After discovering that the new Polaris pool cleaner was creating too much back pressure to the pump, I had to shut it down and order some new parts. I took apart the pump plumbing and noticed that several of the O-rings were cracked and with the increased pressure, started leaking. It took me a couple days to find the replacement parts, I tried Lowe's and Home Depot for just some generic O-rings and had no luck. I then went to the pool supply store and also found not much in what I needed. It didn't help that the guys were about as helpful as a turd on the sidewalk.
I was sitting here with the part in my hand, and I could barely make out a name and some numbers. This led me to a random pool supplier online that had a whole line of parts with this name, Prather, and then just by looking at the pictures I determined which one looked like my part. It cost a little more than I wanted, instead of just some O-rings, I ended up ordering the whole part, but they were only $11.99. I ordered two, so I would have an extra one, if I ever need it for the hot tub connections. It was through Amazon, so it took a couple days.
Here is what I don't understand. Once I had the part on Friday, I hesitated to install it. It was something that took me less than 10 minutes when I finally did it, but I guess it worried me that I could install this and then find more problems, so I ignored it. I went all day Saturday, then we were out of town most of Sunday. This morning, it being Memorial Day, I figured I should give it a try. I added a splitter to the return line and an extra opening to allow more water to move through and reduce the backward pressure, hoping it would be enough to let the system work without stress. It seemed to work, once I tightened everything down a bit. So far, it has been running for a couple hours and seems to be doing ok. I know I need to go and adjust things a little more, but for now, it is a good start. I cut the plumbing line that returns the water, so there is less piping in the water for the Polaris to get trapped with, I need to do something similar to the other pipe, it goes all the way to the pool bottom and the Polaris just seems to love to get tangled around it. I think with some more adjusting and plying with it, it will be a great addition to the pool, hopefully, it helps keep the bottom cleaner of loose debris and dirt.
I think I hesitate because I might have solved a simple small problem, but what if this exposes a larger problem? What if I do something that accidentally leads to bigger and more expensive problems, then what do I do? I want the pool to be a staple of our family activities, but I can't be constantly spending money on it. Hopefully, we can get a summer's worth of fun out of what I just fixed.
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