Search results

The O-rings were leaking because they were filled with sand, breaking the seal. Interestingly, while the sand seemed to get everywhere in my equipment and plumbing, I didn't much if any sand in the pool itself.

Another unusual occurance: A couple days ago I accidentally left the backwash on for too long (about 45 minutes). I was kicking myself because of all the wasted water, but could that also have contributed to sand escaping? Is there such a thing as too much backwash?

If an MPV can cause sand, then could the spider gasket or other innards of the MPV have gotten bounced around just from my handling of it, even if I nevered opened the valve? I also thought of another candidate for the culprit: I am in the middle of trying to put up a solar heater (I have...

Interesting. But I think I will start with filling up the north side, then if I need more room go to the southwest, and I'm not going to worry about that southeast side for now. I know my limits and don't need that kind of hassle in my life right now ;) Going back to the check valve discussion...

Also, while on the one hand it does seem like the multiport is the weak link in this equation given the recent activity, on the other hand how could any issue with the multiport cause sand to come out of the filter in the first place? Even if the multiport valve were totally broken internally...

No, didn't touch that. It was actually more of a repair. There was a hairline crack in the output port threading (possibly from over tightening) that was leaking. I patched it up with epoxy and glue and covered it with a hose clamp. I tried to do what this guy did --- --- but I didn't do as...

A couple days ago I noticed some sand on my driveway where the backwash exits out to. That's weird, I thought. Sometimes I see dead algea or other debris that came out in a backwash, but never sand. Then today the plumbing started leaking from multiple places, basically everywhere there is a...

I suspected as much. I could run it around the side of the house under the eaves, but more likely I'll just skip that side and not bother with a panel there. Here in Michigan it freezes pretty hard in the winter. You can't get away with leaving any water in any underground pipes. I blow out all...

That's what I figured. I just realized something. If I take your advice and put panels on the east- and west-facing sides (assuming they will fit), how will I get the water to the east-facing panels at all? Don't I have to go over the roof ridge with PVC to get to the east side panels in the...

I will definitely put some on the north side. I do have a slight pitch change in the middle of the slope on the north side which might make the plumbing a little more complicated if I cross it. And I don't want the panels to be visible from the front of the house so I don't want to go down all...

@mas985 any thoughts on the feasibility of draping a solar panel over a ridge? There are 2 scenarios. First is the one labeled in red in the figure below, where the feed header and return header are on opposite sides of the roof's slant. I would make sure that the return header is at a higher...

They are regular commercially available panels, like this one: SunHeater Universal 2, 2 ft. x 20 ft. (80 sq. ft.) Solar Heating System for In-Ground or Above Ground Pool S240U - The Home Depot (some of the panels say SunHeater and some have a Fafco brand name, but they all look identical to me)...

@Dirk, Thank you for your honesty. It's definitely better to know sooner rather than later. Note the framing is just sort of a "proof of concept," and the plan was that if and when I successfully get the solar working I would reinforce it to be a more permanent structure. And I agree that it's...

Interesting, I never thought about it going backwards through the regular return (toward the gas heater), after it has successfully passed the solar check valve. You're right, there remains one path on the return without any check valve. I suppose I could add a check valve on both sides of the...

Unfortunately I don't have any room between the filter and the 3-way valve. And having just bought a regular 3-way valve I don't want to go out and buy the Pentair solar drain-down version too. I'm aware that I can drill a hole in the regular 3-way valve to make it act as a solar valve, but I...

Yes, I anticipated manually draining at the end of the season during winterizing. I will certainly do that. On a day-to-day basis during the summer, I expect the solar will be on most days during daylight hours, and will only turn off (a) if there's no sun due to very overcast or raining...

Separate question: is there any advantage in keeping the return pipe elevated until immediately prior to rejoining the pad plumbing, as shown in my diagrams? Or would the flow mechanics be the same if I dropped the pipe straight from the solar panel exit down to the ground, and then snaked the...

Thanks, that is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. Okay, good to know my instincts were correct about it not draining. I seem to recall that the Pentair draining solar valve is the only one on the market. Is that true, and if so does that mean they have a total monopoly, such that...

I'm almost done with a new solar system and I've got it mostly put together, dry fitting the plumbing. Before I glue everything up, I wanted to get y'all's take on it, make sure there aren't glaring design flaws, etc. The overview is, there will be five Fafco 2x20 solar collectors stacked...

I'm sorry, you're right, I meant calcium hypochlorite for shock! Anyway, thanks for the info!