This is Technology Bytes, episode 11 for May 21st, 2023.
Technology Bytes is a microcast where I share my brief insights on an interesting technology.
My name is Joel.
Enjoy.
And here we go.
This week I’m going to talk about pool pump systems.
For the maybe first time in my life, I actually live in a house where there is a pool in the backyard.
And my wife and I are learning the amount of work it takes to keep that pool clean and functionally operational so that you actually enjoy getting in it.
So I did a little bit of research on how pool filtration systems work and I just want to share that with you today.
Most often I’m talking about what people might call higher tech or something like that.
This tech is maybe a little lower level but it still has some pretty interesting things involved in it that make it work properly.
One of the major components obviously in a pool pump system is the actual pump that is involved.
In basics, what the pump does is draws water out of the pool, recycles it, and then pushes it back in.
And in that process, a lot of things happen.
There are many filters involved, there are many other functions involved to make the water going back into the pool clean and swimmable and making the pool look clear and nice and inviting.
And so there are quite a few filters in the process to get, maybe not necessarily chemicals but that can happen as well, but just to get impurities out of the pool water.
So it might be bigger filters that trap small leaves or little twigs or anything that might come into the pool from wind and other places like that.
And there are many places where those filters capture things as you go through that pool system.
In the pump system that is in the pool that is at the house I’m staying at, the first filter is just from the vacuum.
And I’m going to talk about that vacuum a little bit later.
But the water comes through that vacuum and through an initial filter before it goes outside of the pool.
And that’s just a big trap for catching bigger debris that the vacuum may have picked up off the bottom of the pool that somehow got in there during the course of time.
And then from there, it pumps, the water is pulling, it’s a vacuum system, so the water is pulling in to that first filter that’s an inline filter in the hose to a filter at the side of the pool that then catches a little more stuff and allows it to settle to the bottom so that it doesn’t go into the actual pump itself and mess with that part of the system.
And then as it comes out of the pool, it gets very close to the pump, there’s one more filter with some additional places to catch finer debris before it finally goes through a bigger tank, which is often a sand filter that allows the sand to catch small particles, very small particles, and also some impurities in the water and settle to the bottom of that tank so that the final step in the process is for that pump to go to the other side and actually output the water back into the pool.
So the whole idea is as the water comes in, things are being filtered at multiple locations, quite the technology to make that happen, and then goes back out into the pool in a pure state that allows the pool to remain clean and to not grow algae and to be inviting to anyone who might want to get in.
So in that system, there’s not just one place like through the vacuum, there are multiple places in the pool that allows the water to circulate.
And if the filters get clogged, then the water won’t flow and you can actually damage the pump at that point because you’re not pumping enough water through it to keep it cool and to keep it functioning properly.
So there is some work in that, manual work in that, because those filters need to be removed and cleaned.
In the last week, we’ve had quite a bit of wind and that pool has had so much stuff in it, we actually took the system apart a little bit to clean the filters before the pool guy of the house owner came and actually made it even better.
But in that, we found all kinds of things that were clogging filters and really could have damaged the pump if we had let it go too long.
And then the one other part of that system is a vacuum system that allows the pool to be cleaned at different areas all the way through the pool.
And that in itself is quite a technological marvel.
The vacuum in this particular pool is an automated system which travels around the pool by itself.
It can go up the edges a little bit.
It’s more concerned with what debris gets dropped all the way to the bottom of the pool.
And so basically what it does is as the vacuum sucks the water out of the pool, it causes the vacuum head to travel towards that suction spot.
So it’s basically creating a vacuum in front of the vacuum head that just draws the vacuum head forward.
And then internal to the vacuum, every so often on just a little timer, one of the wheels just spins backwards for a minute so that the vacuum head then turns and goes in a different direction.
So it looks kind of like it’s alien.
You don’t know what’s controlling it, why it turns when it turns, how it decides how far to turn.
But all of those are actually settings you can make inside that vacuum head.
And because of the grip on the pool, it just crawls around and actually rolls up the side of the pool because that is curved and does a very good job of keeping the pool clean so that it is again inviting to those who want to use it.
So having never really been part of a pool cleaning, pool vacuum pump system before, never really been involved in watching one work to any extent or being anywhere near responsible for it, I found the technology quite fascinating as we took this apart and took that apart and figured out why this goes this way and this one goes that way and what it does to the pump and how do you prime the pump and how do you do things to make sure the water is flowing properly so the pump isn’t damaged.
There’s a lot of things that go into a pool pump system to make sure it’s functioning properly.
I am not an expert and there are plenty of pool people, companies that do that for a living that know way more than I.
But I thought from the surface it would be a fun technology to share as I am just getting exposed to it more fully this week and last week and probably in the weeks to come as well.
So the water flow is important, the debris catching is important, the filtration from multiple points is important and all of those work together to keep the pool in a state that makes it welcoming and easy to use.
You have been listening to the Technology Bytes microcast.
Until next time, continue enjoying your technology.
