Pumping Station Labeling

[iom]

The distance between the Jandy valve and the pump intake is way too small.
Turbulence is most likely doubling your electric bill and you may have cavitation as well. From the hydrodynamics course the longer the distance the better. ASPS recommends 4 x pipe diameter. Most pump manufacturers (including Hayward, Jandy and Pentair) recommends 5 x pipe diameter. It may not be easy to change in your install but it might be worth the effort.

 

[JakHammer]

Forgive me for bouncing in late, but wouldn't drawing only from the XP-Whizz-Bang through the skimmer put a strain on the pump and reduce overall effectiveness? Wouldn't it be easier on the system to adjust the valve so that the cleaner worked effectively, but leave the other inlet open some to provide more water flow?
Also, please expound on the issue of the distance between the Jandy valve and the pump intake.
My system only has about 3 inches between the valve and the strainer basket like this guys. Is that bad?
I don't mean to hi-jack the thread, but I've never heard this and would like more info.
JaK

 

[iom]

The straight pipe section before the intake is important. The longer the better. From my observations 5 times the diameter is a minimum. Measure from the end of the Jamdy valve -- not from the center of the valve -- to the pump housing. Shorter pipes do created turbulence on the intake - this is not good. And at the same time most often cause cavitation on the impeller. Look for small bubbles coming from the discharge side and listen for "stone" sound in the discharge pipe.
In Arizona most "pool technicians" have no clue about physics involved. But some old time plumbers do know about pumps as the same needs to be done in home water pumps installs.

 

[JakHammer]

When I have the Jandy valve set to Both Open, everything is smooth, with not much air churning in the window/lid of the strainer at the front of the pump, but when I switch to either side alone, I get lots more air - and noise - in the window/lid. Is that normal? The water pressure coming out of the hose also goes down dramatically - I'd say more than half.
I could theoretically scoot the pump back about 4", which would give me a total distance of about 8", but from there it would require digging up pipes... I think this is an issue for another day, and another thread.
Thanks for your insight.
Jak

 

[iom]

When I have the Jandy valve set to Both Open, everything is smooth, with not much air churning in the window/lid of the strainer at the front of the pump, but when I switch to either side alone, I get lots more air - and noise - in the window/lid. Is that normal? The water pressure coming out of the hose also goes down dramatically - I'd say more than half.
I could theoretically scoot the pump back about 4", which would give me a total distance of about 8", but from there it would require digging up pipes... I think this is an issue for another day, and another thread.
Thanks for your insight.
Jak

Normal is when there is no air moving in the window/lid. So if you do have any = turbulence= drop in suction ability and cavitation. When you switch to one supply pipe - the turbulence gets worse. In my setup - when I was away - the 'genius' did 2" distance although he was told to do minimum 10" (the Jandy valve to pump pipe is 2" dia). I have two inputs to Jandy: 1.5" skimmer and 2" suction cleaner. When I switched to any single input I got what you described - the turbulent flow. I changed to 10" distance and things went silent. But I am also in the process of changing 1.5" skimmer line to 2", and I will change all 90 deg elbows to 90 deg sweeps (if you do not get sweeps, just do 2x45 male/female). The key is to keep water flow as slow as possible and with as little resitance to flow as practical (i.e. change in dirrection, connections, unbeveled pipe edges).