Maybe heater settled? Major leaking from pipe connections

Jump to latest Follow Reply
B

BlueWRXPride

Well-known member
Jun 18, 2020
134
Syracuse, NY
I went to open up the pool today, and I'm having some major leaking from the pipes in/out of the heater. I'm guessing something settled and now the connections aren't lining up just right. There's really not much wiggle room on either side. For the pipes to the pool there's very little pipe above ground. For the pipes into the heater they're pushed up against the openings cut in the side of the heater. The junction has o-rings, but they don't protrude much so there's not much compression available to fill the gap. What would the easiest fix for this be?

PXL_20240503_214812293.jpgPXL_20240503_214816687.jpgPXL_20240503_221158125.jpgPXL_20240503_233232044.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BlueWRXPride said:
I went to open up the pool today, and I'm having some major leaking from the pipes in/out of the heater. I'm guessing something settled and now the connections aren't lining up just right. There's really not much wiggle room on either side. For the pipes to the pool there's very little pipe above ground. For the pipes into the heater they're pushed up against the openings cut in the side of the heater. The junction has o-rings, but they don't protrude much so there's not much compression available to fill the gap. What would the easiest fix for this be?
Click to expand...
You can try pool lube but with that much water it sounds like they aren’t tight enough or the o-ring got dislodged.
 
I don't think it's a simple matter of shifting the equipment, it looks like there's a slight angle so I'd need to raise the front of the heater just a hair. I feel like the right solution would be some plumbing adjustments so that there's a little more give somewhere in the piping so it doesn't need such exact alignment.
 
BlueWRXPride said:
I don't think it's a simple matter of shifting the equipment, it looks like there's a slight angle so I'd need to raise the front of the heater just a hair. I feel like the right solution would be some plumbing adjustments so that there's a little more give somewhere in the piping so it doesn't need such exact alignment.
Click to expand...
They were connected and working in the past? Stuff may just have shifted over winter.
 
Yeah I had a hard time last year when I opened the pool too, but was able to make it work. No such luck this year. I ended up getting a replacement o-ring for the top connection which was the same diameter but a larger gauge. I also repositioned it slightly so the lower pipe lined up better. That got it down to a slow drip which is good enough for now. I bought some flexible pool pipe which I'll soon use to provide just a little bit of give to make it easier.
 
The pic you posted seems like a lefty/righty problem and not a uppy/downy one.

Screenshot_20240504_224737_Chrome.jpg

The heater will rotate a little if you need it too, or use composite shims to raise it a little.
 
The top one was lefty/righty, the bottom one was uppy/downy. That's why I was having a hard time getting them both to be happy at the same time. Seems like shims would be a quick fix, would having plumbing with some wiggle room be a more robust fix?
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply