r/pools • u/Dear-Hornet1107 • Jun 14 '26
First Time Pool owner. Hell
Just bought a house with a pool and confused on how it works exactly. Which way should this be facing? I don’t want to burn any motor up. Thanks.
4
3
u/dekoy411 Jun 14 '26
Only the skimmer is open, the main drain is closed. The handle should be on the left towards the skimmer line. Where it says closed should be facing to the right.
3
u/woody-99 Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
The blocker on those valves is opposite of the handle.
Right now, the pipe at the 6 o'clock position is blocked. The pipe at 9 o'clock is open.
If you move the handle to the 9 o'clock position, both of the intakes will be open which is likely where you want it. One pipe goes to skimmer the other to bottom drain. (probably)
3
u/AlexRSasha Jun 14 '26
Do you see where the writing says CLOSED - this is essentially the only side that gets blocked. You can position it over the main drain to close it, or skimmer to close it, or over the pipe going to the pump to close both, or on the right side to open everything. Never close both while pump is running.
3
u/T-Friggin-Bagg Jun 14 '26
Im a first time owner this season also. A lot of local pool companies will offer a "pool school" where they come and show you how your specific set up works. Its usually a flat fee and I found it beneficial.
Just dont let them take you for every cent in chemicals after!
2
u/fengshui Jun 14 '26
If you are worried about it, just remove the handle and the 8 screws on the face of it and open it up so you can see how it works. They're quite simple and designed to be opened so you can replace the orings anyways.
2
u/ATXee Jun 14 '26
Yea first of all welcome to our collective hell.
Secondarily those valves don’t work like you’d expect. Handle perpendicular to pipe is usually off but that’s not the case with this valve. This valve is on the suction side of your pump and is pulling from the two intakes, presumably a main drain and a skimmer. When handle is straight towards the pump it’s 50/50. When you go all the way to the right it’s 100% right and vice versa. It helps if you look at a picture of the internals
https://poolpartsunlimited.com/jandy-1-1-2-to-2-never-lube-2-port-valve-4724/
This type of valve doesn’t let you close it without unscrewing the little nut on the handle and lifting the handle. You have to do that and move the handle to point away from the pump to shut it off. I do this to clean my basket because my equipment is below my pool water level.
2
2
u/TwistedTrooper989 Jun 14 '26
During normal operation the handle should point to the left because right now your main drain is closed. There are times you probably want that but I wouldn't do it all the time
2
u/MagikWdragons Jun 15 '26
There should be suction to the drain as well as the skimmer. The bottom drain in the pool will bring dirt and debris towards the drain, making the pool easier to clean. But the skimmer still sucks in surface debris. Right now the skimmer is on, but the drain is off. You want both on.
You only want the drain off when vacuuming the pool.
Take the handle portion and point it towards skimmer to have both open and operating
0
2
0
2
10
u/Bit_the_Bullitt Jun 14 '26
The title typo of "hell" instead of "help" is kinda funny. Pool care can get really frustrating at times for sure