backup valve

Jump to latest Follow Reply
J

jlim0930hh

Member
Jan 5, 2020
16
Dallas,tx
I have a Zodiac G62 black backup valve that came with my sport 3900. It is about 1 year old and I noticed that my polaris is stuck in the corner all day long, most of the time with the wheel spinning and tail moving and whenever the backup valve kicks in the tail stops and the wheel stops but it never backsup. I pulled the line and the backup valve out of the water and laid it down next to the pool to watch it and there is a small tiny leak from the swivel connector on the line but no leaks from the backup valve. When the backup valve kicks in it shoots water out of the side whole and it does look like its working like it should.

What could be the issue?
When the backup valve kicks in should the polaris unit shoot water out of the back?
Is the force from the backup valve too weak? I do have a booster pump attached and I can tell that the water pressure is good.
Anything else that I should look at?

I tried to take the backup valve apart but it looks like it was fused and I was unable to turn it.
 
I have the same cleaner and when mine gets stuck in a corner that back up valve will eventually pull it free, not always on the 1st try...I have seen it go 2-3 times before the angle is just right and it will free it up. When it kicks in the wheels on the 3900 stop and the pressure coming out of the backup valve goes from nothing to a good heavy stream. Does your behave this way with the water coming out of the reversing valve?

The unit comes with restricter disc that you can change out where the hose hooks onto the wall fitting. If you look in your manual it will tell you how many revolutions your wheel should turn in a minute. I would start there and make sure that is correct. I put a piece of tape on the wheel on mine and used a stopwatch to time it while I had it held up out of the water counting revolutions. If it's lower than recommended then your pressure is low and you may need a different disc or no disc at all. This will effect the power the reversing valve has as well.
 
I would fix the leak in the swivel. Even small leaks affect the power of the moving mechanisms the cleaner was designed for.

The backup valve is in the hose and backup valve yanks the Polaris back and turns it around to reposition. It does it every few minutes to get the cleaner out of a corner it may be stuck in and add to its random journey around the pool. Water should not be contentiously jetting out of the backup valve. If it is the valve is broken.

The valve should go into backup about every 2 1/2 min to 3 minutes. If it is longer than that, the gears may be worn. Zodiac also has a “double acting” backup valve. It runs twice as fast and backs up the cleaner more frequently, about every 1 minute 30 seconds to 1 minute 45 seconds.

The G52 is said to backup every 2 1/2 minutes. The G59 backups approximately every 1 minute 45 seconds.

The “double acting” backup valve is used in smaller pools where the cleaner gets stuck in a corner more frequently.

The backup valve can be disassembled and the valve body unscrewed although it may be difficult to get an old one apart. How do I get the collar off a Polaris 360/ 380 back up valve discussed different techniques to open the valve.

Zodiac G52 is usually the standard replacement backup valve. Pentair has the E10 backup valve that is bit more expensive then the Zodiac and some people have said works better and lasts longer on Polaris cleaners.

Polaris Pool Cleaners - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Rocket J Squirrel said:
That might not give an accurate reading.
View attachment 327950
Click to expand...
Thanks for the correction...I do remember holding it under the water for the test after I read that passage you posted. My wife timed the start/stop while I held and counted. I was describing the process from memory, so thanks for the correction on the proper way to perform the test.
 
Thanks for the replies.

So when the backup valve is engaged does any water come out of the polaris? is all the water diverted to the backup via the hole? i noticed that even when the backup valve is engaged I felt some water coming out of the jet at the back of the polaris so maybe the forces between the jet and the valve was cancelling each other.
 
The backup valve should give a very strong jet of water that yanks the cleaner back. It will overcome any water still running through the cleaner.
 
Today I tested the rpm of the wheel and it was very slow so I removed the restrictor disk and now the rpm is ~38

Is it ok to run this without any restrictor disk? When I unscrewed the thing from the wall it had the blue disk in it.
 
Yes, see how it runs without the restrictor disk.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply