in floor cleaning.

[jberry]

I have owned my home for only one year, it has a 22,000 gallon IG pool with a caretaker 99 in floor system.until last week all pop ups worked. now non come on at all.

Can it be the actuator valve?

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to the Forums

oops ... I seem to keep hitting the wrong button.

I had in-floor at my last house. One of the only ways for the pop-ups to not come up is if they are not getting water flow. I do recall my setup had some unions at the manifold near the pool that you could remove part of the plumbing to reveal a little mesh basket as a last defense for gunk getting into the mechanism that switches the zones. A few times I noticed my flow reduced and found that gunked up with leaves/grass that somehow made it past the filter. However, I can not remember the make, so yours may be different.

Edit 2: Are you able to switch to wall returns to confirm that you indeed do still have good flow from the pump? That would confirm it was something in the in-floor cleaning system that has changed.

Edit 3: Based on some pictures, it looks like what I had may have been the Caretaker ... on the top of the dome should be a union. If you take that off there will be a strainer under it.

 

[257WbyMag]

Not an expert in automation but I wanted to say welcome to TFP! We have lots of experts here who can help you troubleshoot.

 

[Bama Rambler]

What's your filter pressure running when the cleaner is on? And off?

 

[jberry]

The pressure is running about 28lbs which i believe is high.

 

[mas985]

Have you tried to backwash the filter?

 

[jberry]

Yes, and nothing. the pop ups were all 12 working fine two weeks ago and now none of the come on. i noticed in the last week they were working the pressure was creeping up while they were running and was thinking it was the actuator valve but i hate to replace a 150.00 unit and have it not work.

 

[mas985]

If the pressure was creeping up, that is indicative of a filter getting dirty. Does the filter backwash valve have a bypass/circulation mode? Try that and see if the pop ups work. That way we can at least eliminate the filter as the problem.

 

[jberry]

the backwash valve has no bypass. the sand filter was replaced as an escrow instruction at the purchase of the house a year ago so i am confident that the filter is good.

 

[ping]

The filter is most likely good but it could very well need to be backwashed to clean the inside out so the water will flow through the filter properly. When the filter pressure starts to rise, about 10 psi more than baseline, the filter needs to be backwashed. The normal flow will return and your cleaning system will have enough flow to work.

 

[jberry]

backwashed yesterday for quite some time.

 

[ping]

Has your pressure returned to normal or is it still higher?

 

[jblizzle]

I did not see your answers to my first post.

You appear to not be able to bypass the filter.

- Do you have a 3-way valve to select wall returns instead of the floor returns? (my old pool did) ... This could help determine if the problem is in the filter or cleaning system.

- Have you checked the strainer in the top of the dome for the floor manifold to see if it got clogged?

 

[jberry]

there is a three way valve to switch from in floor to wall and all works fine when in floor is off. I have not looked in the dome yet.

 

[jblizzle]

there is a three way valve to switch from in floor to wall and all works fine when in floor is off. I have not looked in the dome yet.

So when you switch to the wall returns what is the filter pressure? I think it is typically lower than the floor, but is it a significant difference?

If the pressure drops a lot when on the wall returns and you have good water flow, that would seem to me that the filter is fine, but there is some kind of blockage in the floor system. The simplest fix could be to check the strainer in the dome and clean it if clogged. If that looks ok ... then I think the problem may be over my head :?

 

[jberry]

huge difference when i switch from wall to floor. 10 lbs wall to 30 lbs floor. i will check the dome. How difficult is it to get the flange off of the dome?

 

[jblizzle]

Well, I think that confirms that the filter is working properly.

It is just a screw on union right where the pipe enters the dome (actually you probably have to loosen a 2nd one that should be nearby) to access the screen. I recall mine being pretty tight ... if you have a strap wrench that would make things easier, although the first time I think I used a leather belt and a stick of some sort for leverage :lol: After that I would put them back hand tight and would usually be able to loosen them with my hands.

 

[carlos31820]

Check out page 31 of this document. It walks you through troubleshooting your caretaker system.

http://brendaratcliff.com/TL-915.pdf

And for parts, you could check out this site. They also sell a rebuild kit for your Caretaker valve.

http://www.infloorpoolparts.com/5port1.html