What Is A Swimming Pool Return?

The Swimming Pool Return is the fitting that allows the clean filtered water back into the swimming pool after it has gone through the entire swimming pool filtration process. The swimming pool return fitting is also commonly known as the pool return jet. The return fitting has many names as well. Some people refer to it as the ‘return fitting’, others refer to it as the “pool eye ball fitting” and some just call it the return. No matter what you call it, each pool will have a return fitting that will work the same way.

The male return fitting screws into the female return fitting that is mounted to the pool wall. The return fitting can be adjusted so that you can set the direction of the water flow across the top of the swimming pool water. This can be handy of you have a round above ground pool because you can create a whirlpool effect and all your debris will be wind up in the center of the pool making the pool easier and less time consuming to clean. There are also different types of swimming pool return fittings. There are return fittings that are made for the pool wall, return fittings that are for pool steps, return fittings made for the spa inside of the pool and also return fittings that are used for pool floor cleaning systems in many gunite pools. The pool return fittings comes in not only different colors, but they also come in different eyelet sizes as well. The common sizes of pool return eyelet fittings are between 1/2″ – 7/8″. On some larger pools you can find eyelet openings if up to 1″ or better. The reason for the different sizes of the return fittings is to control the flow of the water.

The return wall fitting in the swimming pool has many other uses as well. You can unscrew the male return fitting from the wall and attach a swimming pool fountain. You can also power many types of automatic swimming pool cleaners with the return pressure of the pool as well. In the winter time the return fittings are removed from the pool wall and they are replaced with rubber plugs after water is blown from the lines with air. The plugs stop any water from entering the return fittings. If water gets inside of the swimming pool return fittings there is a chance that the lines could crack if the weather was to become cold enough. When water freezes inside of PVC or poly pipe, it will usually crack the pipe and then repair will be needed in the spring to get the filter system going again.

The return fitting if adjusted properly can help keep a lot of the debris off the bottom of the pool. The returns should be adjusted so that the water is pushing all the debris on the top towards the skimmer basket. You can adjust the return fitting so that it points straight up so they can hear the water flow or point the return fitting underneath the water so that the pool water is completely quite. There are also a few types of “fancy” return fittings that are embed into different types of swimming pool lights. These lights are generally made for the above ground swimming pool. You won’t find to many return fitting / light combos for in-ground swimming pools.