Good morning everyone,
I am self-appointed 'plant manager' for 2 pools within our extended family. Both are in the midst of pretty significant changes, so I'm glad to be here!
# 1 - 25,000 gallons (95,000 liters). All above grade equipment has been cut out and given away. (it was poorly sited, in bad shape, and I kept chasing problems around trying to get it all to work). The pool is filled but has been sitting stagnant for more than a year. And under a significant canopy of tall trees, so the organic waste load is going to be huge. I understand that pumping it out to dry and re-filling presents too much risk to the liner, so I will need to 'blind scoop' out debris, and then.... I dunno.... progressively dump and re-fill until it is acceptable to circulate and treat? My fault - I needed to stay on top of this.
However - in this situation, we have the best frogs community on our lot, for miles around (they started off in a pond I had built, but then 'upgraded' to the much larger body of water once it had 'aged suitably'. I am surprised we don't get noise complaints in summer - after dark, it's a riotous orchestra of at least 3 species, tremendously entertaining. (the tree frogs are really funny).
#2 - 6,000 gals (23,000 liters). Currently at this address - I am just thru installing a new Hayward 700 series variable speed pump, and I went specifically for the 'dealer protected' line. The keypad and/or associated circuit board failed almost immediately. Efforts through local brick-and-mortar store where I bought it, then local Hayward rep, and then through Hayward tech support have come to zero. The pump is off to one side, and in our local community I was able to find a beat-up but still functional fixed speed pump for $75, and that is now in place. (this pump was wired up for plug-in/portable 120 volt AC use, and now I need to figure out how to bring it in to the wiring downstream of the dial timer/Hayward controller, which is currently sending 240 volts through the conduit).
I think I can figure that out.... The only persistent issue to solve here is SIPHON. It's incredibly difficult to re-establish flow after turning the pump off. Over the past few days I have added more and more fittings. The plumbing is starting to look pretty complicated! I have even rigged my own 'injection fitting' to deliver forced water flow through the 2" threaded opening in the bottom of the skimmer box. I think my next step is to arrange to pressure test the skimmer return..... I cannot yet imagine any way to test the dual main drains return line. It's probably 75 feet from pump inlet to skimmer box and drains, and the drop might be 3 or 4 feet to bottom of skimmer box, then another 4 feet below that to the level of the drains.
I look forward to learning from the collective hard-won experience here in this forum! It all comes through grim determination.... don't I know it. The only thing that cheers me on (apart from personal satisfaction when things are finally wrapped up) is hearing the comparative reported outcomes when friends and neighbors respectively bring in 'the professionals'. The story may be good, or it may be awful - but it's always shockingly costly.
Back to it! (photos showing progression of more and more fittings, at this location, eep.)
I am self-appointed 'plant manager' for 2 pools within our extended family. Both are in the midst of pretty significant changes, so I'm glad to be here!
# 1 - 25,000 gallons (95,000 liters). All above grade equipment has been cut out and given away. (it was poorly sited, in bad shape, and I kept chasing problems around trying to get it all to work). The pool is filled but has been sitting stagnant for more than a year. And under a significant canopy of tall trees, so the organic waste load is going to be huge. I understand that pumping it out to dry and re-filling presents too much risk to the liner, so I will need to 'blind scoop' out debris, and then.... I dunno.... progressively dump and re-fill until it is acceptable to circulate and treat? My fault - I needed to stay on top of this.
However - in this situation, we have the best frogs community on our lot, for miles around (they started off in a pond I had built, but then 'upgraded' to the much larger body of water once it had 'aged suitably'. I am surprised we don't get noise complaints in summer - after dark, it's a riotous orchestra of at least 3 species, tremendously entertaining. (the tree frogs are really funny).
#2 - 6,000 gals (23,000 liters). Currently at this address - I am just thru installing a new Hayward 700 series variable speed pump, and I went specifically for the 'dealer protected' line. The keypad and/or associated circuit board failed almost immediately. Efforts through local brick-and-mortar store where I bought it, then local Hayward rep, and then through Hayward tech support have come to zero. The pump is off to one side, and in our local community I was able to find a beat-up but still functional fixed speed pump for $75, and that is now in place. (this pump was wired up for plug-in/portable 120 volt AC use, and now I need to figure out how to bring it in to the wiring downstream of the dial timer/Hayward controller, which is currently sending 240 volts through the conduit).
I think I can figure that out.... The only persistent issue to solve here is SIPHON. It's incredibly difficult to re-establish flow after turning the pump off. Over the past few days I have added more and more fittings. The plumbing is starting to look pretty complicated! I have even rigged my own 'injection fitting' to deliver forced water flow through the 2" threaded opening in the bottom of the skimmer box. I think my next step is to arrange to pressure test the skimmer return..... I cannot yet imagine any way to test the dual main drains return line. It's probably 75 feet from pump inlet to skimmer box and drains, and the drop might be 3 or 4 feet to bottom of skimmer box, then another 4 feet below that to the level of the drains.
I look forward to learning from the collective hard-won experience here in this forum! It all comes through grim determination.... don't I know it. The only thing that cheers me on (apart from personal satisfaction when things are finally wrapped up) is hearing the comparative reported outcomes when friends and neighbors respectively bring in 'the professionals'. The story may be good, or it may be awful - but it's always shockingly costly.
Back to it! (photos showing progression of more and more fittings, at this location, eep.)
