What do all of these things do? - long post.

[Miataguy]

Just bought a house that we loved that happened to have a pool - everyone tried to talk me out of the pool thing, but here I am forging along. We've been renovating for three weeks and now the pools green. So, I was out there today trying to figure it all out. I have two lines going into my pump, one of which has a valve on it. I assume one comes from the drain at the bottom of the pool and one comes from the skimmer (i only have one), which one the valve shuts off I don't know. From there it goes to my DE filter which has one pipe coming out of the top that splits three ways, two of the three have valves. Also one line coming out of the bottom with another valve - I assume this is to backwash. I have three jets in the pool. Only one works very well (the one closest to pump), one works not at all, and one is intermittant depending on how the valves are turned.

Ok here's my questions:
What do I turn off and on to vacuum so I don't clog my pump?
What do I turn off and on to backwash?
How do I trace down why my jets don't all seem to work (water is definately going through pump, just doesn't look like it's moving around in pool)?
Best guess as to what these valves are controlling?

Thanks,
Sorry for the long post.

[duraleigh]

A picture of your pump and filter would be great to help identify things correctly.

[CarlD]

Just bought a house that we loved that happened to have a pool - everyone tried to talk me out of the pool thing, but here I am forging along. We've been renovating for three weeks and now the pools green. So, I was out there today trying to figure it all out. I have two lines going into my pump, one of which has a valve on it. I assume one comes from the drain at the bottom of the pool and one comes from the skimmer (i only have one), which one the valve shuts off I don't know. From there it goes to my DE filter which has one pipe coming out of the top that splits three ways, two of the three have valves. Also one line coming out of the bottom with another valve - I assume this is to backwash. I have three jets in the pool. Only one works very well (the one closest to pump), one works not at all, and one is intermittant depending on how the valves are turned.

Ok here's my questions:
What do I turn off and on to vacuum so I don't clog my pump?
What do I turn off and on to backwash?
How do I trace down why my jets don't all seem to work (water is definately going through pump, just doesn't look like it's moving around in pool)?
Best guess as to what these valves are controlling?

Thanks,
Sorry for the long post.

This isn't long. Stick around if you want to see LONG posts! (I've even written one or two myself.)