cheshamjim
07-03-2006, 12:30 PM
My pool was designed and manufactured by Utopia Pools, a French company who, unfortunately, no longer does business in the U.S.
It features a unique arrangement for intake, filtration, and return.
http://www.poolworld.com/pools/utopia/images_utopia/aft1_sys.jpg
There is one rectangular skimmer intake and one return. The water is sucked in through the skimmer and through dual cylinders (labled "filters") that contain two removable cloth filter bags. Filtered water is pulled by the pump and sent back into the pool by one return nozzle which is immediately adjacent to the skimmer inlet, about a foot away.
Its a fairly compact unit, but it has presented problems. Problem number 1 is that the motor compartment tended to flood after a heavy rain and ruin the motor. My soil is the worst kind of clay and water percolation is non-existent. The original motor was replaced with a more tradional 1.5 H.P. pool pump motor mounted above ground. No more problems with the motor now.
Problem number 2 has to do with cleaning the filters. The old man (me) has to get down on his hands and knees and pull the cloth bags (which can be kinda heavy) from below the water line out of the retainer cylinders for cleaning. Cleaning involves turning the bags insideout (an unappealing operation), hosing them down, and running them through our washing machine.
When I heard that all you had to do to clean a sand filter was to turn a valve, I decided, "that's for me." However, when I asked a local pool builder to look at my setup and give me a price to bypass my filter bags with a sand filter all I got was discouragement. He said that in order for a sand filtration unit to work properly, he would have to add a second skimmer and return since I only have one of each. Of course this would be prohibitavely expensive.
I need a second opinion from some other experts. I can't see why a sand filter unit couldn't be plumbed into the system via the suction line. I'd just take out the filter bags and leave the cylinders in place.
As far as having only one skimmer and one return, I'm not aware of any problems this feature has caused in the six seasons I've had this pool.
I'd sure appreciate some advice.
-Jim
It features a unique arrangement for intake, filtration, and return.
http://www.poolworld.com/pools/utopia/images_utopia/aft1_sys.jpg
There is one rectangular skimmer intake and one return. The water is sucked in through the skimmer and through dual cylinders (labled "filters") that contain two removable cloth filter bags. Filtered water is pulled by the pump and sent back into the pool by one return nozzle which is immediately adjacent to the skimmer inlet, about a foot away.
Its a fairly compact unit, but it has presented problems. Problem number 1 is that the motor compartment tended to flood after a heavy rain and ruin the motor. My soil is the worst kind of clay and water percolation is non-existent. The original motor was replaced with a more tradional 1.5 H.P. pool pump motor mounted above ground. No more problems with the motor now.
Problem number 2 has to do with cleaning the filters. The old man (me) has to get down on his hands and knees and pull the cloth bags (which can be kinda heavy) from below the water line out of the retainer cylinders for cleaning. Cleaning involves turning the bags insideout (an unappealing operation), hosing them down, and running them through our washing machine.
When I heard that all you had to do to clean a sand filter was to turn a valve, I decided, "that's for me." However, when I asked a local pool builder to look at my setup and give me a price to bypass my filter bags with a sand filter all I got was discouragement. He said that in order for a sand filtration unit to work properly, he would have to add a second skimmer and return since I only have one of each. Of course this would be prohibitavely expensive.
I need a second opinion from some other experts. I can't see why a sand filter unit couldn't be plumbed into the system via the suction line. I'd just take out the filter bags and leave the cylinders in place.
As far as having only one skimmer and one return, I'm not aware of any problems this feature has caused in the six seasons I've had this pool.
I'd sure appreciate some advice.
-Jim