Valves Not Marked

[DTS1207]

First time pool owner. Non of the valves are marked, so I have no clue what does what. I know nobody can tell me with complete certainty what valves do what, but any help would be appreciate. I have two skimmers, a fountain and three sprayers/misters in terms of features.

 

[Jimrahbe]

DTS,

I'd like to help, but the pics have too many shadows for me to get a feel for what you have...

Try taking more pics at a different time of day and we can try again...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[flynwill]

As Jim said it is difficult to tell from your pictures what's going on. I will make a start but you will probably need to do some experimenting.

The pipe at the back of the pad that I've labeled "Goes to Waste?" look like it probably runs to waste water somewhere can you follow it? If that is true then valve A would be to select it and allow for vacuum to waste if you ever need to do that. It can also be used to pull down the water level a bit if needed after a rain. Does the pool have two skimmers? If so most likely valve B is used to balance the draw from the two. You can test this by moving the valve handle to two positions perpendicular to the pump in turn and then going to the skimmers and see which is still drawing water. There is also some chance this valve selects skimmer vs main drain, but he same test might verify that. Do not turn the handle such that it points away from the pump, that will dead-head the pump (shut off all flow -- there should be a stop on the valve body to prevent this but those are often missing or broken).

I am guessing that the line I labeled "Waterfall" feeds the waterfall feature I can see in your pictures. If that is the case turning valve C should cause either 100% water fall or no waterfall, as with the other valve do not turn the handle such that it points directly up. Since the waterfall water is not getting filtered I would adjust this for a minimal amount of water or only turn on the waterfall when there are people around to enjoy the effect.

I'm afraid D and E are a mystery to me without further information. I can only say that they appear to be returns of some sort. E might be for pressure driven cleaner but those usually have a booster pump rather than run directly from the pool pump.

 

[reggiehammond]

First order of business is getting a proper test kit, and reading pool basics and understanding the FC/CYA basics. Given the warm spells occurring, your pool water can go from bad to worse quickly as it warms. My pool picked up 10ºF in 3 days this week.

Test Kits Compared
Pool Care Basics
FC/CYA Levels

 

[Lake Placid]

As Jim said it is difficult to tell from your pictures what's going on. I will make a start but you will probably need to do some experimenting.

The pipe at the back of the pad that I've labeled "Goes to Waste?" look like it probably runs to waste water somewhere can you follow it? If that is true then valve A would be to select it and allow for vacuum to waste if you ever need to do that. It can also be used to pull down the water level a bit if needed after a rain. Does the pool have two skimmers? If so most likely valve B is used to balance the draw from the two. You can test this by moving the valve handle to two positions perpendicular to the pump in turn and then going to the skimmers and see which is still drawing water. There is also some chance this valve selects skimmer vs main drain, but he same test might verify that. Do not turn the handle such that it points away from the pump, that will dead-head the pump (shut off all flow -- there should be a stop on the valve body to prevent this but those are often missing or broken).

I am guessing that the line I labeled "Waterfall" feeds the waterfall feature I can see in your pictures. If that is the case turning valve C should cause either 100% water fall or no waterfall, as with the other valve do not turn the handle such that it points directly up. Since the waterfall water is not getting filtered I would adjust this for a minimal amount of water or only turn on the waterfall when there are people around to enjoy the effect.

I'm afraid D and E are a mystery to me without further information. I can only say that they appear to be returns of some sort. E might be for pressure driven cleaner but those usually have a booster pump rather than run directly from the pool pump.


View attachment 555932

Agree with everything @flynwill said except I believe E to be the line and valve for your wall sprayers. D is a bit of a mystery especially since it’s before the chlorinator. I wonder if it was an old line that was attached to a Polaris at some point in time and then converted to a standard return and that valve was installed in an effort to allow metering its flow. If you turn it off and lose flow from 1 return, that’s likely the case.

Edited to add, the small canister in line with the line marked waterfall may very well be a small cartridge filter for the waterfall similar to a Jandy Ray Vac or Zodiac 3456/Jandy Energy.

 

[setsailsoon]

DT,

Welcome aboard! You've come to the perfect place at the perfect time. We do things a little differently than your pool store will recommend but that's largely because we sell nothing. So our advice is never conflicted. We are staffed with 100% volunteer experts that advise members. Hundreds of thousands of people are doing pool maintenance the TFP way. It's based on sound science and easily doable for any home owner. One thing you will need to use our methods is a reliable test kit. We find "free" pool store tests are worth what you pay for them and PS advice often results in a lot of misery. You can get your test kit at several places and here's some helpful advice on how to choose the one that's right for you:
Test Kits Compared

Looks like you've got a nice pool with some decent equipment and I'm sure with a few more photos our experts will have you up and running with confidence. Pretty soon it will be warming up even more in Dallas and you'll need to have your chlorine system up and running to avoid problems. This will absolutely require a test kit. We can't recommend actions based on pool store tests because they are so unreliable. Not saying they're all bad it's just you don't know until it's too late. Also, we'll be able to show you where to get the right chemicals at way better prices than your local pool store. Looks like you have a tablet chlorinator and an swg system... if you're using the swg you'll need a way to test salt. Best way to do this is a Taylor K-1766 kit. Might as well get one of these as well if you're planing to keep the salt pool. I would certainly recommend this as they are much easier to maintain and most people find the water feel much better on the skin. My wife say's it's "like a spa visit"!

I'd also recommend a few other readings for you:
Pool Care Basics
FC/CYA Levels
PoolMath

This should get you up and running. I hope it's helpful.

Chri