Solar heater vacuum relief valve slow dribble of water?

[hpaddict]

Hi,

I have a heliocol solar pool heater. There's always a slow dribble of water from the vacuum relief valve (HC-121) when the system is fully pressurized (meaning there are no air bubbles and no sucking sound coming from the valve). The little white ball inside the valve doesn't seem to seal well enough. The valve is probably at least 10 years old, however I tried out the drip depot kinetic vacuum relief valve (the one with the green cap), and the exact same thing happens. Is this normal? Does that white ball just not seal fully? It seems really hard to buy a brand new HC-121 these days. Only Amazon has one for $33, but I'm not even sure it's in stock since there are no reviews. Just wondering if the slow dribble of water is expected before I pluck down the money...

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

No, a leak is not expected behavior. VRs need a certain amount of pressure to close and stay closed. Maybe you need to run your pump at a higher speed.

I don’t know the model of my 2 VRs, but it seems I end up replacing one or both almost every year. They seem to be intrinsically unreliable devices.