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How To Maintain a Pool Diverter Valve

WRITTEN BY: Inyo Pools

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To maintain the life of a standard pool diverter valve, you should lubricate the square seal at least twice a year. In addition you should remove the valve assembly and lubricate the 3 o-rings inside the valve at least once a year. To avoid valve maintenance you have the option of replacing these standard valves with Jandy Neverlube valves. These valves have teflon surfaces that do not need to be lubricated. This page explains what you need to do to lubricate a standard valve.

Step by Step

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Step 1

Some values, like the popular Jandy valve, have grease ports at the base of the valve to facillate lubrication of the square seal. If your valve does not have a grease port, you will have to disassemble the valve to lubricate it. Go to step 11.

Step 2

Turn off your pool pump.

Step 3

Relieve the pressure in the lines by turning the relief valve on top of your filter counter-clockwise. You should see the pressure reading on the filter pressure gauge go to 0.

Step 4

Note operational position of Valve Handle for future reference. Rotate the Valve Handle so that the word "OFF" on the handle is pointing to the grease port.

Step 5

Unscrew the Grease Cap counter-clockwise and remove it from the Grease Port.

Step 6

Fill the cap 2/3 full with valve lubrication.

Step 7

Replace the cap and slowly turn it clockwise all the way until all of the value lubrication has been forced into the valve.

Step 8

Rotate the Valve Handle from side to side to spread the valve lubrication across the face of the Square Seal.

Step 9

Return the Valve Handle back to its original position - noted above. The picture shows the typical operational position for pipes going from the skimmers and main drain to the pool pump - all ports are open.

Step 10

Check to make sure the pump basket is full of water, restart the pool pump, and close the relief valve on the filter when water starts to spray out of the valve.

Step 11

As stated above, you should lubricate the Square Seal twice a year through the Grease Port. The internal O-rings should be lubricated once an year and to do this, you will have to disassemble the valve.

Step 12

Before you start to disassemble the valve, you must turn off the pool pump and open the filter relief valve to relieve the pressure.

Step 13

Note operational position of Valve Handle for future reference. Rotate the Valve Handle so that the "OFF" word lines up with the Grease Port, halfway between the two upper ports. This will make it easier to pull the Valve Assembly.

Step 14

Remove all 8 screws on the top of the Valve Cover.

Step 15

Grab the Valve Handle and with a gentle rocking motion pull the Valve Assembly out of the Valve Body.

Step 16

Unscrew and remove the Lock Knob on the top of the Valve Assembly.

Step 17

Lift the Valve Handle off of the Assembly Shaft.

Step 18

Pull the Assembly Shaft Unit out ot the Valve Cover.

Step 19

Check the 3 O-rings for tears and wear. Put a thin coat of lubricant on the O-rings.

Step 20

Insert the Assembly Shaft Unit back into the Valve Cover.

Step 21

Before replacing the Valve Handle onto the Assembly Staft, make sure it is positioned correctly. There are four slots on the shaft. One slot is narrower than the other three. Make sure the narrow tab on the Valve Handle lines up with the narrow slot in the shaft. Picture at right shows slots on the shaft. Next picture shows the tabs on the Valve Handle.

Step 22

Replace the Valve Handle onto the Assembly Staft.

Step 23

Screw on the Locking Knob. Before you tighten rotate the Valve Handle so that the "OFF" label is positioned away from the "INLET" label on the Valve Cover. If the "OFF" label on Valve Handle is positioned on the "INLET" side, it will be operating on the wrong side of the shut off stops and you will only be able to shut off the inlet port.

Step 24

Insert the Valve Assembly into the Valve Body. Make sure that the "INLET" label lines up with the exit port (e.g. the pipe going to the pool pump).

Step 25

Insert and hand tighten the 8 Valve Cover screws.

Step 26

Rotate the Valve Handle to its operational position noted above.

Step 27

Check to make sure the pump basket is full of water, restart the pool pump, and close the relief valve on the filter when water starts to spray out of the valve.

Comments

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(1 to 7 of 7)

mastman23 Posted: 9/3/2017

I found and solved all by suction air leaks here on this site Thanks guys for the help i no longer have and air seepage into the suction side sine rebuilding the three valves on the suction side and greasing them
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InyoPools Product Specialist Dennis R. Posted: 7/7/2017

Bass Fisher - Maybe not, but you are going to have to have it open anyway when your start back up to release the air that has accumulated at the top of the tank when the pump was off.
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Bass Fisher Posted: 7/4/2017

By turning off my pump, the pressure gauge is at 0. Do I still need to open the pressure relief value?
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InyoPools Product Specialist Dennis R. Posted: 6/27/2015

valve lubricant - The clear O-ring lubricant like Magic Lube O-ring Lubricant 1 Oz. Teflon is what is being used now to lubricate diverter valves. You can use either Teflon based or silicon based. Teflon is newer.
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Anonymous Posted: 6/25/2015

What kind of valve lubricant is pictured? Mine is a thick, sticky blue substance that looks like what is pictured. I assume this is different than regular o-ring lubricant because of it being in the cup and sitting sideways, or is it possible to use the regular o-ring lubricant (clear and not thick) inside the cup? Can I use regular o-ring lubricant (clear) on the inside once I remove the 8 screws? Thanks for another fabulous "how-to" article!
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GOOF Posted: 5/30/2012

I didn't even know what the grease knob was until I twisted it off of my 23 year old valve. Needless to say, I have not been greasing the valves. I searched forever to find out what the purpose of this knob was. By the way, it has been the source of an air leak in my pool that I thought was a leak in the piping. Air bubbles were forever coming out of my returns. I was to the point of having someone come in to pressure check the system (would have cost a lot of money). These knobs were the issue. This site explains everything. Hats off to you INYO!!
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Paul Miller Plymouth MA USA Posted: 6/2/2010

I searched all over the internet to find an article that described how to maintain my jandy 3 valve diverter. INYO was the only place that had the most awesomely described step by step process on how to make sure the valves stayed running smoothly. It showed exactaly how to lube them properly! I just want you to know that I highly appreciate you making this info available to everyone. This personally will save me a lot of hassle down the road and save me lots of money. Thanks Again and just so you know that due to this great customer service I will buy all my pool products from INYO for now on :) Paul
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