The variable speed pumps should be really useful for your solar use case, as you can wind the speed right down if you are just heating, saving energy that can go to the heat pump instead of the water pump. I have mine cranked right down to only 150W while heating with the heat pump which still provides ample flow. Full speed is like 1.5kW so it's a huge saving. You can program speed schedules (including on and off times) on the unit itself, and also control it via RS485 which I've done to integrate it with all the other pool gubbins.
Yes, it's actually a trade off with what you want. I'm very quickly learning about heat pumps and how they actually have a narrow window of water flow rate. My Madimack is actually 60L/min +/20%, so you have to actrually set the bypass valves 3/4 on to limit the rate through the heat pump. With hindsight a variable speed one would have been more useful, but it's too late now, that's what was advised and what we got it and what's been plumbed in. Even the top of the line 40kW Madimack can't handle the 360L/min of the pump.
That looks lovely! Happy swimming! About the sand filter, backwash only needs 2-5 minutes and don't forget that the pool is drained when you do that, so must refill the pool after backwashing. After backwashing you stop the pump and turn valve to "Rinse" and start again for 15-60 seconds, that settles the sand back down and you avoid sand been transferred in the pool. Then stop the pump and turn the valve to "Filter" for normal operation. There is an inspection glass port on the valve so generally when that clears up you are good to stop.... You should always stop the pump and put it in manual mode before using the multi valve. That protects the rubber gasket inside... Hope that helps. Enjoy your pool!
pool tip, after "Backwashing", run the "Rinse" for two minutes to flush it forward before returning it to "Filter". Variable you can use "low for normal use, and high for vacuuming. That red flap is a check valve so when you clean the pump basket you don't lose your pump prime. Very nice setup.
Dave you cheeky devil pulling us in with Mrs EEV and serving up the plumbing. Haha love it. Nice bit of kit! I think the flappy thing is a relief valve for hydraulic safety. *just a guess I assume someone knows what it really is
The "flap valve" is a check valve (might be called a "non-return valve" where you are) which prevents the water from flowing backward when the pump is off. You need this before the chloriantor/salt generator to prevent concentrated chlorine flowing back when the pump is off and ruining everything.
I have to say Dave that is a pretty technical pool with the filter system in and the heat pump and I have learnt so much by watching all the videos as they built and what's involved learnt a lot by things that I didn't know did hear a lot of things but watching all videos was very interesting and I have to say that is a very nice pool and I hope you enjoy it over the summer with the family
I enjoy swimming and this makes me want a pool. I'm looking to buy a house soon, so maybe I can get one with a pool. Until then, I'll live vicariously through these videos.
In the EU, or at least west countries you also can fill up by just tapwater. Probably will be a similar prices. I have family in the US and it also blew my brain they needed a truck with weird fancy mountain water. As well as all the sign and fences.
Great to see it all come together, I like that it can manage its own chemicals, beats waiting for the pool guy to show up when the pool is looking green 👍👍
@EEVblog2 I made a light sensing controller for our pump so when inverter output drops below a set point the pump turns off. Used a cheap fridge controller as it has adjustable on delay and other useful features. Switching 12VDC remotely to a large SSR at the pump and the sensor is a photo diode in a box I can position to get a good average of light across the roof. (might need to adjust it for seasons, not sure yet. Or perhaps more than one sensor) There are sexier ways to do it via inverter data but this is DIY cheaper for me and I might use the 12V out to switch other things too. BTW backwash until the water is clear in the sight glass. Typically it's less than a minute unless the pool is super dirty, then rinse and back to filter. :) Happy swimming.
@@EEVblog2 Yeah, back pressure does the sealing. It likely has a helper spring to ensure it closes when pressure/flow stops. Cool to see there's a sight glass on it, not all of them do...
Sometimes return valves can accumulate sand grains at the seal and let backflow, but rest a shore the design of valve you have has proven to be very reliable
Really cool! Hope you enjoy it all summer long! Would love to see some future updates if you decide to do some smart automation for excess solar usage!
Really nice plumbing job there... looks fantastic. Regarding cleaning probes, just with a light tooth brush every 6 months or so... The gold probe will go tinge, just give it a light brush will come back like new. Also, remember *critical*... acid should be diluted 1:3 with tap water in your feeder. That black/red flap is just a backflow valve... looks like you got the deep return too for heating.. I'm betting might be the same pool builder as us :) They call him Bruce.... :P
Mrs. EEVblog is not even holding a knife! The red thing is a check valve/back flow preventer, most likely so the pump doesn't lose prime when you turn off. As far as VFD, you might be able to add one to the pump. Many of these pumps are inverter compatible... of course that is if it is a 3 wire hook-up inside somehow...
A variable drive pump has better efficiency (drives the pump with high frequency 3 phases with a maximized power factor) and prevents hydraulic ram effect in piping and in the filter pressure vessel (pump ramps up in pressure slowly).
Acid outside because it is really corrosive. Really should have a separate cover over it, which is probably an option available, because the external acid supply can be almost anything from a 5l plastic container to a 205l plastic drum. PTFE pipe as well, because nothing else will survive long term. Do note that peristaltic pump tube will need changing sooner or later, get 2 as spares, so that you can change it before it dumps 1l of acid, and 20l of water, all over the pump. Salt you get all the bags and drop them in at once, normally a woven polythene bag, so no need to even open them, just drop into the pool, and fish the empty bags, with all the sand and such still inside, the next morning, after it is all dissolved. Pool salt is not exactly table salt quality, it still has some dirt in it.
144kg of salt and to heat the pool by one degree Celsius you need about 42kWh of thermal energy but that is just the water the ground around will also need to be heated and there are losses to air in the meantime.
Very interesting the NRV is indeed to stop back feeding. I would expect a rinse after chlorine production to flush the electrolyser of sodium hypochlorite after a generation cycle. Also didn’t see a gas vent from the cell? As Hydrogen gas is a nasty by-product of the low voltage high current process. Or dosnt this need one?
Why salt? Salt being so corrosive and one little pinhole (develops over time) will rust out the rebar is what I'd be worried about. And if you have a parastolic pump, why not just just use that to provide the chlorine?
4 hrs may not generate enough CL. During the summer you may need to run it when ever you are generating enough solar energy. I run mine from dusk to dawn. There is most likely a flow sensor in the heat pump that prevents it from operating until there is flow. The chlorine generator also has a flow sensor somewhere.
Yes, the heat pump does have a flow sensor and can start automatically from that. Or I can use a timer or menual start and it will turn the pump on itself.
The heat pump will have a float switch on it so you can leave it on, it will probably show a no flow error, but then as soon as the pump is on it will pick that up and start heating.
I've seen plenty of these chlorinators with the sensors - and used this exact model many times, just be aware of a few things- You still need to test the water regularly and adjust the calibration - particularly with the pH sensor. pH calibration is easy, and should be done whenever you test the water and the measurement on the test is significantly different from what the chlorinator says. Use 1 part acid to 2 parts water when filling the acid drum. The ORP sensor is what in simple terms measures the chlorine, there are a few factors which influence ORP that you don't really need to know about but the sensor will add more chlorine as necessary to keep the pool sanitised. Give it a few years and the ORP sensors tend to start failing. I see way more broken ones than working ones, as the customers rarely want to get them replaced! Expensive. On failing sensors the measured ORP tends to (falsely) steadily decrease and this will on your system result in it producing more chlorine than necessary. Early warning signs are if you start getting super high chlorine readings on tests. But you probably don't have to worry about that for a while...
10-20 mins of backwash..are you sure? Be sure to turn off the skimmer valve if you will be backwashing so long. Your pump will drain a lot of water during that time (which of course you will need to fill again from the tap). I normally backwash for no longer than 1m 30 seconds. And another 25 seconds of rinse for cleaning the valve.
Enjoy the pool. We've had an above ground model for several years now. Weather gets cold enough here that it can't stay up year 'round sadly. (shameless plug: wife has a few videos about setup, maintenance & teardown)
I just looked up salt water chlorination, bloody hell, it's really complicated. I wondered if the acid was for neutralising the sodium by-products. I also found out another reason every bit of metal was bonded, to stop corrosion from the salt water
It's a peristaltic pump, which works by a rotating roller squeezing the tube, like how you squeeze the last bit of toothpaste out. So the acid never actually touches the pump.
@@EEVblog2 Still, buy 2 spare tubes now, as the acid does a nasty work on them, and they fail without warning. 2 spares, so you can get a good idea as to life. Peristaltic pumps are nice, but the tubing is regarded as a consumable, especially with acid, and it wears out fast, and also will have flat spots after a while where the pump roller sits when inactive. Spare tubing kit now is a cheap investment, as they will invariably fail either 6PM on a long hot weekend, and no local stockist will have any around either. So you are back to the manual kit, and using the eyecrometer to measure colour of the reagents, after the "add 5 drops of solution A, then wait a minute, then add 3 drops of solution B, then shake, and count number of drops of solution C is needed to get a colour change", and hoping that those colour references in the kit have not faded totally away, and the dropper bottles have not expired.
8 месяцев назад
It is good to be able to watch the waste water during backwash, as you see it clearing up pretty rapidly. Backwash for just a couple of minutes. 10-20 minutes will make you lose way too much water! You will have to backwash about once a week.
About the price of the water: I looked it up and it would cost about half of what you mentioned here in the Netherlands. But then "we are the water management people" 🙂 Actually in the past water was often considered "too cheap to meter" and in fact I have no water meter at all here, I pay a flat fee. But today I think that is no longer done. It encourages waste, and the price per m3 has increased quite a lot due to increased effort to remove all kinds of pollution.
Backwash for 10 min?! You do what makes sense but may want to watch that amount of water leaving the pool. I backwash until the output is clear. Then rinse for about 1 min. (Usually every 6 days with the pump running 24/7). I have a 50k Litre pool for reference; if i left the backwash for 10min my pool level would fall below the skimmer and have the pump suck air(see:burn out).
Less maintenance (no need for added chlorine, it makes its own from the salt) and salt is better for you than chlorine. It's only a very tiny amount of salt, less than 10% of what you would have in seawater.
