Water level rising with no rain

[Dirk]

That’s exactly the one I have. They are incredibly reliable. I have no idea why pool builders choose to install the toilet bowl ones. My one thought was that maybe you can make the fill pot smaller with the toilet bowl version and so there’s less impact on the pool design by not having a big fill pot sitting on your deck somewhere but I really can’t believe it would save that much space.

Mine is actually an auto-leveler. In addition to the filler there's a drain pipe that is also adjustable. So I can control both how low and how high my water level gets. I never have to worry about too much sun or too much rain. But...

When the filler fails on, it just pumps water into the out port, and unless I watch it periodically, it could do that for months unnoticed. Well, at least until the next water bill shows up, or the one after. So my new water meter will help with that aspect, too.

If the two are properly adjusted, far enough apart, then I can just observe the edge tile. If the level gets higher than expected, that would indicate the water is up to the out port, revealing a problem. I've just been lax about it this last year, and now realize that first replacement valve was no better than the original one in terms of life-span, so I have to be more diligent. Both in observing the level and in pro-actively replacing the valve.

Point was, the well is narrow and there's more than just the toilet valve in there. I doubt I could retrofit the type you guys have, so that might be why it was originally designed with the more vertically-shaped valve.

 

[Dirk]

There are many (especially builders) that don't like auto-fillers for the scenario cited above. If there is an overflow port and a stuck auto-fill valve, then there is the potential for a lot of wasted water and dollars. But...

- If I was left to fill my pool manually, I would overflow it regularly, wasting far more water and money, and probably ruining my landscaping to boot. I'd rather chance a toilet valve failing every half-decade than overflowing my pool every other day.

- In terms of protecting my pump, I would rather the pool be too full than below the skimmer mouth (I have no drains).

- And the fact that I don't have to drag out a hose and fill my pool every day during the summer is worth maybe wasting $30 worth of water someday.

So the potential for a haywire filler-run-wild is outweighed by its benefits (to me, anyway).

Regardless of filler or no filler, and overflow or no overflow, it all comes down to due diligence. Even in the simplest of pools there are too many "moving parts" to ignore for any length of time. A daily quick glance and a more thorough equipment inspection at least once a week is the bare minimum. There is no pool that can go weeks unobserved. It's been said here a pool is like a pet, you don't have to play with it everyday, but you do have to care for it at least that often.

 

[Toxophilite]

Point was, the well is narrow and there's more than just the toilet valve in there. I doubt I could retrofit the type you guys have, so that might be why it was originally designed with the more vertically-shaped valve.

That's the sticking point! With an elbow to retrofit, there's only about 4" left to play. All the horizontal floats need way more room for float and enough arm for leverage, or, a long float. I guess the application where used are much larger cans. There's good options in ag for some vertical mount in stainless, or heavy material, simpler designs than toilet valves, but designed for fixed pipe, so no means of adjustment. I've found some micro horizontal, adjustable arm, floats, but they all seem to come in 1/4". Will keep looking for better option for sure, though.