I have a couple of items I want to close off via Jandy valves. One is my bubblers to reduce pH rise. The second is the gas heater during the summer. The water in those areas would be stagnant from sitting. How often should you circulate the water in areas that you shut off?
Circulating bypassed equipment (Heater and Bubblers)
- Thread starter mfifield01
- Start date
Allowing a small amount of water to circulate through those items is better than completely stopping flow.
Even the Jandy heater with the automatic VersaFlo bypass allows some water to circulate through the heater whenever the pump is running.
Completely blocking the flow to a heater will allow water to evaporate inside the heat exchanger leaving deposits that will build up and lessen the efficiency of the heater unless you completely drain the heater each time.
For the shelf bubblers, I tried to reduce it to a minimum flow. What I found was that it creates air pockets somewhere in the plumbing. The standard return jets had a constant stream of small air bubbles with the bubblers at a low flow. With them all the way on or all the way off, I don't get the bubbles coming out of the return jets.
I'll probably just let the water flow through the heater.
I'll probably just let the water flow through the heater.
I guess I'll just cycle the bubbler valve once a week. What's the negative with stagnant water in one pipe? I would think the chlorine would kill anything as it's cycled.
markdpratt
Gold Supporter
- Dec 24, 2020
- 115
- Pool Size
- 14650
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I cycle my bubblers and scuppers once per day for 30 minutes to keep them chlorinated. 15 minutes would probably be sufficient. I took that advice from TFP.
Turbo1Ton
Gold Supporter
- Dec 26, 2019
- 1,842
- Pool Size
- 14500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I would probably do it more than once a week. I have deck jets that never get used, except for the 4 times a week I run them for 15 minutes to flush the water through them. Tue, Thur, Sat, Sun for 15 minutes is enough to keep the lines from growing anything.
I also have a heater bypass. It stays at about 50% open when it is bypassing. This prevents stagnant water from sitting in the heater and it still reduces my flow required through the SWCG significantly so that I can reduce my VSP RPM's to 1200 to keep everything happy. Before the bypass minimum I could run was 1600RPM. Having the bypass full closed or half closed, there was no effect on the minimum RPM's, it was 1200RPM either way.
--Jeff
I was hoping I could leave the bubblers at about 25%, but it defeats the purpose. With my current VSP set at 1300rpms, it creates air in the plumbing. The bubblers are not automated, so I'd have to manually switch them over. During the summer, I cycle the water feature (sheer descent) about twice a week for 15 minutes without issue.
One interesting feature of my pool is a separate return line that runs to a pair of ports in the bottom of the pool. These are controlled via a manual Jandy valve that I leave closed.
As I understand it, the purpose of these returns is to allow heated water to more-efficiently warm the pool (FWIW, I almost never use the heater to heat the whole pool).
I open the Jandy valve about once a year to flush out any debris that has settled in the return lines. Maybe I should do so more often...but FWIW, I'm not experiencing any water chemistry issues that are consistent with algae growing in the lines.
As I understand it, the purpose of these returns is to allow heated water to more-efficiently warm the pool (FWIW, I almost never use the heater to heat the whole pool).
I open the Jandy valve about once a year to flush out any debris that has settled in the return lines. Maybe I should do so more often...but FWIW, I'm not experiencing any water chemistry issues that are consistent with algae growing in the lines.