Liquidator questions

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padamstx

padamstx

0
Jun 1, 2013
26
Georgetown, TX
A few months ago I installed a Liquidator (8 gal model). It came with the 3/8" upgrade kit, but I thought I'd initially install the unit without the upgrade kit to see how things went. Even with the flow control valve wide open, I typically see chlorine readings in the 1-2 ppm range and the ball in the flow meter rarely gets above 2 or so, mainly because my pump normally operates at a fairly low rpm at steady state. When the pump first comes on at high rpm, I think I'm getting plenty of water flow as the ball in the flow meter is about at 4, but then the pump settles down to its steady state rpm and the flow rate decreases as well of course.

So, now I want to install the 3/8" upgrade kit to increase water flow, but my original installation instructions didn't include any mention of the upgrade kit at all. To be clear, my upgrade kit included a flow control valve, 2 parts that have a quick-insert connection on each side, along with 2 more parts that each have one quick-insert connector and 1 threaded side. I've installed the upgraded flow control valve, and I replaced the original suction side checkvalve with one of the double-sided quick-connect parts (didn't know if the direction mattered with that though). So, now I have one double-sided quick-connect part along with both of the parts that have a threaded side, not sure where those go. I thought the threaded parts were replacements for part of the inlet and outlet thingies, but couldn't figure out how that should work.

So, if any kind soul out there could please explain how the various parts of the upgrade kit are supposed to replace the original parts, it would be much appreciated. I'm looking forward to getting a higher chlorine dose from the Liquidator :)

Thanks in advance for any help

Phil
 
You should have a pair of 3/8" tubing to threaded fittings. Those replace the fittings in the pool plumbing. The two fittings with the double quick connect ends are chcek valves and they have to be inserted with the arrow pointed in the right direction. On the one on the discharge side of the pump, the arrow goes toward the LQ. On the line that goes to the pump suction, the arrow goes toward the pump suction.
 
Bama Rambler said:
You should have a pair of 3/8" tubing to threaded fittings. Those replace the fittings in the pool plumbing. The two fittings with the double quick connect ends are chcek valves and they have to be inserted with the arrow pointed in the right direction. On the one on the discharge side of the pump, the arrow goes toward the LQ. On the line that goes to the pump suction, the arrow goes toward the pump suction.
Click to expand...
That's what confused me about the upgraded checkvalves... I couldn't see any arrows on them ;). Maybe I'll get my magnifying glass out and take another look.

Re: the threaded fittings, are you saying those replace the fittings that are clamped to the pipes where I had to drill the holes? If so, I guess I'm not too sure how those would fit into the clamp, etc.



Sent from my smartphone thingy using tapatalk
 
The threaded fittings aren't designed to go under the clamp. They're designed to go into a threaded hole in the piping.

The check valves should have an arrow on them some where, but if they don't you can try blowing through them, and the direction you can blow through them is the direction the arrow should point.
 
Bama Rambler said:
The threaded fittings aren't designed to go under the clamp. They're designed to go into a threaded hole in the piping.

The check valves should have an arrow on them some where, but if they don't you can try blowing through them, and the direction you can blow through them is the direction the arrow should point.
Click to expand...
Bama, thank you for all your help so far, but I have one more dumb question. How exactly should I install the threaded fittings into the PVC pipe? If I take off the existing clamp and fitting, I'm pretty sure i'd need to make the hole a little bigger, but is there a trick to getting the threads on the fittings to stick in the hole in the PVC?

Sent from my smartphone thingy using tapatalk
 
You have to use a threaded tap to create the threads. If you're not familiar with how to use a tap you may want to enlist the help if a friend.

The good news is that PVC is super easy to tap.

I can't remember what size hole the clamps require, but it should be easy to enlarge the holes to the tap drill size.

If the fittings are 1/8"-27tpi NPT you need an 11/32" drill bit
If they are 1/4"-18tpi NPT you need a 7/16" drill bit.
 
Bama Rambler said:
You have to use a threaded tap to create the threads. If you're not familiar with how to use a tap you may want to enlist the help if a friend.

The good news is that PVC is super easy to tap.

I can't remember what size hole the clamps require, but it should be easy to enlarge the holes to the tap drill size.

If the fittings are 1/8"-27tpi NPT you need an 11/32" drill bit
If they are 1/4"-18tpi NPT you need a 7/16" drill bit.
Click to expand...
Thanks again for all the information. It's too bad that they don't ship instructions like this with the upgrade kit :)

Back to the upgraded checkvalves. For the life of me, I can't find any arrow on them anywhere. I blew air into both sides like you suggested and no resistance either way, so these must not be checkvalves... they must just be couplings to join two pieces of tubing. At this point, all I have installed in terms of upgraded parts is the upgrade flow control valve and when it's wide open at steady state pump speed, I'm seeing a flow rate of about 4, which is way better than before. So hopefully this will do the trick.

Thanks again for your help. Very much appreciated!
 

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