I did it a little different. I tee'd off before the heater inlet then installed a 2 way valve which I'll throw an actuator on. Then plumbed the return to the cleaner line that we didn't use.
Glacier Pool Cooler - Help
- Thread starter Treetopp
- Start date
Very nice. Im trying to get mine dialed in. My return line from the chiller is plumbed to the suction line of the skimmer. For some reason, its allowing air to be drawn into the pump. I didnt use a check valve, so maybe that is the reason?
I didn't install a check valve on the outlet being it's a dedicated line.
I'm the farthest from an expert but maybe you need to allow more water flow into the basin. My thoughts are maybe the pump is pulling the water level down enough to allow air into the system. I would wait for others to chime in and being I have a grand total of 2 hrs experience with it running.
The water level in the basin is always above the drain hole. I'm not using the sump pump. I was trying to see if the chiller worked without it. I dont understand why the chiller needs to force the water out of the basin. I was going to make a make shift p-trap in the basin tomorrow to see if that helps.
jark87
Silver Supporter
- Jun 5, 2011
- 1,308
- Pool Size
- 25500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
Interesting. So the basin won’t overflow if the pump fails? That has always been my greatest concern about running the chiller overnight or when I’m not home.
Quick update. Fired it up around 7pm last night and will continue to let it run. Started at 95° and dropped to 87° this morning. It has been 91° the last several mornings so I'd say a clear 4° drop overnight. I feel this is on par with what others in Houston are getting right now.
That is the goal. I need to figure out how to remove the air from the chiller basin drain line. The pump also loses prime when it turns off with the basin 2" valve on the return line is closed. I believe the pump's water drains into the chiller return line after the 2" ball valve. Maybe a check valve really close to the tee into the skimmer line will fix this issue, but Im not sure.
Prior to making these adjustments I would run the cooler all night and the temperature barely dropped 1 degree
My cooler has overflowed twice now. Flooding our yard and draining our pool. Each time this has happened I find the pump float up but the pump switch is not engaged so the pump wasn’t running.
jark87
Silver Supporter
- Jun 5, 2011
- 1,308
- Pool Size
- 25500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
That’s what I was afraid of. My chiller is at least 7 years old, so I’m starting to worry about that pump, especially since I run the chiller every day for 4+ months each year. I probably should just replace it or at a minimum, have a spare ready to go.
@TheoneAB how are you able to run your chiller without the pump?
A guy from The Pool Depot came out to look at our Cooler today because of the aforementioned problem. The Pool Depot is a Glacier warranty center in Houston. The guy turned my cooler on and watched it for 15 minutes and declared everything was fine. He didn’t even examine the pump, pump float or float switch. When I asked him to look at it, he insisted everything was fine and refused to investigate further. So I asked him if he was going to pay our water bill for the extra water to refill the pool if it overflowed again (yes it was a smart alek comment but I was frustrated). He stormed off cussing at me and saying they would not honor my Glacier warranty. So now I’m still having to babysit my Cooler when it’s running and I don’t feel confident running it overnight…. Which totally defeats the purpose of having one.
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I wonder if you could use a water sensor alarm near the base of the chiller? That way if it overflows, it would let you know. Something like this.
Attachments
It would be nice to rig up something that would at least alert you if the chiller pump is not running. Ideally it would close the valve thst allows water to flow to the chiller or turn off the pump. My energy monitor could detect when the pump circuit is not using any or excess power, but the alert is only to their app local to where the alert is set. I will be installing my Glacier soon and I will give it some thought. Maybe there is some power/water sensor and a njsPC solution.
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I just installed my cooler and still playing with it at the moment. I currently use a custom built P trap built with 1.5" pvc in the basin and have it gravity drain to the suction line of the pool. I have another issue I have to fix first before I can finish my cooler install. One of my skimmer 2 way valve is sucking in air right in front of the return pump. I have no room to cut and fix, so I have to circular saw to cut the bad section out.
jark87
Silver Supporter
- Jun 5, 2011
- 1,308
- Pool Size
- 25500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
While not the most high tech solution, seems like there could be another float, like the one that kicks the pump on. Only this float would go up to a higher level, above the pump float, but below the top of the basin. If this 2nd float ever hits its high point, which would only occur if the pump failed and water continued to rise, have it send a signal to the system to shut the chiller off. I’m really surprised Glacier didn’t solve for this problem. Even their own documentation says it works best when running overnight.
A float switch that supports RS485/Modbus could integrate well with nodejs-poolController. I am running one connected to my Intellicenter. I am going to do a little research with the experts to see how it could be integrated.
This happenned to me once very early on right after installation last summer. my pool guys adjusted something and it's never happenned again. I'll ask when they open Monday.
Since it seems like all the glacier experts/users in this thread, I have two questions. But if this is too off topic, let me know and I can make a separate thread.
1) The glacier docs recommend the GPC-25 for pools 9-20k and GPC-210 for 20k-30k. Our pool is going to be 16k (still being built). We live in Texas where it’s surface of the sun temps at this point. Is there any advantage to doing the 210? I saw one poster above that had a 15k pool and did the 210 was happy. Are there any negative impacts? Or is it just more powerful and this would help us eek out more cooking performance?
2) For our pool build, we have a storage room where all the pool equipment will located. There is a concrete “pan” so to speak to contain water and a drain and such. This storage room hasn’t been built yet, but has anyone run one of these indoors? Given the risks of pumps failing, I’m wondering if we should have our PB pre-plumb PVC down through the slab and outside in a loop, so when we add the glacier later (can’t do it up front but wanting to plan for it when funds permit) we have everything ready to go outside on a pad.
1) The glacier docs recommend the GPC-25 for pools 9-20k and GPC-210 for 20k-30k. Our pool is going to be 16k (still being built). We live in Texas where it’s surface of the sun temps at this point. Is there any advantage to doing the 210? I saw one poster above that had a 15k pool and did the 210 was happy. Are there any negative impacts? Or is it just more powerful and this would help us eek out more cooking performance?
2) For our pool build, we have a storage room where all the pool equipment will located. There is a concrete “pan” so to speak to contain water and a drain and such. This storage room hasn’t been built yet, but has anyone run one of these indoors? Given the risks of pumps failing, I’m wondering if we should have our PB pre-plumb PVC down through the slab and outside in a loop, so when we add the glacier later (can’t do it up front but wanting to plan for it when funds permit) we have everything ready to go outside on a pad.
I just bought the GPC-210 for my 27,500 gallon pool in Texas. I will be installing it soon. Even though I had looked at the dimensions on the spec sheet several times, I was still surprised by its size. There is a quite a difference in the size between the 25 and 210, while the nominal GPMs are 25 and 30, respectively. Don't just look at rhe pad footprint size. Make sure you have room for the full diamter. I don't know if oversizing has any negative operational aspects but it will take up more space and cost an additional $350+ for the 210.
Here is the spec sheet and a picture of mine still on the shipping pallet.
