First house, first pool, and a couple questions

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If you don’t have a robot or cleaner running around the pool yes brushing will helpkeep the walls clean. I will admit I have a robot I use 1-2 times a week and brush maybe 1-2 times a month. However I have very little debris that gets into the pool. In the spring during pollen season I was brushing weekly

As for pump run time start with pool school. https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/152-determine-pump-run-time
 
My pool is brushed at least weekly. Brushing the pool let's me look closely at it and I often spot things that don't look exactly right. That let's me fix small problems before they become big ones.
 
With a variable speed pump, you can run it at a really low rpm (like 1000) and run it for many hours without much electrical cost. I run mine for 18 hours a day, and it costs me only around $10 in electricity.

Be aware though that with a SWG, you'll have to run it fast enough (usually around 1200 rpm's) to close the flow switch on the SWG for it to produce chlorine. You may also decide to run it near the high speed for maybe 30 minutes to an hour if you want to manually vacuum your pool so you get good suction.
 
You guys are seriously awesome for all the help, you're all enabling inexperienced people like me to understand and maintain their pools cheaply and effectively. Can't say it enough!

I decided to crack open my filter this afternoon prior to starting the SLAM. And well... A picture is worth a thousand words.

Picture of filter cartridges

Any guesses on how long it has been since those have been cleaned? Yikes!
 
hyrax said:
You guys are seriously awesome for all the help, you're all enabling inexperienced people like me to understand and maintain their pools cheaply and effectively. Can't say it enough!

I decided to crack open my filter this afternoon prior to starting the SLAM. And well... A picture is worth a thousand words.

Picture of filter cartridges

Any guesses on how long it has been since those have been cleaned? Yikes!
Click to expand...

Yuck. Does your filter have a pressure gauge? Check that it is working. They often fail.

Check the gauge is zero when pump is off. Note the pressure when you get the pump running with a clean filter. Watch the pressure gauge and see it rise over time. Clean the filter when your gauge reads 25% over clean pressure.
 
ajw22 said:
Yuck. Does your filter have a pressure gauge? Check that it is working. They often fail.

Check the gauge is zero when pump is off. Note the pressure when you get the pump running with a clean filter. Watch the pressure gauge and see it rise over time. Clean the filter when your gauge reads 25% over clean pressure.
Click to expand...

It does, and it works luckily. I'll keep an eye and figure out the clean pressure.

Pool is bumped up to 18ppm of chlorine now!

Since cleaning those filters out now my issue with the water flowing back away from the pump seems to have gotten a lot worse. As soon as the pump shuts off the water reverses out of the pump quickly, one of the jandy valves on the pool side actually squirts out some water for a second as it does this. It also takes significantly longer for it to prime. Does this mean I created a leak at the filter maybe? I didn't touch anything else. I don't see any water dripping.


Here's a couple more pictures of the equipment. Let me know if it needs clarifications and I'll write some notes up.
 
No water should be squirting out of a Jandy valve. I think you found one of the sources of your bubbles. Repair the valve and see what it fixes.

Thats what i meant by the source of a problem will reveal itself over time.

What is the level of your pump versus the pool water level? The pump looks higher.

The pool plumbing should be a closed system and hold pressure when the pump is off. But if you have any leaks, like in your Jandy valve, then it loses pressure and water will drain back into the pool. Find all of your leaks and your pump draining should stop. The water cant drain down unless air is coming in from somplace to displace it.

A leak on the suction side will not show any drips.

Highlight the Jandy valve that is leaking.
 
ajw22 said:
No water should be squirting out of a Jandy valve. I think you found one of the sources of your bubbles. Repair the valve and see what it fixes.

What is the level of your pump versus the pool water level? The pump looks higher.

Highlight the Jandy valve that is leaking.
Click to expand...

Ordered a 12 pack of O ring kits for the Jandy valves.

Yes the pump is higher than the pool. Probably about a foot or so.

Here's the one that's leaking
 
ajw22 said:
Yup, that is on the suction side so will take in air and not leak.
Click to expand...

Pool water is looking very nice. I was doing my scrubbing and realized I have a whole bunch of stuff settled on the bottom that I couldn't see. The whole time I've run this pool I never noticed my vacuum doing anything... I think I've finally gotten it moving at least.

This is the vacuum I've got.

I tightened the screws on that leaking valve, they were very loose so I'm sure it helped at least a little. Vacuum still wasn't working. In fact I was losing prime when I switched the valve to just vacuum! Then I realized the air had to be coming from the hose (it has lots of smaller sections)... Tigtened it up and sure enough it's working now. Still some air getting in but not enough to cause a problem.

Two things - Is it worthwhile to upgrade from this style of vacuum, and what kind of (budget conscious) options are there? And also, my manual pole vacuum I can't get to work right. Either it doesn't have enough suction to pick anything up, or it's stuck to the bottom of the pool and I can hardly move it. Its this style, though cheaper looking: Shop Aqua EZ 14 Flexible Swivel-Handle Pool Vacuum Head Wheeled at Lowes.com


Edit: I spoke too fast. Went back out to check on it and it's still leaking enough air in that the pump basket was half empty so it wasn't making any pressure. ��
 

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A pole mounted manual vacuum is so last century. I suggest you go to the Pool Cleaners section and look at what folks are talking about the Dolphin robot cleaners. Plug it in, drop it in your pool, and they go to work.
 
ajw22 said:
A pole mounted manual vacuum is so last century. I suggest you go to the Pool Cleaners section and look at what folks are talking about the Dolphin robot cleaners. Plug it in, drop it in your pool, and they go to work.
Click to expand...

Man those look nice. Sounds like you can put a multilayer filter in the S200, right? I'd probably go that way when I can afford it.

SWG is the first priority though, I think. Adding chlorine daily is a chore. Any suggestions on those?

My overnight test dropped 1.0ppm of FC so looks like I should be good to go there! Yay. Gonna pull my filters back out this afternoon to see what they look like.
 
hyrax said:
SWG is the first priority though, I think. Adding chlorine daily is a chore. Any suggestions on those?
.
Click to expand...

I have and like the Pentair IC40 SWG. You could get by with an IC20 cell for a 14,000 gallon pool. An IC40 or 60 will give you more CL production with a shorter pump runtime.
 
Definitely get the IC40 over the 20. They are virtually the same price. Only a couple of bucks more for double the chlorinating ability. You'll be able to run it for lower run times which will put less stress on it and make it last longer. NO BRAINER!
 
Ended up picking up a CircuPool SJ-40 for $645, read some pretty good things about CircuPool recently and at that price, it was hard to go with anything else! With the price I'm paying for chlorine (about 3.50 for 128oz of 10%), I'll be going through $30-40 a month... so it should pay for itself in a couple years minimum. Not counting the times I'll forget to add and need to buy a whole bunch more, lol. The reduced labor (testing, hauling and pouring in jugs, etc) is probably worth the price alone.

Oh, and since cleaning my filters/greasing the O-ring, and tightening up my Jandy valves a bit my leaking problem seems to have stopped. Water now stays put in the pump!

Budget is blown now, but someday I'll pick up one of those robot cleaners :D
 
Be aware the SJ units can only be adjusted in 20% increments. So you will need to use pump run time and % to balance how much chlorine you need. They also require a higher salt ppm vs the RJ units.
 
mknauss said:
Be aware the SJ units can only be adjusted in 20% increments. So you will need to use pump run time and % to balance how much chlorine you need. They also require a higher salt ppm vs the RJ units.
Click to expand...

Yes, I saw that, but I can manage. Considering it supports up to a 40,000gal pool I imagine the runtime won't be too bad. I have a variable speed pump and timer so I'll play with it until I get it right! Also, the manual states that they want 3,000-5000ppm for the SJ, and 3,000-4,000 for the RJ, which is interesting.
 
I installed the SWG about a week ago, and it's working great! Super overkill for my pool. I can run my pump about 6 hours a day with the SWG on 50% and keep my FC stable. Been working on getting my CSI right and I'm just about there.

I had a house/pool inspection before buying the house and they missed that the housings on each of the 3 Jandy valves are cracked. Luckily, their insurance is having them all replaced for me on Wednesday, woo!

All of a sudden I have a small leak this morning at my pump. It looks like a drain at the bottom, reminds me of the oil fill hole on my motorcycle. Here's a picture of it.

I found the manual for my pool pump (here), but it only covers the pump portion, not the filter basket side of things. I didn't see any defining markings on it. When I'm done running the pump today I'll remove that cap and see if there's an o ring or something that needs to be replaced. It leaked less when I tightened it a bit, but didn't stop.
 
The drain plug is for areas that the equipment is drained for winter. It should have a small oring or you can use some teflon tape on it.
 
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