Finally someone that can give an explanation to someone who just perches a home with a pool, I have been looking all over RU-vid for someone to give explanation how a pool works…..(Thank you Thank you Sir)
Thank you so much. We just bought a house with a in ground pool. Called a pool company for the pool assessment and was told we needed a new pump. We purchased a new variable speed pump installed it and they didn’t explain any of this or how to adjust the valves or what the pressure gage should be on the filter. We have purchased hundreds of dollars in pool chemicals because apparently our valves are not set correctly and the chemicals just clog up in the skimmers with the Chlorine pucks. So I came to RU-vid and thank goodness you made this video. Hopefully, adjusting the valves will fix the issue with the skimmers and cloudy water because if not, I’m ready to just shut it down and close it for the year.
Thank you for this demonstration, I work with my dad in pools and spas, great guy but sometimes explaining isn’t his strong suit 😂 this is a great video. Thank you
Thank you for this easy to follow breakdown of the pool system. I am taking the initiative to learn about pool operations for my job and this really helps. Subscribing now and hope to get more awesome training.
Very good and lot of instructions there for people like me who's just starting to learn about pools. I get the basic but how do I know which valve is which? They are not labeled for my pool plumbing.
Please produce a video explaining how a passive pool overflow system works. Skimmers have two holes in the bottom, one pipes to the pool pump while the other pipes to the outside of the pool deck and ends above the ground. I assume the top of the overflow pipe should be set at exactly the maximum height you ever want the level of the water in your pool to reach. I have forgotten to turn off my water hose when adding water to my pool but the water has never overflowed over my coping. It was always a mystery to me where the secret overflow hole was located. As it turns out, after the pool resurfacing contractor workers accidentally filled my skimmer with concrete and had to dig out and replace the skimmer, we discovered the overflow hole at the bottom of the skimmer had a screw-in plug sealing it off. Upon further inspection we noted the 1.5 inch pipe beneath the skimmer overflow hole was broken in half. The pool was built in 2000 and I purchased the home in 2003, so sometime during the first 3 years the overflow pipe broke and they abandoned the overflow pipe system by plugging the hole in the bottom of the skimmer. They also installed a cap on the 1.5 inch overflow pipe that is sticking up out of the ground beside my pool. Because that pipe was capped, I have never in 20 years wondered what it was. I'm scratching my head because it appears to me that the top of the overflow pipe outside my pool deck is HIGHER than the top of my pool. How was the pool ever going to overflow out the overflow drain instead of over the coping if the overflow pipe is above the coping? Now I'm trying to figure out at what height to a cut the overflow pipe on the outside of the pool? Furthermore, should the pipe just be wide open for debris to fall in? Or, should the pipe have some sort of drain cover on top? Or, should the drain pipe top have a pvc 90 elbow? Inquiring minds want to know. Thank you!
@@truelightpoolsllc4441 I ended up guessing how high is the maximum water level for my pool based on the top of the skimmer hole. Not the tiled skimmer hole on the pool side, but the skimmer hole built into the plastic skimmer itself. Without guidance from a professional, I just had to choose a maximum height for the water in my pool. First, inside my plastic skimmer, I measured the distance between my current pool water level and the top of the skimmer hole built into the skimmer. In my case, that was about 1.25 inches. Next, I looked down into my 1.5 inch pvc pipe overflow outside of my pool deck which was about 6 inches into my grass yard. I dug around that pvc pipe to give myself room to work. Next I measured down the inside of the pipe to the top of the water in the pipe. Then I used that measurement to mark the water level on the outside of the pvc pipe. Using my battery powered hacksaw, I cut off the pvc pipe just above the water line. Knowing the top of the overflow pipe must be exactly the maximum height of the water level in my pool, I only had no more than 1.25 inches to work with. Finding no drain cover to fit a 1.5 inch pvc pipe, I purchased a 2 inch drain cover that fit inside a 2 inch schedule 40 pvc pipe. I purchased a reducer to connect my 1.5 inch overflow pipe to the 2 inch pvc pipe which has my 2 inch drain cover pressed inside the end of the 2 inch pipe. The reducer fitting was just more than 1 inch in height after compensating for the two pipes fitting inside the reducer fitting. In my case, the length of 2 inch pvc pipe I used was exactly the length that would fit inside the reducer fitting, or about a half inch ring of 2 inch pvc pipe. My challenge now is to make sure I have room for rain water to drain from around my new relatively low overflow drain top, because the top of my overflow drain is now about the same level of my ground soil on the outside of my pool deck.
Thank you for sharing such simplified examples of how a water pump system for a swimming pool. I was wondering about the range most residential water pumps provide guided water preasure of? How much? Would two pumps improve suction?
You are welcome! The normal filter pressure range in the pools we service would be in the range of 13-18 psi. It all depends on how the piping is run and the HP of the pool pump. Two pumps to circulate the water in a normal 20-30K gallon pool is not necessary. One pump sized correctly should be able to circulate all of your water each day.
Gallons per minute is a better way to measure water flow provided by a pool pump than pressure. A flow meter is inexpensive and easily installed with just a drill and screwdriver
Love the video. This is the first video that I have come across that explains with a diagram. I simply love it. One question - I don’t see the cleaning part in the diagram. Do you have a video that shows how the cleaning works ?
nice video. I hope you can bring this diagram walk us through the actual pool system so that we can understand how they look like in real world. It’s great video though
The suction on a polaris pump is the same, suction in front and discharge out the top of pump. The polaris pump suction will be plumbed in on the return side of the system after the pool filter.
I'm not really sure on that. I would suggest talking to some pool builders and see if their pool design software, like Pool Studio, designs the plumbing for you depending on what features you put on the pool. Hope that helps.
Thank you so much for this explanation! What would cause the spa water level to go down when you turn the jets on? I can't tell if it means wrong valve setting (hopefully easy fix) or a malfunctioning part (costly fix). Appreciate any guidance.
The RETURN side actuator valve on an automated system didn't turn to cut off the pool and send the water to the spa. So the pump is pulling water from the spa and sending it to the pool instead of back to the spa. Also a variable speed pump on a low speed may slowly lower the spa, so make sure the pump is up on at least 75% when in spa mode.
First time pool owner here. Mine has a booster pump. Where does this fit in the diagram? Your explanation really helped. Thanks. Any info would be great.
Glad it helped! A booster pump runs a pressure cleaner like a polaris 280. It gets it's source water from pipes after the filter and sends the water directly to the cleaner. The cleaner runs off of water moving turbines and gears inside the cleaner.
The flow of the water comes into the front of the main pump and then goes through the filter, then through the heater if there is one, then back to the pool. So point the arrow of stickers if you are marking the pipes in the appropriate direction.
Does the spa ever operate from sucked in air from the outside pipes sticking out of the ground. Or what are those pipes for sticking out of the ground ?
Air bubbles can be drawn into the spa jet returns through pipes and usually adjustment knobs on the top of the coping around the spa. That was the old way of doing it. Now most builders will just install a spa air blower on a pipe over by the equipment pushing air directly into the spa return line jets.
Those pipes used to be required on older pools to break suction in the event a person was entrapped by the main drain. The new codes instead require a safety cover on a single drain or twin drains several feet apart
This was incredibly helpful. My spa overflows into the pool - when it is filtering the pool. However, right now, when I have selected the spa, it is still overflowing and the two values are on spa mode (they both shifted to spa when selected from the compool unit). Thoughts? Also, which valve stops it from overflowing - would that be the Suction Side?
If the spa is still overflowing in spa mode, the suction valve, in front of the pump, did not turn as it needed to. It's still pulling from the pool then sending it to the spa making it continue to overflow.
Great video! Is it better to immediately divide the return side into separate lines as soon as they come out the sanitation system, or maintain one line for all returns, and only break off when necessary closer towards the pool?
Usually they are broken into separate lines like spa return, water feature return, etc. at equipment pad. The one that is the pool return line runs towards pool then splits off when it nears the pool structure.
If you split the return lines at the pad you will need 3-4 times more length of pipe. Split them closer to the pool for less complexity at the pad and cost savings
Sand, Cartridge and DE filters standing for (diatomaceous earth filters). You get the best filtration from DE filters, next is cartridge, last is sand filters.
Thank you for the awesome demo, just a question, is there a code that requires a water filter after a pump? I told the owner i dont know if there is a code, and if that requires it, all i know is the pump has basket strainer, so technically my opinion you dont need it?
Yes you do. Filtration though a filter is needed to filter out impuraties and some micro organism, etc. The pump basket only catches leaves, grass and seeds. You must have a filter on a swimming pool. I falls under the health department coding.
@@wangbungal Should be able to get info from your county health department about information governing commercial pool sanitation guidelines. These same guidelines about sanitation and filtration would also be applicable to residential pools.
The spa bubbler is just extra water being pushed from the main pump to the spa. Or if you have a separate air blower, it pushes air though the pipes to add fun bubbles directly into the spa.
Yes. On the suction side the water enters the pool pump always from the front of the pump and then out the top of the pump to push it to the filter next, then on down the line.
I am draining my pool to waste. From the main drain. It is draining but water is coming back into the pool constantly at the same time through the return valves Why is it doing that. It will never finish draining like this
Hey my pool pump keeps turning on but then it all shut off after about 15-20 minutes and then I'll come back on an hour or 2 later. The power supply to the pump itself is never lost. What do you think it is a capacitor? Thanks in advance.
Probably a bad motor drawing more amperage and overheating. It may be drawing more amperage due to the bearings going out or shaft corroding making it drag internally.
