a couple questions before I embark on replumbing my equipment pad

[JayG]

Hi all,

I am ready to put in new equipment on our pad that include (all Pentair): C&C 400 sq ft filter, IntellifloXF VS pump, 140K BTU heat pump. I feel able to do the plumbing myself, but I understand that Pentair requires it to be "professionally" installed if they are to honor the 3 year warranty. Who is considered qualified in their book? The electrician who is running the circuit for the heat pump says he'd be happy to sign off on the job, but is not sure he would be recognized as a professional by Pentair (although he does a ton of pool related work on the electric side).

Relatedly, I was talking to a pool company about doing some babysitting of our pool during a few weeks while we are going to be away and he saw the equipment waiting to be installed. He wanted to do the job but when he found out that I had purchased the lot from Pool Supply Unlimited (BTW, great experience and great prices) he said I would never get the warranty even if he installed it. Then he tried to sell me a Hayward ozone/chlorine generator system and ended the call by saying his office would send me some info. Any truth to his claim about internet purchases and no warranty? I thought prior discussions here debunked that notion. I also lost faith in him when he recommended an ozonator (seems that ozone has little respect around here except for certain circumstances that don't apply to our pool).

Lastly, in planning out my plumbing runs, I have been able to reduce the number of bends in the primary circulation loop from 11 90° elbows to 5 90° elbows and 2 45° bends. Most of the existing 90° elbows are sharp corners and I'm planning on paying a bit more to get the 90° sweep elbows. Am I crazy to be sweating these details? For those in the know, will this do anything noticeable to improve efficiency of the circulation loop?

Thanks!

Jay

 

[duraleigh]

1. mas985 (our hydraulics expert) teaches here on the forum that the head loss of 90's is not nearly as big of a deal as most of us would think.....almost negligible. That means the difference between regular 90's and sweep 90's would be very, very tiny, indeed.

2. Most of those sweep elbows are DWV quality and not Schedule 40.

3. While I am personally OK with DWV pipes on the suction side, most pro's never use anything but schedule 40.

4. I have no knowledge of the warranty issues.

 

[gwegan]

Regarding your warranty issues.

Pentair's warranty card states in footnote 2 (You can't make this stuff up) that purchases made from online only stores are not eligible for any extended warranty. http://www.pentairpool.com/pdfs/LimitedWarrantyCard.pdf Now whether they stick by that or not I don't know. I suspect it is a function of how much noise one makes.

Pentair does not define "qualified installer". But if you take what their rep says on an industry forum then any professional you pay who says he can do the work qualifies. But again its not so clear. It is an attempt to do two things, support their dealer network and reduce claims that are the result of improper installation. That is what they told a trade journal.

 

[JayG]

1. mas985 (our hydraulics expert) teaches here on the forum that the head loss of 90's is not nearly as big of a deal as most of us would think.....almost negligible. That means the difference between regular 90's and sweep 90's would be very, very tiny, indeed.

2. Most of those sweep elbows are DWV quality and not Schedule 40.

3. While I am personally OK with DWV pipes on the suction side, most pro's never use anything but schedule 40.

4. I have no knowledge of the warranty issues.

Thank you. Good to know. There is so much conventional wisdom that gets upended on this site. I love it.

- - - Updated - - -

Regarding your warranty issues.

Pentair's warranty card states in footnote 2 (You can't make this stuff up) that purchases made from online only stores are not eligible for any extended warranty. http://www.pentairpool.com/pdfs/LimitedWarrantyCard.pdf Now whether they stick by that or not I don't know. I suspect it is a function of how much noise one makes.

Pentair does not define "qualified installer". But if you take what their rep says on an industry forum then any professional you pay who says he can do the work qualifies. But again its not so clear. It is an attempt to do two things, support their dealer network and reduce claims that are the result of improper installation. That is what they told a trade journal.

Thanks for the information. This seems to be a new policy as the warranty card I downloaded from the site where I purchased the 3 items (so it would qualify for their "bundle" warranty) makes no mention of internet purchases as a disqualifier. The card you linked to is dated 2016. Thank you for the heads up.

Best,

Jay

 

[JayG]

1. mas985 (our hydraulics expert) teaches here on the forum that the head loss of 90's is not nearly as big of a deal as most of us would think.....almost negligible. That means the difference between regular 90's and sweep 90's would be very, very tiny, indeed.

2. Most of those sweep elbows are DWV quality and not Schedule 40.

3. While I am personally OK with DWV pipes on the suction side, most pro's never use anything but schedule 40.

4. I have no knowledge of the warranty issues.

Thanks again for keeping me from making a big mistake. I stopped by the local plumbing supply house and asked for schedule 40 elbows. He then asked if I wanted schedule 40 or schedule 40 intended for pressurized use. I did not know there was a difference. Of course, the difference is in the length of the sleeve (which has been mentioned before). It might be worth reinforcing to other users that a schedule 40 elbow may still not be suitable for pressurized use if it doesn't have the extended sleeve. Surprisingly, there wasn't much of a cost difference. I think I paid $18 for 12 pressurized fittings.

Did I mention how much I love this site? Amazingly helpful.

 

[JayG]

Regarding your warranty issues.

Pentair's warranty card states in footnote 2 (You can't make this stuff up) that purchases made from online only stores are not eligible for any extended warranty. http://www.pentairpool.com/pdfs/LimitedWarrantyCard.pdf Now whether they stick by that or not I don't know. I suspect it is a function of how much noise one makes.

Pentair does not define "qualified installer". But if you take what their rep says on an industry forum then any professional you pay who says he can do the work qualifies. But again its not so clear. It is an attempt to do two things, support their dealer network and reduce claims that are the result of improper installation. That is what they told a trade journal.

What is especially irritating now that I've read it more carefully, the pump has to be purchased through a brick and mortar store but they make no mention of the other pieces of equipment being that way. Yet, if you buy a 3-piece bundle to get the 3-year warranty, they all need to be on the same invoice (also kinda irritating). If any part of the bundle does not qualify for the extended warranty (pump in this case), the extended warranty on the rest goes out the window. Had I known that they had changed their policy, I would have bought some of their LED lights to complete the bundle and purchase the pump on a separate invoice. That would have satisfied their conditions for the extended warranty if I'm reading correctly. In any case, I'm going to fill out the old registration card that came with my order and see what happens.

 

[JayG]

Just an update on the warranty brouhaha. Turns out that Pool Supply Unlimited IS a brick and mortar store that sells equipment, services pools, installs, etc. So they claim they are a legit seller of Pentair equipment and that as long as I use a "qualified" installer, I won't have any issue with the extended 3-year Pentair bundle warranty.

Just wanted to make sure this information was out there. So far, I'm impressed with PSU. A real person answers the phone who knows pool equipment and they have been very responsive at every step of the way.