Polaris Booster plumbing

[JodieM]

Does the booster pump itself pull water into it? Or does it have to be connected to the main pump and pull water from there?
I have a weak flow of water coming out the wall connection port only when the main filter pump is on and the booster is off. When the booster is turned on (in addition to the main filter pump being on) the trickle flow comes to a complete stop.
I think my booster is getting water from an under ground line and not the main filter pump.

 

[JodieM]

 

[mknauss]

Your booster pump is connected to your return to the pool. The pool pump must be running for the booster to operate.

 

[JamesW]

The booster plumbing is backwards.

 

[JodieM]

Polaris Port by arrow

 

[JodieM]

Your booster pump is connected to your return to the pool. The pool pump must be running for the booster to operate.

The pool pump always has been running when the booster is turned on.

 

[JodieM]

The booster plumbing is backwards.

James, I added the underground pictures. Can you give me more info on where it’s backwards?

 

[mknauss]

The booster plumbing is backwards.

I did not catch that! Thanks James.

 

[JamesW]

The front of the pump is the suction and it should be connected to the T on the return line.

The top of the pump is the pressure side that goes to the wall fitting.

The lines are reversed. The line connected to the front of the pump should be connected to the top of the pump and the line connected to the top of the pump should be connected to the front of the pump.

The wall return should be a single line, but it's Teed to a return, so that looks wrong. Are you sure that that's the Polaris return?

The line from the top of the pump should be a single line directly to the wall return.

 

[JodieM]

That’s what the PB told me. He is having the plumber come back on Monday to take a look. I’ll print my underground pictures for him. I hope this can be fixed without breaking out the concrete. I really don’t this this company uses many Polaris/Booster Pump systems. They mainly upsell infloor cleaning systems.
Thank you James!

 

[JodieM]

Ok, looking closer at my picture, there is a return line with its own plumbing. (In Red) . Maybe that’s the Polaris port? I can change the wall fitting, right?

 

[JamesW]

You can probably use that as the Polaris line. However, the cleaner works best with the wall fitting at the center of the wall. Otherwise, the cleaner gets tangled up in the shallow end because the hose in the pool is too long because it has to reach the deep end from the shallow end instead of the middle.

 

[JamesW]

With the main pump on and the booster pump off, there should be water coming from all returns and the booster line.

Feel for water flow from each to verify water flow. Then, close the valve on the line in front of the booster pump. Then feel in front of all lines again to see which ones have no flow.

The ones with no flow will be the booster return.

Then, open the line again.

Also, there are some fittings on the opposite wall, what are those?

How many total returns are there?

 

[JodieM]

I will do that tomorrow afternoon.

There are a total of 4 returns.
2 on each long wall.

The one wall has 2 returns, a Polaris Port and a skimmer.

The opposite wall has 2 LED lights and 2 returns and 1 skimmer.

 

[JamesW]

Close the valve in front of the booster pump to see which returns stop having water flow.

Note: Don't run the booster until everything is fixed. Don't run the booster with the valve closed.

 

[JodieM]

Got it! I’ll report back tomorrow afternoon.
Thank you very much James!

 

[Dirk]

Yikes. Reversed. Classic.

And yes, it looks a bit like the plumber connected the mid-pool port as a return, instead of dedicating it to the Polaris. Bummer. If that does cause tangling, I wonder if that could be solved by adding extra hose, running the first bit of it towards mid-pool, and somehow anchoring it there (a short bit of rope tied to the coping or something). Awful solution, but it might work, in that the hose would then be hinging mid-pool.

Also, is that an SWG? Shouldn't the booster be drawing water before the SWG? So as not to be running super-chlorinated water into both the pump and the Polaris? That's how mine was plumbed...

 

[JodieM]

Ok, the shallow end return is the Polaris port, the middle and deep end returns are just returns.
So Polaris is on it’s own line, but in the shallow end. I’ll probably be untangling him a lot.

 

[JamesW]

Maybe consider switching to a robot. Just plumb the line as a regular return and remove the booster pump.

The builder should do it for no extra cost to you since it's their fault.

Note: Some robots are more suitable to vinyl liners than others. Do some research to make sure that the robot is liner safe.

 

[proavia]

No matter where the pressure side cleaner line is in the pool - the two pipes feeding the booster pump need to be reversed. The horizontal pipe on the booster pump needs to be connected to the return pipe (which is presently connected to the vertical pipe at the booster pump). The vertical pipe on the booster pump needs to be connected to the pipe at the base of the booster pump that goes into the ground.

As lreviously stated, the main pool pump must be running to use the booster pump and the pressure side cleaner.