Newbie overwhelmed by pool system and eqiupment

[cgollapu]

Hi,
I am becoming a firs time pool owner. We are getting a house with a pool in north Atlanta. The home and pool were unattended for over a year. Having many expenses I am trying to learn and figure out the pool system. I am attaching the pictures of the pool and equipment. There is very little I knkow about pool systems and need any help you can provide to get me started. The immedeate questions I have is to operate the system and understand the equipment.
1. The filter pump has three suction lines and two valves. Are you able to tell what the different suction lines maybe from the pictures.
2. Filter pump discharge jas two lines. What may these be.
3. I cant seem to get the cleaner pump to run - pump #2 in the attached odcument. There is a thermostat - bottm left of the control panel. I tried to turn down the thermostat set point to start the pump but it does not start. The pool inspector report says all pumps are operational. How do I start this pump.
4. I have no idea what is pump#3 and it does not have a switch/control on the panel. What may this be and how does it operate?
5. the filter pump was running well, but off late does not seem to pump. The suction filter is only half full. Do I have to prime the pump?

Thanks in advance

 

[Jimrahbe]

C,

The temp adjustment is for your freeze control.. Leave it alone for now!!!

Pump #2 is for a waterfall or spa, but I don't see a spa. The valve in front of the pump #2 is set to OFF. Do NOT turn on that pump for now.

Pump #1 is your main pool pump. Set the valve right in front of the pump so that the valve handle points right at the pump. Set the other valve in that same line so that the handle points to the the left. This will open up all three pipes so water can flow to the main pump.

Pump #3 is for your cleaner.. I would not screw with it until you have the main pump working as it should.

Do the above steps and tell us what happens.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

C,

Make sure the water level in the pool is about in the middle of the Skimmer opening... Before you turn on any pumps.

How many skimmers do you have?? Looks like two to me..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

C,

If you look in the bottom of your timer box you will find On and Off "dogs" that will make the timers turn the pumps on and off on a schedule. These dogs get installed on the edge of the yellow timer disks, at the times you want the pump to come on and then turn off.

When you add water to the pump basket to "prime" it, the water will most likely flow back into the pool, due to gravity. As long as the bottom part of the pump basket is filled with water, then the pump should work. The pump sucks a vacuum, so the lid must be on the pump for it to work.

I bet if you look, somewhere on the pole that holds the timer box, you will find a switch to turn on pump #2..

I suspect P1S1 is your main drain, P1S3 is for one skimmer and P1S2 is your other skimmer, but you will have to turn them on and off to check what is what.

P1D2 and P1D1 are pool returns.. It could be that one is for your pool returns (Eyeballs) in the walls of the pool and that other one is for something else, but again, you will need to test to see what they actually do.

P1D1 must have water flow before Pump #3 (Cleaner) can be turned on..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

TFP tip #1 - Please post all pics directly to the forum. It makes it much easier for people to zoom in on details and take a good look at what you are asking.

TFP tip #2 - put your questions in the post not in a document.

You say you do not see much turbulence when the pump runs and the filter basket is not full of water. Your skimmers are turned off and your filter pump is only drawing from your main drain.

• Pump #1 is the main filter pump
  • P1S1 is likely your main drain in the pool floor
  • P1S2 & P1S3 are likely your two skimmers
  • The valve between the white and grey pipes is set with P1S2 & P1S3 off
• Pump #2 is for some water features of other supplementary circulation
• Pump #3 is your cleaner pump
  • It uses water pressure out of a dedicated return to power the pool cleaner you asked about in the last picture
  • The cleaner pump must only be run when the filter pump is run
  • The electrical panel is likely wired so the cleaner pump only runs when the filter pump is powered
• P1D1 & P1D2 are likely two returns

You have a MPV (Multi-Purpose Valve) on the top of your sand filter. What is it set to?



Left side timer is for the Filter Pump

Right side timer is for the Cleaner

The cleaner should be wired so it only runs when the filter pump is on. The right side will not turn on when the left side is off.

The knob on the lower left is for Freeze Control to turn on the filter pump automatically if temps approach 32F.

I also see the white box in the lower right near the Filter Pump dial and that is for a heater cool down control to turn off a gas heater a few minutes before the pump turns off.

Also you should confirm if your panel has GFCI protection for your pumps and lights.



This is a Polaris pool cleaner that plugs into the return the cleaner pump outputs to.

Polaris 280: Pressure-Side Pool Cleaner | Polaris Pool

Looking for the Polaris 280 Vac-Sweep? Find this Pressure-Side Pool Cleaner and Buy Best-in-Class Cleaners Today!

www.polarispool.com

 

[ajw22]

This is the Intermatic electrical box you have...

https://www.intermatic.com/Catalog/us/Products/Pool-And-Spa/Freeze-Protection/PF1222TB1

https://www.intermatic.com/Product/156T1978A

 

[cgollapu]

C,

The temp adjustment is for your freeze control.. Leave it alone for now!!!

Pump #2 is for a waterfall or spa, but I don't see a spa. The valve in front of the pump #2 is set to OFF. Do NOT turn on that pump for now.

Pump #1 is your main pool pump. Set the valve right in front of the pump so that the valve handle points right at the pump. Set the other valve in that same line so that the handle points to the the left. This will open up all three pipes so water can flow to the main pump.

Pump #3 is for your cleaner.. I would not screw with it until you have the main pump working as it should.

Do the above steps and tell us what happens.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hi Jim, Thanks for your help. I set the valves as per your recommendation and the main pump #1 slowly built up the pressure and is now working. Big thanks.

 

[cgollapu]

Jim & Allen,
God news. I was able to turn on all the pumps.
Pump #2 for the water fall had a switch on the back side of the main switch panel. See the picture below;

The box on the bottom was for the water fall feature, I also figured out the valve open positions thanks to your help.
I tested all three pumps and they are working. The cleaner pump is running but I have to figure out how to connect the polaris end unit. The water fall pipe has a leak which I will et to later.
Thanks a lot to get things going.
I am starting to add chemicals as per pool math.
Do you recommend balancing first and then work on clarity of the water. Right now it very murky because of dead algae. It was green to begin with and I added pool shock. Now is blue but very cloudy.
Chandra

 

[ajw22]

Post a complete set of test results.

You have PoolMath logs linked but nothing logged.

Are you following the SLAM Process for your cloudy water?

 

[HermanTX]

Take a picture of the end of the hose on the cleaner. It should have some slots in it.
In the pool, approximately 6-12 inches below the waterline tile, there should be open port. it should have 2 knubbing in it. It takes a little effort but the slots on the hose end goes into that port. The main filter pump & cleaner pump must be OFF.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Chandra,

The problem with just dumping in pool shock, is that it might make the algae appear to go away, but it is just temporary, and it will come back over time.

What you really want to do is kill all the algae, so it can't come back. To do that we have a process called a SLAM... This is a process that might take a few days, it is not a one and done kind of Pool Store fix...

Check out this video...



Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[cgollapu]

You are correct. The green color is coming back. Thanks for the SLAM process link. I am going to follow that