Buying a house with a pool--need advice

[pigbat]

Some pools in this region have a dedicated cleaner line that was never hooked up and may be cut at the pump end. You should have a line coming back to your pump from the main drain and 1 from each skimmer. If it's the extra one that's cut, it could be the dedicated cleaner line. Pics would be very helpful.

[jmac31]

Hey guys. I think I am almost finished cleaning the leaves, twigs, and cotton out of the pool. Should I fill it after I am done with that or scrub the sides first? Also I have attached some pictures of the pipes and a picture of the pool so you can see how nasty it is . The red arrows point to the pipe that has been cut. If you could let me know what all the pipes are that would be awesome.

Thanks again.

[jmac31]

Anyone make heads or tails of these pipes? I'm assuming the one that is cut is not an extra and that it will need replaced.

[Poconos]

Yuck !! Hope you don't find a corpse in the bottom of that mess.
I'm not sure of the plumbing but I'm guessing the cut pipes may have been for the heater which seems to have its ports capped and disconnected? Also, I'm wondering if there is another pump somewhere. I don't understand the skinny pipes in and out of the pump transitioning to what looks like 1.5" pipe. Almost like the pump shown was some kind of very low flow circulation pump and not the main pump.
Anyone with more ideas?
Al

[jmac31]

Yeah it is really nasty, tons and tons of algae. Thinking it might be worth the hassle to drain it at this point. I got to looking at the pipes and there should be another pump is what I am thinking as well. It is a foreclosure and they took all of the appliances so I am assuming they took the pump too if it was worth some money. If anyone else can help me with this mess it would be greatly appreciated.

[CarlD]

draining it at this point could be a mistake. If the ground around is very wet, you could float the pool out of the ground like a boat, doing thousands more damage to the structure.
IF there's no ground water or you must make repairs down there then you'll have to drain it, but you'll need something get rid of ground water, and that's more specialized than I am.

I think Al is right--the pipes to the pump look too thin, like maybe it's an automatic cleaner pump or a spa pump? I don't see an in-pump skimmer basket, which filter pumps always have, in my limited experience. Is that a pool heater or just the AC for the house?

I'm thinking the best course is to identify where the pipes go (Drains and skimmers, backwash drain, returns), get a new filter pump sized to your sand filter, and re-plumb it to suit. It's all PVC, so it's pretty easy to work, but only if you know what to plumb.

The skimmers and drains go to the pump, near its skimmer basket. It pumps water to the multivalve which can route it to filter and to the returns, backwards to backwash (and to the backwash drain), or directly to the pool, bypassing the filter.

Carl

[jmac31]

So the pool is coming along. Got a new pump and re-plumbed everything. Put some chlorine in it and it is no longer brown, just a milky green now. I have been running the pump quite often, I was just wondering how often I should run the pump. Getting it cleaned up, I am guessing, I should run it more than when it is sparking clear. My question is, how often or how long should I run it once it is up and running? I have heard 12 hours and 8 hours from people I have talked to.

On another note, the pool is still quite dirty. I have been trying to clean out the leaves and whatever else is on the bottom, but it is hard without being able to see it. If I keep shocking and running the filter will it eventually clear up?

P.S. Yeah that is a heater there. I am doing away with it though.

Thanks!