Caretaker 99 Head Refurbish?

[sulaco]

I have a Caretaker 99 and I recently rebuilt the distribution valve. That’s working fine, but most of the heads are sticking and don’t pop up all the way (so they never get a chance to rotate) or they get stuck while extended (and then also never get a chance to rotate). The system is about 20 years old, and with the exception of one or two, I don’t believe any of the heads have been replaced.

I’ve removed all of them and rinsed them out, but even when dry the plastic sticks to itself and they don’t seem to reliably function.

Are these just worn out and need relaxing or is there some other way to refurbish them? I can’t imagine lubricating them would do anything for very long with the flow across each of them.

Is there another option other than replacing them? At $70/head, 25 replacements is a hard pill to swallow.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

I think you have to accept that stuff like that is not designed to last forever or be rebuilt.

@proavia may have thoughts.

 

[Roscoe]

Yes, they wear out. Typically the tang corners get bent and jammed. If you are the original owner, then the hardware has a lifetime warranty (Gear set 800-822-7933, Pop ups 855-280-6465).
Every time I call them I get different shipping costs, how many per month, how long it takes to ship. Flurida was the last one handling the warranty, they handled things better.

My 5 port must have at least 12 - 14 psi for the pop ups to lift high enough in order to rotate.

Remove them, pull the tab up and let them snap back in place. Rotate them thru the cycle. Sometimes that buys you time.
Remove the pop up, on the farthest end, in each line and let the gear set go thru the cycle. Maybe there is trash in the pop up water line

 

[proavia]

Like anything else, the popup heads wear out.
The plastic wears. I have not heard of any way to rebuilt the popups. Replacement is the only likely avenue if you want the IFCS to function as designed.

While I have a different brand IFCS, my popups wear out about every 4-5 years or so. My manufacturer offers a lifetime warranty to the original owner, so mine are covered under that warranty.

 

[sulaco]

I found another issue while trying to get a head out of the bottom of the hot tub - the insert has a developed a "detent" like bulge preventing the head from operating normally. The insert on the top step of the hot tub is now oblong and no longer circular, resulting in a similar binding. I'm assuming I'm going to have to get these inserts replaced since new heads will bind the same as the old ones.

Replying Roscoe, I have plenty of pressure available. If I close off the side jets, I can get up to 20psi, it's closer to 10 with those open, but I don't see a discernible difference in head performance either way.

I called Jandy/Caretaker/Fluidra and they are going to replace them under warranty.