Valves going all the way around... all the way around...

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InvaderZim

InvaderZim

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Bronze Supporter
Apr 13, 2008
74
Austin, TX
Recently during the freezes in Austin, I could hear my pool pump occasionally make a real racket. I discovered this was because the freeze protection was switching between pool and spa mode a couple of times an hour, and the instead of the valve handles rotating 180 degrees, they just went all the way around. At various points, the inflow was apparently cut off and the pump made a racket and the pipes shook. After three or four of these cycles, the valves would finally stop rotating and all was well until the next pool/spa switch. Nothing seems to be damaged and now that the freezes are over, everything seems ok.

The valves say "JVA2440 Maximum Torque" on them and the handles say "never lube" -- it's all Jandy equipment so I assume these are Jandy valves, installed in 2006. Photo attached. Pool builder out of business, of course.

Today, I put the system into service mode and pressed the "pool mode" and "spa mode" buttons several times to see what the valves would do. The first two switches were fine -- they went to where they were supposed to. On the third try, the outgoing water valve went all the way around three times before settling in at the correct location.

I found a YouTube video describing how to take the cover off the valve actuator and adjust some kind of plastic thingies, but it was unclear what was being done (not a great video). Are these valves ever supposed to go all the way around? Each valve sits on top of three pipes.

Might this be a problem with the electronics instead of the valve actuators -- that is, do the Jandy electronics in the control panel tell the valves how far to turn? Should they ever turn all the way around or is there a mechanical stop in the valve?

Thanks in advance
 
http://www.jandy.com/~/media/zodiac/global/downloads/h/h0570800.pdf. Sound like the shaft is turning and it isn't engaging the micro switch to stop. Put the toggle switch in center position and remove cover. Now turn on toggle to make valve turn and watch it's progress as it nears the microswitch. Depending on the rotation there are two cams on the shaft and you can watch as it engages the microswitch. Sometimes the locking screws on shaft get loose and the cams will move past the switch. Also try this with the pump off first and then try with pump on. When the pump is on and the flow is going through the valve there is a lot more torque on the shaft and maybe causing the cam to miss the switch. Lastly make sure the microswitch screws are tight and the switch is secure
 
kadavis said:
http://www.jandy.com/~/media/zodiac/global/downloads/h/h0570800.pdf. Sound like the shaft is turning and it isn't engaging the micro switch to stop. Put the toggle switch in center position and remove cover. Now turn on toggle to make valve turn and watch it's progress as it nears the microswitch. Depending on the rotation there are two cams on the shaft and you can watch as it engages the microswitch. Sometimes the locking screws on shaft get loose and the cams will move past the switch. Also try this with the pump off first and then try with pump on. When the pump is on and the flow is going through the valve there is a lot more torque on the shaft and maybe causing the cam to miss the switch. Lastly make sure the microswitch screws are tight and the switch is secure
Click to expand...

Thank you for the very clear instructions! I will try this in the morning and post the results.
 
I took the cover off the two valve actuators and used the switches to rotate the valves. The first one did exactly what you suggested -- the cam touched the metal tab on the microswitch at the point where it's supposed to stop but didn't press it hard enough to engage the switch and went right past it. Yay!

All the internal screws were tight and the inside was clean. I could wriggle the center shaft a bit (maybe 1/8" in any direction -- is that normal, or should it be rock solid? I didn't see any way to adjust or tighten the shaft.

Regardless, I removed the switch, and bent the tab just a little bit so the cam would touch it sooner. That fixed it -- I ran a few cycles.

The second switch did not fail while I watched it but I applied the same fix anyway and tested it.

Two questions:

1) Is there a way to tighten the central shaft to eliminate any play? Both actuators had about 1/8" in all directions.

2) My controller is set to turn the pump off while the switches rotate. When I tested switching between pool and spa and back again using the control panel, the pump was running and didn't seem to experience any stress. The only stress was during the freeze when the switch was in the wrong 180 degrees of its rotation.

The reason I ask #2 is that a lot of the overnight noise during freeze protect is the pump turning off before the valves rotate and back on again afterwards. I think it would be a lot less disruptive if the pump just kept going as the valves rotate. Is that reasonable? As I said, when the actuators are working properly, it smoothly switched between pool and spa (both return and suction) and when the actuators weren't working, the pump ran anyway because I gather turning off during valve rotation is governed by a timer instead of actually detecting valve motion.

Is it reasonable to let the pump keep running?

Thanks again for all of your advice.
 
Sounds like the gearbox is worn causing excessive shaft or axial run-out.

Fancy term for shaft wobble.....

Pump lockout. Turns the pump off while the valves rotate (about 35 sec). This will happen when valves rotate from pool to spa AND from spa back to pool.

MENU/SYSTEM SETUP/PUMP LOCKOUT/ENABLE-DISABLE
 
Thanks all. I'll keep an eye on the valves, which seem to be working properly now, and set my pump to not turn off (my neighbors will love that). That might make the startup capacitor in the pump motors as well (already replaced them once).

In my valves (which are the older JVA 2440 and not the JVA 2444), the microswitches appear to be locked into place and the position isn't adjustable. When it gets warmer outside, I'll go take another look but I think the problem for now is solved.

Thanks again!
 
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