Hey All,
My pool equipment is not performing well and has been gradually getting worse as this season has worn on. I'm hoping I can get some advice to cure my ills before I close it up for the winter. At this point my return jets are putting out a very low volume of water and my circulation is suffering to the point where I'm getting algae blooms that require constant attention.
Here's what I can tell you about my situation:
At the start of the season most everything seemed to be functioning fine. I did the deep cleaning of the sand filter and hooked up the pump and in about a week had a crystal clear pool. I have three Venturi return jets and two opposing skimmers which I orient with two pointed upwards and one pointed down. I began to notice that the upward pointed jets were not agitating the surface of the water as aggressively after running the pump for a few hours. My remedy for this was to backwash and rinse every few days and this action seemed to work to get the water flowing again.
However, gradually it required the backwash/rinse action more frequently to the point where I was doing it several times a day. Still, it worked to solve the circulation issue. Now, unfortunately, this is no longer the silver bullet cure. I get very poor circulation and not enough suction to vacuum which is making it difficult to keep the algae in check.
In an effort to fix the problem I purchased one of those rubber plumbing bladders that attach to a garden hose and tried blasting out the return lines in the hope that perhaps there was a pine needle dam obstructing the flow at one of the PVC elbows in the line. No go. Didn't change anything.
So, I'm now left to wonder what other steps I can take to troubleshoot this problem.
I did a few tests today which yielded interesting results, but I'm not sure what they mean. Let me explain.
I have a waste line that empties out onto the street where I can see how the water flows when backwashing/rinsing my filter. When backwashing the water shoots out like a firehose but when rinsing it dribbles out by comparison. I actually resorted to vacuuming to waste today because it was the only way to get the pool clean. I don't know if this is an indication of anything in particular, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Anyway, if any of you experts have any recommendations for me, I'm all ears. I'll be closing up the pool in a week or two but was hoping to have some idea of how to start next season of successfully.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Ripper
My pool equipment is not performing well and has been gradually getting worse as this season has worn on. I'm hoping I can get some advice to cure my ills before I close it up for the winter. At this point my return jets are putting out a very low volume of water and my circulation is suffering to the point where I'm getting algae blooms that require constant attention.
Here's what I can tell you about my situation:
At the start of the season most everything seemed to be functioning fine. I did the deep cleaning of the sand filter and hooked up the pump and in about a week had a crystal clear pool. I have three Venturi return jets and two opposing skimmers which I orient with two pointed upwards and one pointed down. I began to notice that the upward pointed jets were not agitating the surface of the water as aggressively after running the pump for a few hours. My remedy for this was to backwash and rinse every few days and this action seemed to work to get the water flowing again.
However, gradually it required the backwash/rinse action more frequently to the point where I was doing it several times a day. Still, it worked to solve the circulation issue. Now, unfortunately, this is no longer the silver bullet cure. I get very poor circulation and not enough suction to vacuum which is making it difficult to keep the algae in check.
In an effort to fix the problem I purchased one of those rubber plumbing bladders that attach to a garden hose and tried blasting out the return lines in the hope that perhaps there was a pine needle dam obstructing the flow at one of the PVC elbows in the line. No go. Didn't change anything.
So, I'm now left to wonder what other steps I can take to troubleshoot this problem.
I did a few tests today which yielded interesting results, but I'm not sure what they mean. Let me explain.
I have a waste line that empties out onto the street where I can see how the water flows when backwashing/rinsing my filter. When backwashing the water shoots out like a firehose but when rinsing it dribbles out by comparison. I actually resorted to vacuuming to waste today because it was the only way to get the pool clean. I don't know if this is an indication of anything in particular, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Anyway, if any of you experts have any recommendations for me, I'm all ears. I'll be closing up the pool in a week or two but was hoping to have some idea of how to start next season of successfully.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Ripper