Help with laminar

[KristaM78]

One of our laminars is haywire as you will witness in the pictures. I noticed the little needle portion broken off where the water comes out. See picture of what it should look like. I’ve looked in the manual and do not see a replacement part. Has anyone had this happen. The one laminar is so annoying and loud and it just sprays everywhere. The one that works correctly is so smooth and peaceful. It makes it really difficult to run my pretty light show.

 

[sktn77a]

Have you called the manufacturer or Inyo pools?

 

[KristaM78]

Have you called the manufacturer or Inyo pools?

No. I suppose I could. This seemed like a great place to start.

 

[In 2 Deep]

I've got a couple of these myself. That needle is only used to inject water into the main stream. It's "supposed" to add bubbles to the flow in such a way that the stream can refract more light. This is a link to the manual... https://www.pentair.com/content/dam...allationandUsersGuideEnglishSpanishFrench.pdf

On page 25, there's a picture that shows the needle assembly; I've added it to this thread for reference. On both of mine, the Control Screw was screwed all the way down which pinches shut the rubber pipe (so no water comes out of the needle). I got curious on how these would look with the needle opened (adding water to the main stream because the pipe was no longer pinched closed). It turned a very smooth stream into a rough and inconsistent looking stream - I didn't like it one bit and I doubt you will either!

The image you've posted is a little small but the needle looks to be where I would expect it to be. I would to the following...

1. Turn off the pump and lights so that the Laminars are not running.
2. There may be two screws holding the top plate of the fixture to the housing, remove those.
3. Mark the position of the top plate with the housing using a pencil before removing if you're concerned about putting it back "as is".
4. Insert your fingers into the slot (be mindful of the needle!) and lift the Laminar out of the housing. There should be enough pipe and electrical cable to do this without having to disconnect anything.
5. Once out of the housing, lay it down carefully on an old towel. Loosen the two large knobs that allow the laminar to be "aimed vertically" into the pool. Do this so that it provides access to the plate you see in Fig 6.
6. I would check the Control Screw and make sure it's screwed all the way in but DO NOT over-tighten it. I believe this to be the factory setting.
7. At this point, you will 100% know if the needle is somehow broken or unseated from the top plate so post a decent picture of that here so we can better understand what's going on.

I suspect the needle is somehow lifted off the post of the top plate and is flapping around in the stream which will absolutely make it spray everywhere and you will hear it. That needle should in no way touch the main stream when mounted in its proper place. As stated previously, it's only supposed to spray water into the main stream to add bubbles.

Cheers, Gary

 

[KristaM78]

I've got a couple of these myself. That needle is only used to inject water into the main stream. It's "supposed" to add bubbles to the flow in such a way that the stream can refract more light. This is a link to the manual... https://www.pentair.com/content/dam...allationandUsersGuideEnglishSpanishFrench.pdf

On page 25, there's a picture that shows the needle assembly; I've added it to this thread for reference. On both of mine, the Control Screw was screwed all the way down which pinches shut the rubber pipe (so no water comes out of the needle). I got curious on how these would look with the needle opened (adding water to the main stream because the pipe was no longer pinched closed). It turned a very smooth stream into a rough and inconsistent looking stream - I didn't like it one bit and I doubt you will either!

The image you've posted is a little small but the needle looks to be where I would expect it to be. I would to the following...

1. Turn off the pump and lights so that the Laminars are not running.
2. There may be two screws holding the top plate of the fixture to the housing, remove those.
3. Mark the position of the top plate with the housing using a pencil before removing if you're concerned about putting it back "as is".
4. Insert your fingers into the slot (be mindful of the needle!) and lift the Laminar out of the housing. There should be enough pipe and electrical cable to do this without having to disconnect anything.
5. Once out of the housing, lay it down carefully on an old towel. Loosen the two large knobs that allow the laminar to be "aimed vertically" into the pool. Do this so that it provides access to the plate you see in Fig 6.
6. I would check the Control Screw and make sure it's screwed all the way in but DO NOT over-tighten it. I believe this to be the factory setting.
7. At this point, you will 100% know if the needle is somehow broken or unseated from the top plate so post a decent picture of that here so we can better understand what's going on.

I suspect the needle is somehow lifted off the post of the top plate and is flapping around in the stream which will absolutely make it spray everywhere and you will hear it. That needle should in no way touch the main stream when mounted in its proper place. As stated previously, it's only supposed to spray water into the main stream to add bubbles.

Cheers, Gary

View attachment 422966

Gary, this is great info. I’ve already had my laminar out, so I know the needle in my laminar that it going everywhere is missing/broken. Your explanation of these needles makes sense because these laminars have what’s called a thumping feature which allows you to have the stream of water make a smooth jumping sound and it also makes your lights look like the jumping it’s actually really cool when they’re functioning properly. This might explain maybe why our thumping feature is not working.