Guide To Pool Heating

Page 6 of 51

The arrows emanating from the “return lines” depict the traditional flow of water. Water

flows from the top of the pool downward where it is drawn into the main drain by the pump’s

suction. This is normally the path of particulate matter. Again, in theory, all the dirt and other

particulate matter would sink downward and be drawn into the pool’s main drain. There the matter

would be trapped in the strainer basket of the pool’s filtration pump if it were large and trapped in

the filter if the matter were small.

We know, however, that this traditional plumbing does not fulfill its design goal of keeping

the pool clean. If you’re already a pool owner, you no doubt have to vacuum the bottom of the

pool and use a “debris collector” basket to grab leaves and other foreign materials from the bottom

of the pool. In some instances, automatic pool robots clean the bottom of the pool. Enough said

about the traditional design of the pool and its short comings in keeping the pool clean.

Reversing The Flow

Why couldn’t we just plumb the pool backwards? Well, you could if you never needed to

drain the pool. However, you still need the option of this “NORMAL FLOW” to drain out the

pool water for maintenance and repairs of the pool. As you will see later, the flowreversal™ valve

maintains this capability.

What is flowreversal?By now you should have guessed. If you think it is simply

reversing the flow of water so that water is sucked out of the “return lines” and returned into the

“main drain” --- you are absolutely right!

Illustration 2, labeled “Flowreversal” shows this process. Note that the arrows which

indicate the direction of water flow are now opposite. The water flows from the “main drain”

upwards and into the “return lines”.