Pentair261050 2-Inch HiFlow Valve with Plumbing Replacement Pool/Spa D.E. and Sand Filter

After replacing the spider gasket in my old valve which last about 2 weeks I broke down and bought a new one. I went with a brand name replacement as the reviews of the off brand ones were horrible. This worked fine, for great, and haven’t had a problem since I installed it two months ago.

Multiport valve fit perfectly

After about 5 years (with a QUAD DE 60), the old mulitiport value became hard to operate - I should have quickly realized that it was time for a new one. A degraded multiport valve's noise level starts going up, and it will eventually start leaking water (mine did from the top, and its gasket was degraded). A well operating multiport valve apparently makes the water flow more steamlined.Replacement was easy - even for someone who had not done this kind of work or any plumbing work previously. A hack saw and 2" PVC pipes/elbow joints/couplers/primer/glue is all you need, and some some sense of where to cut and create new joints. At around $150 here, and about an hour of work, is a significant cost saving compared to professional installation and purchase from a local pool store. It's probably better to replace the whole valve than to replace the gasket alone (even if that can be done with any precision).

Fit just like my original one that we had to replace after 12 years. Works great! Just don’t like the mode plate, it’s paper and will not last long!

As someone else wrote in his comment, when my original valve started leaking after 9 years, I've made the same mistake, first I've ordered rubber gasket, however, the original valve had it glued in! Spent a lot of time removing glue and pieces of rubber, but the valve still leaking, now the water was coming out of drainpipe even the valve was set to "Filter". So, we decided to to a little bit more DIY and ordered this replacement valve. Unlike the other reviewer, the valve fits right into the filter outlets, no misalignments. Got proper cement (Weld-on 705) 2" pipe and elbows, sleeves and after a few hours my pool was operational again.

Had to replace my old Pentair old style valve about every other year. This valve costs a lot more but well worth the extra cost.Built well and will not leak like the old ones did. If it does leak in the future, at least you can rebuild it without having to replace all the plumbing saving tons of time and cash.

Replaced old push-pull valve with this. Old push-pull valve was leaky and was looking to replace it with an identical valve, but could not find it. I was getting tired of the puddle of water by the filter. I took a gamble and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Nice fit and easy install. Wish I tried it earlier.

SHORT VERSION: If you own a Quad DE filter, beware! Even though this is the exact same model number as the one it replaced, the bulkhead ports are offset on the new valve by about a half inch, whereas they were vertically aligned in the old one. Numerous side-by-side comparisons and measurements confirmed. This unexplained change prevents the new valve from seating properly on my filter (which is from 2009). Pentair support were unable to solve this for me, despite my having purchased literally thousands of dollars of their equipment.FULL REVIEW: I'm a hard-core DIYer, and am no stranger to major work on my pool system, which I've maintained for 10+ years. I purchased this valve as a direct replacement for the last one I had. I have the Pentair Quad 80 DE filter, and this is one of the standard recommended valves. It served me well for many years, but developed a slow leak out the backwash port, which I attributed to wearing of the primary gasket.I wanted to replace the gasket on the old valve, but realized too late (after tearing it) that it was glued in, and essentially impossible to remove. (See photo.) I'm handy, and am used to detailed work like that, but after a few sessions with different tools, I concluded there was no way to remove the gasket without damaging the valve surface. That was effectively issue #1 with this valve. Rather than a $15 gasket and a simple fix, I had to replace the entire thing. Replacing this valve is a major undertaking, akin to bypass heart surgery.I found the exact model number matching my old valve on Amazon -261050, and ordered it. While waiting on the order, I cut out the old valve and bought all the parts I'd need (numerous slip and other joints, and new 2" pipe) to install the replacement.When the new valve arrived, one of the first things I did was try to dry-fit the valve on the filter. I realized immediately that something was wrong - it would not seat properly. I went into trouble-shooting mode. I looked at the part numbers, and they were indeed identical. I put the old valve back on, and it fit as expected. I swapped in the new one again, and again saw the same problem. So then I compared the valves side-by-side, and realized the problem with the new one - the lower bulkhead union was set back about 1/2" from the upper one (see photo). With the old valve, the unions are vertically aligned - to match the ports on the Quad DE filter.I went through the phases of grief. In my denial phase, I thought maybe the"minor" offset wouldn't be a big deal. Maybe there was enough give that I could get the bulkhead valve to line up, splitting the difference in the gap somehow. No luck -- the securing rings seized up quickly when I tried that approach. Given this is a high-pressure system, the whole point is to have tight, squarely fitting connections.I made the most obvious conclusion - I had simply received a defective valve, and this offset was missed in the quality check. After several back and forths with Pentair support, including sharing photos and describing my troubleshooting in detail, they agreed to ship me a new valve. I was frustrated, but could see the light at the end of the tunnel.Imagine my dismay when the new valve arrived and I found it was identical to the first. In the end, Pentair was unable to explain what was going on, nor to offer any recommendations. 90% of my pool system - controller, valves, pumps - is Pentair equipment. I feel let down, to say the least.At this point, after nearly 2 weeks without water flow in Atlanta heat and rain, my pool was not usable. In desperation, I took matters into my own hands. I won't go into specifics, but I came up with a way to extend the lower pipe on the valve to make up for the offset, using a slip joint. I do NOT recommend others try this, as there is very little margin for error. But, luckily, it has held up for me.CONCLUSIONI could have possibly looked for other valves to replace my old one, but time was not on my side - I'd already had to cancel one family pool party. My hack fix seemed like the lesser of evils, and it seems to have worked.If you found this helpful, please click the helpful link.

Very good price for this valve assmbly. As mentioned by others, this lacks decent instructions, so being knowledgeable in pool operation and setup would be an asset when plumbing this up. Inlet and out connection are faintly market via cast plastic indications. Otherwise fantastic value