Skimmers vs main drain?

[TexasBR]

Gentlemen,

By the way, with all the valve adjustments suggested by you, I am finding that the waterfall is working powerfully now. It used to be weak before. You all have made my day.

It is time now to do some swimming
BR

 

[Desert Dog]

Yes, the vac lock will free up the skimmer.

 

[TexasBR]

Your suggestion worked!! Beautiful. Thank you!
This doubles the leaf catching capability, very useful as the leaves start to come down from the trees.
The cleaner is running a bit slow though. My next task is to play with the cleaner's speed settings and wings. I had slowed it down earlier since it was moving too aggressively, frequently surfacing, taking in air, and requiring the pump to regain prime. This should be easy.

By the way, I added extra chlorine today thinking that many of the pipes hadn't been used in a while and are probably harboring bad things. I hope that was a smart choice. Once I get the test kit, I should be able to be more precise about it, hopefully next week.

 

[HermanTX]

Howdy fellow Houstonian, Glad to hear all is operating fine. You may want to take some tape and mark phyically on the pipe what is going where.
One suggestion is to update your plumbing drawing (which is well done) with the bubbler (small fountain you show in picture) and the cleaner outlet.
Suggest you make 2 separate drawings - one for spa mode and other for pool mode. Show what valves are open or closed.
This can help if you need your spouse or children to make a change or to verify the set up if you are not at home.
Believe me - it happens - go out of town for 2 days and everything goes wrong when you can not be there to physically troubleshoot it.

 

[markayash]

Howdy fellow Houstonian, Glad to hear all is operating fine. You may want to take some tape and mark phyically on the pipe what is going where.
One suggestion is to update your plumbing drawing (which is well done) with the bubbler (small fountain you show in picture) and the cleaner outlet.
Suggest you make 2 separate drawings - one for spa mode and other for pool mode. Show what valves are open or closed.
This can help if you need your spouse or children to make a change or to verify the set up if you are not at home.
Believe me - it happens - go out of town for 2 days and everything goes wrong when you can not be there to physically troubleshoot it.

LOL, I have had that same issue..I took pictures with my phone..Spa mode....Pool mode after a few " OK see the valve 3 from the right..Right facing the house or pool?"

 

[Yev]

When operating your cleaner through the wall port, close one skimmer to maximize cleaner suction. Once done with the cleaner, open the skimmer back to and close the port to maximize leaves into the skimmer.

It's a delicate flow/ suction balance game.

 

[TheWebsters]

BR,

Show us a pic of your equipment pad showing the input pipes to the main pump.

I am not a fan of suction side cleaners and doubly so when you have to connect them to a skimmer.

Having working skimmers is what keeps the stuff that falls into your pool off the floor of the pool.

Assuming that you have valves at your equipment pad to select between skimmers and the main drain, I would only open the main drain about 5 or 10% and the open the two skimmers wide open.. This should allow both your cleaner and one skimmer to operate at the same time.

If you decide to move from 1960 into this Century, you always get a Robot cleaner, like this one..

Thanks,

Jim R.

where did you purchase your Dolphin s200?

 

[Stoopalini]

Very nice pool! Welcome to TFP

For keeping track of what does what, might I suggest you take a picture of the entire pad, and then add some labels and print it out. You can even laminate it, and have it available when needed.

Here's my layout, to give an example of what I mean.

 

[TexasBR]

LOL, I have had that same issue..I took pictures with my phone..Spa mode....Pool mode after a few " OK see the valve 3 from the right..Right facing the house or pool?"

Mark, Yes, as we all know, travel begins as soon as the pandemic ends, and the remote is being operated by someone who does not have the system diagram/insight. At the same time, the only way to assure auto chlorination is to go back to the dreaded tablets that add CYA.

So yes, not only do I need to update the system diagram, and label all the pipes, but also create a tightly-constrained cheat sheet for wife and kids. By the way, I have created a detailed PowerPoint deck and the diagram that I posted is just one page in this deck. I am trying to create a helpful "dossier" for my pool that pulls together the best insights that I can gather.

Cheers, and keep on swimming.

 

[TexasBR]

Very nice pool! Welcome to TFP

For keeping track of what does what, might I suggest you take a picture of the entire pad, and then add some labels and print it out. You can even laminate it, and have it available when needed.

Here's my layout, to give an example of what I mean.

View attachment 160699

Great suggestion! When I started out the whole thing was a complete mystery. I am happy to have gotten this far. Interestingly, building up a "pool equipment vocabulary" has been the most helpful part. Without it, one cannot even communicate effectively.

 

[TexasBR]

When operating your cleaner through the wall port, close one skimmer to maximize cleaner suction. Once done with the cleaner, open the skimmer back to and close the port to maximize leaves into the skimmer.

It's a delicate flow/ suction balance game.

Great suggestion. I think I need to first get an exact mapping of my pool's plumbing, and become more expert with the valves.

 

[markayash]

Mark, Yes, as we all know, travel begins as soon as the pandemic ends, and the remote is being operated by someone who does not have the system diagram/insight. At the same time, the only way to assure auto chlorination is to go back to the dreaded tablets that add CYA.

So yes, not only do I need to update the system diagram, and label all the pipes, but also create a tightly-constrained cheat sheet for wife and kids. By the way, I have created a detailed PowerPoint deck and the diagram that I posted is just one page in this deck. I am trying to create a helpful "dossier" for my pool that pulls together the best insights that I can gather.

Cheers, and keep on swimming.

best thing you can do for your pool is buy a SWG next year when the prices go back to normal It makes pool life so much easier..Almost makes it boring I add a little acid every week and FC stays steady as a rock around 7

 

[Yev]

Just an FYI,the 2 main drains at the bottom, they work in tandem, it is simply one line. The reason that there are 2, spaced about 6 feet apart is a risk of entrapment drowning. You can google this, but when there was just 1, if you dove deep in teh pool, and sat on top of the main drain, it could suck you in, and hold you on the bottom. So by putting in two, along with modifying the actual cover chape, the risk went away. So when you make your map, you can treat the 2 main drains really as one suction return.

 

[TexasBR]

best thing you can do for your pool is buy a SWG next year when the prices go back to normal It makes pool life so much easier..Almost makes it boring I add a little acid every week and FC stays steady as a rock around 7

About how expensive are these SWG conversions?

 

[TexasBR]

Just an FYI,the 2 main drains at the bottom, they work in tandem, it is simply one line. The reason that there are 2, spaced about 6 feet apart is a risk of entrapment drowning. You can google this, but when there was just 1, if you dove deep in teh pool, and sat on top of the main drain, it could suck you in, and hold you on the bottom. So by putting in two, along with modifying the actual cover chape, the risk went away. So when you make your map, you can treat the 2 main drains really as one suction return.

Interesting. I do a lot of underwater swimming, so I usually only swim with the pump OFF. However, just for curiosity's sake, is there an entrapment hazard with the two main drains? If I swim close to them, for example?

 

[Yev]

About $1K-ish. This is a great starting resource.

Compare and Review Saltwater Chlorine Generator Prices and Features | DSP

www.discountsaltpool.com

With your 16K pool, you will want a SWG rated for at least 30K gallons. The rule of thumb is rating should be 2x your volume. For me, 30K is close enough to 32, but I would look at a 35K or 40K.

 

[Yev]

Interesting. I do a lot of underwater swimming, so I usually only swim with the pump OFF. However, just for curiosity's sake, is there an entrapment hazard with the two main drains? If I swim close to them, for example?

Not a huge risk, if any at all. There is one line coming from the pump, and then it splits at a Tee fitting to go to the two main drains. Each main drain sucks in an equal amount of water.

Lets say that you completely say down on top of one of them, and 100% blocked the cover. What happens in reality, is choosing the path of least resistance, it will draw all 100% of the water from the main drain that you are not blockin,and 0% form the one you are blocking, meaning that you will feal zero suction on teh one you are blocking. Same net flow, just different where it is going.

Plus, originally the main drains many years ago had an additional problem compared to just having 1 drain not 2. The suction holes were all on the top, not the top and sides. This made it easy to block off all of the holes. More modern covers have holes the top and the sides. SO if yo usit on the top, and block all of the top holes, it can still suck in water from the side holes, and thus no entrapment.

If you are worried about it, take some leaves in yoru hand, and release them a foot or so away from near the main drain. You will see that they are not being aggressively sucks in.

 

[TexasBR]

About $1K-ish. This is a great starting resource.

Compare and Review Saltwater Chlorine Generator Prices and Features | DSP

www.discountsaltpool.com

With your 16K pool, you will want a SWG rated for at least 30K gallons. The rule of thumb is rating should be 2x your volume. For me, 30K is close enough to 32, but I would look at a 35K or 40K.

This seems like a good deal. How much should I expect to pay for labor?

 

[markayash]

About how expensive are these SWG conversions?

About $1K-ish. This is a great starting resource.

Compare and Review Saltwater Chlorine Generator Prices and Features | DSP

www.discountsaltpool.com

With your 16K pool, you will want a SWG rated for at least 30K gallons. The rule of thumb is rating should be 2x your volume. For me, 30K is close enough to 32, but I would look at a 35K or 40K.

prices are higher then they were in Spring..My Edge 40 was $840 now it's around $1140!

 

[TexasBR]

Not a huge risk, if any at all. There is one line coming from the pump, and then it splits at a Tee fitting to go to the two main drains. Each main drain sucks in an equal amount of water.

Lets say that you completely say down on top of one of them, and 100% blocked the cover. What happens in reality, is choosing the path of least resistance, it will draw all 100% of the water from the main drain that you are not blockin,and 0% form the one you are blocking, meaning that you will feal zero suction on teh one you are blocking. Same net flow, just different where it is going.

Plus, originally the main drains many years ago had an additional problem compared to just having 1 drain not 2. The suction holes were all on the top, not the top and sides. This made it easy to block off all of the holes. More modern covers have holes the top and the sides. SO if yo usit on the top, and block all of the top holes, it can still suck in water from the side holes, and thus no entrapment.

If you are worried about it, take some leaves in yoru hand, and release them a foot or so away from near the main drain. You will see that they are not being aggressively sucks in.

The suction holes in mine are all on the side. Here is a picture. Is this an older/inferior style that I should be replacing?