Pentair / Compool Diverter Valve Scrapping - Scuffing - Abrasion

[Zephyros]

I installed a completely new system three years ago, including new Pentair Diverter Valves. A couple of months ago I was noticing the Pentair/Compool CVA-24 actuators were not always working, suspecting burned out actuators I removed them and discovered that in fact it was the Diverter Valves themselves that were scraping and dragging and this was what was keeping the actuators from moving the diverter.

So I disassembled them and found severe scraping, scuffing and sand like abrasion of the diverter valve seal and the valve body wall, here are pictures:





So can someone please explain what is leading to this destruction? (Three of my valves are doing this.)

At first I was thinking, I should have bought Jandy Never Lube Valves, but when I relooked at the Pentair description and it says, "Maintenance-free PTFE coated diverter seal, Our lube-free valves, as the name says, they never require lubrication."

Here are my relevent part numbers for reference:
Pentair 3 Way Diverter Valve P/N 263026
Pentair Actuator 2 port P/N 263043

 

[Agent99]

How many valves do you have and are they ALL having this issue? Perhaps you have a warranty claim there.

 

[duraleigh]

So can someone please explain what is leading to this destruction?

Seems likely that something gritty has gotten into your pool water from time to time. I can't imagine what that would be. Has your pool ever been flooded? (water INTO the pool from surrounding landscape)

What else can you recall that would have allowed grit into your pool.....apparently in the last few months?

 

[JamesW]

Are these before or after the filter?

 

[Zephyros]

Hi Agent99,
I have 11 valves total with 6 actuators. I had the 3 year Pentair System Warranty but it is expired.

 

[Zephyros]

Hi JamesW,
They are before the filter, the one in the pic is the main pool suction live valve, 2-Way CPVC 2 in. P/N 263027.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi duraleigh,
At first I was thinking maybe when the pool was re-plastered, when I put the equipment in, three years ago, the Pebble Fina Bella Blue Plaster may have done some damage. More recently, I'm in Southern California, 2-4 time per year we get the Santa Ana winds, 40-60mph, the pool fills up with everything blowing in the air, dirt, sand, leaves, etc.


From your guys questions I went and did more trouble shooting, I removed all the actuators.

Two actuators are not working, the Pool Suction and the Cleaner Suction, I swapped connections on the IntelliTouch i5 controller board, with a known good one, and they still don't work. I guess the resistance of the debris overloaded the motors in actuators and burned them out.
??? Does this seem like a normal Pentair actuator failure ???

I then rotated all other valves by hand.
The Cleaner Suction Valve seems pretty free, but since the actuator has gone bad maybe it saw some debris at times.
I found most of the other valves rotate fairly freely, with only a couple on the spa suction side having a little resistance.
So, maybe this points to the Santa Ana Winds, also known as the Devil Winds, doing destruction to the valves???

One other fact, I've noticed, in the last year, If I shut down the pool vs spa vs cleaner in the wrong order the IntelliTouch / ScreenLogic programming will close a valve and leave the pump running. When it was new, the pump would see a prime failure fault and shut down (Pentair IntelliFlo Variable Speed Pump P/N 011018). Now however, the pump keeps running and I'll hear a high pitched sound that tells me the valves are closed so I have to run shut down the circuit breaker to reset it. So of course this means the pump is pulling some amount of water past the valve seals.

 

[JamesW]

You're definitely getting a lot of abrasive material in the valves. Probably sand etc. If you're manually vacuuming the pool, try using a skimmer sock to catch the sand.

If you have a multiport valve, I would suspect that it is also damaged.