Nature2 Fusion eats o-rings

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J

johndtitus

0
Jul 29, 2011
8
Has anyone else experienced problems with a Nature2 Fusion eating the o-ring that is under the chlorine injector cap? The pool supply store says that I have an air leak. The pool builder says the tiny bubbles I see in the returns are from the O3 generator. I tried replacing the o-ring with an AN-343 o-ring made from Viton (FKM) which is supposed to be reasonably resistant to chorine dioxide, but that one only lasted about 60 days (versus 30 for the oringinal Buna o-ring). I am trying to figure out if o-ring destruction is inherent to the Nature2 fusion design or if I really do have an air leak or some other problem.

Pool has a one-year warranty and was completed February 2011. 13.5K gallon inground with Intelliflow, sand filter, O3 and Nature2 Fusion.

John T.
Phoenix, AZ
 
Viton should definitely be better than Buna. A side note here...most people on this board agree that the nature2 is more hassle than it is worth. You might want to do a google search (lower left of this page) on it. Do you have to keep the nature2 to maintain the warranty?
 
It shows as part 6, 8 in my exploded view (O-ring, large collar) and is part of kit R0502300, so it is not even supplied separately. Yes I am lubing it. The failure is not typical of an O-ring being pinched. Instead, the lower part of the O-ring swells and forms a million little cracks that ultimately lead to a surface that is too rough to seal. Then I replace the O-ring (again and again).

I am aware that the Fusion2 is a PITA, but I was hoping at least to use it as a Chorine injector, even if I never replace the mineral pack. . .

Cheers,
John T.
 
Not knowing the path of flow through the unit it's hard to guess the exact cause but I suspect gas buildup from the trichlor eroding affecting the rubber. You could find a teflon o-ring to fit the groove but it'd probably cost as much as 10 regular o-rings.
 
That was the conclusion of the guy at Leslies - chorine gas attacking the O-ring. Armed with that advice I always run the pump for a minute or two after adding tablets to the tablet chamber to try to purge the air from the chamber - unfortunately to no avail.

It seems the design, which will accumulate air in the top of the chamber near the O-ring, is not well thought out, but if the real cause is an air leak (to which the Nature2 is apparently especially susceptible) then I need to trace the cause.

I am using Viton, which is a fluoroelastomer, similar to teflon.

Cheers,
John T.
 
I already switched to Viton FKM compound. It works better than the original O-ring but still only lasts about 60 days. The original O-ring was nothing more than a standard AN-343 Buna O-ring. Pool manufacturer has reported the problem to Nature2. The pool manufacturer rep will be out later today to inspect. My guess is he will put in another O-ring then come back in 30 days to see how badly eroded it really is.

Cheers,
 

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The "mayonnaise" that was building up inside the Nature2 Fusion Inground finally got to the point that it was impossible to separate the tab feeder cannister from the cap. Warranty service arrived to replace the cannister and cap. The technician's assessment was as follows:

(1) the o-ring was the wrong type;
(2) the mayonnaise is my fault because I added too many chlorine tabs to the tablet feeder (there were two large and the remains of two almost dissolved in the chamber). He removed all but one tablet and advised never to put more than one or two tablets in the tablet chamber.

Apparently the technician had not even read the user manual for the Nature2, which recommends adding a month's worth up to 10 tablets (4 lbs) of chlorine tablets. Moreover, what is the purpose of having an erosion feeder if you have to put tablets in one-by-one every other day rather than loading a month's worth of chlorine and using the numbered setting to feed the chlorine evenly throughout the week?

I predict the new O-ring will last another month, maybe 6 weeks. The mayonaise has already started to accumulate.
 
Is it possible that residual 02 from the O3 generator is accumulating in the Nature2 and forming Chlorine Dioxide gas? If so, how can I avoid this? If I reduce the flow through the Nature2 (there is a bypass valve) will that make the problem better or worse? What if I rigged an air bleed that went from the cap to the elbow that is above and downstream of the Nature2? It seems to me that if the gas bubble could be bled off, the problem would stop, but I can't figure out why nobody else has this problem. Any thoughts?
 
I don't think that there is any such thing as an "Intellipure" ozonator. Do you mean UltraPure or QuikPure?

Is the ozonator injecting ozone before the tab feeder? If it is, you would get some sort of adverse reactions and products. Possibly such reactive species as the chlorine monoxide radical, but I'm not sure. Either way, the ozone and chlorine should be kept fully separate.

Why are you using ozone, metals and trichlor anyway? I think that ozone is counterproductive in most situations. Metals are not going to do anything positive for you, and trichlor is only useful when it is very carefully used so as not to add too much cyanuric acid to the system.

I would cut out the systems and switch to liquid chlorine.
 
I noticed late last week that the Nature2 technician had actually sabotaged the QuickPure3 (crimped the ozone tube) to make it appear the Fusion unit was working correctly and not forming a gas bubble.

I am now in contact with the manufacturer of the QuickPure3 to find out if they are aware of any compatability problems and/or of any tablet feeders that do not have the same problem as the Fusion. If I understand correctly, the Rainbow 320 actually purges the water out of the tablet chamber when the pump is not running as opposed to the Fusion, where the tablets are soaking in water with an airspace above. The Rainbow 300 is actually top fed (offline) and so may also flush the gas bubble out, but I need data to confirm.
 
You can't have ozone introduced before a tab feeder; it's a very bad idea.

If you are going to use both, they should be on separate return lines. Ozone and chlorine are not compatible.
 
Pool is still under warranty. This is the system recommended by the manufacturer, so it is not particularly helpful to suggest I rip out the whole system and try something different.

Moreover, how is it that ozone generators (which must be upstream of the filter) and tablet feeders (which must be downstream of everything) are commonly installed and at least some combinations have been working for years? Two out of three of my bidders recommented ozone and a tablet feeder.
 
I just experienced this strange phenomenon of the Large Collar o-ring expansion with the Zodiac Nature 2 Fusion Inground mineral sanitizer. I didn't have a week to wait to order something off of the Internet, without running my pumps, because of this leak. Thanks to this thread, I was able to find AS568A-343 comparable part to substitute the Zodiac o-ring. I used the Pentair R172009 Rainbow Auto Chlorinator o-ring. It's dimensions are 3-3/4" I.D., 4-1/8" O.D., 3/16 CS or Width. I plan to order more of these online, I found a place to get a 10-pack for $4.99!! Thanks again for this thread and hopefully other people can make use of this information.
 
jpetraitis said:
I used the Pentair R172009 Rainbow Auto Chlorinator o-ring. It's dimensions are 3-3/4" I.D., 4-1/8" O.D., 3/16 CS or Width.
Click to expand...

I hate to bump old threads, but I wanted to weigh in on this issue. My customer has a very new pool (2015), and the o-ring in the Fusion expanded to nearly 1" bigger than original. It got to the point of being impossible to fill the tab cylinder and get the collar back on without major leaks. I tried the Rainbow lid o-ring today and no leaks plus (at my cost) was very economical! I will update this thread at the point where the o-ring fails to provide a watertight seal. Thanks jpetraitis.
 
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