Brand New Jandy Check Valve Leaking through Cover/Lid

[chriswill]

Hey all, just finished doing the plumbing to accommodate a solar loop and had to install a check valve coming off the filter to prevent backflow to the pool when pumps are off. So weird thing is that the check valve leaks through the cover -- as in through several of the 8 screws and in between as well. I thought what the heck and proceeded to unscrew everything to inspect for manufacturing flaws and what not. Everything was smooth as a baby's Rear so I next proceeded to put a bit of magic lube on the o-ring and surfaces (which FYI the factory had not applied any) and screwed everything back. Still no success. Then, I proceeded to try the o-ring and cover/flapper assembly another brand new check valve. Still leaks. So what's the deal on these valves? Seems to be a design flaw. My engineering intuition tells me the o-ring should be 1 maybe 2 mm thicker so as to allow the lid to apply enough pressure when screwed down to ensure the seal. I read elsewhere on these threads that you are supposed to "give the valves 24 hours or so to develop a good seal." Is that for real?

Seems like a design flaw! Thoughts?

 

[PoolGate]

I have not heard about any 24 hour soak period. Make sure you are not overtightening the screws. They should be snug and let the o-ring do its thing. You could get an aftermarket o-ring set they tend to be a tad thicker.

 

[lotsalemon]

Also, be sure to slowly tighten those screws, alternately, a little at a time, like you would lugnuts on a car, until they are all fully tightened. They shouldn't be cranked down with a drill or driver, hand tools only.

 

[chriswill]

Did the lug nut tightening procedure as that is well discussed and common sense. Then, starting at slightly snug, I turned the flow on and proceeded to further tighten them hoping to see the dripping stop. I’m now at very snug and am still leaking. Be happy to try the after market o-rings but surely this would be a manufacturing or design issue. I have one other new check valve going on line soon in the solar return line so let’s see if that one leaks too right out of the box.

 

[PoolGate]

Did the lug nut tightening procedure as that is well discussed and common sense. Then, starting at slightly snug, I turned the flow on and proceeded to further tighten them hoping to see the dripping stop. I’m now at very snug and am still leaking. Be happy to try the after market o-rings but surely this would be a manufacturing or design issue. I have one other new check valve going on line soon in the solar return line so let’s see if that one leaks too right out of the box.

Is the pipe stressed on either end of the valve? It might be twisting the housing. Try removing one end and see if the valve remains at the same level or if it is stressed. If so, you could try adding a union before or after it so you can remove at least any twisting stress.

 

[1poolman1]

Hey all, just finished doing the plumbing to accommodate a solar loop and had to install a check valve coming off the filter to prevent backflow to the pool when pumps are off. So weird thing is that the check valve leaks through the cover -- as in through several of the 8 screws and in between as well. I thought what the heck and proceeded to unscrew everything to inspect for manufacturing flaws and what not. Everything was smooth as a baby's Rear so I next proceeded to put a bit of magic lube on the o-ring and surfaces (which FYI the factory had not applied any) and screwed everything back. Still no success. Then, I proceeded to try the o-ring and cover/flapper assembly another brand new check valve. Still leaks. So what's the deal on these valves? Seems to be a design flaw. My engineering intuition tells me the o-ring should be 1 maybe 2 mm thicker so as to allow the lid to apply enough pressure when screwed down to ensure the seal. I read elsewhere on these threads that you are supposed to "give the valves 24 hours or so to develop a good seal." Is that for real?

Seems like a design flaw! Thoughts?

Hey all, just finished doing the plumbing to accommodate a solar loop and had to install a check valve coming off the filter to prevent backflow to the pool when pumps are off. So weird thing is that the check valve leaks through the cover -- as in through several of the 8 screws and in between as well. I thought what the heck and proceeded to unscrew everything to inspect for manufacturing flaws and what not. Everything was smooth as a baby's Rear so I next proceeded to put a bit of magic lube on the o-ring and surfaces (which FYI the factory had not applied any) and screwed everything back. Still no success. Then, I proceeded to try the o-ring and cover/flapper assembly another brand new check valve. Still leaks. So what's the deal on these valves? Seems to be a design flaw. My engineering intuition tells me the o-ring should be 1 maybe 2 mm thicker so as to allow the lid to apply enough pressure when screwed down to ensure the seal. I read elsewhere on these threads that you are supposed to "give the valves 24 hours or so to develop a good seal." Is that for real?

Seems like a design flaw! Thoughts?

There are thousands of those valves in use with no issues. Its a mass-produced product. You could have gotten a bad one that slipped past QC. There is no "break in period" on a Jandy valve. The 24hr you saw likely referred to the PVC glue.

 

[JamesW]

Zodiac Pool Systems LLC, a Fluidra Company (“Fluidra”) warrants all Jandy® branded products to be free from manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one (1) year from the date of retail purchase.

 

[chriswill]

Just wanted to let everyone know how this problem was finally resolved. All I ended up doing was to take the valve lid/cover off, applied a liberal amount of lube and then resealed the lid. When tightened the lid on the valve, I alternated the tightening of the screws using the star approach suggested above and elsewhere. But the trick is not to overtighten the screws! All I did was to apply the minimal amount of torque required to get the lid to touch the valve housing beneath each screw. There is about a 1 mm gap between the lid and the housing when holding the lid in place on the housing by hand (as in before inserting any screws). That did the trick. In fact, I had also installed 2 other new valves to accommodate the solar loop: 1 other Jandy check valve on the solar return and then a Pentair 2-way valve to implement a solar bypass. Neither of these other two valves ever leaked "out-of-the-box." In fact, for the Pentair valve, I had to remove 4 screws to mount the actuator assembly and in the process I noticed how little torque Pentair manufacturing had applied to their valve cover screws.

Hope this discussion will be useful for others and thanks all of you for the inputs. I guess Jandy manufacturing or someone at the supplier's location applied too much torque on the screws.

 

[lotsalemon]

Glad you got it sorted!
So the o-ring was OK, just gave it some extra lube?

 

[chriswill]

O-ring was fine. Brand new product. I’m not sure the extra lube was needed. It was more an issue of the factory torquing the screws down too much…and I did at first too and in my first lube attempt.