Swimming Pool Tips and Reviews: Installing a Pentair SUPERFLO® VS Variable Speed Pump: Plumbing in the Pump

Installing and plumbing in the Pentair SuperFlo VS pump is not very difficult. But Pentair will not honor the 2 year warranty and will void the warranty unless the pump is installed by a pool service professional. So you can do it yourself with that in mind. The video covers the complete plumbing installation at this service account.

Why Pentair is voiding the warranty if a homeowner installs the pump is a complicated matter. One, they are trying to protect the pool service industry and second they don't want to warranty improper or faulty installation. I can talk about the legality of doing this (which is very gray), but it would take up this whole article. I will probably save that discussion for another Blog article.

The pool PVC pipes at this pool are over 40 years old so I had to do some creative inlet plumbing. If I cut the elbow off and went straight to the pump there was a great chance the pipe would snap while I cut it and then I would be jack hammering cement. Even when I was cutting the pipe off at the elbow it was moving quite a bit and making me very nervous.

It was a good decision because when I installed a new filter here a month later the discharge pipe snapped off on me when I removed the old filter. I have little doubt that if I would have cut the elbow off, the pipe going into the cement would have cracked under the strain.

This particular pool had 1 1/2” PVC plumbing. So there was one additional plumbing part that was needed and that was a 2” PVC to a 1 1/2” PVC Bushing Reducer. This part was used at the included 2” unions to reduce them down to 1 1/2”. For a pool with 2” plumbing you will not need them.

So before you start make sure you have plenty of elbows, couplings, straight PVC pipe (Schedule 40) and a tool to cut the PVC pipes. I like using a PVC Pipe Cutter but a Hacksaw will also suffice. You will also need PVC Cement, I like using the Grey Pool Heavy as it allows for longer drying time when you apply it to make tweaking the fittings easier. PVC Primer is also good to apply to give the pipes a tighter fit. And you will need sand paper to sand off any paint and a cloth to wipe off the PVC pipes.

You will also need a Sharpie marker and a ruler to mark the pipe cuts. The Sharpie can also be used to mark the angle of the elbows so that you can get everything to fit together at the proper angle.

At this pool there was a complicated matter of the pool equipment being below the pool water line. This means that gravity will push the water out of the pipes and when you remove the old filter the pool will drain down either below the skimmer or even below the return lines. To prevent this you will need to plug off the skimmer and return lines.

For the skimmer you can use a 1 1/2” threaded drain plug. In some cases you can stuff a rag or tennis ball in the bottom opening to stop the flow. At this

pool there was a check valve in the form of the FloVis in front of the pump that stopped the flow of water back from the skimmer.

The return lines can be plugged with threaded 1 1/2” plugs if your lines are threaded in the pool walls. There are also expansion plugs for snub pipes, but here I just used a type of rag that gave the lines a complete seal. This is important because gravity will push the water out of the return lines so that plumbing will be impossible with the water running out of the cut pipes.

If your pool equipment is at the pool water level or above it then these steps won't be necessary. The water will not run back into the equipment once you cut the pipes. But if your old pool filter sits below the pool water line, these additional steps are critical.

I like doing dry fittings when I do installs to make sure everything will fit together nicely once I apply the PVC Cement. I also like to mark the angle of the PVC Elbows so that once I remove the dry fitting I will be able to cement everything at the correct angle. If you make a mistake it is no big deal. You can just cut the straight PVC pipe and add a Coupling and adjust the angle.

I like to use a liberal amount of PVC Cement when I do the fittings. If you use to less there is a great chance of a leak developing. If you use too much simply wipe off the excess. You will paint the PVC pipes at the end so it doesn't matter. I just caution you to use a good amount on each fitting to prevent future failure.

The dry time on the PVC fittings vary based on size but I always give my installs at least 24 hours to dry. In this case I couldn't return for three days so I left everything off for that period. If you turn on the pool pump too soon the pipes may develop leaks. 24 hours is always the safest policy.

I also like installing the FlowVis Flow meter at all of my Variable Speed pump installs to get to the correct GPM to maximize energy savings. You can purchase the FlowVis 1 1/2” here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SAP811W?ie=UTF8&tag=swimmingpooll-20&camp=1789&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=B00SAP811W

To order the SuperFlo VS: https://www.amazon.com/Pentair-342001-SuperFlo-Variable-Horsepower/dp/B00PKHX2BM/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=swimmingpooll-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=4bcb087dc0b512ffa228edd5b3e38179&creativeASIN=B00PKHX2BM

Monday, February 6, 2017

Installing a Pentair SUPERFLO® VS Variable Speed Pump: Plumbing in the Pump

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