Tight pad equipment rebuild with SWCG addition and other changes

[jonpcar]

Last September I did some exploratory excavations to see if my pad could be remodeled to accommodate some changes I wanted to make. I’m finally getting close to being finished after long periods of inactivity…weather, trips, holidays, laziness, etc. Here are some pictures of what I found early and what my plans were.

This first picture shows the amount of stuff I have in that small area. It is TIGHT and always has been.



This 2nd picture is from a different angle and has the main features labelled.



This 3rd picture highlights what I hoped to accomplish.



1) I am going to add a SWG, it will chlorinate all three return paths: IFCS, Wall Returns, Waterfall

2) I am going to add a debris basket to the front end of the pump to increase the size of the basket that catches debris from the main drain while using my IFCS. I think emptying it will go from approximately 2 weeks to 6 weeks, which is good for the trips that we take.

3) I want to fix an irritation in the implementation of my IFCS, I have only five zones but a 6-zone distributor was used. The way they plumbed it was that two consecutive outputs go to the same zone. There are a couple reasons why this is NOT beneficial, but I won’t get into the details here. Just know that this is NOT how extra zones are connected in modern IFCSs. In order to make this zone change, I will have to remove the concrete above those IFCS returns that hold up the electrical box.

4) Because I have to remove the concrete for the electrical box, I want to move all the electrical and wiring to the opposite wall, which rarely gets direct sunlight. It’s also an eyesore of messiness. The electrical conduit runs are also in the way of #2, where I want to put the debris basket.

5) I have an IFCS regulator that is useful…but no one wants the details of this, haha. I no longer need this implementation as I use the IFCS valve actuator to accomplish this function directly without need for another valve.

6) I am going to add a chemical testing header path…I will eventually add automated pH testing and adjustment. Doubtful at this point if I will add ORP/salt testing.

7) My aerator has been not part of my system for a long time. With recently installed soft water fill for the pool, I want to experiment with this. Long gone @Arizonarob told me he used this function successfully in the summer to cool the pool in the early morning hours. I will hook it back up.

8) My FlowVis (usually uninstalled but sometimes there), is not in a good location. Occasionally a few palm fronds have caught on it…as a TFP expert told me a long time ago (after I had installed it), its best to have the FlowVIS after the filter or at least after the pump basket to eliminate this issue.

I’ll post a few pictures that I took during this project over the next few days to show how it ended up.

 

[HermanTX]

This is a very bold project. I look forward to seeing the progress.

Do you have a skimmer? I only see 1 pipe coming into the suction side of pump which must be the main drain for your IFCS.
It is good that you have wall returns in addition to the IFCS. Can your “extra” zone connect back to the wall return line?

Good idea to move the FloVis. Definitely needs to be on the downstream side. I would put after the filter but before the SWCG so you can see the minimum flow rate to have the SWCG active.

 

[jonpcar]

Do you have a skimmer? I only see 1 pipe coming into the suction side of pump which must be the main drain for your IFCS.
It is good that you have wall returns in addition to the IFCS. Can your “extra” zone connect back to the wall return line?

Yeah, unfortunately my pool was built old style in 1993 with a main drain line feeding into the skimmer and then ONE suction line from the skimmer going to the pad/pump. Don't know if you have seen the "spaceship" type mechanism that controls the suction flow between the skimmer and main drain located under the skimmer basket in these older pools. It's less than ideal for an IFCS, but I have rigged a mechanism to overcome that disadvantage and draw from the main drain when running the IFCS at high RPM and the skimmer when skimming at low RPM. Since I have already have full control of the wall returns, I have hooked up that "extra zone" to an existing zone which is NOT adjacent, as recommended by manufactures of IFCS systems these days.

Good idea to move the FloVis. Definitely needs to be on the downstream side. I would put after the filter but before the SWCG so you can see the minimum flow rate to have the SWCG active.

I don't usually have the insides of the FlowVIS installed, only when I am doing some checks. But I decided to move the FlowVIS between the pump and filter where it will be filtered by both my NEW debris basket and the pump basket. It's a really nice place to read the FlowVIS and you'll see in the final implementation that there was almost no where else to put it, haha.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[jonpcar]

So here is a picture after taking down the electrical box, removing the concrete holding it up, and starting the process of rerouting the electrical wires.


Next, a couple pictures of the demo complete and the move of the electrical box to its new location. At this point there is power to the box but it is only feeding the pool pump with a temporary hookup.


Another picture of the demoed pad…I’ve circled one of the valves that I “reamed out” so that it could be reused. I’ve read about this technique elsewhere on these boards but hadn’t tried it myself. I also used this on one of my 3-way Jandy valves and on my FlowVIS valve casing so they could be used in the rebuild.


Here is a pointer to the tool that I bought on Amazon to do the “reaming out” of existing PVC fixtures. It worked well for me and I would recommend it. Definitely worth the price for the fixtures and time that it saved me!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CJFHX3Q6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

That’s it for the demo…

 

[jonpcar]

Here are some pictures of the pad rebuild. The first shows where the SWG will go and the stacking of the Jandy valves to fit everything in. Also a peek at the IFCS distributor rework.

A bit further in the work…the new debris basket has been added. The future chem header pipes can be seen. Only plan for sure is to have a PH sensor. The chem header is fed from just after the filter and goes back into the pool via one of the wall return lines.

My only major screwup was doing the IFCS distributor change. I knew it would be hard and sure enough I had a problem with water beading on the underside of a sleeve. Rather than take it all out and start again (an option that is always available), I decided to try JB Epoxy Weld. I know this is not recommended but it was either that or spend another day working on that issue.

I roughed it up nicely, and then applied the JB Weld. After about a week with it running and no leaks, I went back and roughed it some more. Then I slathered another 1/8” of JB Weld everywhere close, haha. I think it’s gonna work but long term we will see…

In the next photo the water pipes are all complete and I have started to fill with gravel. But, I needed to run all the electrical conduits for power/SWG/sensors/etc. I hadn’t really planned this out from the beginning and ended up needing five: two for powering the pool pump/stenner pumps, three for wire “pass unders” so that there was no other wiring across the “pathway” between all the piping and the electrical wall.

 

[jonpcar]

A few more final pictures. I’ve hooked up most of the electrical and backfilled the area with more gravel. I haven’t hooked up the SWG yet as I need to drain the pool and fix some tile grout…that will be in a couple weeks. I need to mount a new light transformer and hook up the pool lights. I'll cleanup the automation wiring on the wall eventually. The pH probe "chemical header" project is now scheduled for sometime in the future, hopefully not to far away.

For now, I will just be using the Stenner Acid Pump. I will repurpose the 15 gallon buried chlorine tank and dilute the acid that I put into it. I will keep the other Stenner Pump and old buried 5-gallon acid tank as a chlorine backup in case of SWG failure.

Also, I finally replaced my old filter cover which is 6 years old and completely fell apart during this project. I really like the new one because it fits much better (not too long) and the diameter more closely matches the filter tank’s than my old one. Only time will tell if it is as “durable” as the old one. It comes with a 3-year warranty, whatever that means. Here is the link to it if anyone is interested.

Amazon.com

Thanks for looking!