CVP Leak Detection Damaging Pool Pump and Sand Filter

On Friday 27 March CVP Pool Leak Detection were contracted to find a leak on the suction side of the pump as air bubbles were observed in the return to the pool. The water level had not dropped. I paid the required R1800 and expected expert service. When the technicians arrived I was not impressed with the standard of the equipment. The wiring to the compressor was unsafe as the cables had just been twisted together. After I alerted the technician to the hazard he then used insulation tape. The technicians informed me that they tested the piping system both on the supply to the pump and the discharge from the pump. No leak could be detected despite the system being tested initially at 1 bar then 2 bar. They advised that the bubbles could be from air entrained in the system due to the pump being 0.75kw. They recommended that a 1.1kw pump is installed. I asked for a quote. CVP quoted R4600 for a pump and R1750 for installation and stated that the pump could be installed the next morning. I found this to be excessive and declined.

After the technicians left I noticed that the pump had not been restarted which caused some confusion as it was on when they arrived. On Saturday morning when I tried to start the pump., there was just a buzzing/humming noise. I checked the leaf basket by the pump to ensure that it was primed and noticed that the water was murky. I contacted CVP and requested a technician urgently. They advised that no technicians were available despite being told the evening before that they could install a pump on Saturday morning.

As I needed the pool to be 100% for a function on the Sunday, I contacted another supplier who installed 1.1kw pump. When the old pump was removed the technician showed me that there was 3 of 4 cupful's of sand in the basket. The multiport valve was also inspected and sand was removed. This indicated that the fingers in the sand filter had been damaged. The system was operated on bypass so as not to pump sand into the pool.

After many WhatsApp messages with CVP, who deny any wrong doing or accountability, there has not been any satisfactory answer of how the sand passed through the multiport valve, through the pump and into the leaf basket. CVP have stated that the filter fingers could be damaged over time, which is acceptable. However, if that was the case then sand would be discharged into the pool or through the waste when cleaning the filter. Under normal operation it would be impossible for the sand to flow against the flow of the water into the leaf basket.

Being a Chemical Engineer, my conclusion is that by pressurizing the system to 2bar (normal filter operating pressure is 0.7 to 1.4bar) the fingers in the filter have ruptured and blown the sand back through the multiport valve, through the centrifugal pump and into the basket. It would also indicate that the system was not isolated correctly for the testing which CVP state did happen.

The result is that I have had to pay for a pump and a filter to be installed.

It should be noted that on 28 March another poor review was logged against CVP.