My Fussy Liquidator

[arjaygee]

I've had my Liquidator now for a little over a month, and have a *love/hate* relationship with this thing. Simply put, I love it when it works, and hate it when it doesn't; and for my system, I never know (day-to-day) when it's going to work. For the last week, it has not worked but sometimes I can kick-start it by partially closing the suction valve. Strange to me that closing the valve doesn't always work, not to mention the LQ system as a whole not always working. My theory is that I don't quite have enough suction but, also, since I'm going in through the pump's drain plug, I'm thinking churning water, as opposed to flowing, may be the main culprit for inconsistent performance.

So, unless anyone has a brilliant idea (which happens often on this site), I'm going to drill and tap into the pipe going into the pump (like the LQ instructions say to do). So, my LQ Outlet line will go into the pipe that feeds the pump, as opposed to the drain plug.

Here's a link to my other (related) thread for other details about my adventure with this system.
stock-liquidator-not-working-not-too-surprised-but-t36143.html

 

[Bama Rambler]

Try closing the valve between the pump and skimmer on the suction line a bit and see if it helps. If it does then your problem is low suction head. You can alleviate it by leaving the valve partially closed or by adding a reduced section of piping in the suction line.

 

[arjaygee]

This is very frustrating. :grrrr:
I really don't have a valve between the skimmer and pump, other than the pool/spa valve and skimmer diverter valve (added pic... as if you didn't know what one looks like). I did play with the diverter valve but this did not make a difference. You can see in the other picture that I really don't have much room to: a) add a reduced section of piping; and b) add a valve between pump and skimmer.

I did tap into the pipe just before the skimmer for the LQ outlet line but this made no difference. All of this effort, and it seems like there is no practical solution to getting the Liquidator to work with my system. I still don't get how I go from being able to get the black ball to peg the top of the flow meter, and now nothing seems to make this thing flow.

I'm on the verge of yanking this thing out and selling it. Any other ideas before I give up???

 

[Bama Rambler]

Take your 3-way valve and turn it a bit counter clockwise until it partially blocks the inlet to the pump. That will increase your suction head and should make the LQ work like it should.

 

[arjaygee]

Dave, neither the 3-way valve, nor anything else seemed to make a difference, which led me to conclude that there must be something obstructing flow. So, after running through a few checks, I finally bypassed the flow meter, and the thing started flowing like the Colorado river. I pulled off the flow meter to inspect it, and found that I could barely blow through the thing. I also found that little black ball seems to be jammed at the base, since I can't seem to get it to budge when I turn it upside down. Wow, flow meter obstructing flow -- talk about irony.

So, for now, I've got the system going without a meter, and will either try to fix the flow meter or send it back.

I'm wondering if not having a check valve on the Outlet side may have caused the ball to get stuck. I'm thinking maybe a quick surge of back pressure when the pump goes on could cause this. Just a thought.

Anyway, I've learned to not get too excited just yet, when it comes to this system, but hopefully I'm almost there with getting this thing to work consistently. It's been a crazy adventure but I've learned a lot.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I ran mine almost a season without the flow meter. You'll probably have to poke something in the meter to get the ball to move.

 

[carlscan26]

Call HASA - they will send you a repalcement flowmeter