What is the purpose or place of these 3 pad features?

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SoCalDIYWannabe

Active member
Mar 14, 2025
31
Orange County, California
Pool Size
20000
Surface
Plaster
As I'm waiting for plaster (I think Tuesday, coming soon) I keep messing with my redesign plan for the pad. Very limited in space. Heater won't move, it's on the left side. Other than that, I have roughly 28 inches front back and 40 inches left-right. Currently it's Heater left, Pump middle, then filter right. Anyway, that's for next week.

As I'm watching videos and looking at pictures, I have questions about just a few things.

I see what looks like a metal hose bibb or faucet, usually right at the beginning of the pump out. Is that for a hose, I'm guessing? What is the purpose? If that is for a hose, is that only useful when the pump is on, I'm guessing. And if the pump is on, that hose isn't being used to prime the pump or clean the filter elements, is it? What would be the usefulness of that?

If I want to do a wastewater (ditching my current DE for a cartridge, so I still have backwash piping) would that be between pump and filter, or would it be after filter? Most I see seem like they are after filter, but are there reasons to choose before vs after filter?

I have a small (maybe 1 inch) pipe sticking straight up about a foot... It is capped (without glue). I figured out where it goes. It goes to a threaded fitting in the pool, roughly halfway lengthwise. Probably a vacuum port or something? We used to have the vacuum plugged into the skimmer. Now we have a robot vac with it's own basket. But, could that threaded fitting in the pool be for something else? And as I'm thinking about replumb, could I use that for something like a small water feature? (Right now, it's a basic pool/spa, and the pad has just 4 runs - in/out and pool/spa. No main/skimmer/feature, etc. )

Thanks!
 
SoCalDIYWannabe said:
As I'm waiting for plaster (I think Tuesday, coming soon) I keep messing with my redesign plan for the pad. Very limited in space. Heater won't move, it's on the left side. Other than that, I have roughly 28 inches front back and 40 inches left-right. Currently it's Heater left, Pump middle, then filter right. Anyway, that's for next week.

As I'm watching videos and looking at pictures, I have questions about just a few things.

I see what looks like a metal hose bibb or faucet, usually right at the beginning of the pump out. Is that for a hose, I'm guessing? What is the purpose? If that is for a hose, is that only useful when the pump is on, I'm guessing. And if the pump is on, that hose isn't being used to prime the pump or clean the filter elements, is it? What would be the usefulness of that?

If I want to do a wastewater (ditching my current DE for a cartridge, so I still have backwash piping) would that be between pump and filter, or would it be after filter? Most I see seem like they are after filter, but are there reasons to choose before vs after filter?

I have a small (maybe 1 inch) pipe sticking straight up about a foot... It is capped (without glue). I figured out where it goes. It goes to a threaded fitting in the pool, roughly halfway lengthwise. Probably a vacuum port or something? We used to have the vacuum plugged into the skimmer. Now we have a robot vac with it's own basket. But, could that threaded fitting in the pool be for something else? And as I'm thinking about replumb, could I use that for something like a small water feature? (Right now, it's a basic pool/spa, and the pad has just 4 runs - in/out and pool/spa. No main/skimmer/feature, etc. )

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Can you take a picture? That would help people understand it better.

For the pipe sticking up about a foot with the non-glued cap sounds like the pipe for a blower for the spa.
 
For the pipe sticking up, there is another one right next to it, probably 3" or 4", instad of 1". It's also somewhat hooked, like a candy cane with a 90+45, probably for air intake. It is not capped. You can see those two 'mystery' pipes at the bottom right of this photo.

20250228_073047.jpg
 
Builders put in the hose bib as a way to drain water from the pool using the pump. Most hose bibs on pumps are never touched or used.

We don't recommend draining using an expensive pool pump which can run dry.

I don't have a hose bib on my pump and see no need for it.

I use a submersible pump when needing to drain. Or you can plumb a 3 way diverter between the pump and cartridge filter and plumb it to your waste line from your DE filter to drain water.
 
You have a hose bibb on each pump. Using a female-to-female adapter, a hose can push water into the pump to help with priming. My PB did exactly that after refilling my newly plastered pool.
 
Rocket J Squirrel said:
You have a hose bibb on each pump. Using a female-to-female adapter, a hose can push water into the pump to help with priming. My PB did exactly that after refilling my newly plastered pool.
Click to expand...
That photo with all the hose bibs was not mine, just wondering what they're for. So that could actually be to feed water into the pump, priming, as opposed to taking water from the pump? Would that still be the same position? Putting it vertically above the pump outlet?
 
In ground pool pumps are self-priming and should not need any additional help other than filling up the pump basket with water and putting the lid back on. The hose bibs are unnecessary for this.

The hose bibs are mostly to drain water out of the pool but could be used for other things as well.
 
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The hose bibb is on the wrong side of the pump for optimal priming, but it still works to get water in there. Note this is only used for the initial fill when the pump is completely empty of water. After that, the self-priming feature does the job.
 
Even if the pump is completely empty of water, adding water to the pump via the pump basket will fill both the suction side and return sides of the pump through the impeller even if the impeller is not spinning. No need to use a bib.
 
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