My problems with the hose:
• Time consuming to unroll and roll up the hose.
• The hose was always wet and dirty.
• The hose doesn't last very long. After a few uses and being out in the sun it would spring leaks.
• Sometimes the hose wouldn't stay where I put it. Lots of water pressure would sometimes send the hose spraying erratically around the yard; over to the air conditioners and one time right back into the pool.
• Once, while keeping an eye on the erratic hose and walking back to the pump I fell into the pool.
With the hose finally full of holes and spraying water everywhere it was time to buy a replacement. Seeing how expensive the hoses were at the store was the final straw for me; it was time to start this project. For only a little bit more money I could make a permanent solution for back-washing the pool. So I went for it and bought up enough PVC and unions to make the run from the filter to the grass area. I like working with PVC, it’s easy to put together plus it appeals to my inner Lego fanatic. I just dug a small trench along the fence line big enough for the pipe, cemented all my pieces together and buried them back under the dirt and rock. My only concern was how the water would go from the pipe onto the lawn. I went over many different solutions and settled on one that mimics our pop-up sprinkler heads. The end piece comes straight up with a notch cut out to send the water spraying out across the lawn. I honestly had no idea if this would actually work and I was completely ready to cut off that end cap and try something else. I was pleasantly surprised when I ran the water through it and sure enough it came out similar to a sprinkler and covered almost the entire grass patch. No more messing with that hose for me. Back-washing is now simple and mess free. Since back-washing must be done several times a month during swimming season I’m sure to recover the time spent on this project and the cost of a few troublesome vinyl hoses.
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| No more hose necessary |
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| All the way down to the grassy area... |
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| ...and ending with a sprinkler-like nozzle |
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| Completely concealed... |
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| ...except for this little guy |
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| It works!!! |
Some nice work as always Matt!
ReplyDeleteive been looking for something like this all over.....my problem is sending water gushing into my neighbors yard whi he is not so happy about. what type of sprinkler nozzle did you use to handle that type of pressure?
ReplyDeleteBy the way do you have a problem with the water killing your grass? I have a salt water system, but it has chlorine as well. Thanks in advance!
I'm glad you found my project. For the sprinkler part of it I just terminated the PVC pipe with an end cap and cut a rectangular notch into the pipe. I roughly cut the notch about 1/4 of the way around the pipe to give me close to 90 degrees of spray to the grass.
DeleteOur pool is plain chlorine and the grass does alright. However, the area close to the head gets a little bit of dirt and filter sand build up after a while that the grass doesn't love. Not sure if the water from a salt pool would be better or worse...
Good luck!
Thanks so much for the response and the write up. Great job! I'm going to try and do the same thing.... I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteWhat did you use to connect the pipe to the backwash port? I am not sure what size to use. I have 1.5" pvc pipe already buried and was trying to use a hose connected to it. That was a fail, water was spraying everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI ran the PVC right up and connected to the port on the filter (see the first picture). Removing the hose completely seems to be the only way to go. I used several elbows and adapter pieces to route the water from the filter on down to the ground pipes. It may take a few trips to the hardware store but luckily they all have tons of adapter pieces in this size.
DeleteI found your site and have been looking at how I could accomplish this same thing. Our pool pump is located quite far from the grass. I've been backwashing into the planter, which is now starting to kill the plants and cause erosion issues in the gravel. You posted this in 2014. After years of use, is there anything you would change? How has is stood the test of time? Thanks for posting this helpful information!
ReplyDeleteMatt, I'm sorry I didn't see or respond to your post until now. It is now eight years later and it is still working great! By now it has saved me the time it took to install many times over. Not to mention several replacement hoses I would have had to buy.
DeleteHonestly, there isn't much I would change about it. The only thing I would add to it, if my yard was set up this way, would be a T-Valve that I could set to run to the sewer if I just wanted to dump water or partially drain the pool. My sewer access is way on the other side of the house unfortunately.
Thanks for posting this! The "sprinkler head" idea is genius! I attempted this ending it with a short 2 inch piece at an angle and then capped it with a PVC drain cover at the end to disperse the water. Mine terminates into the front /side yard. It still looks like a little bit like a firehose and will probably scare the neighbors if they happen to be walking by. I think I need to add some more diversion to soften the geyser and then we should be good to go. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteHey Brandon, I'm glad I could offer up some inspiration! I don't know why I struggled with the hose or dealt with dumping the water right by the filter for so long before trying this.
DeleteIt definitely still comes out with quite a bit of force, even with my setup. I considered more of a reverse French drain style at the end, with holes in the pipe surrounded by gravel/rocks. If I didn't have that little grass patch, I probably would have played around with that at the end. Good luck with adjusting yours, or sticking with the "fire hose".