It appears the pool has been conspiring with the pump equipment - no sooner do I complete the post-epoxy fill than the DE filter starts leaking. Doubly-so, it's leaking through both the backwash pipe and the backwash valve spindle. All told, the filter has had a good run, but in comparison to current models it's a shame that the backwash valve is part of the filter rather than a separate piece.

Cue the cascade of, "If I'm doing ______, I might as well do _______."

I had already removed the facade of the pumphouse since the original builders had mixed pressure treated posts with normal doug fir. So most of the enclosure was swiss cheese. Removing the rest of the fencing wasn't challenging.


One of the OG posts could actually be saved, though I had to cut it to about four feet. Using a crowbar and shop vac, I cleaned out the post holes in the slab and sledged in some replacement posts. Though termites were an issue for the enclosure in general, the posts here primarily succumbed to water damage. Hopefully a roof and a layer of concrete epoxy will keep water from seeping into the post holes.

The rear posts were just stuck in the dirt. Since this section is on an incline, digging a decent post hole was a bit problematic. For one post I sunk a concrete pier that had a built-in bracket. For the other I stuck a fencepost stake at the bottom of the hole and, again, concrete. For each I topped the mortar off with a cinderblock to keep the post above the waterline.


Since I had the fence cleared out and didn't want any unplanned fireballs, I replaced the insanely-long, unsupported gas piping with a valve adjoining the ground pipe. Maybe there's another gas heater in the future. Or a meat smoker. Or tiki torches.



With the foundation elements in place, I built up the pump enclosure and what will the the frame for the replacement fence (gate?).


The enclosure definitely needed to be replaced, but this was also to support the installation of a solar heating grid. A heating solution seemed appropriate as I had removed the gas unit and was looking at a bunch of pvc work anyway. Of course, solar isn't particularly useful without sunlight, so I spent the better part of a couple evenings climbing/sawzalling.

So, leaky filter handle -> chopping down tree limbs.

Job not done, to be continued.

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Related / external