Plumbing repair - is this valve needed?

[pfp-az]

The o-ring for the union to my salt cell split. Unfortunately there is no place to cut the plumbing and insert a coupler without going all the way back to the line coming directly off the filter. As a result I need to replace alot more than would otherwise be necessary, including a Jandy valve that splits the flow between a waterfall and the rest of the system. There is another valve on the line going to the waterfall so I'm wondering if this Jandy valve is really needed or if a simple T would be fine? Any thoughts?

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-fEJsqbpRvgg/T3M3riqTaAI/AAAAAAAAB3Q/K8IDnU2oEng/s800/photomar2072310am.jpg

[PoolDoc]

It looks like a tee would be fine.

[pfp-az]

Thank you. One other question i should have asked...

What advantage does having this valve offer? It allows me to stop the flow to the waterfall (which i can stop with the other valve already), or stop the flow to the rest of the system (skimmer, aerator, and in floor cleaning) - I don't know why I'd want to do the latter. It would also seem that with this current setup I could cut off all output by closing off both valves and I can't imagine that would be good.

Thank you

[mas985]

They may have put that valve in to force all of the water to the waterfall to get a more dynamic and active look. If you remove that valve, you won't have that flexibility anymore.

[PoolDoc]

Sorry -- I over looked that. If you replace the valve with a tee, you'll have to ADD a valve to the SWCG line to be able to duplicate the control you get with the 3-way valve.