Liquidator Issues

[Mwjman1]

Liquidator was installed a week or so back. :-D

Worked well until yesterday.

The pump shuts off for a couple of hours mid day and I heard a water drip - the Liquidator was overflowing. Thankfully I was home and happened to be walk past the unit and notice the leak.

I was able to isolate to the outlet side - could the inline check valve be the culprit? The float valves in the tank appear to be working as designed. I did not have a chance to pull the inline check valves, but turning off the flow valve seems to prevent the overflow.

I reads about some folks having float or valve issues, but overall, many were happy with the unit. I hope this is a non recurring issue, I really need to be able to depend on this.

I had to turn the valve off as am gone for the day, so no chlorine for me.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks...

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'd change the check valve. It seems to get the most complaints on installations where the unit is below the waterline.

 

[Txmat]

If you don't want to go without chlorine you can run the pump until you get a change to check the check valve.

 

[Mwjman1]

Is there a 'better' valve vs the one that came with the unit, or do I just keep my fingers crossed that the next one will work for my situation - AGP and below the water line?

I am going to give HASA a ring tomorrow.

Thanks all-

 

[Bama Rambler]

Several people are satisfied with the [s:vt1krt2s]SMA[/s:vt1krt2s] SMC 1/4" Polyproplene valves and I used the 3/8" [s:vt1krt2s]SMA[/s:vt1krt2s] SMC valve and it is still working on the unit I gave my sister.

I got mine at US Plastic but they're available several places. If you're considering ordering the Hayward Needle valve it'd be worth it to look at Drillspot for both.

 

[Mwjman1]

Bama, like these: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23970

Thanks!

 

[Bama Rambler]

That's the ones.

SMC not SMA.

 

[Mwjman1]

The new valves finally arrived. I went after the one that appeared to have and issue first. Once I swapped in the new valve, I 'bench tested' the old one, which I had done prior to installation. It leaked in both directions!

After that was identified, I decided to swap out both valves with the SMC units, they appear to be better built, IMHO.

Checked for overflow about an hour after the pump shut down, then again a few hours later...no leaks!

Thanks again for yet another TFP fix...

 

[Mwjman1]

Argh! Repeat of original problem - unit started to overflow again, with the SMC valves. Isolated to the check valve, removed, was allowing water and air (bench tested) against the flow direction, then all of the sudden, started to work again (not allowing air). Put it back in and will check it again an hour or so.

This is turning into a science project...would raising the LQ, even a foot help? Starting to wish I would have done a pump.

Any advice?

 

[barnyard]

Take a look at this thread - liquidator-installed-below-pool-level-t12287.html

As you can tell from that thread, you are not alone with overflow problems with installing the LQ with ABG pools.
Not to be a Debby Downer, but I didn't even bother to install my LQ this year. I couldn't trust it not to overflow and for us to find a drained pool at anytime.
Good luck and if you find a solution we would all LOVE to hear about it.

 

[Mwjman1]

After spending a week at summer camp with our Troop, I was able to spend some time thinking about the LQ.

When I arrived home, I lengthened the inlet hose to the pump intake...by about 3 ft. I ran he hose up to the skimmer, putting the check valve up at he top of the skimmer, where there should be little head pressure.

As of last night, it was working well, no issues. It has impacted the flow, I can only max out on 3 vs over 4 with the other setup. It really has to pull the liquid up quite a bit. My thought is that the reduced head pressure should prevent the check valve from failing - it appears after removing the SMC valve to test after the last overflow, is started working just fine on the bench.

I am not convinvced it is necessarily a flawed design, the LQ, but it is sold as an 'in ground' chlorinator as most inground pools are below the filter, not above. I wish I would have gone straight to a pump at this point.

I will update in a few days once I have some time to monitor the situation.