What are the most frequent used settings for a Hayward Pump for ingroung swimming pool?

Question

I have a inground swimming pool. This is the first year that I have had to take care of it. I'm really unsure as to what are the settings to use on my Hayward pump. Also, how do I check to see if the main drain in the bottom of the pool is open or close?

Answer 1

Teresa, it all depends on your situation.  

You should have some sort of Timer box located near your pool equipment, or in your basement, or garage that works with the pump <you may not, but if you do those are the most logical places you will find  it>.  Under the assumption that your water is clear and blue, you want to run your pool at a minimum of 8 hours a day..  Running it any less, or at night, could cause you to have algae problems, and in the long run cost you much much more in chemical costs than is really necessary.

As for your plumbing, since every pool is different, and no two pools are the same <ok, thats not true, But without seeing your pool and the plumbing work around your pool pump and filter, i can only guess and not be definitive>

IF you look at the front of your Hayward Pump, you are going to have a White PVC pipe that goes into the pump.  if you follow that white PVC to where it comes out of the ground, since you have stated that you have a Main drain, there is going to be at LEAST 2 pipes, or even 3 of 4 of them, depending on how the pool was plumbed in.  If you have two skimmers, you could have a seperate line for each skimmer, and then you have a line for your Main Drain.  Each pipe should have a valve on it, whether its a grey Jandy Valve, a Brass Gate Valve, which will have a big metal handle like a hose spicket from the side of the house, a PVC ball valve, usually with a White or Red Handle, or Last but not least, a Ball valve, which is brass, and has a long handle usually with a rubber coating on the handle.  These are the most common of valves you will see on a Pool.

You may also have 3 PVC lines coming into your Jandy Valve  <as jandy valves can be for single lines, or different styles of jandy's can be used to connect up to 3 lines, with the 4th line going to the pump>

IF you have this type of Jandy Valve in your system and it connects 2 lines and the 3rd goes to your pump, then 1 line is your Skimmer(s) and the other line will be your main drain.  The Simplist way to figure out which is which is to Close one of the valves to the left or right, but dont put the closed markings on the handle pointing to your hayward pump, as you will cut off all water going to the pump.  When you close one of them off, Go over to your skimmer.  If your skimmer is still working, then you have just shut off your main drain.  (which is what you will want to do when you Vac your pool)  Now, go back to the valve, and close the other side off < opening the main drain, and closing the skimmer>  Now just check to see if the skimmer is still moving and pulling water.  IF the skimmer has stiopped, you know for sure now which side of the valve is for what area of the pool.

If you have multiple lines with seperate valves, its pretty much done the same way to figure out which is which.  IF you have 2 skimmers, and since we know you have a main drain, and you have 3 single valves in the front plumbing work of your motor, then we know that 2 of them are for skimmers.  So its just a matter of closing them 1 at a time, to figure out which skimmer line is which, and what line is the main drain <or if you have 2 lines, one if the Main and one is the skimmer, and it makes it a bit simpler>.

IF your valves are the type that have a large round handle on it like a hose spicket from the house, you wnt to turn them to the right to close them, and to the left to open them.

If your valves are PVC with the white or red handles, when the handle is parallel over the PVC the valve is open, if the handle is perpendicular, the valve is closed.

the other valves, like Jandy and ball valves, should tell you which way to move the handle to close the lines off.

Hope this information helps.

Chris