Pentair R172061 Combination Check Valve and Elbow Replacement Rainbow Automatic Chlorine/Bromine Pool and Spa Feeder

So, I had been having problems with getting the chlorinator to, you know, dissolve the chlorine tablets and do its job. It was often filling with air which made no sense because I don't have an air leak in my system.I had cleaned out thoroughly both the intake and output pieces without any luck. A pool person told me there is a ball within the elbow piece that should bounce around when you shake the elbow. If there is no movement with shaking, the chlorinator will fill with air and not work effectively. I had never heard of this but gave it a try.I removed the elbow joint and sure enough, it did not rattle when shaken.I bought this new one and it rattles. I installed it, and it worked. No more air in the chlorinator and the tablets are dissolving again.By the way, the ball serves as a check valve to prevent back flow when the pool pump is off.So all-in-all a good replacement part so far.Installation was a breeze. I used some Teflon tape to prevent leaking. Good value considering I don't have to buy a new chlorinator. Can't speak to overall durability or quality yet. I will be sure to update the review if it fails quickly.

Being a Pentair part, it's a factory replacement part for my Pentair Rainbow 300 chlorinator. Only problem with it is this is 3rd one I've had to purchase for it. It seems like they only last 4-5 years before they clog. This time, I also purchased a Pentair R172255 Screen to go along with it. My 19 year old Rainbow 300 didn't have one under the 3" tablets. I'm hoping that the addition of that screen will filter out small particles of tablets to keep this one from clogging.

What can I say it’s an original factory installed part. It installed exactly the same and it fixed my chlorine flow problem with not getting enough chlorine into the pool. I believe the check valve in the old part got clogged and jammed.

If your chlorinator is not feeding out chlorine... this is likely the culprit. I'm just a homeowner, but research (YouTube is great) has taught me that this little value gets clogged every 2-3 years and needs to be replaced. Look up the video, it's pretty easy. They should sell the unit with a few of these included, right? Here's the deal though... you're going to break the first one you install. This is a perfect OEM replacement. Same [fragile] quality as the original. I don't know if they have to use special, crappy, plastic for pool parts in order to withstand the chemicals - but this is the same crappy plastic everything is made of and when you tighten it... be ever so careful.Buy two for your first installation. Heck, buy 4 or 5 if you think you'll keep your chlorinator for a few years. Once you've done it... you're like... oh, that was easy. But make sure you have Teflon tape. Watch the youtube video too (there's about 10 out there). Anyone can do it. Just be careful and have a spare ready. Good luck.

But the next time this breaks, I'll see if I can replace it with a regular elbow, and put a separate low-cost check valve in the line. Anyone ever try that?Update: Lasted a month before it clogged. It was very easy to drill out. I'll add a simple check valve in the incoming line.

I bought 2 of these and they both broke in half in 5 mins. They are junk.....

Works perfect.

I was getting no chlorine on pool. This piece tends to fail over time. Be sure to keep a spare. First one went bad after 2 years.