I have attached a drawing of my suction side plumbing layout. The only pipe I am sure of is the spa inlet. The other three I am assuming are as labled. I can't figure out why it's plumbed this way and what the roptions would be for adjusting the 2 Jandy valves show on the left.
My plumbing...not sure of proper settings
- Thread starter Thorn
- Start date
In normal "pool" mode, the valve far right needs to have the handle point to the left, 9:00 o'clock. The next valve will have to also point to the left (or right depending on the stop on the lid) a bit to get enough flow from a suction cleaner, but shouldn't be all the way at the 3:00 or 9:00 o'clock position. That would shutoff the skimmer and you need a working skimmer. Get that adjusted first.
With a suction cleaner, the last valve, far left, can have the handle all the way left or right (again, depending on the stop on the lid) to shut off the main drain. The suction cleaner will act as a moving main drain and circulate water off the bottom.
It will take a little trial-and-error to find the "right" way for your pool. Once set, you should not have to move them much again.
When you want to use the spa, just move the valve in front of the pump so the handle is at 3:00 o'clock.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,672
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I numbered the valves and labeled the possible handle positions on your picture below.
Your pool suction pipes to the left of valve 3 let you configure the suction for:
Moving valve 2 handle to C or D will turn off main drain and skimmer.
Your valve setup is not optimal as they could have put a valve on each vertical pipe and then you could adjust the flow or turn a pipe on or off individually.
Valve 3 adjusts how much water comes from your pool or spa from 100% to 0% depending on the handle position. That is the only valve that makes sense in its placement.
Your pool suction pipes to the left of valve 3 let you configure the suction for:
- Maximum suction to vacuum pipe
- Suction from skimmer and vacuum
- Suction from main drain and skimmer and vacuum
Moving valve 2 handle to C or D will turn off main drain and skimmer.
Your valve setup is not optimal as they could have put a valve on each vertical pipe and then you could adjust the flow or turn a pipe on or off individually.
Valve 3 adjusts how much water comes from your pool or spa from 100% to 0% depending on the handle position. That is the only valve that makes sense in its placement.
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Thron,
Sorry, but that is one of the dumbest valves set ups I have ever seen...
As an example.. You can't run the main drain unless you are also running the skimmer and the vac line.. And if you shut off the vac line, you shut off everything...
Is that how things are actually plumbed, or is that how you "think' it is plumbed???
Show us a few pics...
Thanks,
Jim R.
Sorry, but that is one of the dumbest valves set ups I have ever seen...
As an example.. You can't run the main drain unless you are also running the skimmer and the vac line.. And if you shut off the vac line, you shut off everything...
Is that how things are actually plumbed, or is that how you "think' it is plumbed???
Show us a few pics...
Thanks,
Jim R.
PB,
I'm pretty sure that is true only when the installer is smarter than the valve itself..
Obviously, that is not true in this case...
On the other hand, the installer only missed it by about 90 degrees...
Or maybe he just confused the words "In parallel" with "In series..."
Sigh!!!
Jim R.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,869
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
We might disagree a bit about two- and three-way valves, but I cannot disagree with the above statement. Yikes.
The only thing dumber would be if the plumber glued all those valves and pipes so close together that they cannot be cut apart and used again to replumb this correctly, and instead force the purchase of another set of expensive valves to straighten this out!
Pics would tell the tale.
This is how its plumbed. It is labled like this according to previous oowner. I don't use a pool vac/sweep, (use a robot now) so it would be nice to be able to turn off that valve. I assume the "flap" over the inlet in pool serves same purpose? This pool was built in 1992.Thron,
Sorry, but that is one of the dumbest valves set ups I have ever seen...
As an example.. You can't run the main drain unless you are also running the skimmer and the vac line.. And if you shut off the vac line, you shut off everything...
Is that how things are actually plumbed, or is that how you "think' it is plumbed???
Show us a few pics...
Thanks,
Jim R.
Flap over the suction port is the best you can do to shut that line off.
Thron,
While the previous owner might be 100% correct, it is just as likely he was 100% wrong..
The only way to fix this is to....
1. Remove Valve 1 and 2
2. Connect an individual 2 way valve on the Main Drain pipe, the Skimmer pipe, and the Vac pipe.
3. Connect the output of the three new valves to a manifold that connects to the 3-way valve. (#3)
This would allow you to individual control the three inputs.
As a side note.. Valve #3 needs to be either in the Spa mode (Handle points to the letter 'E', or in the Pool mode (Handle points to the letter 'F'.)
Since the Vac is shut off, if the pipe is capped in the pool, then I would set valve #1 to off or only be about 10% open. This would allow most of the water to come from the skimmer..
Thanks,
Jim R.