IntelliPH - small leak from "injector" fitting

[bertschb]

I installed a Pentair IntellipH two days ago and noticed last night a bead of acid at the fitting that injects the acid into the pool plumbing. This fitting (I'm calling it the injector in the photo below) came from the factory with teflon tape on the threads and already screwed into the adapter that goes into the pool plumbing. I've tightened this "injector" twice and I still get a bead of acid leaking out. It hasn't actually dripped onto the ground yet. It just beads up but it will drip eventually and make a mess.

I'd like to remove this "injector" fitting and re-apply more teflon tape but I'm not sure how much pressure is on the line. I don't want to get sprayed with acid!

Does anybody have any ideas on how to safely unscrew this "injector" and re-apply teflon tape to hopefully stop the small leak?

BTW, the bead of leaking acid isn't shown in the photo because I removed it just prior to taking the picture.

 

[ajw22]

@Dirk have you seen this?

 

[Turbo1Ton]

The injector piece is a check valve to prevent pool water from back flowing into the acid tank.

Make sure your pool pump is off. Make sure the IpH is set to 0% or unplugged so that it does not try to add acid while you are working on it. There should really be no pressure from the acid tube at that point, any pressure in the tubing held in by the check valve would be upstream of the injector/check valve assy. The acid tube will be full all the way back to the IpH pump. If you wanted to be extra sure there was no pressure, you could take the cover off of the acid pump, and take the pump tube loose. This would prevent the pump rollers from holding any pressure in the acid tube and open up the line all the way back to the acid tank.

I think the danger in getting sprayed with acid is extremely low here. Make sure to wear all of the safety gear you feel is necessary. At a minimum, safety goggles/glasses and gloves. Wear a respirator if you are concerned about the fumes, although the amount of acid that will be exposed is very small, so not sure you will have enough concentration of fumes to cause any issues. I would make sure to have a bucket of water or two handy to dilute anything that may spill, or that you may get on your skin.

Unthread the injector piece, re-apply tape, reinstall injector. I would make sure to loosen the nut on top holding the acid tubing into the injector, so that the injector will turn without trying to spin the tubing. You don't need to remove the tube, the nut just needs to be loose enough that it doesn't try to hold the tubing. Just make sure to tighten that back up before restarting everything.

Let me know if any of this is not clear or if you have any questions.

--Jeff

 

[Turbo1Ton]

I will also say that what you are seeing leaking is likely pool water, and not acid, especially if it takes a while for it to show up. The amount of acid that is pumped into the system is so minimal that I doubt it can leak out of that connection before being fully sucked into the pool water. My guess is if you set the IpH to 0%, you would still see the leak.

--Jeff

 

[bertschb]

Those instructions were perfect Jeff. Thank you!

I actually tightened the check valve again slightly this morning and another bead of acid appeared. Rather than over-tightening it, I then loosened it just a tad thinking that would seat the threads slightly differently. No leak after that. I'll check on it again tomorrow and if I see another bead of acid, I'll remove the check valve and re-apply more teflon.

Kind of a bummer that the one fitting done by the factory is the one that is leaking. The good news is it's the most minor leak I've ever seen. Literally just one bead of liquid that sits there for a couple hours until I wipe it away.

 

[Dirk]

Jeff, that sounds like a set of instructions I would have written! Thorough and safe. Ironically, I just fooled with my injector the other day, and ignored all my usual safety advice!

I wore glasses, but not gloves or a mask. Wear gloves if you're skin might be sensitive. The mask is overkill (and JoyfulNoise taught us that wearing a mask can be more dangerous, as your nose is the canary-in-the-mine when it comes to trouble with acid).

You won't need to mess with the pump assembly. That tube is not under any sort of pressure that would jettison a stream of acid. If anything, it'd be a drop or two.

After turning off all the breakers (so no filter pump action, and no IntellipH action) I would unscrew the white nut that is clamping the tube to the injector, remove the nut and tube. That'll relieve any tiny bit of pressure and give you room to work. Jeff is right, you don't want to be removing or assembling the injector with the tube tight in the injector body, but I would just remove the tube altogether while you work. You'll find it easier to re-tape with the injector free of the tube.

Then do your thing with the tape and reassemble. You don't need much tape at all, maybe two layers tops. There is probably too much in there now, or it got bunched up at the factory.

Jeff is also right: the drop you're getting is not acid. The internal check valve mechanism is about midway inside the injector body (the grey part). The acid is above that, and it's pool water below. If the drop only happens while injecting (which doesn't seem likely), at best it is very diluted acid. From mid-injector-body down it's all pool water.

All the parts are plastic. Just hand tighten it, and not all that tight. Run the pump, if it drips, then give it another 1/8 turn. Watch it for a while, repeat as necessary, then replace the acid tube, and hand tighten the white nut, then maybe tweak it a tad with pliers. Over-tightening can cause it to leak, or break.

If there is a chance the IntellipH will pump while you're testing the injector, either put the end of the tube in a throw-away container, or just unplug the pump from the IpH controller. Or if your setup has a pump circuit that doesn't power the IntelliChlor/IntellipH, use that circuit for testing.

It's one of those jobs that after you're done you'll think "Oh, that was easy."

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Ha! Thanks Dirk!

I did think about the mask part, but just yesterday I read a thread on here from a member who stated they had a lung condition, so the fumes were a big issue to them. So I threw that in there, just in case someone reading may have a similar situation.

Now for the honesty part... I wrote that from a 'do as I say, not as I do perspective". I personally would walk out there, forget a rag, probably not turn it off, unthread it, get whatever small amount of acid that is left in the tube all over my hand, run to the pool to rinse my hand, go back, tape it up, and reinstall. I would probably have sunglasses on, so there's that.

However, I know some of those who may stumble upon this thread in 5 years may not be as risk averse, or as astute with assessing risk, and I wanted to make sure I listed out what should be done, in a safe manner.

--Jeff

 

[bertschb]

...I personally would walk out there, forget a rag, probably not turn it off, unthread it, get whatever small amount of acid that is left in the tube all over my hand, run to the pool to rinse my hand, go back, tape it up, and reinstall. I would probably have sunglasses on, so there's that.

Thank you for the early morning chuckle! I'm going to go out there as soon as the sun comes up here and re-tape the check valve. I'll wear gloves and goggles just because the whole acid thing still kinda freaks me out.

I really appreciate you guys chiming in here so I have a better understanding of how this device works.

 

[bertschb]

OK, I just went out there and removed the check valve and added more teflon tape. Not a drop of liquid came out of the tube or check valve. That was about as anti-climatic as it could be. Sheesh.

The cleaning cycle on the pump starts in an hour. If the leak was indeed coming from pool water, I'll know if the leak is fixed real soon.

 

[Dirk]

That was about as anti-climatic as it could be. Sheesh.

Told ja! Glad you got it fixed.

I'm working on a write up about my experience taking an injector apart. I think it works such that the backflow preventer mechanism engages only when there is pressure from the filter pump side. When the pressure stops (pump off), the mechanism releases and the pressure (what little there is) normalizes between acid and pool water, which is basically normal air pressure. That's why your injector only leaked when the filter pump was on. Just a guess, but I think the rollers on the IpH pump are pinching such that the delivery tube is sealed off at the pump end, so the acid doesn't drain out of that tube at the injector end. If that wasn't true, then every time the filter pump went off, gravity would pull not only all the acid out of the tube, but all the acid out of the IpH, and then you'd have, in essence, a hole in your plumbing system and all the water would drain out of it, back into the pool. Just a theory, but it can't be the injector stopping flow in that direction, because then the acid couldn't pump. ??

I used to write here about goggles (not just glasses), gloves and a 3M fume mask. It's prudent, but I got schooled by our resident chemical dude. He claims (and I'm greatly paraphrasing) that unless you have a real-deal protection system, and know what you're doing, a mask only blocks your "danger detector" (your nose) from telling you there is a problem. And then some of our, let's say "experienced" guys are all "Acid, schmacid!" So I interpreted all that into what works for me. I mostly don't wear gloves anymore, or a mask. But I plan and time my acid handling tasks in chunks I can do while holding my breath. The IntellipH greatly reduces how much I handle the stuff, and I did a write up here that describes how I can now coerce my IpH to do its thing all year round, so I only handle acid about four or five times a year. Pretty sweet. That said, I very rarely do so without the goggles. 31% Muriatic is not going to melt off your skin. I don't feel it on my hands, and only slightly if I get it on my arms. But I contend that soft tissues (like lungs and eyes) are nowhere near as tough, and Murphy's Law has a sub-clause that clearly states that one drop that splashes and gets away from you will arc right over your glasses will land right in your eyeball. The goggles are fast and easy and make me feel better. I keep a pair right next to where I store my acid. I got lots'a skin, but only two eyes.

 

[Newdude]

31% Muriatic is not going to melt off your skin.

I've found, through extensive scientific testing in my carefully controlled backyard lab, that I don't even feel it for 30 seconds or so. Then it slowly tingles more and more for the next 30 seconds. I have often finished whatever task...... I mean..... carefully controlled experiment and casually cleaned the tingles off with no harm, marks, etc.

and Murphy's Law has a sub-clause that clearly states that one drop that splashes and gets away from you will arc right over your glasses will land right in your eyeball.

can also confirm. Rinsing was alot hastier than when forearms tingled a bit. Like. Needed a change of pants hastier. But also without harm.

Use reasonable care. Treat it with respect. Don't huff it. Have a face rinsing plan just in case. You'll be fine.

 

[rstrouse]

I just make sure I don't dump it down my pants. You will only do that once.

 

[Dirk]

Here's more about the injector, if you're interested.

Servicing an IntellipH Injector

Short version: ya don't! You just replace it periodically. This isn't definitive, this is just what I found when I took mine apart. And there's no way for me to know that someone else's IntellipH (IpH) injector isn't designed some other way. Pentair parts do evolve, so who knows (probably only...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[bertschb]

Well, the pool pump has been running for several hours and the IntellipH has cycled twice. No leaks. I think the extra couple wraps of teflon tape did the trick!

When we first bought the house (first time pool owner) I used gloves and goggles when I was dumping acid in the pool from the jug. After a while I ditched the gloves. I did find that when I added acid to the IntellipH canister that I couldn't hold my breath long enough to empty the full jug slowly to avoid splashing so I'll use a respirator next time.

Now I just need to tweak the amount of acid that gets dosed each day.

 

[rstrouse]

Take a utility knife to the pad with you and unscrew the cap to the jug. Leave the seal on the jug and invert it into the canister. Then bump the top of the jug and it will break the seal. Then take that utility knife and poke a hole in the top. About 5 seconds later you can pull the empty jug from the canister.

 

[Dirk]

Take a utility knife to the pad with you and unscrew the cap to the jug. Leave the seal on the jug and invert it into the canister. Then bump the top of the jug and it will break the seal. Then take that utility knife and poke a hole in the top. About 5 seconds later you can pull the empty jug from the canister.

Ah, ya beat me to it!

The top of the IntelllipH is designed to do exactly what rs describes. It's one of my favorite features. The top receptacle is exactly the right size to hold a one gallon acid jug vertical, up-side-down. If you look into that receptacle, you'll see a pyramid-shaped spike in the middle of the grid at the bottom of that area. That spike is there to pierce the seal of the acid jug. So you carefully* lower it in with seal on, and when it reaches the bottom the seal will get pierced. I sometimes open the jug with a utility knife, as rs does, to speed up the process, but sometimes I don't, because I reuse the same jug to add a gallon of water to get me the 1:1 ratio of acid to water that I run.

That's how I can get the jug into the IpH and then walk away in one breath. I come back when it's done to retrieve the jug and that's just a breath, too.

* I have to be careful though, because with the acid I buy the seal doesn't always stay sealed. I've had the seal peel off as I'm just starting to tilt the jug in place, so while Pentair's design is brilliant, it doesn't always go as intended for me. Just be careful as you put the jug into the IpH so that if the seal slips off the acid doesn't spray out all over.

 

[bertschb]

I'm not sure when I'll need to refill the canister but I'll give that a shot when the time comes. Sounds much better than standing over the canister trying to hold my breath. Of course, my now obsolete 3M respirator just arrived today...

 

[Newdude]

You guys had me at 'shotgun a gallon of Muriatic Acid'

 

[Dirk]

I'm not sure when I'll need to refill the canister but I'll give that a shot when the time comes. Sounds much better than standing over the canister trying to hold my breath. Of course, my now obsolete 3M respirator just arrived today...

I used mine when I was working for hours on a dusty bath remodel. It was much more comfortable than a cheapie dusk mask, or even an N95, both of which I can only stand for about 20 minutes. I get way more air though my 3M, and way less dust. You'll get some good use out of it...

 

[Dirk]

I'm not sure when I'll need to refill the canister

If you dilute the 31% acid, or just use 14% acid, you'll be refilling more often, but it's better for the wear and tear that acid does to the IpH. It's in the manual, but the last time I checked the manual says to dilute the acid, but not from what, or to what. I dilute 31% 1:1 with water, so about 15% I guess. How often you refill will depend on your IpH output setting, of course.