The joys of pool ownership
I'm beginning to enjoy the pool more than I thought I would. Spent much of Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon just floating in the water and relaxing. I think I'm even losing a bit of weight for the low impact aerobic exercise I get just by keeping afloat. I like taking a couple noodles and using them for support. I then float around the pool, propelling myself with my arms and legs. Sometimes I go with the current from the jets and sometimes against. I'm usually in the water for a couple hours and probably exercise about half that. I'm not really trying to exercise. It just happens.
Saturday morning I got butch. The valves that control the intake from the skimmer and drain, along with chlorinator were pretty much shot. So I bought replacements and installed them Saturday. It was pretty easy as all the pipes are just PVC, which is like playing with Tinker Toys. I did have a problem with the chlorinator as where I installed it was apparently below the level of the pool's jets, though I didn't know that when I cut the pipe. (The pump and filter are a good 25 feet from the pool and it's hard to tell the relative heights.) So when I cut the pipe water started gushing out of the pipe and emptying from the pool. So I was furiously trying to install the chlorinator while dealing with the water, not an easy task as the glue sets fast but won't set when it's wet. When Marlin got back from running around, he showed me we had a couple of rubber plugs that fit into the jets - probably for this very purpose. Argh! At least the new pipes with the new Jandy valve worked perfectly.
It still leaks a tiny bit, but I need to buy some replacement parts and I'll probably redesign the flow a bit. This time, I'll make sure the chlorinator is slightly above the jet line and I may even make sure it's above the water surface entirely. We'll probably move the whole contraption up to the patio next year anyway, since neither of us likes the current setup and we'll probably replace the pump and sand filter which are getting old. But that'll be a job for professionals.
Saturday morning I got butch. The valves that control the intake from the skimmer and drain, along with chlorinator were pretty much shot. So I bought replacements and installed them Saturday. It was pretty easy as all the pipes are just PVC, which is like playing with Tinker Toys. I did have a problem with the chlorinator as where I installed it was apparently below the level of the pool's jets, though I didn't know that when I cut the pipe. (The pump and filter are a good 25 feet from the pool and it's hard to tell the relative heights.) So when I cut the pipe water started gushing out of the pipe and emptying from the pool. So I was furiously trying to install the chlorinator while dealing with the water, not an easy task as the glue sets fast but won't set when it's wet. When Marlin got back from running around, he showed me we had a couple of rubber plugs that fit into the jets - probably for this very purpose. Argh! At least the new pipes with the new Jandy valve worked perfectly.
It still leaks a tiny bit, but I need to buy some replacement parts and I'll probably redesign the flow a bit. This time, I'll make sure the chlorinator is slightly above the jet line and I may even make sure it's above the water surface entirely. We'll probably move the whole contraption up to the patio next year anyway, since neither of us likes the current setup and we'll probably replace the pump and sand filter which are getting old. But that'll be a job for professionals.