Replaced Hayward Vari-flo XL Valve

[dcarlton]

I ordered and replaced the valve on top of my sand filter with a SP0714T as the old one had a hairline crack in the housing.

I opened the pool turned the filter on and let it circulate overnight to get all the mess into the middle of the above ground pool. This morning, I attached my hose and cleaner to the pool, turned the filter to waste turned the pump on and vacuumed to waste. I noticed that there seemed to be a small stream of water coming through the return to the pool as this stream was brownish/green - what I was picking up off the bottom of the pool.

I got all I could, turned off the pump, put filter in backwash mode and while it did eject water, it didn't seem to be as much as the vacuum to waste or what I was used to with the previous control valve. I put it on rinse and same result, just didn't seem right.

I put it back on filter and it seems fine, however, now it has a slow trickle of water coming out of the waste port and no matter what I do, it seems to do this.

I put a plug in the waste port to keep water from coming out but there has to be a 'right way' to correct this.

[PoolDoc]

Usually, when a multiport leaks via the backwash discharge, it means that there's a problem with the spider gasket. I don't know why that would be the case on a new valve, but it's still the first thing to check.

Unscrew the SS bolts holding the lid in place. Loose them all gradually, and do not remove ANY bolt/nut pair, till they are ALL loose. The lid is spring loaded, and you'll crack the lid if you remove most of the bolts, leaving one in place. Inspect the gasket for problems, dirt, sand, etc. If you find nothing re-install and try again. Sometimes, the mysterious repair god fixes things magically when you take it apart and then reassemble it.

If not, come back and we'll go a step further.

[dcarlton]

I figured it out. I too thought spider gasket since that seemed to be the consensus on various forums and topics. When I disassembled it, the spider gasket looked fine.

So next thing I assumed maybe a broken lateral since I found sand in the discharge sock that had attached. So began removing sand.

Got to the bottom and the big white plastic tube was broken off right at the joint to the laterals. Off to the pool supply store for a new lateral assembly plus new sand.

All put back together running. I'm still not happy yet with the way it rinses as I don't see the swirl in the little jar but maybe it's doing it's thing. It's not leaking anymore so hopefully that's the end of it. Now on to the green.....

Usually, when a multiport leaks via the backwash discharge, it means that there's a problem with the spider gasket. I don't know why that would be the case on a new valve, but it's still the first thing to check.

Unscrew the SS bolts holding the lid in place. Loose them all gradually, and do not remove ANY bolt/nut pair, till they are ALL loose. The lid is spring loaded, and you'll crack the lid if you remove most of the bolts, leaving one in place. Inspect the gasket for problems, dirt, sand, etc. If you find nothing re-install and try again. Sometimes, the mysterious repair god fixes things magically when you take it apart and then reassemble it.

If not, come back and we'll go a step further.

[PoolDoc]

Got to the bottom and the big white plastic tube was broken off right at the joint to the laterals. Off to the pool supply store for a new lateral assembly plus new sand.

That'll do it! For whatever reason, the plastics used inside filters are often not the greatest in quality -- they may be ABS. My guess is the low-grade plastics are easier to mold than a high-grade PVC or CPVC. Regardless, these plastics seem to get brittle and fragile over time, and are easy to break when removing and replacing sand or parts.