Besides having the coolest name in the world of gaskets, this spoked piece of rubber helps our water move where we want, when we want it. The spider gasket is the main diverter seal within your pool’s multiport valve. For homeowners with diatomaceous earth (D.E.) or sand filters, we know the multiport valve as “that thing with the handle”. When we turn the handle on the valve we select Filter, Backwash, or Rinse, and the spider valve is the part making sure water does not lose its way to your desired destination.
If you are reading this then I will assume you have driven on a highway with those looping interchanges. These sort of winding loopty-loops are confusing but are designed to divert traffic to keep it moving in the correct direction. It is meant to keep the flow moving on time as well. Without these interchanges we would be stuck in traffic grinding our teeth and just downright getting surly. Now imagine your pool plumbing system as that interstate super highway, ten lanes wide and jam-packed with traffic, or in this case pool water.
Our valve’s pinwheel diverter is the equivalent to those interchanges, ensuring the water is dispersed to the necessary exit. In order for the water current to be routed, this diverter is slotted over assorted pipes with separate ports of call within the filtering system. The open wedge on the pinwheel selects where our water is to be routed. As we swing the handle on the multiport valve, we are able to change the final destination of the water either through the filter for normal operation, backwards for cleaning, or to bypass it completely.
Where does the spider gasket come in to this? If the diverter is the pavement, the spider gasket is the guardrail and lane markers keeping the traffic headed in the correct direction. Its main purpose is to seal the seam between the pinwheel and the base of the multiport valve.
What If My Spider Gasket Is Bad?
When we select a desired path for our water, it surges through our pump, filter and back to the pool. Whilst on this journey, it will find any crack or seam through which to leak out of, thereby causing a pain in the neck for you.
Luckily, a bad spider gasket is a simple diagnosis as it usually identifies itself by a leak from the waste port of the multiport valve. The spokes of the gasket are the last 
buffer preventing water from skipping past your designated destination and out your waste port. When they break free, or warp out of the o-ring groove, water exits out the wrong hole
The Fix:
This can vary depending on multiport model; some gaskets slide into place with a little lube and then others are glued into the pinwheel which requires disassembling of the valve head. Search your valve model number for the parts breakdown to determine which type you own. Either way though, we have you covered.
Our How To Guide and accompanying video will walk you through step by step on replacing your spider gasket. For a Leak: How to Repair a Leaking Hayward Backwash Valve. For Replacement: How to Replace a Spider Gasket on a Multiport Valve
Thank you for sticking around and reading my blog. If you have any further questions, please give our techs a call at 877-372-6038. We are glad to help!
Leave a Reply