Can these valves be saved?

[lborne]

PB did not plumb the inlets to the pump as requested. Can't get him to change it, so I'll do it myself. I want to place a 3 way valve basically where the left most T is located so I have the Spa Drain on one inlet, and the Pool intakes (drain, skim and vac) on the other valve inlet. The reason is to add an actuator.

As you can see, there is no room. Its all T's and 90s. Is there any way to save them? You can not buy just the valve body for those vavles. If I could glue on a fitting around the outside of the T, that would work. But the OD of these 2" fittings are 2.72 and the ID of 2.5" fitting is 2.875, which is too great a difference. I could machine a sleave 1/16" thick to fit, but I'm not sure that is such a good idea.

Any ideas?[attachment=0:16pgdey9]P8252973.jpg[/attachment:16pgdey9]

 

[X-PertPool]

I'm not sure it will work for this situation but they do sell pipe extenders, they are a glue fitting. here is a site that sells them.

http://www.flexpvc.com/cart/agora.cgi?p ... -Extenders

 

[waste]

Thanks for the pic

The first thing you've got to do is STOP HIRING METH-HEADS TO PLUMB THE POOL!!!! (I'll admit the pipes look straight and level... but they left NO room for repairs It also looks like they used 1 1/2" valves, utilizing the ability to put a 2" fitting on the outside of the valves' sleeves (they scr*wed you on the valves :grrrr: ).

The fact that they abutted all the fittings may make this quite expensive for you! I'm pretty sure that a Jandy Never Lube 3 way valve takes up a little more room than a 2' tee. If I'm correct in this, it will mean cutting all 4 vertical pipes and installing 3 new '1 -way' valves and 1 3 way valve (if they had left you even 1" between fittings all you'd have to do is replace the tee to the far left with a 3 way valve)

There are 2 ways to handle a 1 fitting changeout, but if the fitting you're replacing isn't the EXACT size - you need to do a bunch of replumbing The 2 ways are to either use a pipe extender or a Socket Saver (I'll tell you about them, if you'd like)

Perhaps Tim (Spishex) will see this and have another option (he's the one I learned about the Socket Savers from - and they DO work )

Please let me know if you want more from me on this

 

[meatloaf]

I'd like to know more about Socket Savers. Any additional info would be quite helpful. Thanks

 

[Guest]

Cut down the length of the pipe (carefully!) and use a bladed object (screwdriver, chisel, etc.) to pry off the pipe around the valve body. The fact that they glued the pipe over the valve is actually a plus in this instance! If you cut a couple "relief" cuts down the length of the pipe and work slowly you can save the valve.

It may not be right, but it will work (don't ask me how I know ). And valves are pretty expensive (in case you haven't already noticed!).

Bruce

 

[Bama Rambler]

It ticks me off to see fittings jammed right up against other fittings. :grrrr: The advice about slicing through the fitting is a good one but be sure not to scar the valve cuff.

The first thing I told the installer was that no fitting was to be butted up against any other fitting. I did make an exception on the return eyeball fitting. The 90 is butted right up to it because I didn't want the piping sitting outside the uprights.

 

[lborne]

First of all - THANK YOU.

I think I have a plan. I will cut (where shown in red) and throw that section out (keeping the guts of the spa valve for spares). Then use the socket saver to ream out the T conncecting the pool inputs, place a union underground with new pipe and new 90. I can get the 2-2.5" 3 way valve so that 2" pipe can go inside the valve and tie into the T. That seems like the minimal amount of effort and time.

Luckily, all this is the suction side so it is not seeing lots of pressure.[attachment=0:3fqc5byd]P8252973b.jpg[/attachment:3fqc5byd]

 

[meatloaf]

Before you do any cutting, will you have enough movement to spread the pipes so you can insert the new valve?
Everything looks to very rigid at this time. I'm just thinking ahead.

 

[Guest]

Careful how many 90's you use. Each 90 equates to roughly 10' of pipe, and the outer radius tends to create turbulence (bubbles) that can feed in to the pump and cause cavitation. The current setup seems to be kind of "busy", so I would be careful as to how you plumb it underground.

It is a clean installation, just too close together (and not how you asked it to be!). Think it out before you make your repairs and you should be fine.

Bruce

 

[lborne]

I won't be adding any additional 90s. Just replacing the one I cut out. All the pipes go straight down a couple feet, then out toward the pool, so by digging around I can get enough movement to plumb. Or I may have to use a slip coupling (without a step inside) to slide over the pipe to the pump.

I won't be doing any cutting unless I have all the parts ready to go. And even then, I'll have some backup plan in case I run into problems so that I can run the pump.

 

[spishex]

First of all - THANK YOU.

I think I have a plan. I will cut (where shown in red) and throw that section out (keeping the guts of the spa valve for spares). Then use the socket saver to ream out the T conncecting the pool inputs, place a union underground with new pipe and new 90. I can get the 2-2.5" 3 way valve so that 2" pipe can go inside the valve and tie into the T. That seems like the minimal amount of effort and time.

Luckily, all this is the suction side so it is not seeing lots of pressure.

I think that's the way to go. There a few ways you could save the existing valve but a new 2" 3-way will make it a much neater process.

The socket savers are great, but they're 1/2" bits so be sure you have a drill that can handle it. Otherwise you can just use the pipe extender for that tee.

 

[lborne]

The pipe extender seems easier; however, it would reduce the flow area. Anyone know by how much? (ie. wall thickness of the extender)? Am I worrying about that for nothing?

Edit: Just found out there are fitting extenders that fit over the fitting.... perfect and won't restrict flow.