I have had the HASA Liquidator for about 16 months now and this past weekend was the 2nd time I have dumped out the deposits (salt). I also removed the floats and gave all the pieces and the container a good acid cleaning since there was some calcium buildup. Furthermore, I replaced all the tubing since the lines seemed a bit brittle and had turned white. I probably could have let the tubing go for another year, but my fear was that it might split and start dumping out the pool water (or start sucking in air) with the pump running. The tubing is pretty cheap so I was trying to do preventative maintenance.
The problem I had was when I went to re-install the floats, those plastic threaded wing nuts had a lot of friction on the threads and I snapped off the inlet nipple when tightening it up. Further, when I found replacement parts, I see that the cost is about $35 for the one float delivered and would likely take a week for the delivery. I thought, wow, long time ownership for this unit can start getting pretty expensive. The plastic in the floats appears to get very brittle over a years time.
As a temporary (maybe someone permenant) fix, I J&B welded the inlet nipple back on to the plastic hinge and put the glue under the black washer to provide as much strength as possible. I let the epoxy dry for 24 hours, put it back, and all seems OK. I sprayed the threads with WD40 and powdered graphite but that only reduced the friction a little bit. I also had to put a little RTV between the washer and the Liquidator housing to fix a slight drip.
I think my next step is to buy a complete upgrade kit with floats and all the fittings for about $80. I see these online for sale in a few places. That way I'll have spares. Also, I wonder if HASA will waranty broken parts like this?
The unit does a pretty good job otherwise. I don't have the 3/8 upgrade and just removed the flow control valve completely. The flow gauge reads about 4-1/2 and I control the amount of delivery by pump run time (4 to 6 hours works good with my combination of pool size and pump rate).
Anyone else with the Liquidator have problems with brittle and breaking float components?
The problem I had was when I went to re-install the floats, those plastic threaded wing nuts had a lot of friction on the threads and I snapped off the inlet nipple when tightening it up. Further, when I found replacement parts, I see that the cost is about $35 for the one float delivered and would likely take a week for the delivery. I thought, wow, long time ownership for this unit can start getting pretty expensive. The plastic in the floats appears to get very brittle over a years time.
As a temporary (maybe someone permenant) fix, I J&B welded the inlet nipple back on to the plastic hinge and put the glue under the black washer to provide as much strength as possible. I let the epoxy dry for 24 hours, put it back, and all seems OK. I sprayed the threads with WD40 and powdered graphite but that only reduced the friction a little bit. I also had to put a little RTV between the washer and the Liquidator housing to fix a slight drip.
I think my next step is to buy a complete upgrade kit with floats and all the fittings for about $80. I see these online for sale in a few places. That way I'll have spares. Also, I wonder if HASA will waranty broken parts like this?
The unit does a pretty good job otherwise. I don't have the 3/8 upgrade and just removed the flow control valve completely. The flow gauge reads about 4-1/2 and I control the amount of delivery by pump run time (4 to 6 hours works good with my combination of pool size and pump rate).
Anyone else with the Liquidator have problems with brittle and breaking float components?
