Switching Hayward C5030 Cartridge Filter Inlet and Outlet Ports

[KhoaTon]

I'm upgrading my filter with a Hayward SwimClear C5030. Given my pool plumbing, which includes solar heating panels high up, it would be much cleaner to have the inlet port be the bottom and outlet at the top. Here is a file with my model's parts list, with inlet at top (parts list at end of pdf file):
https://hayward-pool-assets.com/assets/documents/pools/pdf/manuals/SwimClear-Cxx30-revB.pdf?fromCDN=true

With very minor change, I can make the inlet port be the bottom, and the outlet be the top, by shortening part 15 in parts diagram above, and rotating part 10 around 180 degrees.

In fact, I found this (older perhaps) parts diagram from the Hayward site which has exactly this configuration:
https://hayward-pool-assets.com/assets/documents/pools/pdf/parts-diagrams/SwimClearCan.pdf?fromCDN=true

Does anyone have any ideas why this might not be a good modification, and why Hayward Pools switched the configuration sometimes in the past?

I would appreciate any thoughts. My pool plumbing is currently non functional (in pieces) awaiting the decision on whether to modify the filter in this way or work around the inconvenient inlet at top, outlet at bottom configuration of the filter.

I found this old post on TFP which indicated that Hayward did indeed swapped inlet and outlet ports on similar models:
https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/38331-FILTERS-BLEW-UP-HELP-PLEASE

 

[jonpcar]

If your "new, shortened" part 15 plugs right into 16 (and the rotated part 10), it seems like this may have been intentionally designed by Hayward to be reversible as you suggest. Wow, nice thinking on your part! I have this filter and have cleaned it a number of times, I don't see why your plan shouldn't work. Are you planning on leaving in part 17 so that the water from the pool shoots upward into the canister (as the "new, revised" hayward design does)? That may be why Hayward changed the flow because it may help more of the "debris" get caught in the upper parts of the filter rather than concentrate more near the bottoms of the filter (which still happens, but possibly improved?)...that's just a thought on my part.

Anway good luck. I'm pretty sure I would do what you are planning if I were in your situation and thought of it, haha.

 

[KhoaTon]

If your "new, shortened" part 15 plugs right into 16 (and the rotated part 10), it seems like this may have been intentionally designed by Hayward to be reversible as you suggest. Wow, nice thinking on your part! I have this filter and have cleaned it a number of times, I don't see why your plan shouldn't work. Are you planning on leaving in part 17 so that the water from the pool shoots upward into the canister (as the "new, revised" hayward design does)? That may be why Hayward changed the flow because it may help more of the "debris" get caught in the upper parts of the filter rather than concentrate more near the bottoms of the filter (which still happens, but possibly improved?)...that's just a thought on my part.

Anway good luck. I'm pretty sure I would do what you are planning if I were in your situation and thought of it, haha.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. The parts seems to fit perfectly, all that seems to be needed is the shortening of part 15. I like your idea of leaving in part 17 to reduce bottom sediments in the filter. I'm somewhat assured by your agreement that the filter will function pretty much identically with the inlet/outlet switched around.

However, finding that old TFP Forum post about blowing out the cartridges because Hayward reversed inlet and outlet had me leaning towards keeping the default Hayward configuration of inlet on top. If I switched it from the default, I might not be around in the future (or forget about it) when the filter unit needs replacing, and whoever working on it will get an unpleasant surprise when just dropping in a replacement unit. Of course, I could put WARNING signs all over the filter to prevent this...

 

[jonpcar]

I guess that is a concern if others might be working on your pool; but as you mentioned, some kind of permanent labeling could resolve that. If you ARE going to redo pool plumbing, I would suggest you install additional pvc unions wherever there’s a chance you might need to change/replace something in the future. And if you do that, you probably want to buy a couple extra just to have identical versions for those “future” changes. That has saved my rear a couple of times.

These unions are already included on pumps and filters of course.

Ex: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Homewerks-Worldwide-2-in-dia-PVC-Sch-40-Union/50160567

 

[jav250]

I'm upgrading my filter with a Hayward SwimClear C5030. Given my pool plumbing, which includes solar heating panels high up, it would be much cleaner to have the inlet port be the bottom and outlet at the top. Here is a file with my model's parts list, with inlet at top (parts list at end of pdf file):
https://hayward-pool-assets.com/ass...manuals/SwimClear-Cxx30-revB.pdf?fromCDN=true

With very minor change, I can make the inlet port be the bottom, and the outlet be the top, by shortening part 15 in parts diagram above, and rotating part 10 around 180 degrees.

In fact, I found this (older perhaps) parts diagram from the Hayward site which has exactly this configuration:
https://hayward-pool-assets.com/ass.../parts-diagrams/SwimClearCan.pdf?fromCDN=true

Does anyone have any ideas why this might not be a good modification, and why Hayward Pools switched the configuration sometimes in the past?

I would appreciate any thoughts. My pool plumbing is currently non functional (in pieces) awaiting the decision on whether to modify the filter in this way or work around the inconvenient inlet at top, outlet at bottom configuration of the filter.

I found this old post on TFP which indicated that Hayward did indeed swapped inlet and outlet ports on similar models:
FILTERS BLEW UP.....HELP PLEASE

Hello, I had a Hayward DE7220 DE filter and I just replaced it with a Hayward W3C5030 cartridge filter. The height from ground of the two ports on the side of the lower tank in the two types of filter are identical; 12.5" and 17.5", with the difference that the ports are swapped when going from one type to the other. This requires rerouting of the pool's inlet/outlet pipes when converting from Hayward DE to Hayward cartridge. In response to KhoaTon's post of July 2018, I wanted to say that, yes, you can swap things inside the tank of the cartridge filter so as to eliminate the need for redoing the pool's plumbing. The way I did it is, I inserted a piece of regular 2-inch PVC pipe 19.25 inches long inside part #16 then rotated part #10 for 180 degrees and mated the PVC pipe with part #10. That's it. A couple of extra step when using regular 2-inch PVC is, (1) I had to sand down the bottom end of the PVC pipe slightly to get it to insert inside part #16, and (2) I had to fit an O-ring to the top of the PVC pipe. Alternatively, instead of using a regular 2-inch PVC pipe, you can just buy part #14 and #15 then cut part 15 to a 19.25 inch length and inset it in part 16 and so on. Or, if you won't mind, just cut off your part #15 at 19.25 inch length and repurpose it. Good luck.