Pressure drop when adjusting Jandy valve

[sub150]

Hi all. I bought my first house and it has a pool. Used a neighbors pool guy for a couple months but realized that was a bad idea. We installed a vacuum cleaner (AquaNaut 250) and had the pump running ~10 hours a day at night. After reading some stuff, I realize that I can probably run it 4-6 hours in the morning (better for my schedule to adjust chlorine then) and I also don't need to run the vacuum cleaner all the time. He was also backwashing every week which is not necessary.

I went to adjust the Jandy valve from about 75% vacuum cleaner/25% skimmer to 0% vacuum/100% skimmer and the pressure dropped from about 15 PSI to 8 PSI and I heard hissing from the Jandy valve. I have a Jandy "never lube"...can I still replace a seal to see if that solves the problem? My understanding is that I should be able to run the pump with 100% skimmer no problem and the PSI should be about the same. Is that correct?

Also, my PSI on the filter is not raising. It's stayed at 15 PSI for weeks...could be a product of this likely small air leak?

 

[ajw22]

Post pics of your equipment pad and the valve you are adjusting.

The change of PSI is not necessarily indicative of a problem.

Was the valve hissing just while you were turning it or is it hissing constantly in its new position? O rings can be replaced in the Jandy valve.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Sub,

The filter pressure is not how well your pump is doing, but rather how much effort it is to push the water through your filter and back to the pool.

To be honest, I am not sure why the pressure went down when you selected all skimmer, but I doubt it is an issue.

As a test, I would 'feel' the pressure out of a return when you have just the skimmer running and again when you have it set up with 75/25% vac/skimmer and see if you can feel any difference.

Unless the Jandy valve is making a continuous noise, I would not worry about it.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[sub150]

Tried it again this morning.

With 75% vacuum, pump window has no bubbles, pressure at 15 PSI. Move to 100% skimmer, bubbles in pump window and couldn't prime it out. There was also some noise coming from the pipes coming out of the sand filter (in red circle).

 

[Jimrahbe]

Sub,

How sure are you that the valve handle on the Jandy valve, right in front of the pump, is on correctly??

Sounds to me like you are actually shutting off the water going into the pump.

Do you have flex line below ground or solid PVC?

Do you own a Drain King test bladder?

Thanks

Jim R.

 

[sub150]

I don't have great confidence. I bought the house off an estate...assuming they had a pool guy and they had a vacuum as well (Baracuda).

I would imagine it's solid PVC but do not know.

I don't own a test bladder.

In a few months I'm going to be (carefully) removing the bushes around the pump area. Hoping to see how the plumbing is done at that point.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Sub,

I'd take the top off the Jandy valve in front of the pump and make sure the diverter is pointed in the right direction.

When the handle is pointed right at the pump, the diverter should be pointed so that all three pipes are open. The idea is the diverter and the word "off" on the handle are pointed in the same direction.

If the handle position is correct, then it sounds like your skimmer line might be clogged, but you need to check the handle's position first.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[sub150]

Update on this. Didn't even get around to taking apart the Jandy, but was losing prime this week. Was able to tell my pump O-Ring is ever so slightly letting out air. I bought new O-Rings for that and the Jandy and will replace them this upcoming week.

Hoping that and making sure the Jandy is aligned properly fixed it. If not, I'm assuming a plumber can snake out the skimmer line through the basket to the Jandy valve entrance? I have *plenty* of plumbing work being done at my house if it comes to that.

 

[sub150]

Update. Whatever was causing the issue is now gone after making sure the Jandy valve was oriented correctly, replacing all 3 Jandy 3-way O Rings, and the pool pump filter O Ring. No issues turning the valve to 100% skimmer now.

Going to run the pump at 100% skimmer a few days and see how the bottom of the pool looks. Will turn it to 75% vacuum/25% skimmer when I need it.

Thanks for the help!