Polaris Caretaker pressure is low

[tr6789]

I have a Polaris Caretaker and the pressure reads about 2 p.s.i. while the pump is running. It does reset to 0 p.s.i. when turned off, so I don't think it's the gauge. I have a cartridge filter that reads 25 p.s.i. when running and 0 when off.

I believe the Caretaker previously would operate at 10 p.s.i. (still low from what I read), but has now diminished. I cleaned my filter cartridges earlier this year (about 3 months ago) and that resulted in the screen above the Caretaker being clogged. I got that cleaned out and everything ran great.

Two weeks ago, I noticed a leak at the union closest to the caretaker when I turned the pump on. The water would stop leaking after about 2 minutes. I took the union apart and reapplied silicon sealant to the O ring. This was not done last time it was taken apart. The screen was still clear.

After reassembling the union, the leak is gone, but the Caretaker pressure gauge still reads 2 p.s.i. This of course is too little pressure and the pop up heads are not functioning very well. I have a aerator outlet and if I divert the water return to it and then switch back to the caretaker, the pressure jumps to 10 p.s.i. for a few seconds then goes back to 2 p.s.i.

What could cause this? Is the pressure reading on the Caretaker indicating the pressure as the water enters the dome, thus the pressure being too low before going through the Caretaker internals? Or is the pressure low inside the Caretaker, maybe needing to be rebuilt? Thanks in advance for the help! You can view pictures of my pool here: Gallery and the Caretaker while the pool is running can be seen here: http://pool.magnatecha.com/img/pool_caretaker_on_20150718.jpg

 

[malcolmb5325]

have you tried running the system with the cartridge out of the filter to see if you can increase the water flow? are all the valves closed to divert all the water into the Caretaker 5 port valve? has the valve internals been rebuilt? you may need to replace the internal as you may be having water bypass issues inside the valve. you need to get the pressure between 15 - 19psi.

 

[tr6789]

Thanks for the ideas.

* I haven't tried taking the cartridges out, I will try that next.
* All the valves are closed. There is only one for the aerator and if I open it, the pressure drops slightly lower and returns to 2 after closing it.
* I haven't rebuilt the caretaker yet. I was holding off to make it wasn't something else. I'll take it apart and check it out if the cartridge idea doesn't work.

 

[tr6789]

I've got an update.

Short version: The caretaker is cycling and running at 20 p.s.i. now. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like anything I did would have fixed it...

Long version: I took malcolmb5325's advice and remove the cartridges from the filter to get more water flow at the caretaker. The first attempt resulted in about 18 psi at the caretaker, but I forgot to put the skimmer cage back in the pump skimmer so the screen in the union above the caretaker clogged up after about 5 minutes.

I then cleaned the screen, put the skimmer cage in and tried again. Again, it went to 18 psi and then dropped to 2 psi. I also was running it only from the pool skimmer intake so the water was being filtered through two skimmers and the filter container was cleared of all debris. However, I checked the screen at the caretaker again and it was clogged.

Out of ideas, I put the cartridges back in (this is fun in 98 degrees in the sun!) and returned all my settings to normal. I turned on the pump and what do you know, the caretaker pressure shot up to 20 psi and stayed there. Every 30 seconds or so it would drop to 10 psi to cycle which head to pop up then go back to 20 psi. I watched it for about 15 minutes and it's still working perfectly.

One might think it was severely dirty filter cartridges slowing the whole system down. But I just cleaned them about 3 months ago and they didn't seem any dirtier than they were then. And the caretaker worked great before that too. I would also think no cartridges at all would be the highest pressure going into the caretaker, but it never went above 18 psi. And the filter psi has been at a steady 24 psi before and after both cleanings.

My only idea now that the caretaker internals are worn out and something I did kicked them back into a good configuration, allowing it to work correctly for now.

Edit: Here's a video of that second run with no filter cartridges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwxmFUQDiXg&feature=youtu.be -- I can't tell if it was the eventual clogging of that screen making it act odd or if the caretaker just isn't cycling properly.