How do I get the collar off a Polaris 360/ 380 back up valve

[anonapersona]

Re: How do I get the collar off a Polaris 360/ 380 back up v

maybe we ought to lube the threads before assembly to help with the later undoing of the threaded connection?

 

[tbenton]

Re: How do I get the collar off a Polaris 360/ 380 back up v

Lube sounds like a good idea but we lube our quick disconnect and if we don't remove it often it is awful to turn even with lube.

Polaris really needs to do something about those collars.

T

 

[jbilco]

Re: How do I get the collar off a Polaris 360/ 380 back up v

I found the technique! Place the part of the body with the small jet(in one wrap of a towel) in an open vise. Turn the body so the extruded part is up against one edge of the vise to prevent rotation when taking off the ring. Use a wide jaw pool vent pliers to remove the ring. This is a expandable plier that I use to remove the retainer ring on the pool side water inlets. The secret is to place the jaws of the pliers nearer the end furtherest from the threads. These pliers had tangs that would fit up against some of the bulges in the ring. Using any tool that applies friction force to the ring near the threads just creates more resistance friction in the threads. Another tip is to try applying both a push and pull force of equal value on the pliers. This also reduces the friction force in the threads. The ring turned relatively easy. Looking at all the suggestions that were posted gave me this insight so everyone's comments were helpful and I initially tried some of them with no success. Hope it works for you.

 

[ElGuito]

Re: How do I get the collar off a Polaris 360/ 380 back up v

...
What did work for me was WD-40. I squirted it around the collar and let it seep around for a few minutes. Of course, then it was too slippery to hold on to.... So I got a t-shirt rag and tried to get a grip on the collar. Turn, turn, wipe, wipe and finally I've got a good grip and off the collar turns.

I was thinking about the same options everybody else has mentioned before I tried the WD-40. Didn't really think it would work on plastic, but it did.

YMMV. Good luck!

That worked for me! The Wd-40 Specialist Water Resistant Silicon Lubricant, carefully joining the tip of the straw at the junction of the collar with the front of the valve, and also tapped the collar against a solid surface all around (sauce jar style) and now - not to deviate the thread - nothing seems to be wrong with the internals; ingenious system, several gears and I suppose when one reaches it's cycle position it re-routes the water to the back up jet. All gear spin freely, yet my backup valve does not create the opposing water jet anymore
(I was going to post the picture of the disassembled backup valve, but got a message saying I have exceeded my quota of 466KB!)

 

[mas956]

Re: How do I get the collar off a Polaris 360/ 380 back up v

The collar on my 360 backup valve is also stubborn. What I've foound to work well is to put the body carefully in my bench vise and use a rubber strap wrench to untwist the collar. Works great. The swearing is purely gratuitous and aimed at the design/er.

 

[Aguardino]

Re: How do I get the collar off a Polaris 360/ 380 back up v

I found a technique that worked extremely well to remove the stubborn collar on my Polaris 360 backup valve. i placed the portion of the valve opposite the collar in a bowl filled with ice water for about 2 minutes. I then flipped the valve over and placed the other half of the valve into a bowl of boiliing water just deep enough to submerge the entire collar in the boiling water for about a minute or so. To my surprise, when I pulled the valve from the boiling water I was able to loosen the previously fused collar with my bare hands! This techique was based on a simple science experiment that I remembered from elementary school (some 45 years ago!) that demonstrated how substances contract in the cold and expand when heated. It worked perfectly.

 

[Heinsite]

Re: How do I get the collar off a Polaris 360/ 380 back up v

Aguardino is correct, I had two valves that I could not get to loosen. I tried Strap Wrenches, broke one strap wrench, tried WD-40 no luck. I was about to order a new one and had some time so I tried the boiling water...IT WORKED on both valves. I didn't do the ice water, but rolled the cap end around in boiling water (fyi, it fell in completely twice and didn't hurt it), then ran some tap water around the bottom after removing (opposite end of the part put in the boiling water) for a few seconds and tried the strap wrench again and they loosened. One I had to do twice. The strap wrenches are very inexpensive at Harbor Freight.
One I found had a small gear that had come off its drive shaft and I expect it will fail again soon and the other I think has the same small gear worn out, but I got it to work again. HOWEVER, you may want to just buy a new complete valve, I found one for $41+- with free shipping and no tax both on ebay and the same sellers website. I searched for the gears only and they cost the same amount...So unless you just need a new case you might want to buy a whole new valve-especially in the off season now...

 

[Dav7922]

I joined this forum just to thank the people on here that posted ideas how to remove the collar off the Polaris back up valve.

I was amazed at how hard it was to remove the old collar. I had to hacksaw off my old collar to get to the internal workings of the valve.

To my amazement my new valve case came assembled and the collar wouldn't budge either. I tried the hammer technique, the WD-40, the vise and the strap wrench. Nothing budged it. Then I tried the boiling water trick found in this thread and ran it under cold tap water and was easily able to remove the collar with my hands. Wow!

I reassembled the case with my old inner gear set but I thought I will use plumbers tape and lubricant on the collar threads to make it easy to disassemble the next time. Again to my amazement the collar wouldn't budge right after I assembled it. I can't explain it. There must be something about how that collar tightens that creates friction or pressure on those threads. I did notice that when I put the two case halves together before I screwed the collar tight that they seemed to sit awkward and only the collar would make them sit properly. I am thinking this has something to do with the pressure or tightness on the collar.

Anyway, thank you to everyone that posted ideas on here. Do the boiling water trick and it will come off with ease.

I planned to call Zodiac/Polaris tomorrow and give them a piece of my mind.

 

[AndrewC1346]

Soak the entire case in BOILING water for about 5 minutes. Pops right off

 

[Rocket Al]

I too have always found it impossible to remove the collarfrom the backup valve. None of the suggestions referenced in the previous posts,i.e., strap wrench, WD-40. Boiling water, etc., worked for me. I finally didget the collar off this time. I put the valve in a vise with the jaws againstthe collar. Then squeeze it enough to flex the collar thread interface, (enoughto break the threads free but not enough to crack the valve body). Rotate thevalve in the vise and repeat 5 or 6 places. The collar then came off with astrap wrench.
As an aside, this unit had excessive wear on the turbine wheelpivot holes. They were elongated by nearly a full pivot dimeter. The rest ofthe gear train, (which is geared down about 99 to nothing), is essentially no loadand showed no noticeable wear. I happen to have a Sherline lathe so just turnedoff a few thou from the turbine wheel vanes to relieve the binding and it now worksjust fine. I will install the new valve (which is on order) when it arrives butwill keep this one as a backup.

 

[tjcooper]

Just did mine a few minutes ago. Like others tried large jaw grips and strap wrenches. No success. THen I put silicon spray on the collar and let it set for two minutes. Then I took a heat gun from Harbor Freight and heated around collar for 5 minutes on low heat. Do not dwell in one place or you melt the collar. Then a quick twist with the large jaw pliers got it off. I put the body in a rubber jawed vice with the reverse spout against edge of rubber vice. This gives you the traction to get it off. No breaks.
tjcooper

 

[LakerFan]

I wrapped the valve in a heating pad in the highest setting (6) for about 15 minutes. I wore a pair of rubber gloves for a solid grip on the side where the water shoots out and had my son used the strap wrench to turn the collar. It worked great!!

 

[Plg]

All you need it a channel lock style oil filter wrench, the large one. Put tampered end in between vise jaws, dont tighten just hold it in place with hand then put wrench on collar and that baby is undone!!@ I tried everything before this with no luck, the oil filter wrench somehow just puts pressure at two points on the collar and it will easily come off. Good luck, don't worry it works!

 

[Lushmoney]

Re: How do I get the collar off a Polaris 360/ 380 back up v

Thank you hammer dude. Don't stopit. New instructions to remove collar: Gently tap around entire circumference of collar anywhere you can do so. Don't kill it or leave any marks, just torture it so slowly that it doesn't even feel it at first. After 20/30 taps, put it in a strap wrench. Apply slight pressure, and tap a couple more times. Drink a victory beer. Be sure to clean the collar if you plan on re-using it. It's dirty.

 

[Emerald Princess]

I got it off with a box cutter and clam shucking knife to crack it off. Took a while to think of the shucking knife. Damaged it a little but proud

 

[dennis Peterson]

Got news for you, it does not always work ! Finally went up to 200 F water, still no help ! Extremely poor design.

 

[Winimuca1#]

I have never been able to get the back up valve for my 3900 Polaris. Wrenches , channel locks,hammer, WD40.
I read in this forum that hot water works. I put a 5 gallon bucket under the hot water faucet and ran the hot water
directly on the back up valve for about 3 minutes, Then put the backup valve in the hot water for about 5 minutes.
The back up valve unscrewed. Thank you to the people on this forum for the tip. The only places I could find the internal repair
part they were $40-$52 dollars. I found the complete back up valve for $35 dollars on line. But its was felt great taking the backup
apart!

 

[Winimuca1#]

Got news for you, it does not always work ! Finally went up to 200 F water, still no help ! Extremely poor design.

It is definitely an extremely poor design!!. Before I used the hot water I hit it with a hammer many, many times after I applied WD40
2 times. I was lucky.
My 3900 pool sweep's hose that comes out the back and is supposed to sweep behind the cleaner has never worked but the pool repair people say everything is fine. I read in this forum that it's another Polaris design problem. The hole for the water to get to the sweep hose is blocked when Polaris manufactured it. The solution was to take the sweep apart and drill a hole so water pressure can get to the sweep hose. It worked for that person. Do you know of any other solutions.

 

[Eurway]

OK y'all...maybe I was lucky, but here's what worked for me.

My original back-up valve cracked into pieces, so the following applies ONLY to the new case kit I purchased to replace the outer three pieces, which as noted on this form, comes already assembled. And, with a collar that seems to be impossible to unscrew.

After suffering extremely sore hands trying to unscrew the collar, I discovered this forum. I was ready to try the suggestions of WD-40, a strap wrench, boiling-then-a-cold-water dousing, etc.

But, before going to all that trouble, I tried a tried-and-true trick my late Mom taught me as a kid – when she couldn't get various jars and bottles (ketchup, pickles, beets, etc.) open in the kitchen: gently invert the jar or bottle and tap around the circumference of the lid on a VERY hard surface (e.g., NOT a wood floor, Formica counter). The surface should ideally be so hard that it may (or may not) dent the metal top of a jar...doesn't matter if it does. I've never seen this method fail to work to open a jar. Sometimes, it takes multiple hits, all around the lid, sometimes REALLY hard. Then, grip it good and hard and off it twists!

With the Polaris collar, these are the simple steps I took:

1. Put on a pair of synthetic latex (PVC) gloves. Your skin is much slipperier than these gloves...I believe your hands need the friction when removing this collar. You can buy a box of these gloves in the pharmacy department at any supermarket for a couple bucks.
2. Holding the case by the longer end (on the right in the pic below), tap the edges of the collar on a HARD surface around its circumference multiple times. Let it sort of "bounce" on the surface from about six inches above the surface. I did this on our granite dining table. (My wife HATES to see me use this table for stuff like opening jars, cutting foamcore with an Exacto, etc...but HEY, it's granite. Nothing seems to hurt it!)
3. After at least half a dozen strikes on the hard surface, give it a try. In my case, I was shocked to find that the collar twisted right off after just a few hits on the granite.

I hope this works for you as well as it did for me....SUCCESS!

Greg (Austin, TX)

 

[dabig05]

Hot tap water worked great. Thanks to the original poster who reccomended. Also had hose broke off inside collar! Old collar gasket was toast, maybe expanded in heat? Had a few back up collars on hand.