Understanding valves at pump/filter

[Djlincer]

Hello All,

I purchased the house and pool last summer and kept a pool service until recently. I have been following TFP for several months now and have been comfortably maintaining chemistry myself for the past couple months. However, there are many things I have questions about. The main thing I want to address here is the valve 'system'.

I do not understand the pool's valves and plumbing. Everything seems to be working normally. However, there is a poolside spa which has a waterfall to the pool and it drains slightly when the pump shuts off. Both the pool and the spa have main drains and there are two skimmers on either end of the pool. The skimmers both have two holes in the bottom, no diverter valve, and the suction seems to be slightly weak. I believe both the slight draining of the spa and the weak skimmer suction are probably related to the valves. The position of the valves doesn't make any sense to me.

Can anyone help me identify what each of these valves is for and how they should be positioned given the issues described above and the features I have? Even though the previous owners attempted to label them, the positions still don't make sense to me, probably because they likely aren't "Open/Close".

Thank You,
Doug

 

[Jimrahbe]

Doug,

Right in front of your pump is an automated valve that is called the Intake valve. It selects between either the pool (Skimmer or main drain) or the spa drain. I believe that your spa drain is the pipe on the left and that the two pipes on the right are either the two skimmers or the skimmers and main drain.. I don't know who wrote "Spa" on the right pipe, but I think that is wrong. I suspect that your main drain is plumbed into the bottom of one or your skimmers and that your manual valve on the right side of your Intake valve, lets you control the suction going to both skimmers. But only you can tell that for sure by adjusting the manual valve and see what happens.

The automated valve right after your salt cell, is your "Return" valve.. It sends water back to your Pool or your Spa. The pipe on the left with the check valve is for your spa, the pipe on the right goes to your pool returns.

The Return valve is currently set to send a little water to the spa and most of the water to the pool. The extra water going to the spa is what makes your spa spillover into the pool.

Thanks,

Jim R.