Filter air relief valve dripping / spa draining

[bhg]

Thanks to this site, I had a plan B of pulling all the equipment drain plugs when the power went out and I appear to have come out of the Texas freeze/power mess relatively clean. The pool is only 2 months old and didn't think this would be my first challenge before even using it.

Some of my valves pipes near the equipment did freeze but equipment was drained and the skimmer basket area never froze. After getting everything back up and running, I see a slow drip out of the filter pressure release valve per the photo. It is Hayward DE filter. The other thing I just noticed is the spa is draining to about half empty over night when the pump is off. Before it would only lower an inch or so.

Iv'e found other threads about the pressure release valve and ways to replace them and I tried opening and blowing an air compressor into it to see if it was clogged. But would this minor drip or lack of pressure cause the spa to drain as well? Or could it be the spa drain valve not fully closing?

 

[ajw22]

Check to see that the check valve circled below was not damaged by the freezing. The CV not fully closing is the likely cause of your spa draining.

 

[bhg]

Check to see that the check valve circled below was not damaged by the freezing. The CV not fully closing is the likely cause of your spa draining.

Will do. So in that case it would be coming back through the spa returns? It did drain about to that point.

If the valve is the case, I assume the drip is ok for a little while until I need to clean filter? Might have to quantify how much water I'm losing to make that decision.

 

[ajw22]

The drip from the filter air relief valve is a separate problem. Water freezing in that valve could have damaged something.

 

[mknauss]

Try opening the air purge valve (it is not a pressure relief) a few times with and with out the pump running. See if the seals in it just need to seat.

 

[bhg]

Yeah, I can see the spa return check valve flapper is not going all the way closed and slowly bobs a bit instead. Should be an easy fix.

But this got me thinking about the other check valve between the heater and SWCG. Any way to test if it is working correctly? A little research says this one is to keep corrosive water from SWCG out of heat exchanger so sounds important. Maybe pull the drain plug on heater and if nothing (or little) drips out then that valve is stopping any back flow?

 

[mknauss]

check valve between the heater and SWCG.

That check valve is unnecessary. Take the flapper out of that one. If possible, repurpose it in the one for the spa.

There is no 'corrosive' water out of a SWCG. That is a carryover from the use of Trichlor feeders. Those do have very acidic water out of them. And thus the check valve was necessary to prevent dissolving the heater.

 

[bhg]

That check valve is unnecessary. Take the flapper out of that one. If possible, repurpose it in the one for the spa.

There is no 'corrosive' water out of a SWCG. That is a carryover from the use of Trichlor feeders. Those do have very acidic water out of them. And thus the check valve was necessary to prevent dissolving the heater.

Ah, on re-read of the product description, it does just say "inline chlorinator" and I made it fit my scenario of SWCG. I'll just leave that one alone and not worry about it then. The 2 flappers do not look interchangeable....different brand, different shape.

Again, thanks to this site advising to have a planB and know where all the drain plugs are, I look to have survived the carnage. Three other pools on my street are $5k+ damage and counting. Haven't talked to the other 2 owners nearby.