Unfortunately, I can't offer any help.

For whatever reason, Ortega valves seem to have been a West Coast thing. I've known they existed, but I've never actually seen one, much less worked on one.

So . . . no ideas on how to 'make it better' . . . and traffic on my site is so low now that you are unlikely to get other answers.

Try TroubleFreePool.com, but just be aware that not all answers are good ones, even if they are enthusiastic.