Okay, first off, I know nothing about pools. My friend has a pool and the system was acting funny. I decided that the first thing I would check was the huge Filter. The filter housing is probably about 4 feet tall or so and the top seperates from the bottom to retrieve the filter. Well I depressurized it by unscrewing a pressure relief valve. I undid the big ring clamp that goes around it and lifted up. Water started going everywhere but the pump and everything was shut off. I found a valve that was going to it and I took a wrench and shut the water off. The valve I turned is not one of the big plastic handle ones, it is a small one that looks like the one most people have to turn the main water off at their house. Anywas, the filter was clean so I put the housing all back together. When I went to turn that little valve back on it broke inside and now the water is stuck in the off position. My questions are, is this a fresh water line since it made water come from the filter even when the pump was off, and are fresh line usually hooked in with the filter and pump? Also the valve is connected to 3/4 inch pvc pipe. When I replace it, do I just use the same primer and glue as I would for sprinklers? I hope this makes sense to someone, sorry, I know nothing about pools so I don't know the correct names of things.

 

The 3/4" line must be a fresh water fill pipe, try tracing it back to the house to be certain, I just use my house hose bibb to fill my pool, I guess keeping it directly connected to the pump and filter is awesome and the easiest way to keep it out of the way.

I do not open the filter housing until all the water has been drained.
- you were right in depressurizing the filter first, at the bottom of the fitler housing should be a 1 1/2" pvc plug that allows you to drain the filter housing. check fins for rips, at the end of each summer season I wash the fins of all the gunk with the hose, also, the backwash feature should be used every now and then. (then add the powered stuff to the intake skimmer)

I just replaced all the supply and return lines of my pool with standard PVC piping and standard PVC glue with the primer 2 summers ago, everything seems to be o.k. (the pipes where cracked and I was losing pressure, from previous owner not winterizing properly).

As far as the filter sounding funny, how old is the pump? I also just replaced mine after about 8 years, now after doing that and the pipes, everything is running great. (knock on wood)

Hope this helps.
Jeff

 

Is this pool in the ground or above? If above, water will come out of the top of the filter if you remove it because of the water level being higher in the pool. I installed a cut-off valve to my strainer basket on my pump and I block the return port if I have to remove the filter top.
If it's an in-ground pool, once you break a connection and air enters the system, providing all valves to pool are open, the water should drain back to the pool.

Fresh water line are usually not plumbed into the pump and filter as a rule. I have never seen this on any pool I have been around.

 

ddrumman, you make a good point but there should be a check valve on the return side of the pump to prevent that from happening.

 

Yes, but not always on older pools.

How was the system acting funny? I was a pool service/repair guy 20 years ago, but still remember the basics. The water that came out could be just the intake pipes draining, or a freshwaer fill used for adding water and/or priming the pump.

Use the same glue you would for other water applications.

Some pool basics:

--filter pressure lower than normal usually means a dirty skimmer or main drain inake clog. Or something blocking an intake line.

--filter pressure hiigher than normal usually means a dirty filter.

--Bubbles from the return line into the pool mean a leak on the intake/suction side.

--always shut off any intake or return valves before opening the system, especially if the equipment is below the high water line. You can drain a pool quickly that way. If it's an inground shell with a high water table, you can pop that sucker right out of the ground if you empty it.

--always shut off the filter timers at the circuit breaker to prevent a shock from bad wiring (I vaporized more than one screwdriver tip NOT doing this), and to prevent the system from coming on when dry and damaging the pump.

--filters can look clean, but have a light layer of dirt or scale which can on some systems highly affect performance. If you are stumped, remove the filter element{s} and close the system and restart it. If water flow is significantly increased, and pressure is down, your elements might be dirty or old. On systems I replumbed, I usually included a bypass line to do this.

-Try to prime the system first before restart. Some will be easy, some not. Perhaps that's also why the fresh water hose line was plumbed in?

Hope this helps a little.

Erik

 

Good post Erik. On my pool(above ground) the return line to the pool has no check valve. Just a line running from the mulit-port valve to the pool. When I have to go inside my filter(mine's sand) I just remove the return line from the valve and place it over in the skimmer, and shut the valve I installed to the pump basket.

 

It is a below ground pool. Here are a couple of pictures of the valve I am talking about.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...onth/pool1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...onth/pool2.jpg

 

Without seeing exactly where the pipe connects to the pool system, if it does, I can't say for certain. Since it looks like it disappears below ground and near the suction side of the pump, I'd guess it's freshwater from the house for priming the system...getting enough water into it before you start the pump (after opening the system) so the seal in the pump doesn't overheat and leak.

Is the pump below the water line of the pool, or is it higher? That would be a clue.

What were the original symptoms that led to the inspection of the filter?

 

The pump is above the water line of the pool. She has a waterfall in her pool and the flow was not constant, so I thought it might of been a cloged filter. One end of the pipe comes from the ground and the other goes into more piping. In this picture you can see where the two ends connect.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...onth/pool3.jpg

 

Hmmm. so it appears the smaller pipe connects to the larger pipes of the filter system, and the connection isi on the pressure side of the pump...yes? So that probably rules out the smaller pipe being used as a source to prime the pump. Unless it's used to fill the entire system after it's bee drained. Call a pool repair place with the make and model of the pump and ask if it's a "self-priming" one.

The line could still be a freshwater fill line...or maybe it has something to do with the waterfall?

Sorry for all the guessing, but there are as many pool system configurations as their are pools. I really can't tell any more without being there.

Good Luck.

Erik

 

I believe I saw the words DE on your filter. That is diatomeaceas earth, do you have 110 or 65 12 inch long indidvidual plastic "fingers" inside the filter??
If so, the filter may need cleaning even if it doesn't look like it is completely stuffed up. The fingers should be hosed off, and soaked in tri sodium phosphate to remove grease(from suntan oil, our bodies, etc.) The individual fingers do not have to be removed from the plate they sit in, the whole assy can be dipped into a small trash can or five gallon bucket, depending on their size. This stuff is expensive and your friends set up seems complicated, I have an inground pool and dont have half that many pipes. You can search Haywards site, and get exploded diagrams for your filter, the model number should be on the side of the filter.
Improper DE filter cleaning and maintenance causes the most problems with existing set ups.

 

Well, I primed the system and it works, the only problem is that there is a huge leak underground. I will have her call a pro to fix that. I feel kind of dumb, but I found out what the valve was for, it is for the pool slide. Thanks for the help guys!

 

What is the story/ How do you know it is leaking underground/ What exactly happened??????

 

Well, she said that every time her pump was running her pool seemed to lower quicker. At first, I thought it was just normal evaporation, put I let the pump run for 20 min. or so and her grass by the equipment was flooded. It looks like it is coming from underneath a concrete slab.

 

Water leaks in a closed system occur on the pressure side (after the pump) and leaks on the suction side of the pump show up as bubbles being blown into the pool from the return line. Sounds like a return side leak.

One way to check this on the cheap is to cut/plumb into the return line after the filter and plumb in another return line (with the same size pipe) and run it above ground back to the pool. Run the system and see if it still loses water. She can also run the system like this until she can afford busting up the patio.

If you do this and expect to run it for a while, have the makeshift return line enter the pool at as close to the same entry spot and angle of discharge. Most pools are designed for the intake and discharge lines to set up a flow which leaves as few "dead spots" (non moving water) as possible.