I have had a couple nights where I noticed from inside the house that the pump did not sound normal, went out to check and it had lost prime and was running dry for who knows how long! It has only happened a couple times in the past few months and I run the pump every night, so it works fine most of the time. I am not 100% sure, but I think both times it happened were after I ran the hot tub and then automation would switch it back to pool when comes time to run the pump at night, not sure if that has anything to do with it. Anyway, I was just wondering is a check valve just before the pump a good idea or not to stop this from happening again?
Assuming it is a good idea to install a check valve, then I have another question. If I use the Jandy 7305 180-Degree, linked below, the instructions say to have at least 16" of water above the check valve to ensure there is adequate pressure to push the valve closed and not let water back flow or leak back the wrong way. My pump is currently connected very closely to the supply line coming out of the ground such that there is not room to install the check valve, let alone with 16" of pipe above it. So my question is, should I install the check valve first right as the supply side plumbing comes out of the ground and levels horizontal (so install the check valve horizontally), then put a 90 degree bend coupling on the output side of the check valve and route tubing straight up 16" then put two more 90 degree bends in it to route it back down to the pump in order to get the 16" of pipe above the check valve, kind of like an inverse P-trap?
My gut tells me this is a ridiculous idea and I shouldn't do it, but I do not see any other way to get 16" above the check valve. I can't go down underground because first, I want to be able to see the window of the valve in case junk gets caught in there so I can clean it out, and second there are 3 different supply lines coming up from under ground which then feed into 1 and I do not want to have to install 3 check valves.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001I7JJD8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/FONT][/SIZE]
Assuming it is a good idea to install a check valve, then I have another question. If I use the Jandy 7305 180-Degree, linked below, the instructions say to have at least 16" of water above the check valve to ensure there is adequate pressure to push the valve closed and not let water back flow or leak back the wrong way. My pump is currently connected very closely to the supply line coming out of the ground such that there is not room to install the check valve, let alone with 16" of pipe above it. So my question is, should I install the check valve first right as the supply side plumbing comes out of the ground and levels horizontal (so install the check valve horizontally), then put a 90 degree bend coupling on the output side of the check valve and route tubing straight up 16" then put two more 90 degree bends in it to route it back down to the pump in order to get the 16" of pipe above the check valve, kind of like an inverse P-trap?
My gut tells me this is a ridiculous idea and I shouldn't do it, but I do not see any other way to get 16" above the check valve. I can't go down underground because first, I want to be able to see the window of the valve in case junk gets caught in there so I can clean it out, and second there are 3 different supply lines coming up from under ground which then feed into 1 and I do not want to have to install 3 check valves.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001I7JJD8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/FONT][/SIZE]
