Drain To Waste Valve Drip

There are occasionally times when you might notice a small drip coming from your 'drain to waste' (DTW) or 'cleaner' valve. This is not uncommon or really a problem.

We install this valve after your filter to allow you to flush all the dirty water out and away from the system without sending it back to the pool when you service your filter. The valve is easy to use and operates quickly. The down side to these handy valve is that it will occasionally drip when its seal becomes damaged from sand and dirt or the seals become dry.

Most diverter style valves are not engineer to be tight. These drain to waste valves are no different. Ball valves are designed to be tight and carry significant pressure. Unfortunately ball valves are not as easy to use.

Here is the math: One gallon = 15,140 drips (https://water.usgs.gov/edu/activity-drip.html)

Most DTW valves leak about once every 7 seconds or 8.57 drips per minute. 15,140 drips per gallon / 8.57 drips per minute = 1,766 minutes to drip a gallon of water. 1,766 minutes / 60 minutes per hour = 29.44 hours of run time to drip a gallon. If you run your pool 8 hours a day, it would take 3.68 days to drip one gallon.

You're losing significantly more to evaporation then you are to a dripping drain to waste valve.

Even with an occasional leak we feel the tradeoff for the incredible convince a diverter valve provides is well worth the water. Good news however. The valve can be lubricated and in many cases the leak can be stopped or slowed.

1. Turn the pump and system off and close off all valves as you would when servicing the filter.
2. Remove the screws from the top of valve and remove the innards of the valve.
3. Be sure that there is no debris such as sand or dirt on the slip seals.
4. Apply silicone grease to the valve seals and valve body.
5. Reinstall the valve innards and secure with the screws removed.

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