New home/pool owner .. and don't know squat ...HELP

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Guest

New home/pool owner .. and don't know squat ...HELP

Postby Guest » Sat 13 Jun, 2009 21:22

Hello All :crazy: ,

To day was the grand pool opening day !!!!! and of course my wife and I am attemping to do it on our own . A little about our pool, came with house, inground 33ft by 18ft, Hayward DE filter and super pump, was opened last year but not cleaned just shocked and DE added to verify pool in working contition.

PS - last year had a company come do these things

1st let me start with our successes:

Got the loop lock off with it falling to the bottom of the pool
Succuessfully connected pump to filter
Placed eyeballs in pool and baskets in skimmer

This is were the fun stopped .....ok i just want to go over some of the setting that I see on the filter and pump housing.

In front of the filter the is a knob the has the following setting :
Backwash
Rinse
waste
filter
recirculate
close

In front of the pump I have the following setting:
Close
1/2 and 1/2
Full port 1
Full port 2

The things I was told at the pool store:
Add about 5 gallons of water to the pump.
Release air pressure value on the filter, turn pump on, and when you see water squirting out of the value the filter the filter and pump is ready.

Ok let me stop here because I wasn't sure about setting on the two knobs I mentioned above , so them on the following settings : Rinse and Full port 2

So while the pump was running a felt air coming out of the air value but never saw the water squirting ????? but i waited about 20 minutes and changed the settings on the knob in front of the filter to "FILTER"

And just to let everyone know once I turned on the pump I did add some DE to the skimmer.

Ok ..... now I have everything running but I am not seeing any activity at the skimmer/eyeballs and the part that really worries me I am not seeing anything coming in on the input (from the pool) hole in the pump ???

It looks like to me that water is not cycling through the pump/filter ....

At this point I stop for the night .... sun setting and mosquito’s biting ...

Could anyone please help me, I tried to be as detailed as possible in my post ... but if anyone needs any more information do not hesitate to ask ....

Thanks in advance


Guest

New home/pool owner .. and don't know squat ...HELP

Postby Guest » Sat 13 Jun, 2009 21:47

Hi,

Justed wanted to mention that evrything is off at this time ... won't turn anything back on until I hear back from you good folk ... :D
Denali
Swimming Pool Superstar
Swimming Pool Superstar
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue 29 Apr, 2008 17:14

New home/pool owner .. and don't know squat ...HELP

Postby Denali » Sun 14 Jun, 2009 12:15

Hi,

You want the filter valve setting to be on "filter." You want the valve in front of the pump set on full port 1 or 2. One of those two will be the skimmer and the other the main drain. Fill the pump with water and then close the lid. Turn on the power with air relief valve on filter open.

If you hear/feel the air it is starting to prime. Check to see if water is being pulled from the skimmer. If not, switch valve to the other full port setting. System should prime in a minute or two. Watch the pump to see if water is being pulled in. Once system is primed close air relief valve.

Make sure the water level in the pool is high enough that air isn't being pulled in at the skimmer. Raise if needed.
fatcat07
I'm new here
I'm new here
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat 13 Jun, 2009 20:27
My Pool: Inground , about 33ft by 18ft , hayward DE filer and Hayward super pump self prime
Location: Long Island

New home/pool owner .. and don't know squat ...HELP

Postby fatcat07 » Sun 14 Jun, 2009 13:37

Thanks for the reply .....

Ok I have been swinging between Full 1 and Full 2 to see if either one works ... no luck so far.

When I put water in the pump .. it get sucked up by the filter but I don't see anything coming from the skimmer ???

Not sure what to do at this point ... thinking I might have to have a service call, unless someone has a suggestion.
Denali
Swimming Pool Superstar
Swimming Pool Superstar
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue 29 Apr, 2008 17:14

New home/pool owner .. and don't know squat ...HELP

Postby Denali » Sun 14 Jun, 2009 14:31

fatcat07 wrote:Thanks for the reply .....

Ok I have been swinging between Full 1 and Full 2 to see if either one works ... no luck so far.

When I put water in the pump .. it get sucked up by the filter but I don't see anything coming from the skimmer ???

Not sure what to do at this point ... thinking I might have to have a service call, unless someone has a suggestion.


Just to be sure here. You are putting water in the pump and then closing the lid and starting the equipment?

If the suction line is empty of water, it can be hard to prime the pump. Put a garden hose into the pump and let run. You want water running backwards into the pipe toward the skimmer. When the pump starts to overflow, put the lid back on. Make sure O ring is in place. Start equipment and bleed air from filter.

If that doesn't work, with the equipment off, turn filter valve to recirculate. Fill the pump with water as before, close the pump lid and then start the equipment. This bypasses the filter and may be a bit easier to prime that way.

Do make sure you have a good seal with the pump lid. If it pulls air in there it won't prime.

Good luck with it.
fatcat07
I'm new here
I'm new here
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat 13 Jun, 2009 20:27
My Pool: Inground , about 33ft by 18ft , hayward DE filer and Hayward super pump self prime
Location: Long Island

New home/pool owner .. and don't know squat ...HELP

Postby fatcat07 » Tue 16 Jun, 2009 09:53

Thanks Denali ... you are right on point .... part of the problem was the O ring on pump, it seems to have come out of it's track while I was troubleshooting the problem ... the other part of the problem was the PVC connector between the pump and return from the skimmer/main drain, I had hand tighten it so it was taking in air. Once It was given a good half a turn with a wrench and the O ring was placed properly the pump started circulating the water.

Ok ... since I am still a pool owner who doesn't know squat :crazy: but learning ..... thanks to "Pool Forum", I now have the problem were I put to much DE in the skimmer and it circulated through and is now floating on the top of my pool. So my brilliant idea is to backwash and rinse but not add any DE so that the DE floating in the pool will hopefully get caught by the filter.

Is this sound thinking or is their is a proper way to deal with this ?

Thanks again ......

PS - Since the I had added to much DE, I have gotten the proper measurement for my pool size .... Pool store told me cup and 1/2 half
Denali
Swimming Pool Superstar
Swimming Pool Superstar
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue 29 Apr, 2008 17:14

New home/pool owner .. and don't know squat ...HELP

Postby Denali » Wed 17 Jun, 2009 01:08

fatcat07 wrote:Thanks Denali ... you are right on point .... part of the problem was the O ring on pump, it seems to have come out of it's track while I was troubleshooting the problem ... the other part of the problem was the PVC connector between the pump and return from the skimmer/main drain, I had hand tighten it so it was taking in air. Once It was given a good half a turn with a wrench and the O ring was placed properly the pump started circulating the water.

Ok ... since I am still a pool owner who doesn't know squat :crazy: but learning ..... thanks to "Pool Forum", I now have the problem were I put to much DE in the skimmer and it circulated through and is now floating on the top of my pool. So my brilliant idea is to backwash and rinse but not add any DE so that the DE floating in the pool will hopefully get caught by the filter.

Is this sound thinking or is their is a proper way to deal with this ?

Thanks again ......

PS - Since the I had added to much DE, I have gotten the proper measurement for my pool size .... Pool store told me cup and 1/2 half


DE shouldn't pass through the filter even if you put too much DE in. Did you have the valve set on filter when you added it? There may be a problem inside the filter that is allowing the DE to pass through. I would look for a hole in a grid or a crack in the manifold that the grids plug into.

Normally DE sinks to the bottom. Then you can vacuum it up.

What size is your filter? It is usually measured in square feet. A cup and a half would be for a very small filter.

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