Advice on re-plumbing for new heater

[bent240lv]

Hello

I am looking for a little advice on plumbing up my new heater, it is a hayward H400FND, it replaced an older H400HDL. So as you can see by the picture the manifold spacing is wider on the new heater. I'm hoping that two 90 PVC elbows will do the job for for sides. I will buy a bunch of elbows and what not and test fit everything first. My main question is, do I need to have the loop in my system with the diverter valve? Any recommendations on how to plumb this? this is my first attempt at pool plumbing, I have only done plumbing for fish tanks before.

Thank you

 

[JasonLion]

With careful use of 45 degree fittings you can probably get the number of fittings down to one 45 and one 90 on each side. Having fewer fittings is better, but it isn't a disaster or anything if you need to use an extra fitting or two.

The loop and valve are a heater bypass. Unless your pump is very very large, you don't really need a bypass. A bypass like that one can be used to improve the efficiency of the plumbing when the heater is going to be turned off for a while. While added efficiency is nice, it is hardly essential.

 

[bent240lv]

Thank you for the quick reply. i do not use my heater that often, summers here in Las Vegas are a killer. is it recommended to not have water flowing through the heater constantly?

 

[bk406]

Get rid of the bypass. Cut the loop off a foot or so above the ground.
If you want to, use flex PVC and eliminate the 45's and 90's all together. Dont let anybody tell you flex wont work. It will. Somebody might tell you the water's too hot coming out of the heater. Don't believe them. I've seen a lot of heaters plumbed with flex like that, including mine. Works just fine.

 

[bent240lv]

I would be happy to use flex pipe, I have been test fitting pvc and it seems like a PITA.

 

[bent240lv]

I. Called Hayward tech support and they said that flex pvc was ok to use.

 

[bk406]

I. Called Hayward tech support and they said that flex pvc was ok to use.

 

[JamesW]

One thing I would suggest is to use a fireman's switch if you're going to use a timer for the pump. The fireman's switch will shut off the heater before the pump to allow the heater to cool down before shutting off the pump.

 

[bent240lv]

I had to use rigid pvc in the end. The 2" flex did not have enough bend radius to work.

 

[carlscan26]

Let's see some pics