Should I put in a heater bypass?

[tj__r]

Our plumbing currently goes from cartridge filter about 15' horizontal to the gas heater then 15' back to a chlorinator (left empty most of the time) and out to the pool. All this is in our basement; lines then go up and through the sill plate out to manifolds and then to the pool. There's no bypass for the heater. Here's a crude diagram:

[attachment=1:1kq768vt]pool plumbing.gif[/attachment:1kq768vt]

Would it be wise to add a couple tees and a valve to bypass the heater like this?

[attachment=0:1kq768vt]pool plumbing with bypass.gif[/attachment:1kq768vt]

The boiler drain would be added so I can screw on a garden hose to the floor drain and empty the filter container when cleaning the cartridge.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[jblizzle]

That could certainly increase your flow rate some when the heat is not needed. Seems like a good idea to me. May want to add another ball valve or check valve on the heater return so no flow tries to enter the heater backward when the bypass is open.

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short

 

[duraleigh]

Actually, that's a great diagram. Easy to read. What software did you use?

I agree with Jason that a bypass can come in very handy and looks like you have room to do so.

 

[JasonLion]

What they said.However if you don't have some other reason to be doing plumbing work it might be best to leave things alone for now and install the bypass at the same time you are doing something else.

 

[mas985]

What is your heater model? Many heaters have a built in bypass so an external one may not buy you much. What is your objective for the bypass?

 

[tj__r]

Duraleigh - I just used Windows Paint and its canned symbols for the diagram. Quick, but not very editable.

Jason - As far as other plumbing work, I really want to add a better drain to make it easy to pull the cartridge. The way it is now I have to open the drain plug on the pump and use a shallow pan which is a real nuisance. Looking at it again makes me think I may want to just add another ball valve and a length of 1/2" PVC leading to the floor drain instead of using a hose; disadvantage is that it has to go a ways around the outside of the furnace room to avoid tripping over it. Plus I think working with PVC is kinda fun when it goes well.

Mark - Heater is a Laars Lite model LLG. Don't think it has any builtin bypass. I figured I'd get a bit more flow out of my pump by avoiding 30 or 40 feet of pipe, plus figured I'd eliminate some erosion on my heater - or is corrosion from leaving standing water in it just as bad?

 

[mas985]

According to the manual, it has an automatic flow control valve which means it has a built in bypass. The extra bypass will help some but I would keep the heater path open even with the bypass to not only maximize the flow rate but also to keep water moving through the heater. There is virtually no erosion in a heater but there can be corrosion if the PH gets out of balance so I don't think it is a good idea to leave water sit too long in a heater because you won't know for sure what the chemistry will be while it is stagnant.

Also, if you are trying to maximize the flow rate for efficiency reason's, keep in mind that a pump will draw more power with higher flow rates so the only way to benefit energy wise from higher flow rates is to reduce pump run time.