Starting pump after replaster

[liveonboca]

Hi. I have new pool plaster (white) and today the water level is now to the middle of the tile line in the spa and pool.
I have rinsed out my DE filters and I am ready to turn on the pump but I need clarification of the right valves and their openings.
I cleaned all the skimmer baskets of leaves and the pump basket.
When I try to prime before turning, I cannot locate the main drain per the labels. Are my labels correct?
The pool person that I no longer have labeled them and I am now going to manage myself.
Labels show East Skimmer, West Skimmer, Spa.
No labels for Returns or Vaccum or Main Drain.
I have a DE filter.
There is a red handle way in the back but not where I thought the Main Drain should be in front of the pump.
Help!

Also, no matter how much water from my hose that I add to the pump, it does not increase to the top. Does that mean something is wrong?

Also, a question about diverter (in the picture), should it be open in the skimmers? I have one in each skimmer.
Thanks!

 

[Texas Splash]

So you have just that one 3-way valve in front of the pump. It looks like you have the option to have the East side skimmer open all by itself, or turn the valve to pull water from the West side & spa alone. Or you can split the difference and share water suction from both the East & West. Your drain is plumbed to one of those skimmer lines underground which is why you have a diverter valve in the skimmer so you can manually adjust how much to pull form the drain. My guess would be that since the West and spa share a line, the drain may be plumbed to the East side. Does that help?

 

[liveonboca]

So you have just that one 3-way valve in front of the pump. It looks like you have the option to have the East side skimmer open all by itself, or turn the valve to pull water from the West side & spa alone. Or you can split the difference and share water suction from both the East & West. Your drain is plumbed to one of those skimmer lines underground which is why you have a diverter valve in the skimmer so you can manually adjust how much to pull form the drain. My guess would be that since the West and spa share a line, the drain may be plumbed to the East side. Does that help?

Hello, thank you for responding. So if the East Skimmer is open all the way, is that what I need to add the DE? Would I close the West and the Spa and have the East open up all the way to prime or the opposite? When I am not adding stuff into the skimmer, I would have all 3 of them open halfway between all the way open & closed?

 

[Texas Splash]

If it were me, I would experiment with the 3-way valve to get water to pull only from the East skimmer (just for now) and just for simplicity to add the DE. Then slowly add the DE amount required for your filter (the PoolMath APP can help) into that skimmer and ensure it all gets pulled slowly to the filter. Once that's done it's in. Then you can adjust the 3-way valve to share water pull from either skimmer. I suspect you'll always want some water pulled form the West and spa just to keep water circulated from the spa as well. No exact science or specific amount of ratio between each valve. You can adjust a bit to find what seems to work best for you.

 

[liveonboca]

If it were me, I would experiment with the 3-way valve to get water to pull only from the East skimmer (just for now) and just for simplicity to add the DE. Then slowly add the DE amount required for your filter (the PoolMath APP can help) into that skimmer and ensure it all gets pulled slowly to the filter. Once that's done it's in. Then you can adjust the 3-way valve to share water pull from either skimmer. I suspect you'll always want some water pulled form the West and spa just to keep water circulated from the spa as well. No exact science or specific amount of ratio between each valve. You can adjust a bit to find what seems to work best for you.

When I move the handles, is it supposed be when the pool is on? Also, when I move the handles, I see air bubbles in the pool and spa return area when the pump is on. Is that indicative of something or normal for a little bit while adjusting? I have the east open the most with the west and spa a little bit.

 

[Texas Splash]

Yes, you want them pump on while moving the handles so you can see how water flow changes. Air bubbles could be a suction side leak allowing air in. As long as the pump basket doesn't go too low or run dry we can come back to that later.