Re-plumbing Thoughts...

[oneskinnydave]

I convinced myself I'm going with an SWG this season....and at the tail end of the last season, I realized my heater had been plumbed in backward as well! Not the end of the world, but...there is limited space already and I'm thinking a replumb would make room for all the new stuff and fix my reversed heating issue. Reversed plumbing isn't the end of the world, just means I can't set an accurate temperature for the heater (the handful times we use it) we just crank it and let it go. Bye bye propane

I've always thought the previous plumbing was a little clunky...and might have to do some shenanigans to straighten it out but wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions to make it play a little nicer, possibly reduce and unnecessary kinks/etc. Admittedly replumbing the heater correctly makes it silly routing...but if I'm in there tearing it up for the SWG, Anode, Check Valve, etc - I should probably just get it right....right?!

Yellow arrows indicate what the header flow should be - red arrows are current flow.


Should I even worry about the diverter valves and just got straight from the filter to the inlet?? We do only use the heater a dozen or so times a year, so while it's not in use we diver valves and decrease pressure on the system which I think is probably good.

Or is it as simple as creating an "X" of the pipes (verticle ones) just at the header for the heater and adding in extensions/cutting out the 2-inch pipe there to make it work? I'm thinking that is my best spot to put my SWG anyway now - so it shouldn't be too much work. Otherwise, I think there is a wacky loop at the return I think I'd have to make to have it work right!

 

[Pool_Medic]

Inside a pool house gets complicated with rigid, that’s why I use spa flex. All those 90’s drive me nuts lol. Your SWCG and flow switch needs to be after the heater. You have plenty of space.

 

[PoolGate]

You really shouldn't be using a heater in an enclosed space like that it is a safety issue. Is that a detached building? Anyway I love re-plumbs if gives you the chance to do everything right. I am doing one next week for my neighbor. You have an Interesting plumbing setup! Let me know if you want me to drop by and take a look.

 

[cfherrman]

Check the manual about enclosed spaces

If you don't have to move the heater then I would cut the 90's off in the bottom if the heater and glue new ones on and make a "x" with those two pipes to get them to the right spots, easy peezy.

Yes you need the diverter, heaters are a weak spot for bad chemistry and the diverter takes care of that.

Your thinking of a cross "+" it's a more rare of a fitting but still stocked

There's a red ball valve in the bottom of your pic, try to replace that with a jandy neverlube

 

[blazer58]

my heater is enclosed, it had to be vented thru the roof even tho there is plenty of fresh air

 

[oneskinnydave]

You really shouldn't be using a heater in an enclosed space like that it is a safety issue. Is that a detached building? Anyway I love re-plumbs if gives you the chance to do everything right. I am doing one next week for my neighbor. You have an Interesting plumbing setup! Let me know if you want me to drop by and take a look.

Oh yeah - it's not ideal...it is in an attached building with proper venting (roof chimney and 2 windows/door are open when I do run it) - from what I can tell it passed inspection when it was built...but there are a LOT of things in this house that supposedly passed inspection that are super suspect...We've been in the house for 3 years and I found out I had a load bearing refrigerator when we redid our kitchen

Yeah - plumbing is definitely interesting - it's hard to see the hot mess over by the polaris...but there is quite the cluster of valves and cut pipes that looks like at one point they had solar/roof heating...a water slide (that I think the company closing the pool when we bought the house didn't know how to clear and pipes are busted, and a hose bib from the PVC (!?). If I get stuck - I might actually give you a call - definitely nice to have a fellow TFP'er close by. I used to work for a pool company in AACounty during my college years on summer break - so I'm kind of comfortable doing most things but always good to have someone as a second pair of eyes and make sure I'm not totally crazy. I don't love any of the pool companies I talked to when I moved here.

 

[oneskinnydave]

If you don't have to move the heater then I would cut the 90's off in the bottom if the heater and glue new ones on and make a "x" with those two pipes to get them to the right spots, easy peezy.

That is kind of what I was thinking - glad that is what you think as well!

There's a red ball valve in the bottom of your pic, try to replace that with a jandy neverlube

Oh yeah - I might just take care of that this round of fixes..it is hard to tell but that whole section is a hot mess...when I bought the house the hayward valve on the suction side was so bad the realtor was like "oh cool, the pool has air jets in it?" Ah...realtors. I have rebuilt a few of those crappy things so I knew it was easy enough....