Off-line Chlorinator Removal

[andrew22]

Looking to permanently remove the inline chlorinator that came with pool. After I take it off can I simply cut the pipe and glue a fitting over the cut pipe? It’s not a large area but are there any concerns with how close my new fitting would be to the elbows or other fittings already made? Was looking to not replace plumbing already in place if I don’t have to.

PVC repair experience minor but I just plumbed in a Flow Vis flow meter with no issue.

 

[Texas Splash]

Your feeder is actually an off-line feeder meaning it's not directly plumbed into the pipes. Mine was an inline feeder before I removed if (pics in the My Build link in my signature). With an off-line feeder, you just need to pull that tube and plug the port. Others have done it, I just don't recall right now what size it was. Not sure if they used a 1/4" nipple or even just a type of screw. If I can find an old thread I'll let you know. But that way you don't have to cut any plumbing which is good.

 

[sande005]

When I took mine off, I just cut and replaced the pipes as needed. The attachment points under the fittings are just holes drilled in the pipes with the clamps holding on the fittings. One could find plugs or other to glue in the holes (which may have to be enlarged to fit the plugs you are going to glue in). I wasn't confident that gluing in a patch/plug would be strong enough to prevent future leaks. And it might look a bit ugly. For mine, I cut out a small section of pipe on either side of the hole, then used a coupler to get the two ends together again. For yours, you have no room to do that (especially in the first picture). So you may have to cut off the 90's on each section, and redo those legs completely. Judging by the number of couplers, someone did a fair bit of work redoing it in the past.
Finding the black pipe might be interesting -some areas no longer allow what I assume is ABS to be used, and it can now be hard to find. Plus you can't glue white PVC to ABS....

Or....just route one of the hoses left from the old feeder directly from one fitting to the other, with no feeder in between. A future owner may wonder what was going on, but 'tis cheap, easy, and involves almost no work, and will have no impact on pool operation.

 

[Lake Placid]

The simplest solution is to use the existing tube as a bypass. Just eliminate the chlorinator and run the tube from one port to the other. You can also cap them with readily available brass caps found at the big box stores. I believe Watts LFA736 1/4 inch FIP female pipe cap would fit. The other solution is to tap both holes and plug them, I prefer using brass plugs over pvc plugs if you decide to tap and plug them.

 

[Texas Splash]

More previous suggestions.

Removing Hayward Offline Chlorinator - plugging holes

Hi, I have a hayward offline chlorinator hooked up which I havent used for 2 years. The only reason I even have it hooked up is because of the two holes I had to drill in my pvc piping to install it. Does anyone know what I can use to cap these holes off so I dont have to hook it up anymore...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[andrew22]

When I took mine off, I just cut and replaced the pipes as needed. The attachment points under the fittings are just holes drilled in the pipes with the clamps holding on the fittings. One could find plugs or other to glue in the holes (which may have to be enlarged to fit the plugs you are going to glue in). I wasn't confident that gluing in a patch/plug would be strong enough to prevent future leaks. And it might look a bit ugly. For mine, I cut out a small section of pipe on either side of the hole, then used a coupler to get the two ends together again. For yours, you have no room to do that (especially in the first picture). So you may have to cut off the 90's on each section, and redo those legs completely. Judging by the number of couplers, someone did a fair bit of work redoing it in the past.
Finding the black pipe might be interesting -some areas no longer allow what I assume is ABS to be used, and it can now be hard to find. Plus you can't glue white PVC to ABS....

Or....just route one of the hoses left from the old feeder directly from one fitting to the other, with no feeder in between. A future owner may wonder what was going on, but 'tis cheap, easy, and involves almost no work, and will have no impact on pool operation.

I was also worried there would not be enough space without removing the elbow. The amount of couplers also baffles me. The pool was built 3 years before we moved in and it was a pretty basic setup before I had some automation added once we moved into the house. The black pipe is actually regular white PVC...it was spray painted black previously. Overall, it was not the best equipment install.

The simplest solution is to use the existing tube as a bypass. Just eliminate the chlorinator and run the tube from one port to the other. You can also cap them with readily available brass caps found at the big box stores. I believe Watts LFA736 1/4 inch FIP female pipe cap would fit. The other solution is to tap both holes and plug them, I prefer using brass plugs over pvc plugs if you decide to tap and plug them.

I did go to lowes previously and found 1/4 inch brass caps similar. That was my first idea to avoid plumbing. They fit alright, but they still have a very slow drip leak when I have the RPM around 2500 or so. Added thread tape...no change. And when I tried making the cap tighter, I think it squeezes those washers over the drilled hole and it just causes it to leak more. At this point, maybe I will just do the easy route and do a simple bypass and be done with it.