JeffT

Gizmo looks like this.. http://www.poolandspa.com/catalog/product000252000029.cfm

I haven't had the guts to do mine myself yet but I know my pool guy just shoves a good 3-4ft piece of round foam insulation down the main drain line so it pretty much forces the water to stay lower than it wants to. Thus being below the 4ft frost line I believe. It just looks like the same stuff you would put over water pipes but it just is solid instead of slit so you can fit a pipe in. I know I have seen it on the roll in pool stores. If you do find the stuff I mean just make sure you make bend the end over at the top so you have something to grab onto to pull it out come spring time if the water pressure doesn't do it for you. After the foam bit is shoved in its just a normal abs 1.25 or 1.5 plug you can get at the hardware store and just put teflon tape around it. On the run from the skimmer to the pool pump get yourself a gizmo (again at pool store). It basically is a plug but also is made of a compressable material so surface water (rain/snow) that gets in the skimmer after closing doesn't crack your skimmer when it frezes it crushes the gizmo instead. Hope this made some sense!

Hi, I am wondering if there are any inventions out there that allow you to change the flow from the main drain or skimmer. In my case my main drain empties into the bottom of my skimmer assembly and then it goes to the pump. Obviously I can just plug the main drain at the bottom of the skimmer to have it just skim but wondering if there is any option when I want to get more main drain etc without having to just put a vacuum plate on it or plug this or that. Special valve or something.. It’s a Hayward wide mouth skimmer if that makes any difference. Thanks for any advice

Hi all, Just wondering if there are any opinions on the goldline sense and dispense offerings. Specifically the one that interfaces with the aquarite pro for monitoring and adjusting the chlroine levels through the generator. Any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks

Thanks so much for all the replies. In my situation my main drain connects to my skimmer and then there is 1.5 from the skimmer back so I would only be increasing if I did the piping between the pump/filter/heater/chloranator. Its back to 1.5 to the pool Would there be anypoint in doing that then? I am plumbing in a new heater as there wasn't one in before so the wee bit of flex pipe that is currently used wouldn't be a big loss to get rid of and start from scratch. That said I presume since my clorinator and filter both are for 1.5 connections it probably wouldn't really make any difference anyways.

Thanks for the reply. Current is a hayward super 2, 1HP. So if I increase like you say the above ground piping to 2inch I will have no problems with pump or anything since its more designed to suck from a 2" line vs the 1.5 I have and or too much pressure back to the pool when it gets dropped back from a 2 to a 1.5 on the return? Sorry I know that was way too long a sentence.

Hi All, I am just curious what my best option is. I have a 18x36 pool that has 1.5 piping on the suction and return side. I have a new heater and also am looking at getting a new pump as mine is quite old. Most of the new energy efficent pumps out there or dual speed ones all seem to have 2inch piping which makes sense but just not sure what I should do. Can I just adapt from 1.5 to 2inch and use that through out my components and then bring it back to the 1.5 return ot the pool? Or should I just adapt it around the pump and leave everything else at 1.5? Or will that cause my pump to many problems and I should just stick with a basic but not as efficent pump that just has 1.5 in/out? I have an inline chlronator, sand filter and hayward 250but H series heater (New not hooked up yet) Thanks for any replies.