Hey Matchless, one would think the manufacturer would fix things like, that. But you never know. It wasnt till I had the aqua genie for a while that I found it this has been a problem since day 1. The mfr still is doing the same thing.
All of my returns are plumbed individually. One pipe for each return, and each pipe has a valve at the equipment pad.
I did the returns like this for 2 reasons.
1. So I can control the water flow through each individual pipe and balance the water return back to the pool. I can partially close the valves and balance the water flow back to the pool evenly between all of the returns.
Being able to do this proves to be very effective in getting the current flow going good so that all the floaties on top of the water go into the skimmer. The alternative method of 1 piple around the pool with branches off of it (a.k.a. a return loop) for each return means that the return closest to the filter will have better flow that the remaining ones down stream. Depending on how many returns you have, the last one at the end of the line might not provide much circulation at all.
As a note: It is possible to design a return loop so that all are balanced, but that takes a bit of hydro engineering which includes calculating GPMs, head loss, etc. And most PBs dont have the first clue how to do that. They will just put in however many returns and 1 1/2 pipe, and whatever the results are, good or not...they will leave you with it.
2. I am scared to death of an underground leak!!! If I ever develop a leak in a return line, I can plug the eyeball fitting and close the valve on that pipe. Leak stopped until the source of it localted and determine how to fix it (or not) and still be able to use the pool. With a loop design return, if you spring a underground leak, there isnt any easy way to control, or stop it. You have to fix the leak. Immediately.
Dave, I've heard one person mention the same thing about possibly pushing debris back in from the basket. Seems like they surely would have tested for and fixed that during development. Also seems like the extra suction created by the Venturi would help overcome that effect. Do you know if yours is in fact a Venturi design? Also, other than this obvious benefit, why did you install valves on all of your returns? And did you actually run separate lines for each return from the pump?
Suz, thanks for the compliment on the design. I'm on about iteration #278 (or so) since last June (I'm a planner and tweaker). Hope to start building in March of 2016. I have posted pics in the body of the thread before, but just didn't feel it was that relevant to my question and was trying to keep the thread short and concise. Feel free to post it in a reply if you still want to.
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