Cleaner booster pump

[Frisco]

So I have a question I have been getting mixed answers on for a few years now. The question stems from my system turning on my cleaner booster pump during freeze protect even though it is not in the freeze protect program to turn on. I have been told it is default for the booster pump to turn on since there is water in it and it needs to be moving to prevent freeze. But I have also been told that water is being pushed through the booster pump from the main pump even when the booster pump is not running. My concern is I don't want to leave my polaris pressure cleaner attached in the pool all winter but if the booster pump runs without the pressure cleaner attached it sounds awful (almost like gravel is flowing through it, a grinding sound). I've been told it's fine and won't damage it but I have a hard time believing that. It's so loud that it will wake me in the middle of the night if it is activated from freeze protect. I was basically told just to leave the cleaner attached if I was worried about it. However, I don't want my cleaner running for a day or days at a time if at cold temps. That's when parts on it start breaking.

So my question is basically 2 parts:

1) Is my cleaner booster pump really ok to run without the cleaner attached even though it sounds terrible?

2) Is there something I can attach to the return fitting in the pool to reduce flow and create the pressure needed for the pump to run in place of leaving the cleaner attached?

 

[JamesW]

The pump should not run without the proper pressure. If it's a Polaris wall fitting, there are snap in restrictor plates (red or blue) that can be used to create the proper back pressure.

The Booster pump does not need to be on freeze protect if it has good water flow through it. You can disable the freeze protection. What automation do you have?

Also, I would think that in Texas, the cold weather would be over.

 

[Frisco]

Thanks. I did just buy those restrictor plates so I will try installing those and testing out before next winter. Yes, we are done with freezing temps here in Texas. This has just been a problem I've been fighting for 3 winters. What you said is what I believed to be true. I had a hard time believing people that were telling me it was fine running without the pressure even thought it sounded awful. Even my pool company was telling me that. I'm running our system with iaqualink 2.0. The booster pump is not selected to turn on under freeze protect. iaqualink people have replaced the chip several times and upgraded me to the 2.0 to see if that solved the problem. After none of the above could get the booster pump to stop automatically turning on for freeze protect the iaqualink folks told me they believe it is because it is always default for all pumps to be turned on for freeze protect whether selected to turn on or not. I had a feeling though they couldn't figure out the problem so they just told me that to get me to give up. The last several winters I've just been putting the system in service mode and turning on the pump when I know it's going to freeze over night to avoid the headache. I really don't mind the booster pump running in freeze protect (even though it uses a lot of energy cost) as long as it doesn't damage it so I'm hoping those restrictor plates you mentioned will solve the issue.

 

[Qwaxalot]

You can unplug the relay that controls the booster pump (at the Aqualink panel), then plug it back in when it's time to use the cleaner again.
Or, if the booster has a seperate circuit breaker, turn it off.