Pool opening question.

[Midwestdude]

Ok this may be a dumb question, but I want to make sure I'm doing things in the proper order. Last season (our first summer) we had the pool opened for us. This year with our pool renovation I'm doing the opening myself. We had swim ready pool water trucked in to fill our inground gunite pool. Pump issues aside (posted in the other topic). We have a sand filter. There are two Jandy style valves that close and open the lines from the main drain and the skimmer (suction side).

This is the process as I understand it.

Remove plugs from jets and skimmer gismo/ice compensator.
Return skimmer basket.
Fill the pool to the proper height (middle of skimmer box).
Reinstall drain plugs in pump/sand filter.
Reinstall pressure gauge and sight glass on sand filter.
Set sand filter multi-port valve from winterize to filter
Turn on the pump
once a steady stream of water is flowing out of the sand filter's air relief valve, shut the valve and we're good to go.

Before priming or turning on the pump I opened both the drain valve and the skimmer valve. Is this correct or should I keep the drain valve shut unless I need to set my sand filter valve to waste? I'm not 100% sure when to have the drain valve open and when it should be shut. This is probably a dumb question but we're still learning here.

 

[Texas Splash]

I think you have it mostly covered, The link below might help as well, but you seem to be on the right track.

 

[Newdude]

Before priming or turning on the pump I opened both the drain valve and the skimmer valve.

In theory it's easier for the pump to pull from the skimmers. Or you could leave it 50/50 and let the system decide which one or how many parts of each help prime the pump.

I'm not 100% sure when to have the drain valve open and when it should be shut.

Use 80%-90% skimmers and the rest from the main drain. I switched mine main drains on 100% alot and swept crud in their direction with the brush. You have to get the stuff pretty much over the drains, even at 100%, but they do suck it in.

This is the process as I understand it.

It looks good to me as someone who did exactly all that every spring. (Except for the MPV/ sand part, I had cartridges) We are here when the time comes for anything that arises also.

 

[Midwestdude]

I ended up switching to mostly skimmer. With them both open my skimmer suction was a bit weak. I switched it to 100% skimmer and 0% drain (had to do some testing as the guy who upgraded the valves didn't label which was the drain and which was the skimmer lol). Then slightly opened the drain and all's working fine, good suction on the skimmer, and pump stays primed. My only remaining thing to deal with is choosing a replacement pump and redoing the wire connections to the pump and pool light. The pump is on its last legs, wouldn't start up, but my wife's dad who's great with mechanical, electrical, and plumbing was able to get the motor and pump going again, but it's on borrowed time. We finally got to use our pool for the first time this season yesterday. It's been so rainy and overcast that the water was still a bit on the cool side, but, it was nice to finally use it. The new stones and tile look really nice. On the bright side a short season makes the chemicals go further lol. Been a lot of new stuff added to the pool this past year. New winter cover, new solar cover, cover reel, renovation, and coming soon a new pump and wiring.