I moved to Florida about 18 months ago and acquired a pool with our new to me house. It has a Pentair 2"-2 1/2" 3-way diverter valve on the suction side of the pump that selects pool or spa suction. It has an actuator on it. It spends 95% of it's time (99% of all statistics are made up on the spot) on the pool suction setting. Not sure, but the valve should be about 10 years old.
In the last 9-12 months the spa has been draining over time. It has a check valve on the spa pressure side and I replaced that to no effect. The drain back has gotten worse in the last 2-3 months. I serviced all the valves last week due to some suction air leaks causing the pump to not prime well, that did fix the prime problem. But I noticed the 3-way diverter valve body has wear that matches the seal ridges on the rotating vane part of the valve. The wear is a groove around the port of the valve body in a square pattern right where the valve vane rests in the spa off position. I let the spa drain down to below the suction port in the side wall and the pump would not prime and I could hear sucking sounds. Confirming the pump is sucking past the 3-way valve, draining the spa. I replaced the vane, with no change.
Is this a typical wear spot on these valves? Is there a way to repair the grove, like a thin metal insert sleeve?
My guess is I need to replace the valve body, a traumatic operation with the plumbing associated with this valve.
Is there a brand of valve with harder plastic to prevent future wear? I think this is s a PVC valve, would CPVC last longer?
In the last 9-12 months the spa has been draining over time. It has a check valve on the spa pressure side and I replaced that to no effect. The drain back has gotten worse in the last 2-3 months. I serviced all the valves last week due to some suction air leaks causing the pump to not prime well, that did fix the prime problem. But I noticed the 3-way diverter valve body has wear that matches the seal ridges on the rotating vane part of the valve. The wear is a groove around the port of the valve body in a square pattern right where the valve vane rests in the spa off position. I let the spa drain down to below the suction port in the side wall and the pump would not prime and I could hear sucking sounds. Confirming the pump is sucking past the 3-way valve, draining the spa. I replaced the vane, with no change.
Is this a typical wear spot on these valves? Is there a way to repair the grove, like a thin metal insert sleeve?
My guess is I need to replace the valve body, a traumatic operation with the plumbing associated with this valve.
Is there a brand of valve with harder plastic to prevent future wear? I think this is s a PVC valve, would CPVC last longer?
