I am trying to figure out why I am not getting enough pressure to my Polaris Quattro to maintain 28RPM and noticed that when the cleaner valve turns on it only opens half way, I assume so water continues to flow to the other return lines. Was thinking of opening the valve all the way, but not sure if that would cause any problems. Is it normal for the cleaner and other return lines to both be open? I do have a booster pump so maybe that could be the issue also.
Question about cleaner valve
- Thread starter dailo
- Start date
Your booster pump should supply plenty of flow to run the Quattro all by itself, so I'm confused by the existence of a "cleaner valve."
- Jul 21, 2013
- 55,271
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
On my Aqualogic controller there is a button for Floor Cleaner and Cleaner. Cleaner turns on the booster pump and Floor Cleaner turns the valve in the bottom left. When Floor Cleaner is off I can see the main return jet is going and once Floor Cleaner is on that valve turns and the return jet slows down. The Polaris is hooked up to a dedicated return, which I assume is connected to that valve.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 55,271
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
You have two different cleaner pipes. One connected to your booster pump and the other connected to your return line through the valve.
Have you checked your booster pump it running?
Is your Polaris connected to the pipe from the booster pump? You should see a big difference in water flow when the booster pump is on versus off.
Have you checked your booster pump it running?
Is your Polaris connected to the pipe from the booster pump? You should see a big difference in water flow when the booster pump is on versus off.
Yup the booster definitely starts. If it doesn’t start the cleaner doesn’t really move at all. Maybe the cleaner valve doesn’t impact the Polaris at all, I’ll have to see if it changes anything.
Do you have an in-floor cleaning system with pop-up heads? If so, that's what's driven by the cleaner valve. The Polaris should be driven by a dedicated return fed by the booster pump.
Ah that is probably it. Didn’t even know that was a thing (first time pool owner). I was wondering what those heads were on the floor, although they don’t seem to pop up so will have to chase that down later. I’ll have to see what else could be causing loss of pressure to the Polaris. Removed the blue cap from the connector and don’t see any leaks in the line, but only getting about 22RPM at the wheels. Does it make sense to run the Polaris and floor cleaner at the same time?
- Jul 21, 2013
- 55,271
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
No.
Sounds like the IFCS is ineffective and was rep[laced by the Polaris.
Abandon your IFCS and see if the Polaris keeps your pool clean.
Getting back to your original query, the cleaner valve almost certainly has to move all the way from the normal position to the cleaner position for the IFCS heads to pop up. Since it's only going part way, the IFCS isn't working.
Thanks! The cam in the actuator is set like that so I assumed the builder did it for whatever reason, but now that I know it’s for the IFCS let me adjust manually and see if it fixes that problem.
It does a pretty good job, but keeps getting stuck or stops when it gets to the shallow end. I figure it is because it’s not running at the recommended RPM so have been trying to fix that.