Water Pressure / Vacuuming The Pool...

As some may have gathered I'm in the process of getting the Backyard Pool up and running for another Season..This is the 1st home that came with an Above Ground Pool..So we have been tweaking the process each new year from how the previous owner had things setup..

At the Business end of things there is a 3 Way valve which enables one to Shut Off flow from Centre Drain,Skimmer,Pump/Filter..Past 2 seasons with Pump running and through the Filter and all the Pressure topped out at 10/11 lbs...Don't know why but the Previous Owner had a Guard preventing you from turning the valve handle all the way around, consequently when the valve was open to circulate between Drain,Skimmer,P/F...They had the valve open only 2/3rds of the way coming from the Skimmer...

This year I took the Guard off opening all avenues full..The Pressure Gauge shows on the + side of 15 lbs Now...Having said all this, What is the Average Operating Pressure the Pump should be showing when Vacuuming the Pool... Cheers. Thanks...

I believe this all depends on your filter and pump. My pool runs at 28 PSI.

havasu said:

I believe this all depends on your filter and pump. My pool runs at 28 PSI.

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. We have a 1/2 HP Pump..The Filter Canister capacity is 4 / 40 lb. Bags of Silica Sand...That was one of my 1st jobs in prepping the pool, emptying the old and putting in the new silica sand..Pool place said to only add 3 bags when replacing otherwise approximately a bags worth will just end up being sucked up through the Backwash ?? @ 15 lbs. cycling and all it generates a decent current circulating the water around the pool (24ft. Above Ground).. Cheers. Thanks..

An in ground pool pump will make just shy of 40 psi. An above ground pool pump will top out at 18 or so. The higher the pressure for either one, the less flow you have. Flow is your friend, that's what puts the most water through the filter in a given period of time. If you have an above ground pool, you shouldn't let the pressure get above 10 psi. An in ground pool should not go above 20. The high pressures just means the filter needs to be backwashed, or removed and cleaned or replaced.

Contrary to popular belief; you should never have to change the sand in a filter. You just backwash it clean.
Flow also makes vacuuming quicker and easier. I would also close off the main drain and let the skimmer keep the floaties off the top of the water.

There are three types of filters. In order of quality: Sand, Cartridge and DE. DE being the best as far as the size of of particles they will remove in Microns. From memory, sand will remove down to approx 300 micron. Cartridge about 50 and DE 2 - 5. With a DE filter, your water will sparkle.

speedbump said:

Contrary to popular belief; you should never have to change the sand in a filter. You just backwash it clean.

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. Believe Me when I Vacuumed out the old Silica Sand from the Filter Canister, It was a hard crusty Golden Brown...Aside from discovering just how old the pool is and when the previous owner had it Installed..We have what you'd call an Issue with Hard Water & Iron Content, one has to keep on top of that Religiously or We'd have an even Greater Problem...... Judging from the Whirlpool effect created when the pump is on and water is pumping through the Skimmer I'd say it's drawing pretty good...We don't cover the Pool in the Off Seasons, it takes about a week of Shocking the BeeJeepers & Vacuuming to get the Pool up and Ready for Swimming..