5lb Check Valve....Or Just Use Ball Valve

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sag365

sag365

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Jan 29, 2015
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Ft. Myers, FL
Since I was going to install a heater bypass with 3 ball vales, should I bother also installing a 5lb check valve? Is there any advantage to installing the check valve? Seems redundant as I can always open the bypass valve if the flow rate to the heater exceeds 70GPM.

Thoughts?
 
It depends on your goals and the heaters specifications. If you need a bypass because the heater is being fed more water than it's maximum rated flow rate, then a spring loaded check valve is the way to go. If you are installing a bypass because you want to be able to manually bypass/disable the heater this preventing the flow restriction it causes then you want a manual valve.
 
5 lb check valve? That is going to add a lot of head loss. Why not a Jandy check valve? Or did you really mean 0.5 lbs?
 
A 5.0 lb spring check valve is correct for a high flow rate heater bypass. You want the first 50-70 GPM to go through the heater, and the bypass/check valve to only open when the flow rate exceeds that.
 
Most heaters already have that kind of bypass built in so it seems redundant. What type of heater is this?
 
It's a heat pump. It's always a good idea to install and external bypass. Since the heat pump has a spring check that all ready regulates the flow through the exchanger I don't see why adding another one would help. A simple ball valve should suffice.

If you have 1 1/2" piping back to the pool and spa, It's really tough to get 70gpm through it efficiently.
 
The issue is that I have no clue what GPM I will be at in my spa. There are only four returns in the spa, but my fear was that my wife would be asking for the VSP RPM to be increased, and I would go past the GPM limit of 70. If the consensus is that I will get nowhere close to 70GPM before the spa becomes a pressure washer, I won't install it.

So, what is the consensus?
 

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I can give you an estimate to flow rate with just a few questions.

Pump Make/Model#
Pipe size pump to/from the pool (1.5" ?)
Single or multiple runs pump to/from pool
Distance pump to/from the pool
Filter pressure at full speed in pool and spa modes (make sure gauge is working properly)
Filter type (DE,Sand,Cartridge) and backwash valve size if there is one
Height of the filter gauge relative to the water level
 
Mark,

Thanks for the response. This is going to be all new equipment, so not sure abou the info but:

Pentair 3HP Intelliflo VSP
Single run to and from pool
Pump to pool drain 30'
Pump to skimmer 37'
Will be DE 60sq. ft. Pentair Quad
1.5" PVC piping, but spa return piping from Jandy valve is 2"

Thanks.
 
The Intelliflo can deliver over 70 GPM on 1.5" plumbing especially since the runs are not that long. However, you can always limit the max speed on the Intelliflo as well so the flow rate never exceeds 70 GPM. Depending on the spa jets, you may never need more than that anyway.
 
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