Well I feel like a fool:jocolor:.... for the longest time I thought I had a Pentair CVA-24 for my spa which activated the waterfall feature.
I have repaired/adjusted it a couple of times but never completely removed it from the 3-way valve and the top label was defaced by the builder during installation.
Last week the spa (standalone inground) lost quite a bit of water and I was mystified as to the cause and in horror to think is was an underground leak.
The next morning I added water back to the spa, turned on the pump and saw that the waterfall was dribbling down the wall (not full pressure). Figured that I needed to adjust the pentair again and as I walked back to the equipment I can hear a grinding sound coming from the actuator. I turned the mode switch to the off position and manually moved the handle to position the valve so the waterfall was completely off.
The actual cause was the valve actuator being on in the direction of the waterfall ever so slightly but allowed the water to just run down the back wall, rather than full flow into the spa and then it spilled off the sides of the spa surround to floor drains on the lanai. I had to believe that this went on all day prior as the pump motor ran (normally about 6 hours). I saw the low water when I got home that night but the spillover area had already dried.
So I open the actuator up to see if a gear slipped and removed it from the valve to work on it better. The gears are shot causing the waterfall to not fully close. I then turn over the actuator and see that it is actually a Hayward GVA-24. I did some searching and found that the gear replacements were not readily available and while doing online search I noted replacement prices of between around $100 to $140 so I ran up to my local pool stores (they will remain nameless) to see if they stocked the animal. Neither of them had stock but one quoted me $189 and the other $199 for just the part.
Since they had to order it anyway and I would wait anyway I opted to order it myself online and save the cash.
OK....here are the questions
1. Do all valves fit/work with all actuators (same bolt pattern and handle lineup)?
2. In other words, could I have chosen another brand of actuator and it would have worked with my Hayward control equipment and the valve that was installed?
3. Is one brand of actuators better than another for service life/repairability?
Anyway, just got a UPS notice that the new GVA-24 is out for delivery and should have it back running by tonight.
I always wondered why the pentair info I found never quite matched up to the actuator that was installed
.... now I know 
I have repaired/adjusted it a couple of times but never completely removed it from the 3-way valve and the top label was defaced by the builder during installation.
Last week the spa (standalone inground) lost quite a bit of water and I was mystified as to the cause and in horror to think is was an underground leak.
The next morning I added water back to the spa, turned on the pump and saw that the waterfall was dribbling down the wall (not full pressure). Figured that I needed to adjust the pentair again and as I walked back to the equipment I can hear a grinding sound coming from the actuator. I turned the mode switch to the off position and manually moved the handle to position the valve so the waterfall was completely off.
The actual cause was the valve actuator being on in the direction of the waterfall ever so slightly but allowed the water to just run down the back wall, rather than full flow into the spa and then it spilled off the sides of the spa surround to floor drains on the lanai. I had to believe that this went on all day prior as the pump motor ran (normally about 6 hours). I saw the low water when I got home that night but the spillover area had already dried.
So I open the actuator up to see if a gear slipped and removed it from the valve to work on it better. The gears are shot causing the waterfall to not fully close. I then turn over the actuator and see that it is actually a Hayward GVA-24. I did some searching and found that the gear replacements were not readily available and while doing online search I noted replacement prices of between around $100 to $140 so I ran up to my local pool stores (they will remain nameless) to see if they stocked the animal. Neither of them had stock but one quoted me $189 and the other $199 for just the part.
Since they had to order it anyway and I would wait anyway I opted to order it myself online and save the cash.
OK....here are the questions
1. Do all valves fit/work with all actuators (same bolt pattern and handle lineup)?
2. In other words, could I have chosen another brand of actuator and it would have worked with my Hayward control equipment and the valve that was installed?
3. Is one brand of actuators better than another for service life/repairability?
Anyway, just got a UPS notice that the new GVA-24 is out for delivery and should have it back running by tonight.
I always wondered why the pentair info I found never quite matched up to the actuator that was installed
.... now I know 