Swimming Pool Fittings

I've been running for a few months with my solar pool heater hooked up for low pressure operation.  On the swimming pool tab above I describe how I put a valve in to close off the vacuum break to prevent air getting into the system when the pressure was so low it wouldn't close the break.  Well, seems you need to use special fittings when you go to a flexible hose from a two inch pipe.  This configuration worked fine for months, then a storm came a loosened something and the pipes blew apart, dumping a few hundred gallons of water on the roof.

A little research shows that one needs to use a barb fitting for this kind of thing, but no one sells them.  There is a special adapter to adapt 2 inch pvc pipe to a flexible hose, but none of the plumbing supply places carry them.  Solar specialty companies are especially reluctant to talk about them because they want to come out and charge me for a service call.

Notice that it has a barb on one end and the other end is the same as two inch pipe.  I found one source online that had 2 inch barb fittings, but the barb was too small.  I found this out when it arrived.  Sigh.  Without being able to actually hold something like this in my hand it's tough to work out the details.

Meanwhile, my solar heater is back to the original configuration while I rattle around trying to find the right parts.  When I get it working again, I'll post updates on the swimming pool page to show people how to do this kind of thing and NOT lose several hundred gallons from the pool across the roof into the yard.