run it up along the side of the other skimmer line on that side of the 3 way valve and put a valve on each skimmer line? I am not going to be happy knowing I have not done it right leaving them in the tee connector.

 

[johnm160]

Or do I forego the 3 way and put in 3 2 way valves?

 

[jimmythegreek]

your choice its the same thing. you could cut to the right and add Ts and add in both skimmers then 2 way valve them each. you could also do a manifold and 2way valve them all. a little trickier with that 3"line coming in. Why the 3"line for the drains?

 

[johnm160]

your choice its the same thing. you could cut to the right and add Ts and add in both skimmers then 2 way valve them each. you could also do a manifold and 2way valve them all. a little trickier with that 3"line coming in. Why the 3"line for the drains?

The 3” is reduced down to 2” to keep the flow under the spec for code I needed 2 1/2” pipe. I could not source it easily so I went with 3” that I could get from the big box store.

I have a guy coming tomorrow that is going to trench it for me so I can just get it done.

There is not a lot of room on the right it runs into the return lines. I think 3 2 ways might be easier as I can come up to the left of the 3”