Valve questions

[pharpe]

I'm adding a pool heater and going to take the opportunity to re plumb my equipment and upgrade my valves. Currently I have a Haywood DE filter with a push pull vale and cheap potable water ball valves on the skimmer and main drain returns. I'm thinking I will put a 3 way between the skimmer, drain and main pump and a multiport on the filter.

Questions:
Do I need valves before or after the heater?
Do I need a specific multiport to fit my filter or are they all common size?
I see different price levels of multiport. Is this a quality difference or is there anything else I should be looking for?

Thanks

 

[jblizzle]

You do not need valves on the heater, although many people like having a bypass and a way to close off the heater if repairs are required.

You need to find the specific multi-port for you filter. If you look in the manual for your filter, it will list the parts numbers for the backwash valves. I am not sure if there are "generic" versions of the multi-ports that are compatible or not.

 

[pharpe]

Thank you. I have a follow up question. On the suction side I have 2" pvc coming from my main drain and 1 1/2" coming from the skimmer. The return to the pool is 1 1/2" Currently everything on the pad is plumbed with 1 1/2" pvc with reducers on the pump, filter and main drain. When I redo it would I get better flow if I used 2" pipe? On one hand I'm not sure I'll get any benefit since my return is only 1 1/2" and that's the bottle neck. On the other it might help flow through the equipment, elbows and valves. Here is a diagram of how I'm going top set it up. Any opinions would be appreciated.

 

[jblizzle]

Why is there a check valve on the suction line? That is generally not recommended except for extreme circumstances.

I would certainly use 2" pipe for everything that you touch and reduce when needed. In water flow there is not really a "bottleneck" per se ... everything adds head loss and reduces flow. So improve things where you can.

That diagram looks fine (besides the suction check valve). I recommend you make the center port on the 3-way valve be the common pipe ... so middle goes to the pump and middle comes from the filter.

 

[pharpe]

I read that a check valve before the pump would prevent water from draining back into the pool when I clean the filter basket. That's why I was going to add it. Would it be detrimental or just not needed?

 

[JasonLion]

Water will still drain back into the pool when the pump strainer basket is open, even with the check valve. It will just go the other way.

Any check valve is always a little detrimental. If you get a high quality valve, only a little detrimental.

The check valve is certainly not needed.

 

[crabboy]

My PB put a check valve before the pump, the same as your diagram, and it did prevent the water from draining back speeding up the time to prime, but after a while it stopped holding as well. It also finds a way of holding onto stringy objects that may be flowing in the pipes.

Depending on your 3way before the pump, you can rotate that to close off the single input to the pump and accomplish the same thing. I have two Jandy 3way valves before the pump and the PB broke off the tab to allowing it to rotate 360 degrees to allow that.

 

[pharpe]

Water will still drain back into the pool when the pump strainer basket is open, even with the check valve. It will just go the other way.

Any check valve is always a little detrimental. If you get a high quality valve, only a little detrimental.

The check valve is certainly not needed.

I see. I'll just use one by the heater then. I was going to go with this one because it had good reviews and was cheap.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0039LH8PM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
However, your comment about quality has me worried. Should I use a higher end one?

Depending on your 3way before the pump, you can rotate that to close off the single input to the pump and accomplish the same thing. I have two Jandy 3way valves before the pump and the PB broke off the tab to allowing it to rotate 360 degrees to allow that.

Good point. Thanks

 

[duraleigh]

I'm another one for not having a check valve. Mostly, they seem to be more trouble than the benefit they provide.

 

[crabboy]

However, your comment about quality has me worried. Should I use a higher end one?

I like the Jandy valves:
http://www.zodiacpoolsystems.com/Products/Valves/Check-Valve.aspx

You can see if there is any junk stuck inside (not likely after the filter though) and you can always swap out flapper if it gets worn and get a drop in flow gauge from duraleigh.

 

[pooldv]

Yeah, those jandy check valves are fancy!

 

[jblizzle]

If you are going to use check valves, definitely get the Jandy type. But, I would not put one in front of the pump unless your pump is significantly higher than the pool water.