Looking for help/recommendations for my solar heater plumbing..

[a4xcrypto]

Hello,

I have a 27' round above ground pool. I ran a solar heater last year with a spare submersible pump which was an easy plumbing job. I now want to tie my solar heaters into my main plumbing loop so I don't have a submersible pump sitting in my pool and a return PVC sitting overtop the pool dumping back in.

My hardware:

Waterway Defender 140 Pump
Pentair FN60 Quad Cartridge Filter
Cirupool Core-55 SWG
Hayward GLC-2P-A Solar Pool Heating Control System with 3-Way Valve, Actuator and 2 PC Sensors
(20) FAFCO Papabear 24' x 4' Solar Heaters

I did a rough sketch of what I think it should look like. The sketch is literally the perspective of the real life pool placement of the pool, solar panels, skimmer, pump, swg, etc. I have a few questions that maybe some experts could chime in on.

1. Should I re-arrange the way I have my pump/filter/swg laid out? Maybe I should do the pump all the way on the right, then the filter, and swg, so the exit is closer to the solar panels?
2. Does my check valve placement make sense?
3. Do I even need checkvalves?


Any/all critique is appreciated.. I want to do this right seeing as the cost of pump/swg/filter unions is insane right now.

 

[magiteck]

Hello,

I have a 27' round above ground pool. I ran a solar heater last year with a spare submersible pump which was an easy plumbing job. I now want to tie my solar heaters into my main plumbing loop so I don't have a submersible pump sitting in my pool and a return PVC sitting overtop the pool dumping back in.

My hardware:

Waterway Defender 140 Pump
Pentair FN60 Quad Cartridge Filter
Cirupool Core-55 SWG
Hayward GLC-2P-A Solar Pool Heating Control System with 3-Way Valve, Actuator and 2 PC Sensors
(20) FAFCO Papabear 24' x 4' Solar Heaters

I did a rough sketch of what I think it should look like. The sketch is literally the perspective of the real life pool placement of the pool, solar panels, skimmer, pump, swg, etc. I have a few questions that maybe some experts could chime in on.

1. Should I re-arrange the way I have my pump/filter/swg laid out? Maybe I should do the pump all the way on the right, then the filter, and swg, so the exit is closer to the solar panels?
2. Does my check valve placement make sense?
3. Do I even need checkvalves?


Any/all critique is appreciated.. I want to do this right seeing as the cost of pump/swg/filter unions is insane right now.

View attachment 401297

My understanding is that the SWG should come after heater. Other than that I think the placement of the valves makes sense.

 

[a4xcrypto]

My understanding is that the SWG should come after heater. Other than that I think the placement of the valves makes sense.

Ok... Do the SWG's work better with heated water or something? Or maybe is bad to run the hyper-chlorinated water through the heater tubes?

 

[magiteck]

Ok... Do the SWG's work better with heated water or something? Or maybe is bad to run the hyper-chlorinated water through the heater tubes?

I'm probably getting in over my element here, but my understanding is that in addition to chlorine, the SWG also generates hydrogen gas (which normally bubbles harmlessly out the return). I would potentially worry about both of those things going through the heater tubes -- the hyper-chlorinated water potentially damaging the tubes, and the hydrogen gas increasing pressure.

Perhaps @JoyfulNoise or someone with better chemistry knowledge can advise more accurately.

 

[a4xcrypto]

I'm probably getting in over my element here, but my understanding is that in addition to chlorine, the SWG also generates hydrogen gas (which normally bubbles harmlessly out the return). I would potentially worry about both of those things going through the heater tubes -- the hyper-chlorinated water potentially damaging the tubes, and the hydrogen gas increasing pressure.

Perhaps @JoyfulNoise or someone with better chemistry knowledge can advise more accurately.

Thank you for your reply on this, it got me digging other threads and I came across this wonder infographic. I think it answers all of my questions!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I'm probably getting in over my element here, but my understanding is that in addition to chlorine, the SWG also generates hydrogen gas (which normally bubbles harmlessly out the return). I would potentially worry about both of those things going through the heater tubes -- the hyper-chlorinated water potentially damaging the tubes, and the hydrogen gas increasing pressure.

Perhaps @JoyfulNoise or someone with better chemistry knowledge can advise more accurately.

Two points -

1. The water is not at all “hyperchlorinated” … if you do the math on how much chlorine is generated while the cell is running and divide that by how much water flows through an SWG cell, the amount of additional FC added to the water is minuscule. Barely detectable on a standard test kit. So the chemistry of the water really isn’t an issue.

2. The amount of hydrogen gas is small and will not be dangerous even if the water was heated.

All that said, the SWG should always be plumbed as the last device in the line before the water returns to the pool/spa.