New liner and rebuild

[coolfish5]

We bought a house with an inground liner pool in disrepair. This was too big of a project for me to DIY and we finally found a pool builder willing to repair. It seems most in our area will only repair what they originally installed.

Here is what we started with.


Pool base repairs after cleaning, the vermiculite had a lot of broken parts, some of the deep end was ok, all of the shallow end was replaced.

New liner installed last fall and filled by the local volunteer fire department.

Current filter setup, Hayward super pump 1hp with a replacement motor. Hayward sand filter with top-mounted multiport. This was during pressure test last fall to check underground plumbing. The 2 open lines were abandoned. One drain line that connects to the bottom drain and skimmer box with a valve in the skimmer box to adjust the mix.


Its almost time to open, but the PB was unable to get the pump to maintain prime. First opening scheduled next week. The pool is covered with a mesh safety cover, wood fencing is going up before the cover will be left off.

I'd appreciate advice regarding the filter. I am familiar with sand filters but see that cartridge filters and VS pumps seem to be more power-efficient, and I will consider those. I have an old suction side automatic vacuum but haven't tested to see if its functional. I have some test strips I bought for our spa, but I will be sure to order a proper test kit but have basically no other equipment, brushes, vac, pole at this time.

 

[kimkats]

WOW! What a great difference!! That liner looks awesome!!

You had water added last fall with the new liner............was the pump working then?

If you do not have any water features or spa you can get by with a simple 2 sp pump. I run mine on low almost all of the time and it does not move my meter much at all.

Kim

 

[coolfish5]

The pump was not run last fall either. There were some electrical issues, rusted switches, which have been replaced.

The pump motor runs, water moves but loses prime within a minute or less. The pool company used a tall pipe in the skimmer with a garden hose to push water all the way through to the pump so the basket was full with no air, and it would still be filled with air quickly after starting the pump. They replaced the pump basket lid gasket and added silicone over the intake fitting on the pump, which was new anyway, but nothing else tried yet. I guess they were out of time that day.

 

[kimkats]

Let me call in the big guns!!! @ajw22 @jimmythegreek any thoughts?

 

[ajw22]

Show us pics of your equipment pad, pump, and skimmer box.

One drain line that connects to the bottom drain and skimmer box with a valve in the skimmer box to adjust the mix.

Based on the above I would look carefully at the skimmer box and valve.

Have they tried to blow air with a cyclone blower from the pump to the skimmer and main drain to confirm the lines are open and clear?

 

[jimmythegreek]

Did they pressure test the plumbing before doing all this work? It looks like theres a pressure rig glued to the cap in your equipment pad pic.

 

[coolfish5]

Thank you for the responses so far. The pressure test with the capped lines was done last fall. I do not believe they tried to blow air in the lines after reconnecting the pump yet. They removed the union on the pump and so it can't be removed easily at the moment.

Here is the connected equipment pad as it stands today.

Skimmer box, valve seats in the bottom and remains fully submerged. The valve was out at the time of testing the other day.

valve from skimmer box


No significant water loss has been seen, though that doesn't mean the underground line and skimmer box are without damage I can not see anything obvious.

 

[jimmythegreek]

If the lines were tested last fall they should be ok. What fitting are in the pool for suction and returns? Did they include the main drain in the test? I dont like that they did pipe work and left the dwv fittings at the inlet of pump instead of schd40 fittings. That's a red flag to me. If I come across that I think to myself that they are corner cutters

 

[coolfish5]

The main bottom drain should have been included. Good catch on the fittings, thanks for the heads-up about it, those were on it before.

There is a single bottom drain in the deep end and a single skimmer box. There are several, maybe 4 return jets in the walls.

 

[jimmythegreek]

I take it the skimmer is using both bottom ports one to equipment and other end to main drain? Hopefully the leak is above ground at a fitting or the pump. Not good otherwise. They could try threading a plug into skimmer to seal off drain and try again. Then if not run water over fittings while priming and try to find it that way. Plastic wrap works too

 

[coolfish5]

Pool company thinks the pump housing is cracked, although nothing visible but we're going to go ahead and upgrade to a VS Pentair superflow pump, hopefully, the additional power savings will be worthwhile.

 

[coolfish5]

The pool company came out to open. Installed a new Pentair pump, sand filter, and SWCG. I'll update my signature with models when I have the books in front of me.


The new pump is working fine now. They said to wait till the water warms, then add the salt then plug in the SWCG. They vacuumed the pool with the filter set to waste, brushed the pool, and added cal hypo chlorine dissolved in a bucket before adding, and metal magic to prevent iron staining. They provided test strips for chemistry and salt, and a small bucket of 3" trichlor tabs to add to the skimmer until the water warms enough to start the SWCG. They also provided a new pole, and vac, net, and brush heads. The safety cover was put back in place until the fence is completed.

There are 2 return jets, one on the deep end with an angled return pointed downward, and one on the shallow end that points straight out. The other 2 jets that are on the same wall as the skimmer did not hold pressure and were not connected, they are capped inside the pool and seen on the equipment pad as the 2 open pipes, I guess I will cap them just to keep crud out.

We have had heavy rain last night so I'm sure I'll need to dump more water this evening.

I will order the recommended test kit and get some water pictures next time the cover is off.

 

[wireform]

Cool fish, welcome. I suggest you read pool school and get familiar with TFP TFP methodology. You're going to need two test kits ,one for the standard pool chems and one for salinity testing. This is for the standards look for and This is the best salinity test kit you can buy. The guess strips are just no reliable to trust.

 

[coolfish5]

I am aware of the TFtest kits and have placed an order, the strips will just be to hold me over till it arrives. I read the pool school pages last fall when we started the project and will review it again.

It does feel a bit biased that these forums basically sell the test kits.

 

[kimkats]

It does feel a bit biased that these forums basically sell the test kits.

I can see why you would think that. The truth is we just want all pool owners to have a GOOD test kit!! So long as the test kits has all of the test you need like the CYA and a FC test that can go past 5 or 10. There is the Taylor 2006, Talyor 2006C, or the TF-100. You can buy them from Amazon, Walmart, as well as other online stores.

Kim

 

[ajw22]

I am aware of the TFtest kits and have placed an order, the strips will just be to hold me over till it arrives. I read the pool school pages last fall when we started the project and will review it again.

It does feel a bit biased that these forums basically sell the test kits.

We just need accurate repeatable pool water chemistry that can be relied on. You can chose whatever kit does the job. Read about the choices at Pool Test Kits - Further Reading

 

[coolfish5]

New equipment installed, signature updated. Pentair Superflow VST 1.5 pump, Pentair iCHLOR 30 SWCG, Pentair Sand Dollar sand filter.

Pool store installed the pump with default schedule settings. 2 hours at 3000rpm, 10 hours at 1400rpm, 2 hours at 2200rpm and 10 hours off. I'm not quite sure where they should be set for now with the opening. As we are still having frost I set the 1400rpm setting to run for 20 hours and left the other speeds at 2 hours each to hopefully avoid any freezing pipe issues.

The salt cell is currently unplugged from the controller as the water temperature is only 52F, no salt has been added, they suggested doing that in a month or so. SWCG manual says it will operate at a minimum of 20gpm and temp of 52F+/- 3F. I do not have an external timer so will plan to run the pump 24/7 for now.

Still waiting on the TF100, salt test kit and pH meter to arrive. Need to add CYA stabilizer, poolmath says 15lbs. We're under stay at home orders so I was hoping the pool store would supply everything when they opened the pool which is why I waited.

LaMotte Test strips show
FCL 3
TCL 3
Alk 80
pH 7.2
TH 100
CyA 0

I'll post over in the 'Testing and Balancing Your Water' once I get the testing supplies.

I do not have a vacuum adaptor for the skimmer. The pool store simply put the vac hose into the valve below the skimmer basket, which results in all the larger crud getting trapped in the pump basket which is more of a hassle to clean out. It is a Hayward skimmer so I think that should be an easy part to get.

Thanks for the advice so far, looking forward to some warmer weather and getting to use the pool.

 

[kimkats]

SWEET!!! You already to have a firm handle on how to care for a pool!

The "vacuum plate" is easy to find. Some times Home Depot and Lowes will have them. Make sure to measure so you will be the right one the first time. Shhhhhhhh but I could never get the plate to work so I do as your pool company did to avoid the fight with the plate.

Kim

 

[jimmythegreek]

Just set the pump to run from 9pm to 9am at 1200 to 1400 and ditch the rest for now. That will prevent freezing you don't need anything else for a few weeks yet save the electricity for the swim season

 

[coolfish5]

The pool is actually open now. The new liner looks pretty good I think.


After vacuuming without a skimmer plate and completely clogging the pump strainer I think I'll order the part. There is no check valve on the pump and so it takes refilling the pump basket and a few minutes to prime after cleaning.

The TF100 test kit seems to work well. Water temp was up to 58F, so hopefully, I can add salt and start the SWCG soon.

I have a couple of questions. The concrete deck by the steps slopes down toward the steps and there is a small hole between the concrete and steps where water drains into, not sure if that will be an issue, and if adding a concrete patch over it to bring it up level would be worth trying. The brass anchor screws for the cover are loose in the holes in the concrete, would it be worth adding silicone or similar to keep water out of the bore holes?

Thanks,