Jandy Neverlube Valves - question for those in the industry

[Lake Placid]

Question for any others in the industry. I just completed and install of a heater for a customer and part of the job included significant rework of the plumbing to clean up a whole host of previous repairs. I went with Jandy Neverlubes and noted that right out of the box all 5 valves had what seemed to be stress cracks that were originating from the screw risers and down into the valve housing. I rejected the first batch and the second batch of valves had similar issues. The counter person mentioned on the first batch that they were seeing QC issues with Jandy‘s lately. When I rejected the second batch, the supervisor was called in and assured me I was crazy and they were “casting marks”. My objection to this theory is that the cracks were inconsistent in location and size and not uniform valve to valve. I went to a different branch of the same supplier just to see if their valves had similar issues. Sure enough there were similar cracks. To me the cracks appear to potentially be from the screws in the housing being overtorqued at the factory causing stress cracks. Is anyone else seeing this issue or am I just nuts? I’ve attached a few pics for example purposes but could load plenty more. Mods please move if I’ve posted this in the wrong area.

 

[cwswifty]

Yep. You're crazy. Every picture you posted shows lines that look symmetrical and very likely done during the manufacturing process IMO.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Reach out to Jandy/Fluidra directly and show them what you are seeing. If you can provide part numbers and serial numbers off the boxes they may be able to track the batches these parts came from. They should replace them directly from a completely different stock.

They do look like manufacturing defects caused by molding problems. It could be related to a specific mold that was used to make the parts or a deviation in the manufacturing process. You would think their quality controls would detect something like this but manufacturers these days spend less and less on QC/QA and would rather just use warranty processes to deal with bad parts. A “Lifetime Warranty” is all well and good but it ignores the fact that these parts get glued into place and the cost of replacement is mostly labor, not the cost of the part.

 

[Lake Placid]

Thanks I’ll reach out to my Jandy rep directly in an effort to at least get it formally on the record. Unfortunately I‘m on the hook now that they’re installed and in spite of being a good customer I don’t relish the possibility of explaining to them that manufactures defects and not poor workmanship on my part converted their equipment pad into a splash pad.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Document it with the representative and then if anything should spring a leak, get Jandy to cover the parts and labor for the repairs. The customer shouldn’t have to pay for defective equipment causing them to lose pool use.

 

[jakeblat]

I'm pretty sure those are parting lines where a small ridge of plastic gets into the gap between different parts of the mold during the injection molding process. For a simple shape the mold will just be two halves resulting in a single parting line, but for more complex shapes the mold will be made of multiple moving parts that have to meet that can result in multiple parting lines. Over time and use the very sharp edges where two halves of the mold meet can wear down resulting in the small gap where some extra plastic can get to and the ridge you see. Sometimes these are cleaned up (sanded/polished) for a better finish.

This site explains it in a bit of detail A Design Guide on Optimizing Parting Lines in Injection Molding. And here's a video that shows the basic process for a tee

where you can see the parting lines and sprue.

 

[Poolbreh]

I haven’t noticed any defects. But I will be looking closely at the valves upon purchase from now on.

 

[Newdude]

I was seeing cracked screw holes this morning but now I'm seeing it perfectly symmetrical from molding.




The straight lines in the collar looked like molding both this morning and now.

 

[Lake Placid]

I was seeing cracked screw holes this morning but now I'm seeing it perfectly symmetrical from molding.

View attachment 558280


The straight lines in the collar looked like molding both this morning and now.

The problem is on other valves faced the same way as this, the crack in the screw riser is in the 9-11 o’clock position and doesn’t extend symmetrically into the gluing surface of the valve. This is what concerned me that they weren’t necessarily casting issues. I’ll try and post a pic of another valve when I get time.

 

[Newdude]

Try gently sanding it. Either the ridge goes away or you keep exposing new layers of the split.

 

[Lake Placid]

Try gently sanding it. Either the ridge goes away or you keep exposing new layers of the split.

Doh! I would but the suspect valves are firmly welded in place in a location that isn’t here.

 

[Lake Placid]

Not the greatest pic but if I recall this is from the 180 degree check valve. Memory serves the collar for the outlet would have been oriented towards the top right hand area of the pic putting this crack in a 7-8 o’clock position compared to others that were in a 4 o’clock position and symmetrical with crack in the collar. In retrospect I should have documented with pics more precisely but didn’t due to being in the field and a bit aghast at the situation.

 

[Newdude]

It's too perfect IMO. It would be zig zagged if it was a torque crack, or anything but perfectly straight. Every last screw cracked but not one of them crumbled into 52 pieces?

 

[Lake Placid]

Nothing crumbled into 52 pieces…but one was at 51. bwaaahhhh…….

Not all screw risers were cracked and they were inconsistent from valve to valve as to which ones were split. Some splits ran differing directions than others. That’s the thing that made me uncomfortable. If everything had been consistently the same valve to valve then casting marks make sense, but with no real consistent pattern as to location, length of crack, and differing directions of run end to end of the crack - it didn’t line up in my mind to a manufactured seam but rather a potential random failure of the housing caused by something. I truly hope I’m just overly anal and these valves will perform just as well as many others I’ve installed.