I purchased a home 3 years ago with an existing pool which was built in the 1990’s. I am having suction problems which I believe are caused by this green “ball” thing attached to the return line (see picture). I have a Haywood filter with new sand and a 1 HP pump which was new last year. There is also a solar heater attached which is supplied by the garden hose and can be seen between the filter and pump. What I need to know is what exactly is the green ball which is attaced to the return line (center right in the picture)? I have been told that it is a floor return that was popular in the 90’s. I have also been told that it has some type of gear inside. It seems to have easy access but, being a novice, I am affraid to open it up. The gage on the front shows 30-40 pressure however I can’t remember what it was last year. Also, since having the sand changed the return jets do not work. The water returns only thru the floor and not very well. Unless I am running water to waste or backwash, suction is non-existant, which makes me believe that the problem is not in the pump or filter but the return.
Can anyone tell me what the ball is and it’s manufacturer and what I have to do to clean/fix/bypass it.
Yes the Green Ball is the Master Valve for your in-floor pool cleaning system. In most cases the internal gears are replaceable. Could you send us a close up shot of the green valve as well as close up showing the plumbing going into the valve of the pool filter and post to this thread (the more photos the better)? Also if you can pull any model #'s or manufacture names off of the valve that would be most helpful.
For starting steps… First clean your filter, even if you have done this in the past few weeks then do it again as the in-floor cleaning system must have a clean filter, also clean pump basket and skimmer baskets.
What is the PSI of the pool filter? (The 30 - 40 PSI on the valve is high, normal operating pressure for the valve is 20 PSI)
If you run the filter on by-pass, do you get return flow at the jets?
I have this picture that I took yesterday. I will get more when the sun comes up. I can’t find a serial number on there anywhere or a name brand. the sticker seems to have worn off. Also the PSI is between 30 and 40 if I remember correctly. I’ll check that again also. I have not bypassed the cleaner and am not sure how. After the sand was changed, the floor cleaner just started being the only return for some reason. I thought maybe the pool guy changed the plumbing but not sure howw he could have.
Thanks CBLail we look forward to the additional photos. There are several different set ups for the in-floor cleaning system and I believe your works as follows…
The in-floor cleaning heads are grouped in zones almost like and irrigation system, the various in-floor valves operate from 4-8 zones based on the model you have. So let’s say you have a 5 zone valve, normally 4 of the zones would be the in-floor heads and 1 of the zones would be the wall returns.
When the pump comes on the valve would direct the flow to zone 1 of the in floor cleaning heads then after a certain amount of time the valve rotates to turn off zone 1 and turn on zone 2 of the in floor cleaning heads and so on for zone 3 and 4 of the in floor cleaning heads and then the final zone 5 would be the wall returns. Your wall returns might not be the last zone but one of the zones should be the wall returns. I run fthe system and periodically check to see if the wall returns are ever initiated.
Can you give us the PSI reading from in-floor valve and from the PSI reading from the gauge on the sand filter gauge . There should be a setting on the sand filter valve called by-pass if you change to this setting does the PSI on the in floor valve or the sand filter valve change? Make sure to never change the valve on the filter when the pump is running, turn off the pump to turn the filter valve.
When the pump is off the filter is less than 10 PSI and the Floor valve is 5 PSI. During normal operation the filter is less than 10 PSI and the valve it is about 32 PSI. The valve does not seem to change the return location at all. There are 3 floor returns and only 1 seems to have any water flow, however the deep end is hard to judge. I backwashed my filter and cleaned the baskets yesterday.
I could not find the ‘by-pass’ setting, however I was able to find something called recirculate. When I ran it thru this the PSI remained at 10 and 32. The main difference was that one of the wall return jets began working slightly. It bubbled first, so maybe when he changed the sand the pipes got air in them and caused them not to work.
I am still concerned that the valve is not changing properly and has such a high PSI.
Thanks for the photos and detailed info. Yes Recirculate would be the same as By-pass sorry for the confusion on that =) The next thing I would check is the infloor valve itself. To do this turn off your pump and then remove the lid on the green valve by loosening the band clamp around the valve, you may also need to unscrew the union above the valve. Once you remove the lid inspect the gears on the inside for any obstructions. If you there does not appear to be any obstructions then you may need a valve kit which includes new internal components of the valve. Can you find any manufacturer info. on the valve that says paramoount, AA or Caretaker? This would help us identify which kit you would need. I look forward to hearing back from you.
