Endless pool technical problem

[Tomomac]

Good Afternoon,

Can anyone help. - I have an Endless Pools unit that has a technical issue.

For those that know - the unit itself is fairly straight forward. It has a pump, float switch, pressure solenoid, reservoir, electrical circuit board and some pipes. A hydraulic flow passes over the motor that sits in th water to create a jet of water.

My unit has no hydraulic flow at all. To test this I have disconnected the low pressure hose and tried to run the motor to empty the reservoir of hydraulic fluid. (this is the procedure for changing hydraulic fluid).

Nothing comes out, but the pump runs and sounds fine. The only other thing I think it could be is the Solenoid on the output. I don't know anything about these, but I think this solenoid unit controls the speed of water.

That is my knowledge complete!

Do we have and tech gurus on here that know about Endless pools?

Thanks
Tom

[Tats]

Hi Tom
Just wondering if you ever got your problem sorted?
I have an EndlessPool Swimspa with a Fastlane swim current machine. My swim current has been on a go-slo for more months now. The original installer is uncontactable, the replacement EP dealers in this area have never returned my calls despite many attempts to reach them and EP customer service hasn't been at all helpful, so I found a different pool engineer who is helping me out but doesn't have specific EP training/ experience. There doesn't seem to be much EP information out there, shame you didn't get any replies up to now but perhaps you were able to sort it yourself, I'd be curious to find out what you did?
Anyway the engineer and I are trying to work through the different possible causes so if anyone has any information or experience re this issue please reply, I'd really appreciate it. We've changed the hydraulic fluid and cartridge, checked the piston is moving freely, so now think it's an issue with the solenoid like you thought. The current machine is working albeit slowly, but perhaps there's not enough power getting through the solenoid to increase the speed of the machine, so we're looking to get it replaced. I'm not sure what else it could be.
Thanks, Tats

[k311y]

It could be that the flow rate has been limited by the master flow control valve which for my Endless Pool is by the outlet hose on the hydraulic power pack; this is used to set the limit for the maximum flow.

In my case, on the R.H corner of the Hydraulic power pack there is a blue metal block where the high pressure supply to the pump is attached. On top is a black plastic knob; rotate it clockwise to increase the maximum flow rate and ant-clockwise to reduce it. This valve works independently of the pool speed control system which will adjust the flow speed up to the limit you have set at the pump.

In my Owners Manual: Technical Bulletin 22.3 "Installation Instructions" refers to this procedure.

Good Luck Kelly

[k311y]

Maybe the master speed control valve is set too low? There is a master speed control valve on the hydraulic power pack that sets the maximum speed of the system and the speed controller of the pool works independently to adjust the speed up to the limit set by the master.

Adjacent to the high pressure hose outlet on the hydraulic power pack on the top of the metal block is a black plastic knob; rotate it clockwise to increase the maximum flow and anti-clockwise to reduce it (Note: fully clockwise is maximum).

Endless Pools Owners Manual, Technical Bulletin n. 22 article 22.3 "Installation Instructions" refer to this.

Good Luck Kelly

[Tats]

Thanks for your reply Kelly. Will give that a go but I think it's more than that because that hadn't been changed when the swim current machine decided to go on a go-slow. It was working fine before at whatever the master speed control valve was set at. So the engineer has been back and changed the solenoid and although that's made a slight improvement the current is still below par and difficult to swim against being too slow! Next stop will be to clean out all the hydraulic oil again and fit a new solenoid valve. Fingers crossed!

[Halemaumau]

Fastlane won’t turn on, using remote .
I changed batteries in control, checked fluid ,Okay
220v at contactor
Machine is about 5 years old, Any help/suggest
Thanks I’m advance

[rrkerns58]

Did you ever figure out what was wrong with the slow current?

We have had ours since 2002, no other issues
We replaced our liner. We now have very little current. When we turn the knob to turn up, it doesn't work until 8 turns. Then it will only bring it up very slow.

[Derby Doc]

We had this problem or very similar. Our technician replaced a flow controlling valve but that didn’t solve it. He then cleaned out a filter in the hydraulic line that had become gummed up with a black deposit. It has worked fine since. This was after about 12 to 15 years of use.

[rrkerns58]

Thank you. We think we have found the problem. The high pressure hydraulic line may be bad inside the hydraulic fluid. We will also check for any buildup or deposits in the box while we have it off.

If that is not it, we will try that. I will keep this updated.

[rrkerns58]

Everything has been resolved. The high pressure hose was in pieces. Had to clean the whole Reservoir out. Replaced the strainer as well. It would gave been figured out sooner if they had told us to turn on the unit and look at the fluid. Instead they asked us to check fluid after it had cleared up, so we could not see the frothy hydraulic fluid. Once we ran it for a few we checked the fluid and saw it was frothy. All fixed now.

It was very hard to lift up that top. It is under a shelf. We had to use bottle jack to jack up each side then leaned it back to do the work.

[bestdad43]

what does it mean if the fluid is frothy? I'm having the same problem with low flow and my fluid is frothy.

[Teapot1]

Air in the hydraulic fluid.

[bestdad43]

my hydraulic line is 60' and buried inside a protective tube. before i dig that up to see if it's ruptured, is there anything inside the hydraulic pump that could be pulling air?

[Teapot1]

Good question! Can you pressure test your pipe runs before going through any destructive process? I wonder if a seal on the pump side has degraded. Just guessing now as its hard from this side of a computer screen.