Very new to pools...Need advice (build started 5/30/20)

[DB-Cooper]

His response was the winds change. Why would want to be adjusting the returns everyday..

It’s not just the returns but the drains/skimmers as well. You have one main cut off before your pump. Ideally you’d have two. Presumably one of those lines is from your skimmers, the other from your drains. For a variety of reasons you may want to shut off either of those mechanisms. For example, troubleshooting a main drain leak or temporarily maximizing skimmer power to cleanup surface debris.

You won’t adjust that daily, or weekly, it’s more a maintenance, leak stoppage and troubleshooting tool.

To his point on winds, you don’t have much granule control on the return side since the returns are combined together and you rarely need to adjust these or disable any, but similarly being able to shut off one bank of returns versus the other would prove handy, or if you discover one bank of returns is way more powerful than the other, you could adjust either to make it more even. Again, not something you’d adjust often, but most pools have individual manual shutoff valves.

I’d personally rather have shutoff valves for the skimmer and drains than the returns if I had to prioritize, but most pools have both.

 

[DB-Cooper]

Plumbing looks done. One of the lines is leaking water. Not sure where it is coming from though.

How do you know it’s leaking, where is the leak? The gaskets on the pump are notorious for having a bad seat and are easily fixed by reseating. Send a pic of where the leak is.

 

[chris8725]

How do you know it’s leaking, where is the leak? The gaskets on the pump are notorious for having a bad seat and are easily fixed by reseating. Send a pic of where the leak is.

One of the drains.

 

[jimim]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought there r more than 4 returns. I’m counting like 7-8.

 

[chris8725]

Gunite Today.

 

[kimkats]

OH YEAH!!!

It is time for YOUR set of links!!!!

Plaster links:
Ten Guidelines for Quality Pool Plaster Best one of all
All Plaster Finishes Should Last 20 Years
Not All Color Pigments are Good for Pools How to pick a good color for plaster.
A Plastering 'Watch List' | Professional Watershaping | Watershapes
Trouble Free Pool
Trouble Free Pool

Pool care links:
Print these out:
Pool School - Basic Pool Care Schedule
Pool School - Recommended Levels

Bookmark these:
Pool School - Recommended Pool Chemicals
Trouble Free Pool
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry

Now is also a good time to ask what test kit your PB will be providing so we can fill in any holes.

Kim

 

[DB-Cooper]

One of the drains.

Pretty straight forward repair. You're builder will be/should be all over that.

 

[DB-Cooper]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought there r more than 4 returns. I’m counting like 7-8.

Yeah same here, saw 8, not sure the one with the double return vertical stack on the shallow end, but with that it's 8.

 

[chris8725]

Yeah same here, saw 8, not sure the one with the double return vertical stack on the shallow end, but with that it's 8.

So i guess the question that i havent seen asked, is there a thing as to many returns?

 

[chris8725]

Gunite finished.

 

[chris8725]

And some more

 

[chris8725]

Is this the same as the touch?

 

[jimim]

Oh oh I think u are getting the new system not the old one like I have.

but you got to find out about the returns. U got all kinda pipes coming out there. Lol

I feel more returns the better bit I deff wouldn’t want 3-4 tied together. U have only 2 runs going out to all those returns?

 

[chris8725]

Oh oh I think u are getting the new system not the old one like I have.

but you got to find out about the returns. U got all kinda pipes coming out there. Lol

I feel more returns the better bit I deff wouldn’t want 3-4 tied together. U have only 2 runs going out to all those returns?

I will ask.
I also have a question about these. What are they??

 

[DB-Cooper]

So i guess the question that i havent seen asked, is there a thing as to many returns?

As someone who monitors power usage and has over-analyzed this and has all sorts of energy monitoring in place (Sense, Solar Panels, VSF, etc.), my concern would be the fact you'd need to get a lot more pump power to get reasonable flow. At full tilt, more returns could be better for circulation, but my concern would be that at lower pump speeds, you're just not able to generate enough power to meaningful circulate the power. Many of those returns just seem so close to each other. Nice to have, as a pool owner I might consider closing half the returns. Nice to have them, you can always open them...

The efficiency of pumps is evident on the lower speeds. So being able to run a pump longer at lower speed is the more energy efficient choice by wide margin. I fear with 8 returns, the effiency of a variable speed pump will be diminished.

I've mapped out power usage at various pump speeds on both RPM and GPM fronts and low and slow is much more efficient. Granted it's not the cure all as you need some skimmer power, but that's offset by most with 2 relatively short sessions of high power pumping paired with long low speed runs.

For example, on my pump (and this is specific to my setup), I can run 10 hours of 30 gpm for the same energy cost as 2.5 hours at 60 gpm. Thus I can turn twice as much water for the same energy cost by running low and slow. However, with so many returns in this case, 30gpm is probably not going to even fill the returns...

 

[chris8725]

What would you consider resonable flow? Would it matter if the pool turns over 1 time at 8gpm at 4 returns vs 1 time at 4gpm at 8 returns? Based on ~30 gpm total.

 

[DB-Cooper]

What would you consider resonable flow? Would it matter if the pool turns over 1 time at 8gpm at 4 returns vs 1 time at 4gpm at 8 returns? Based on ~30 gpm total.

Returns won’t matter. I wouldn’t get too worried about hitting a specific turn over target. That said, the purpose of turnover is to move water through the filter. The pump operates at a certain speed and sucks more water from the drains. More returns in spirit spreads it out more, but if it is just trickling out, that becomes counter productive. Regardless of returns, the pump sucks and flow is dictated by that.

 

[chris8725]

Returns won’t matter. I wouldn’t get too worried about hitting a specific turn over target. That said, the purpose of turnover is to move water through the filter. The pump operates at a certain speed and sucks more water from the drains. More returns in spirit spreads it out more, but if it is just trickling out, that becomes counter productive. Regardless of returns, the pump sucks and flow is dictated by that.

Makes sense. Maybe ill invest in a valve to control it better. Im not interested in asking the builder to do it..just because itll give me something to do later.

 

[DB-Cooper]

Makes sense. Maybe ill invest in a valve to control it better. Im not interested in asking the builder to do it..just because itll give me something to do later.

Typically the returns are not individually valved. The returns go under ground and then split off, so that may be more difficult. The returns can sometimes be plugged. I wouldn't worry too much about it, but I'd love to know your pool builder's explanation on the amount of returns. It cost him more money to run so many returns, so perhaps he has a reason. If you have a single or dual speed pump, it's probably not an issue, but with a variable speed pump, you probably will see reduced efficiency. Again, I wouldn't really worry about it, maybe you run the pump at higher speed and it costs you a few more dollars per month.

In reality, my pool has four returns, but then I have a return in my spa and three bubblers, so I do have 8 returns as well. My four pool returns are valved on a single, larger pipe at my equipment pad, and then I have four smaller and individually valved returns for the three bubblers and spa return (note the spa return is not my 6 jets, just a single return from pool mode). However, and to my earlier point, if I have the spa return and all three bubblers open, I have to run my pump at a very high speed to get flow to all 8 returns. So I keep my pool returns open, one of my bubblers at 1/3 open, the other two closed and my spa at 1/3-1/2 open and with that I can run my pool at a fairly efficient speed and keep a good flow going through all the returns. When we're out there and we want more bubblers, I just put the pump into a higher speed mode and open the bubblers.

With the pictures you provided, you can't control the individual returns so you'll have to feed all 8 and the plumbing. You basically have two returns coming out of your IntelliChlor, you could valve those two pipes going into the ground, but clearly there isn't a spot to individually valve 8 returns.

 

[chris8725]

Tile and coping