Pressure

[Watermom]

I was curious to see what a circulator was so I did google it. (Anybody wanna go swimming in that pool filled with red dye? How many gallons of bleach ya think it would take to clean that mess up!)

http://www.thecirculator.com/

[PoolDoc]

Yet another product without a purpose. My personal opinion is that this quote;

and in just a few short months the Circulator will pay for itself and put money back in your pocket with savings in electricity, heating, and maintenance. Chemicals work much more efficiently to give you a safer and healthier pool.

is wrong in every detail.

However, users very likely can always expect to see the sort of pressure problems experienced by the original poster in this thread.

[PoolDoc]

Oh, my; more details! Here's their location . . . at the UPS Store!:
6860 Gulfport Blvd S
South Pasadena, FL 33707



http://goo.gl/maps/UCfBU



And, their anonymous domain registration:

Registrant:
Domain Discreet Privacy Service
ATTN: thecirculator.com
12808 Gran Bay Pkwy, West
Jacksonville, FL 32258
US
Phone: 1-902-7492701
Email: [email protected] m

. . . The general rule here is, "Don't buy from someone who's trying to hide from you!"

[Watermom]

I can't see how you would ever get floating debris into the skimmer if you used the circulator. I also think you would have to vacuum more often because any floating stuff that would normally make it into the skimmer would, (I think) get forced down to the floor of the pool.

[PoolDoc]

And, still more info:

The phone number on the Circulator website, 561-208-6535, is

(561) 208-6535 is a Landline
Florida (Boca Raton)
South Florida/Gold Coast metro area, Palm Beach County

and is associated with

Legacy Worldwide, Inc
9235 Captiva Circle
Saint Pete Beach, FL 33706-1356 map
Wesley T Welden
President

The address is a Florida condo, here:
http://goo.gl/maps/Wmjqi

Also, the website lists an extensive C.V. for "Dan Jones" who

along with other highly-skilled engineers have worked diligently over several years to bring to you this most significant item for your swimming pool. The patented "One and Only" Circulator is a modern marvel that will give you up to 1500% more circulating power, saving you time and money for the healthy life of your pool.

http://www.thecirculator.com/about_us.php

This C.V. lists three technical articles which "Dan" is supposed to have written:

"Gas Flow Resistance Measurements Through Packed Beds at High Reynolds Number", Transactions for the ASME: Journal of Fluids Engineering, Presented at International Fluids Conference-Paper No. 83-FE-8, June 1983.
"Numerical Determination of Surface Temperatures for In-Depth Thermocouples" Presented at 19th International Thermal Physics Conference, Snowmass, Colorado, Paper No. AIAA-84-1763
"Composite Millimeter Wave Radome For Mach 4+", Presented at the 5th DOD Electromagnetic Windows Symposium, Boulder, Colorado, October 1993.

Now, the second two articles are unknown to Google. That doesn't prove that they are fabricated, but it's not a good sign. However, it's the first article that's the 'coffin nail'; it exists, and can be found on DTIC.ml, http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a091300.pdf . So what's the problem? Take a look at this image of the title page:



Notice anything? Here's a clue: no "Dan Jones".

There's more, and I've archived all the data I found, along with the copy of the entire website as of 2Aug2012. But I think this is enough.

[Spensar]

It remind me of the 80s doo hickeys that you only had to install in your fuel line to save big on gasoline.

[Charlie_R]

If I close the skimmers and have just the main drain I get all that air. The water coming out of my returns were never as hard as it has been this year. Again, when the pressure starts to register in the 30's from the 20's it seems to clear up. It just seems like the water pressure coming out of the returns is way too strong.......the circulators should not be a concern, just mentioned I put them on and when you do the pressure on the filter goes up because as you say it causes a lot of back pressure. If I dont have them on and run the pump for so long and the pressure goes up because of being dirty, the same thing happens, the air dissapears.

Better start checking all the tubing between your main drain and filter. In certain conditions, a small crack or unglued joint will not leak water, but if put under a slight vacuum, will allow air in. Also, check to see that your main drain doesn't have any debris (hair, leaves etc) under the grate, reducing the amount of water flow available.

I have seen cavitation happen at sharp 90 bends under vacuum conditions in hydraulic systems and this might be a possibility here as well.