Valve placement for heat pump bypass?

[brian113]

Hi all,

I'm hoping the hive mind can help with the placement of bypass valve(s) in a system for a new heat pump.

Here's the tentative design. The heater is the blue box on the renderings, the filter is the cylinder and the pump is the rectangular box. My heat pump's installation guide illustrates only one bypass valve, but I'm wondering if multiple valves should be included to prevent water from backflowing into the heat pump — or is that not really a concern?

If multiple valves are recommended, can someone confirm that three would be required? I considered a two-valve (indicated with red Xs on design) design but this would not return only heated water to the pool — a mix of heated/unheated water would be returned. As I see it, a three-valve design (represented by the addition of green X) would be needed to ensure that only heated water return to the pool (with the two red valves open and the green closed).

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[ajw22]

Best way to do a heater bypass is one 3 way valve and one check valve on the heater output to prevent backflow when bypassed.

Heater Bypass - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[brian113]

Thanks, AJW, for both the info and the effort to comment twice as I deleted the old thread and created one in this section.

I'll put the 3-way valve at the junction where the outflow from the filter reaches ground level. That'll eliminate the need for the valve indicated by the green "X."

I was also going to ask if a bypass is recommended for a heater with a titanium rather than copper heat exchanger, but that link makes it clear that the valve would enable the pool to be used if the heater needs to be replaced/repaired, so yeah.

Thanks!

 

[ajw22]

In the future you can just hit report and ask the mods to change or move a thread.