Leak/crack in pipe to water feature valve

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W

wendi.thacker

Member
May 11, 2022
8
Knoxville
Pool Size
11300
Surface
Fiberglass
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
Hello-
First time posting and I think I have my signature right😬.
We have 1 pool season under our belt and, thanks to this forum, we had a trouble free and amazing 7 months!
We were advised that we didn’t need to winterize our pool since we don’t get ridiculously cold winters in East TN. We have kept the pump running anytime it threatens to get below 40 degrees. Then the crazy weather that hit most of the US happened. We had sub 5 degree weather for a wk.
Yesterday, we went out to check that all the equipment was fine after testing everything, we found a tiny crack in the pipe to the water feature bits. I apologize for not naming the parts, I have tried to find a diagram but I haven’t been able to. I have a picture and video. It doesn’t leak at all until we turn the pump on high.
My husband is incredibly handy. We rarely call a pro for anything.
Questions:
1) what are the names of the cracked bits?
2) is this something a super handy person could fix themselves?
3) how can we avoid this in the future?

Here’s the video of the leak

098DC3E9-191F-48CF-994F-6E23501C0E6B.jpeg
Thanks in advance for your patience and help!
 
Still wider pics.

Need to see what comes before and after that.

What is on the top?

Is that diverter valve with an actuator on top?
 
You have a cracked Hayward 2 way diverter. Get the right one to fit your size pipes which I think are 2".


The actuator gets removed with four screws.

The valve being close to the elbows will challenge your husbands PVC repair skills.

PVC Repair - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

In future freezes you need to open the valve so water can flow through it. That may cause other problems with your water feature freezing. Standing water in a closed valve will freeze and crack the valve. No one gave thought to how you can blow out that pipe while letting water flow through the rest of the pool.
 
Last edited:
ajw22 said:
You have a cracked Hayward 2 way diverter. Get the right one to fit your size pipes which I think are 2".


The actuator gets removed with four screws.

The valve being close to the elbows will challenge your husbands PVC repair skills.

PVC Repair - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

In future freezes you need to open the valve so water can flow through it. That may cause otehr problems with your water feature freezing. Standing water in a closed valve will freeze and crack the valve. No one gave thought to how you can blow out that pipe while letting water flow through the rest of the pool.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your patience and thorough explanation! I’ll get the part ordered.
Last question:
Is there anything to be done about:
“No one gave thought to how you can blow out that pipe while letting water flow through the rest of the pool” or do we just do what we can and hope for the best?
 
You might consider ordering two diverter valves. It will be tough to replace only the single cracked valve. Your husband may have to replace the entire "Y" section from the heater to the pipes in the ground. Luckily, PVC is cheap.

Let hubby know the diverter valves accept two sizes of pipe connections, so he may be able to save the good valve. Assuming your plumbing is 2", the valve will accept 2" inside or a 2.5" fitting (coupler, elbow, tee) on the outside. A reducer fitting will take it back down to 2".
 
wendi.thacker said:
Is there anything to be done about:
“No one gave thought to how you can blow out that pipe while letting water flow through the rest of the pool” or do we just do what we can and hope for the best?
Click to expand...

The safest answer is spend an hour or two before any freeze event and shutdown the pool. Flip off the CBs, pull the drain plugs, open up all valves, blow out lines, put cut up pool noodles in the skimmer.

People are trying various hacks including putting heat tape on pipes and valves or putting tents with heater over pipes. See...

Breaking Point

Just reflecting on the past week of deep freeze here in NC. I decided to keep it open, mainly because I have a water level return on the tanning ledge so I would have had to blow out the entire return system. Everything was fine but things started to go south for me when the sustained low temp...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Last edited:
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Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
You might consider ordering two diverter valves. It will be tough to replace only the single cracked valve. Your husband may have to replace the entire "Y" section from the heater to the pipes in the ground. Luckily, PVC is cheap.

Let hubby know the diverter valves accept two sizes of pipe connections, so he may be able to save the good valve. Assuming your plumbing is 2", the valve will accept 2" inside or a 2.5" fitting (coupler, elbow, tee) on the outside. A reducer fitting will take it back down to 2".
Click to expand...
Thanks! We’re going to attempt next week🤞🏻
 
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