this is my first post and hope i posted this in the right spot ok, here we go. i have a inground pool, 12000gal, stra rite 3 cartridge, max-e 1hp motor with a turbo clean popup cleaner. Today i installed a solar heater, 4 coils with approximately 200' per coil. now i set my system up like some of the others ive seen out their, running off my pool pump. now i ran 2" pvc out of my cartridge outlet to a horizonal check valve and 90degree up 5 feet to a ball valve (so i can stop water going to my coils). from the valve, the 2" pvc goes up 10' to my flat piched roof were it goes to a 1.5" manifold for my coils. the outlets of my coils are the same, (1.5 manifold to a 2"pvc, to a ball valve, to my turbo clean system). i also installed a bypass valve below the two other ball valves. now if your not confused please carry on with this. before i started this solar project, i was getting about 20psi of pressure in my stra rite cartridge housing. now after my project im getting about 32 to 35 psi, but now my popups won't go up in the pool. did i screw up using 2" pvc with a 1hp motor????.the rest of the existing plumbing is 2". what pressure is needed for the popups? should i cut out my 2" verticals going up the wall to and from my coils and put in 1.5" pvc? now im frustrated and now in a bind. ooooooh the other thing, i close off my 2 ball valves to and from my coils and use the bypass, the popups work. please any ideas will help.
need help. might have screwed up!
- Thread starter mean green
- Start date
Welcome to tfp, mean green 
If I understand correctly, your pressure goes up 12-15 psi (from 20) when the water is flowing through the solar heating tubes and the pop-ups dont work then...but when bypassing the tubes (basically your old plumbing) the pressure is at 20 psi and the pop-up work?
I would guess then that there is too much restriction to the flow when all of the flow is running to the solar tubes and therefore not enough flowrate to cause the pop-ups to pop up.
Three "solutions" that come to mind:
If I understand correctly, your pressure goes up 12-15 psi (from 20) when the water is flowing through the solar heating tubes and the pop-ups dont work then...but when bypassing the tubes (basically your old plumbing) the pressure is at 20 psi and the pop-up work?
I would guess then that there is too much restriction to the flow when all of the flow is running to the solar tubes and therefore not enough flowrate to cause the pop-ups to pop up.
Three "solutions" that come to mind:
- 1. Only allow part of the flow to go through the solar tubes and the rest to go directly like the pool (would need a three way style valve) to get enough flow rate to run the pop ups.
2. Make more parrellel runs of the solar tubes to attempt to reduce the restriction and get enough flow for the popup.
3. Only have the popups run when the solar tubes are not being used.
ok ill look at my coil manifold and see if i can rework it. now i should have also mentioned that this is my first pool so again im tring to learn all i can. (wife thinks this pool is my g-friend). so is the gague on top of the cartridge housing working pressure???? if i cut out my 2" pvc going up the wall and replaced it with 1.5" or even 1.5" on the return to the pool from coils and not the inlet to the coils, would that help with the water flow to my popups? again im new to the workings of a pool but willing to listen.