Simple plumbing questions, what is this stuff

[Bill in Bay Area]

There's a few things I'm not sure I understand about my pool plumbing:

1) Why is the discharge pipe 2" from the filter through the heater then the SWG, but drop to 1" Polaris reinforced hose after that, only to go back up to 1.5" PVC at the return to pool?

2) The intake pipe has a 90º elbow, but the discharge pipe has 2 45's. Would it be better to change the intake to 45's (e.g. better efficiency or filter performance)?

3) Can I place unions on the intake pipe and backwash pipe (there's already one on the discharge at the heater) as a good way to be able to remove the multiport for deep cleaning of my sand filter? Do they need to be in the same plane or can one be on the vertical run?

4) What is the white rectangular thing between my SWG and the booster pump? Is it part of the SWG?

5) What do you call the black valve that controls the mix coming from the pool drain and the pool strainer? How do I want to use it? If I need to lower the pool water (my CYA is too high, and my calcium is too high, so I might have to replace a bunch of water ) I assume I set it to 100% through the drain, but why would I use any of the other settings besides 50-50?

6) I have a leaky and shot booster pump. I will either replace or bypass it (moving to robot from pressure side cleaner). If I bypass it, do I need new reinforced pipe, or can I just attach the existing pipe section currently attached to the booster directly to the PVC leading to the pool return? Would it be better to eliminate the 1" and keep a bigger diameter path to the pool?


Any words of warning for a DIY'er before I undertake any of this? Is it much different from working on sprinkler PVC? Is it notoriously hard to line up the unions, for example?

Many thanks,

Bill

 

[Jimrahbe]

Bill,

This is why phones have cameras...

Show us several pics of your equipment pad, and I'm sure we can answer all your questions.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Bill in Bay Area]

Oops. Had the pics ready, just forgot to attach them. Sorry!

 

[HermanTX]

1) Why is the discharge pipe 2" from the filter through the heater then the SWG, but drop to 1" Polaris reinforced hose after that, only to go back up to 1.5" PVC at the return to pool?

Downstream of the SWCG the plumbing goes into a TEE. The downward leg of the TEE goes to your pool returns. The straight through part of the TEE feeds the booster pump (that is the flexible pipe leading to the front of the booster pump). The exit plumbing from the top of the booster pump leads to a 1 1/2" line that goes to the pool and becomes the dedicated cleaner outlet where the hose for the pressure side cleaner connects.

If you wish to bypass the booster pump, remove both flexible hoses, then connect the TEE out directly to the dedicated cleaner line with hard pipe PVC. This simply then becomes an additional return to the pool

 

[1poolman1]

Unfortunately, when a booster pump has the flow go directly into it, like yours, the output of the SWG goes that direction easier than into the return pipe. It damages the seal and you get that leak. If you're not using the booster, take the hose on the output off the pump and attach to the pipe the input hose is now connected to until you can replumb. Or just get two 3/4" threaded plastic pipe plugs and plug both pipes. Take trippers off the time clock.
Black diverter valve adjusts between skimmer and main drain (or second skimmer?). Handle points to open port.
Haven't seen one in years, but the white rectangle appears to be an old flow switch for a very early SWG. Not needed.

 

[Bill in Bay Area]

Thanks Herman and Poolman!

Sharp eyes I've got. I didn't even see the Tee. But of course that makes sense. I was imagining a split somewhere underground after the 1.5" pipe, which would make no sense.

Here are some better pictures of the stuff between the Intellichlor and the tee.

To paraphrase Herman, I can take the flex hose seen in the picture attached to the tee, and remove the other end of it from the booster pump, then attach it straight to the 1.5" line, correct? Is the old hose still good or do I need to buy new hose/joints or otherwise?

And I assume it's easy to reverse the bypass and go back to a pressure side cleaner should I or a future owner decide to, so this isn't a binding decision.

Thanks again!

Bill

 

[1poolman1]

Thanks Herman and Poolman!

Sharp eyes I've got. I didn't even see the Tee. But of course that makes sense. I was imagining a split somewhere underground after the 1.5" pipe, which would make no sense.

Here are some better pictures of the stuff between the Intellichlor and the tee.

To paraphrase Herman, I can take the flex hose seen in the picture attached to the tee, and remove the other end of it from the booster pump, then attach it straight to the 1.5" line, correct? Is the old hose still good or do I need to buy new hose/joints or otherwise?

And I assume it's easy to reverse the bypass and go back to a pressure side cleaner should I or a future owner decide to, so this isn't a binding decision.

Thanks again!

Bill

If you want to save the configuration for a future pressure cleaner, you can hook the hose from the straight pipe coming out of the SWG into the vertical pipe the other side of the booster pump is attached to, eliminating the booster from the system. Or, put a 3/4" pipe plug (PVC) into the fitting that feeds the pump after removing the hose adapter and block it off. Either way, you need to get the leaking booster out of the system to save water. Don't need new hose unless yours is split, which almost never happens with those reinforce hoses.

That block is an old flow switch. While all new SWG systems that use them are either internal to the cell or low voltage (Hayward), that switch had 120v going through it for an old SWG system and was also use on old ozone systems.

 

[HermanTX]

Thanks Herman and Poolman!

Sharp eyes I've got. I didn't even see the Tee. But of course that makes sense. I was imagining a split somewhere underground after the 1.5" pipe, which would make no sense.

Here are some better pictures of the stuff between the Intellichlor and the tee.

To paraphrase Herman, I can take the flex hose seen in the picture attached to the tee, and remove the other end of it from the booster pump, then attach it straight to the 1.5" line, correct? Is the old hose still good or do I need to buy new hose/joints or otherwise?

And I assume it's easy to reverse the bypass and go back to a pressure side cleaner should I or a future owner decide to, so this isn't a binding decision.

Thanks again!

Bill

As indicated by Poolman - the easiest is as follows
Remove completely the hose that stretches from the pump exit to the vertical pipe - store for future need
Unscrew the hose from the pump inlet and screw it directly into the vertical pipe (from where you removed the hose above)

So now you have a direct feed from the TEE that goes to the pool returns (downward part of TEE) and to the single cleaner line into the pool. Remove the cleaner from the pool. The flexible line should be good, and if it ever leaks, keep the other flexible line that you removed completely as an emergency backup.

If you get ambitious one day and wish to remove that "block" before the TEE, then you can cut that out, reconnect back to the TEE and then hard pipe (PVC) to replace the flexible hose to the cleaner line.

 

[Bill in Bay Area]

That block is an old flow switch. While all new SWG systems that use them are either internal to the cell or low voltage (Hayward), that switch had 120v going through it for an old SWG system and was also use on old ozone systems

That's interesting. I had a pool company put in the IntelliChlor IC40 in 2016 (along with the new filter and Screenlogic). It was NOT a salt system pool when we bought the house in 2005, so that old flow switch must be from before then. I wonder why the installer left it in. Probably a pain in the neck to take out.

There's no power attached to it. Should I leave it alone or take it out? Does it cause any "dynamic head loss" (yeah, I've been reading more pool school) or have any other downside?

Thanks,

Bill

 

[1poolman1]

That's interesting. I had a pool company put in the IntelliChlor IC40 in 2016 (along with the new filter and Screenlogic). It was NOT a salt system pool when we bought the house in 2005, so that old flow switch must be from before then. I wonder why the installer left it in. Probably a pain in the neck to take out.

There's no power attached to it. Should I leave it alone or take it out? Does it cause any "dynamic head loss" (yeah, I've been reading more pool school) or have any other downside?

Thanks,

Bill

Anything in the pipes will add to flow restriction. However, with the low flow of a VSP the difference is minor. Yes, it would be a replumb to remove it and you may not notice any difference in flow. With pipes that low, I would have been inclined to leave it if I installed a new SWG, no room to work.

 

[Bill in Bay Area]

Thanks so much, guys. I bypassed the booster and had to laugh at how simple it was. It took about 1 minute. I'd never used the quick connects and had to watch a video to see how easy they are. My pool pad is dry today! No more leaks. I've turned off the circuit in Screenlogic. I'm going to look at my daily electrical usage to see how much power that saves.

I still need to service the sand filter. Any answers to:

Can I place unions on the intake pipe and backwash pipe (there's already one on the discharge at the heater) as a good way to be able to remove the multiport for deep cleaning of my sand filter? Do they need to be in the same plane or can one be on the vertical run?

Any words of warning for a DIY'er before I undertake any of this? Is it much different from working on sprinkler PVC? Is it notoriously hard to line up the unions, for example?

The intake pipe has a 90º elbow, but the discharge pipe has 2 45's. Would it be better to change the intake to 45's (e.g. better efficiency or filter performance)?

Thanks again,

Bill

 

[1poolman1]

True "self aligning" pool unions are very easy to use. Doesn't matter, horizontal of vertical. CMP and Waterway make very good ones, available on Amazon for the best price. All it takes is removing about 1/2" of pipe in the run and installing them. Use a good glue, not just clear.

Friction loss for a 2" 90 is 5.6 feet. For two 45's is 5.2 feet for the fittings (2.6each), but putting them back to back introduces more because of the glue joints. You can look at many charts online and see that the numbers vary, but only a little. Adding two 45s in place of one 90 would also involve moving the plumbing. The gain doesn't seem to be worth the effort and cost, especially with a VSP and slow water flow.