alternatives to ortega spring check valves

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T

tomsop

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Oct 18, 2012
27
I posted a question about waterfall pulp losing priming and I think it is because the end caps to each line had missing springs and check valve housings on each ortega spring check valve housing. It is weird - I bought the house 2 years ago and just noticed that there are no springs or housing to any of the valves.

It seems they also stopped making these ortegal spring check valves because the replacement parts are expensive (or am I wrong?)

If I put new valves on each line what would you recommend I buy - see my related post to see the picture of the waterfall pump and valves.
 
Hi Sargent - I had a question about the new jandy valve vs. the olld ortega valves. It would be cheaper to go with the Jandy but would requireme to cut off the existing ortega valves and install the Jandy's.

What I think may help me decide is currently what I do is stick a hose into one of the end caps while the pump is running to fill it with water and you can hear the pump improve its prime and then I quickly screw on the lid before I get blasted from the pressure. However, most of the time when I get it this far I screw on the cap and then let it buiild pressure and it never primes until I release air out by slowly unscrewing the end cap to let out some air and then tighten and sometimes do this 5 to 10 times before the pump primes and finally turns over - so infuriating that I have to do this to get it to prime. If I go with the Jandy on all 4 lines I am afraid I have no way of introducing water back into the pump (the picture on my other post shows there is no other way) and I do not think there is a way to let air out. I assume with everything working correctly the valves should close so there is no water loss. Will the valve let out the air so the pump can prime? I hope these questions make sense. I was thinking if the valves operated properly this would not be an issue but the ortega valve allows you to introduce water and let out air to help prime the pump and I am not sure if I lose that capability wth the Jandy valves.
 
I put a jandy check valve on my system because my multiport on my sand filter apparently let's air in and let's the water drain back to the pool. I have a main drain line and a skimmer line that tie into a common suction to the pump. I put the check valve on the suction before the pump. The check valve holds water in the pump, and when it turns on there is no problem. It will blow the air out of the system and you shouldn't have to bleed the air off.
 
I can accept that it may not be recommended. In my case it seemed to be the best location. I hadn't located the exact air leak at the time, and this location covered all the bases. Since it is the multiport that is leaking, putting the valve on the discharge side of the pump would've worked. If the pump lid ever leaks, the check valve should hold the water in the suction lines from the skimmer and main drain and make it easier to prime. What is the entrapment danger?


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Unless I turned the skimmers off, and took the covers off both drains, I don't see how that could ever happen. I understand what you are saying about holding a vacuum on a sealed line vs an open loop. I don't see how that would be any different if the check valve was moved two feet to the discharge side of the pump. Any check valve anywhere in the system would have that effect unless it was just on one of multiple lines to prevent backflow like from a spa to the pool. In that case the vacuum wouldn't be held because there would still be another path for water to flow in from to break the vacuum.


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My check valve is between the pump and filter, which would have worked just as well for the situation with the multi port valve.
 
Right. I didn't know what was leaking when I put the check valve in. No water leaks out when it is under pressure. Apparently it pulls air through the backwash port or around the handle stud that goes through the top of the valve. It is moist around the handle base, but never really a leak. I'm not sure if you can rebuild that part, or if you just have to buy a new one. I'll cross that bridge when I get there.


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