Thought: Delayed activation of Heater Bypass

[TaylorN]

I installed an automated valve, and when heat is called for, the IntelliCenter flips the valve and ramps up the pump. When the heater is done, it reverses course. Works like a champ. I do wish there was a way to delay the valve on the off cycle, but that doesn’t exist today from my understanding.

Sooo I was looking into this at some point in the past for a different reason. I didn't want automated valves changing positions at the same time. I wanted one delayed by about 1min and the other not delayed. Never went through with making the modification though.

I can't remember the specifics, but you could use a "Delay on make" timer (~$15-20) to set it so the when the External bypass automated valve gets sent the request (24 voltage/power) to "open" the valve (ie to bypass the heater after the call for heat has stopped), the timer would delay the bypass for some set duration of time so the heater can cool down. I believe I took apart my Jandy automated valve mechanism, and you would have to wire the timer into to the "opening" circuit path by inlining it. That had to be done inside the automated box to isolate the "opening" circuitry. You probably wouldn't want to completely inline the timer on the external wire feeding the automation box because then it would delay both the opening AND closing of the valve. Anyways it seemed totally doable, but for me it wasn't crucial and not worth drilling holes in the automated valve cover to externally mount the timer, weather proof it, and ultimately incorporate one more thing that could potentially fail in the future. Though I would love to see someone else try it first and you seem like the right guy to prove it out!

note: the original quote was taken from:

Verifiable Benefits of a Heater Bypass Install

I found when considering a bypass, that there are primarily 2 types of responses I would get when inquiring about the pros and cons. 1. I don't see why you would want to install a heater bypass, but I cant see how it could hurt anything. (My builder was in this group as well) 2. It's a...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[ajw22]

I think you are making things more complicated then they need to be.

 

[TaylorN]

More often than not

 

[DavidArmenB]

More often than not

Since the automation systems do not have features like this, I have connected my valve actuators to a wifi relay so I can set everything up using an app.
Here is one example: I can tell Alexa “turn on spa heater” This activates a script that turns the Return and Suction valves from pool to spa mode, then rotates the heater bypass valve to let the water go through the heater, then delays half a minute for the heater to fully prime etc, then turns on the heater power and then sets the heater to spa mode.
Once we finished with the spa, one can say, “Alexa turn off spa heater” which activates another script that turns off spa mode on the heater (which causes the heater to turn off but stay powered on so the blower fan can continue blowing cool air), then there is a few minute delay, then the heater power gets switched off, then there is another delay of about 30 minutes (to cool heat exchanger) then the heater bypass valve turns back to close the heater and open the bypass, then the return and suction valves turn to pool Mode.
As far as I know, things like this can only be done with custom builds which use relays and such, instead of the expensive automation systems.

 

[TaylorN]

Since the automation systems do not have features like this, I have connected my valve actuators to a wifi relay so I can set everything up using an app.
Here is one example: I can tell Alexa “turn on spa heater” This activates a script that turns the Return and Suction valves from pool to spa mode, then rotates the heater bypass valve to let the water go through the heater, then delays half a minute for the heater to fully prime etc, then turns on the heater power and then sets the heater to spa mode.
Once we finished with the spa, one can say, “Alexa turn off spa heater” which activates another script that turns off spa mode on the heater (which causes the heater to turn off but stay powered on so the blower fan can continue blowing cool air), then there is a few minute delay, then the heater power gets switched off, then there is another delay of about 30 minutes (to cool heat exchanger) then the heater bypass valve turns back to close the heater and open the bypass, then the return and suction valves turn to pool Mode.
As far as I know, things like this can only be done with custom builds which use relays and such, instead of the expensive automation systems.

That's awesome. I always come back to thinking about things like wifi relays and custom processes when I'm let down by the functionality in big name automation products.