The check valve near the Caretaker valve should go to the Caretaker line to the spa.
Hayward filter - 39 PSI
- Thread starter Dilbydog
- Start date
That is the missing piece of the puzzle for me. I don't think this Jandy check valve was visible in your original set of pictures of the non-Caretaker spa return.
James is the guy to advise you on clearing out that possibly clogged Caretaker check valve or fixing a malfunctioning flapper.
Update:
Rebuilt the Caretaker today, and everything seems to be working properly. Heads are popping up, I don’t think one or two are rotating, but they were the same ones that had damaged teeth. I’ve ordered a couple of replacements. Replaced the pressure gauge at the Caretaker unit and the system seems to be operating between 19-20 psi.
Pressure at the filter is up to 30-32 psi once the Caretaker system was rebuilt. For reference it was operating at 22 psi with the Caretaker guts removed. The in-floor system is my only return for the pool and spa. I know my pump is oversized for this pool, so can I assume the 30-32 psi range is my baseline for this setup?
Thanks,
Dill
Rebuilt the Caretaker today, and everything seems to be working properly. Heads are popping up, I don’t think one or two are rotating, but they were the same ones that had damaged teeth. I’ve ordered a couple of replacements. Replaced the pressure gauge at the Caretaker unit and the system seems to be operating between 19-20 psi.
Pressure at the filter is up to 30-32 psi once the Caretaker system was rebuilt. For reference it was operating at 22 psi with the Caretaker guts removed. The in-floor system is my only return for the pool and spa. I know my pump is oversized for this pool, so can I assume the 30-32 psi range is my baseline for this setup?
Thanks,
Dill
That still seems a little high but your pump is greatly oversized. I would consider going to a smaller impeller or pump or variable speed pump.
James,
So given my setup, if this was your newly adopted pool, what would you do? I know my pump is inefficient from a cost standpoint, but other than consuming some additional kW am I damaging other equipment?
If your automation would handle a variable speed pump, that's what I would suggest. However, your system is probably too old and not compatible.
A two speed pump would probably be a good idea. Maybe a a total of 1.25 hp on high speed. Set the automation to go high speed when the heater is on.
The current pump is probably going to cause excessive wear on the heater with no bypass. The heater does have an internal bypass that helps control the flow, but it's not always a good idea to rely on that.
The current pump uses very high amounts of power. Even if your power is cheap, it's probably still worthwhile.
Maybe just go to a significantly smaller impeller to save power and reduce flow.
A two speed pump would probably be a good idea. Maybe a a total of 1.25 hp on high speed. Set the automation to go high speed when the heater is on.
The current pump is probably going to cause excessive wear on the heater with no bypass. The heater does have an internal bypass that helps control the flow, but it's not always a good idea to rely on that.
The current pump uses very high amounts of power. Even if your power is cheap, it's probably still worthwhile.
Maybe just go to a significantly smaller impeller to save power and reduce flow.
I noticed that you have a caretaker system which means you have pop up heads in the bottom of the pool for cleaning. These sometimes cause higher than what we call normal pressures.