Pressure loss between filter and Caretaker

[Dodger]

I am thinking about a replumbing job to improve the pressure at my Caretaker valve so the filter is not overtaxed.

For example, at 3000 rpm I get about 7-8 psi loss between the filter and the Caretaker (twenties down to lower teens). On 1 or 2 stations, this still gives enough pressure to the pop-ups, but the other stations not enough. The pop-ups need 15-19psi at the Caretaker and 3 or 4 of the stations are below that at 3000 rpm.

I assume this is due to head loss. The equipment pad layout is not the most efficient, so water travels a little over 20 linear feet from filter output to the Caretaker. This is 2" pipe.

1. I want to install a heater bypass, but it only saves a little over 4 feet of travel, plus whatever distance it travels through the heater. Will that be worth it?

2. There are almost a dozen elbows and a few tees in this loop. Half of the elbows are hard 90s, including the last 3 within a few feet of the Caretaker. Is it worth is to swap those to sweep 90s?

 

[kimkats]

One thing you can do to help us help you is post some pics of your equipment set up so we can see what you are working with. We will go from there.

 

[mitchellb]

Have you checked and cleaned the domed filter screen that leads to your valve assembly? That's my most common cause for pressure drop-off at the caretaker pressure valves.

 

[Dodger]

Thanks for the reminder Mitchell. I do clean that screen regularly. Most recently on April 9th, but I just pulled it again today to make sure. Nothing in there.
I've also replaced a lot of the old pop-ups and nozzles to help the back-pressure within each zone.

Here is a photo and a simple schematic of our equipment. The Caretaker valve is at the top center, in the way back. I've been putting off figuring out what the path for the bypass would look like until I can confirm if there is a decent possibility to shave off some of the pressure loss. The bypass in the schematic comes from the Zodiac Caretaker manual.

 

[Dodger]

Wanted to circle around and report on results of this effort for those who have a similar issue. Note that the main point of this project was to reduce the pressure loss between filter and Caretaker, improving the Caretaker’s ability to meet its spec’d operating range without pushing the VSP to its max rpm and driving the filter pressure to an extreme.

Conclusions:

1. Reducing the run of 2” pipe, reducing the total number of elbows, and changing some of the hard 90s to sweep 90s, had an almost negligible effect on the pressure drop. Even at these higher rpms, the change in readings were within the margin of error for the pressure gauges. This data is reflected in the “New” readings below (heater was NOT bypassed for these.)
2. Bypassing the heater significantly reduced pressure loss. This data is reflected in the “Bypass Htr” readings below.

Obviously, each pool’s specific plumbing configuration will result in different readings, but the qualitative result correlates to other posts regarding heater bypasses.