Liquidator caused suction side problem

[Dougschw]

Hi All,

First post on this site. I just installed a liquidator last week. I keep my Pentair intelliflow at 1500 RPMs and run it 24/7. This is enough pressure to keep my heater going and my UV lamp on. I do this to maintain a steady pool temperature of 90F on my indoor pool. Since I installed the liquidator, I have not been able to keep my pump filter basket full of water. It will stay about half full at 1500 RPM. Thus, I am pulling air through my system and it is noisy and I have air bubbles coming through my returns. I have inspected the inlet hole I made in front of the pump for the liquidator and it is not pulling air thorough this hole.
I have about 10 feet of hose going to and 10 feet of hose coming from the liquidator just to keep the hoses out of the way by running them below my heater and around some other plumbing. I could shorten this hose and go directly across the floor of my equipment room.
Will this help to get the suction back up? Or, are there other tricks to get the suction back up?

 

[JohnT]

Check all of the fittings. My flow meter leaked, and I ended up just taking it out.

 

[Dougschw]

Thanks,

How did you check all the fittings? Did you pressurize the suction side with water and look for leaks or did you just use trail and error to find that it was your flow meter leaking?

 

[JohnT]

Thanks,

How did you check all the fittings? Did you pressurize the suction side with water and look for leaks or did you just use trail and error to find that it was your flow meter leaking?

I dunked it in a bucket of water. I first taped up the threaded fittings with Teflon, but it started leaking again the following season. When I replaced the tubing I just left it out.

 

[Dougschw]

Got it. Ill try the water dunk test.

 

[Agent99]

I dunked it in a bucket of water. I first taped up the threaded fittings with Teflon, but it started leaking again the following season. When I replaced the tubing I just left it out.

Ah...the old bicycle tube trick to find the leak. Cool.

Doug, where did you tap the LQ on the suction side of the pump? I used the threaded port on the basket of my IntelliFlo. Make sure no leak is there as well.

 

[ewkearns]

Your flow meter WILL leak, because the flowmeter has male straight threads and was designed to use an o-ring seal. HASA buys the part from Pentair and I *think* Pentair changed the engineering on the part. HASA just can't see it, though. The barbed hose fittings have a male TAPERED pipe thread and there is no way that those fittings were ever made to be screwed together. They just don't fit.

 

[Dougschw]

I drilled a hole about 4 inches from the inlet. It had a small air leak there, but I re-positioned the gasket and screwed it down tight and it doesn't seem to be leaking there anymore. I am wondering if the 10 feet of hose going to and coming from the liquidator tank is causing the suction problem.

I dunked the other fittings in a bucket of water and saw nothing from this.

- - - Updated - - -

Even the retrofit kit they sent? This is still bad?

 

[ewkearns]

IMHO, 10 feet would be excessive. Is there a way to position the Liquidator closer to the vacuum source?

 

[Dougschw]

So I removed all of the liquidator fittings and shortened the vacuum hose from the liquidator to the pump down to about three feet. I still can only hold about half of my pump basket full of water at 1500 RPM's. So then I removed the liquidator completely from the system and saw no improvements. This tells me that the air is getting in somewhere else or the pump is failing. I have tried to find an air leak in the vacuum side of pump with no luck. I feel like the pump strainer basket is leaking, but I cant prove it. I did buy a new gasket and installed it with lube. Still no improvements. I may try to pressurize my vacuum side with water and see if I can find a leak.

 

[Agent99]

Check all your valves. I've heard of apply foaming shaving cream to work at finding vacuum leak. I've never tried it.

Make DARN sure any holes you've drilled for the LQ aren't leaking. It took me several re-positionings and lube and such to finally get that hose clamp and rubber o-ring to finally seal that stupid hole. It was annoyingly painful.

I wonder if you run your pump at a higher (or the highest) speed if it'll help you located that leak more easily?