Equipment Questions

[cmail07]

Hello. I became a pool owner when I bought my home. The home was a foreclosure, so no instructions came with owning a pool, and I am a first time pool owner. I have learned alot on the web about pool chemistry, but I have no idea about how the plumbing works.

For instance, when would I need to use the Jandy Valve? I always keep it in open position for the pool water to circulate. Do I need to change the valve to a different position when I vacuum through a skimmer? I did change the valve today to the other direction which stopped the pool jets (4 of them) from working, but then one jet that I didn't even know I had blew out really strong. What is the purpose of that jet?

Concerning the jets, the two closest to the pump and filter are strong but the two farther away are really weak, one hardly blows or sometime blows bubbles. From what I read online, I can reduce how much pressure comes out of the stronger jets, allowing a more even flow. But, what do I need to buy in order to do this? There's a lot of flow in the deep end of my pool but none in the shallow end. Is there a way I can completely close off one of the stronger jets?

One last question. If I think that the two skimmers aren't sucking in water as well as they should, what should I look for and/or do? The water use to flow into the skimmers pretty fast last season, but this season it seems the water is bypassing the skimmers.

Thank you for reading all this and I eagerly await answers!

Cathy


20,000 gallon inground kidney-shaped pool
Hayward Cartridge Filter
1 1/2 hp pump

[waste]

Cathy, welcome to the forum!! Sorry for the delay in responding! (I had a little dog emergency pop up last Sunday, which kept me from responding, however I 'bookmarked' your post and now have the time to answer you)

Let me first say that I think that no one else has attempted to answer you is because your questions are 'specifically vague' - what I mean by this is that you are asking 'what is this valve for' but we don't have a solid idea of your pool and plumbing set-up, which makes it difficult to provide a definitive answer. There are many ways that pools are built and plumbed and without knowing how any individual pool was done, most answers would be more like guessing than really telling you what's going on with your pool. As you 'inherited' your pool and no one could tell you about it, you're having to figure all this out on your own, stick with us and ask your questions (the only stupid question is the one unasked!!) and by the end of this season you'll be a pro on running and maintaining your own pool!!

OK, time for a little 'pool school'. Any pipes that connect to the front of the pump are suction lines, which draw the water from the pool into the pump --you have 2 skimmers and I don't know whether you have any other suction sources (like a bottom drain)-- do you have a valve there? Any pipes after the filter return the water to the pool -- you have a Jandy valve on that line, so it separates into 2 lines back to the pool. From what you've described, 1 line goes to the 4 'regular' returns, I suspect that the other return (the one that really 'ripped' when you changed the valve) was intended to be used with a pressure side auto cleaner (a Polaris, or similar) -- it's probably located in the center of the pool. If you don't have the auto-vac to go with it, I'd use the Jandy valve to close that line ~ 3/4 way and have the directional inlet fitting (eyeball) pointing into the deepest part of the pool - this may be enough to help the flow from the shallow end returns. If that isn't enough to get the 'action' you want in the shallow end - you can buy different sized eyeballs for the returns - I assume that they are threaded into the outlets. If so, the basic part # is SP 1419 - there is a letter after the number (A - E), the letter designates how large the hole is in the eyeball from a slot (1419-A) to a 1' hole (1419-E). To build up more pressure from the shallow end returns, I would put a 3/8" (1419-B) in the deep end return closest to the pump, then a 1/2" (1419-C) in the next ... keep going a size up (or letter down) for each of the 4 returns - this will help equalize thew flow through them.

With regards to your skimmers, it may appear that the suction is diminished, when it's not - is the water level higher than when you were last year? (more water can make it look like the skimmers aren't pulling as well as they were). Also, there are plates, in the bottom of the skimmer, that can be turned to cover the suction ports that may be partially blocking the ports in the skimmers - make sure that the lines are fully open.

I hope that you will find your answers in this post - if you have more questions - they will be answered!

Have a great summer and enjoy your pool!!

[Poconos]

I just saw the date on the original post and apologize. I just missed it. The forum is odd in that if you just log in and out then all posts are automatically marked as being read. I hate that. Anyhow, welcome to the forum Cathy and glad Waste answered. Thanks.
Al