®
13
PHASE I
—
Site Preparations & Planning Cont’d
Roof-based plumbing involves two parts, the plumbing
connections between several individual collectors and
the supply and return lines that connect each row of
collectors to the pool plumbing.
Row-to-piping connections may only be installed in the
End Supply/Return or Reverse/Return styles. To en-
sure each collector receives adequate flow, install End
Supply/Return rows with a maximum of 10 SunSaver
®
Collectors and Reverse/Return rows with a maximum
of 15.
Row-to-piping connections must be designed in such a
way that all bottom headers can drain when the sys-
tem is turned off. Ensuring that horizontal runs of pipe
have a level or slightly downward slope will allow prop-
er drainage to the pool. If plumbing does not drain
down when the system is turned off due to local en-
trapment, manual drain valves should be installed for
simple winterization or a winterization contract should
be maintained.
NOTE: See your warranty policy for specifics of cov-
erage policies.
Systems with more than one row require means of flow
balancing. A common high point return (seen in
Figure
5
)
will achieve proper collector flow uniformity. Plumb-
ing the return line with a high point will enable a com-
parable backpressure on the return line of each bank
and therefore match collector flow throughout the ar-
ray.
Unlike FAFCO
®
CoolPV
®
Systems, SunSaver
®
Systems
do not utilize an individual high-point-return line.
When installing both SunSaver
®
and CoolPV
®
Systems,
plumbing must
conform with the schematics in
Figure
8
to ensure the system is properly balanced and drains
as intended.
It is acceptable to omit a high point return and use
balancing valves to achieve adequate bank flows. In
most cases, a high point return style plumbing will be
the easiest to achieve, but in circumstances where a
high point plumbing routing is not a good option, bal-
ancing valves can be used instead. For specifics of in-
stalling a SunSaver
®
system with balancing valves, re-
fer to
Appendix C
.
Plumbing Layout
Figure 5 | High Point Return Line
Multi-Bank
SunSaver
®
Pool Systems utilize a common high point re-
turn line. This enables each bank to have proportional feed and re-
turn line backpressures which limits the water to favor the path of
least resistance. Without a common high point return line, the low-
est bank will see too much flow and the top won’t see enough, re-
sulting in poor performance of the top bank. Notice A) is an exam-
ple of a
Multi-Bank Reverse Return
and B) is a
Multi-Bank Same End
Return.
A) Multi-Bank Reverse Return
B) Multi-Bank Same End Return
