Liquidator installation thoughts and comments

[Sabot]

Dave,

Can you talk to Hasa find out what material was used in the tanks? I am interested to learn what material it was made out of. Let’s assume the powers to be knew of the demanding environment that the tank would be in and used the most economical plastic which would survive for years of life.

 

[duraleigh]

Well, as many of you already know, HASA support is sporadic at best.

I have placed calls to two of their sales people and received no return call....that burns me up when a supplier choses not to call a customer.

In fact, I intended to PM mikemedic to find out to whom he spoke. My contacts with them is essentially to place orders and those folks do not know much except to ask me what size I want.

They have a couple of problems in their QC that are easily remedied and talking to the order takers is like talking to a brick wall.

I am open to any contacts that ya'll have made that have resulted in meaningful exchange of info. It is a great product and, if we can nail down the right people, I think we can get most of our questions resolved.

I have talked to a couiple of other "dealers" on the net and both knew little about the product but would take my order and ship me one....uhh, not in stock, tho!

 

[joenj]

I spoke with the LQ rep before I bought, He actually told me I could use the drain plug. So it works!
Could I buy the adapter at Lowe's? What do I look for? I actually drilled the 3/8 hole and worked well but in case I would have to replumb I may consider. Actually another tip is the line form the LQ to the return I reused my hole I drilled for the Hayward CL-220 offline chlorinator and worked fine.
So if you had an old chlorinator like mine you could install with no drilling just use the old return hole and the pump drain hole!

You need to match the size of the drain plug. Mine is 1/4mip while others could be smaller. I would shut the pump off and take the drain plug to your HD/Lowes store to match things up. They both carry the same line of fittings in the little bags.

The hose is 1/4id and 3/8od. So the fitting needs a barb for a 1/4id hose. Or a quick connect, were you push the hose into the fitting, for a 3/8od hose.

 

[mikemedic]

I will address the tech support piece when I get home. Actually everytime I call HASA they give me a guys cell phone number and he calls me as the test him my home number or I have called him. I believe I wrote his number down in my LQ book. If I did i will post the cell number later. I have had great sucess with talking to him.
Mike

 

[DLSDO]

I spoke with the LQ rep before I bought, He actually told me I could use the drain plug. So it works!
Could I buy the adapter at Lowe's? What do I look for? I actually drilled the 3/8 hole and worked well but in case I would have to replumb I may consider. Actually another tip is the line form the LQ to the return I reused my hole I drilled for the Hayward CL-220 offline chlorinator and worked fine.
So if you had an old chlorinator like mine you could install with no drilling just use the old return hole and the pump drain hole!

You need to match the size of the drain plug. Mine is 1/4mip while others could be smaller. I would shut the pump off and take the drain plug to your HD/Lowes store to match things up. They both carry the same line of fittings in the little bags.

The hose is 1/4id and 3/8od. So the fitting needs a barb for a 1/4id hose. Or a quick connect, were you push the hose into the fitting, for a 3/8od hose.

Totally lost! Help. I can't visualize what the "drain plug" is and how your making the connection. Could someone post a pic?

Also....you guys think the plastic container is UV resistant? If so then a cover is unecessary. Anybody know for certain?

 

[JohnT]

Totally lost! Help. I can't visualize what the "drain plug" is and how your making the connection. Could someone post a pic?

Also....you guys think the plastic container is UV resistant? If so then a cover is unecessary. Anybody know for certain?

The drain plug in the pump strainer basket housing.

A cover might not be needed to protect the container, but I would want to shade the chlorine from UV.

 

[DLSDO]

Totally lost! Help. I can't visualize what the "drain plug" is and how your making the connection. Could someone post a pic?

Also....you guys think the plastic container is UV resistant? If so then a cover is unecessary. Anybody know for certain?

The drain plug in the pump strainer basket housing.

A cover might not be needed to protect the container, but I would want to shade the chlorine from UV.

The little black "screw" plug at the bottom? How do you connect to this?

 

[JasonLion]

The little black "screw" plug at the bottom? How do you connect to this?

You remove the plug and the screw an adapter of some kind in it's place. Finding an appropriate adapter is left as an exercise for the reader.

 

[duraleigh]

the adapter looks like this:

 

[DLSDO]

Got it! Makes sense. Thanks

 

[poolhound]

LQ Installed

I finally got my LQ installed last night. I used the pump strainer drain adapter fitting (from HD) and had everything hooked up in about half an hour. I ran the filter overnight and tested midday today and it seems to be working great. I'll just have to continue to test and adjust the flow control to maintain the proper FC level. Water even seemed clearer this morning, :lol:

 

[DLSDO]

Looking for suggestions.

My Liquidator is just above water level. I run it without the check valves. I have 2 skimmers and a dual main drain. With the Liquidator flow valve fully opened I only get max a flow rate of 1.5. That is...the black ball is at 1.5. When I close off the skimmers then I am able to increase the Liquidator flow rate to 3.

Why is my flow rate so low? Any way to increase that flow without closing the skimmers?

 

[JohnT]

Looking for suggestions.

My Liquidator is just above water level. I run it without the check valves. I have 2 skimmers and a dual main drain. With the Liquidator flow valve fully opened I only get max a flow rate of 1.5. That is...the black ball is at 1.5. When I close off the skimmers then I am able to increase the Liquidator flow rate to 3.

Why is my flow rate so low? Any way to increase that flow without closing the skimmers?

You get better suction when the pump is starved for water, but it appears that your pool has excellent flow. With two drains and two skimmers, you should have plenty of water available. Where is your suction fitting installed?

You might check the outlet float to see if it is nearly closed, which would indicate a pressure limited system. Raise the float a little, and you'd see an increase in flow if that is the case. This would indicate that your inflow of water is not fast enough to allow the outlet flow to be higher.

 

[DLSDO]

Looking for suggestions.

My Liquidator is just above water level. I run it without the check valves. I have 2 skimmers and a dual main drain. With the Liquidator flow valve fully opened I only get max a flow rate of 1.5. That is...the black ball is at 1.5. When I close off the skimmers then I am able to increase the Liquidator flow rate to 3.

Why is my flow rate so low? Any way to increase that flow without closing the skimmers?

You get better suction when the pump is starved for water, but it appears that your pool has excellent flow. With two drains and two skimmers, you should have plenty of water available. Where is your suction fitting installed?

You might check the outlet float to see if it is nearly closed, which would indicate a pressure limited system. Raise the float a little, and you'd see an increase in flow if that is the case. This would indicate that your inflow of water is not fast enough to allow the outlet flow to be higher.

Thanks for the quick reply.

My connections are just proximal to the basket and just distal to the filter. Would connecting directly to the basket help? Via the drain plug.

Need to figure a way to increase my flow. At a 1.5 flow rate my FC is not adequate with 6% bleach. If I can not increase the flow rate then would more concentrated chlorine work?

 

[JohnT]

My connections are just proximal to the basket and just distal to the filter. Would connecting directly to the basket help? Via the drain plug.

I doubt it would make a difference.

Need to figure a way to increase my flow. At a 1.5 flow rate my FC is not adequate with 6% bleach. If I can not increase the flow rate then would more concentrated chlorine work?

Yes, more concentrated chlorine would help.

 

[chrisexv6]

Couple install questions -

I currently have a Rainbow Trichlor feeder after my filters multiport, but before the valve that controls my return jets.

Where should I tap the return for the LQ install? Before or after the puck feeder? Im guessing it doesnt matter (looks like the chlorine is injected at the pump and not the return, so no worry about bleach mixing with trichlor if I ever used it) but just wanted to be sure.

The final resting place for my LQ will be about 8' away, and 4' above the pool water. Should I just automatically install without the check valves and see if it works? Sounds like the check valves definitely arent required in my case, but I read about them being beneficial for making refilling easier.

Thanks in advance.

-Chris

 

[JohnT]

Couple install questions -

I currently have a Rainbow Trichlor feeder after my filters multiport, but before the valve that controls my return jets.

Where should I tap the return for the LQ install? Before or after the puck feeder? Im guessing it doesnt matter (looks like the chlorine is injected at the pump and not the return, so no worry about bleach mixing with trichlor if I ever used it) but just wanted to be sure.

The final resting place for my LQ will be about 8' away, and 4' above the pool water. Should I just automatically install without the check valves and see if it works? Sounds like the check valves definitely arent required in my case, but I read about them being beneficial for making refilling easier.

Thanks in advance.

-Chris

I installed my pressure line in the threaded PVC coupler that attaches to the multiport. I have a check valve and 3-way for solar pretty quickly after it leaves the filter, so it worked well there. The larger diameter fits the clamp better, and it was the most convenient place.
The chlorine is sucked in before the pump, and the bleach doesn't actually leave the LQ, just the chlorine. The chlorine content of what comes out of the pump is only a little higher than the water in the pool.

I cut my Rainbow 320 out of the line last night to make more storage room in the pump room. I only used it for vacations anyway, and it had a cheap check valve glued right to it that cost me between 2 and 3 PSI based on before and after readings.

I'd install the inlet side check valve, as I don't think it has any effect on chlorine flow in a normal installation.

 

[poolhound]

After 2 days of LQ operation my FC varied from 3.0 to 3.2 (who knew I could test so accurately) testing every 4 hours during a sunny day. How cool is that!!

 

[chrisexv6]

Just wanted to stop in and say I installed the LQ without a problem today. Took maybe 30 minutes (would have been less without the 2 yr old wanting to "help daddy" ).

I used the suction side drain plug on the pump for the outlet from the LQ, picked up a MPT to barb elbow at Lowes...fit right in and didnt leak.

Tapped my return and that leaked a little, just had to get a nut driver to tighten the clamp instead of a screwdriver (BTW........the clamps included are REALLY nice, I like the "quick release" feature)

Installed the check valve on the line going to the pump.....is that what was meant by inlet (now that Ive installed it, Im guessing it should be on the line from the return side of the filter)? Im not sure, I can always add the other if I need to. The LQ is a lot higher than the water level, so I shouldnt even need them I bet.

Got a flow level of 3.25 or so. Checked FC as 5.5 tonight about 2 hours after install, will check again tomorrow evening (24 hours after install) to see how its working.

I have high hopes and am thrilled its working in my setup (I used about 80% of the included hose to go from pump to outlet on the LQ, so thats how many feet my LQ is from the filter. used a second roll of hose for the inlet side)

EDIT: I added the check valve on the return side of the filter (inlet side of LQ).......question: it buzzes while running, and the flow gauge lowered from 3.0 or so to 2 or 2.5. Is this normal? Surprised that the check valve was buzzing, wonder if its a bum valve?

-Chris

 

[joenj]

Glad the install went well.

The "inlet" is in reference to the LQ. So it sounds like you have the check valve on the "outlet" side with the flow meter and control valve. Some of us installed it on the inlet side because we were losing our pump's prime.

It is a pretty slick unit though.