TORK TPE24VA 24-Volt Authentic Valve Actuator Control, Compatible with all 24VAC Control Systems, for Pools, Spa, Solar Equipment, UL Approved for Safety

I have had this install since August of ‘23. It operates at least 6 times per day. I use it to bypass my IFCS once per cycle so my skimmer can have some higher flow for about 20 minutes during a high speed pump operation. I control it by using a Lutron caseta on/off smart switch. The switch cycles a RIB4201B relay. In this photo I have upgraded the transformer to a larger one. That little one didn’t last very long. These motor valves don’t use much power but that trans conked out pretty fast.This Tork unit has been installed for two years. My Hayward lasted about that long as well, but was sputtering out at 18 months I think. I did take the Hayward back to my pool store and he replaced it, so I have it as a spare.This valve has been working great. I like that it moves slowly. That way there aren’t shocks to the system as it cycles. It’s quiet. The switch setup is a bit difficult for a novice compared to the Hayward but I like how I gives you more customers placement of the stop. So it’s better in my opinion if you’re not simply make the valve turn 180°/90°. You can tune it to be a specific angle if you want.

So far so good. My house is about 6 years old. We bought it about a year ago. It's amazing how many things can fail on house that's only 6 years old. I was having trouble with one of the valves on the pool. It wasn't positioning correctly. I tried adjusting. I replaced the diverter. I replaced backflow preventors. The valve would get stuck at various points and the actuator would change direction. These were the original jandy 2444s. I bought a gear kit for the actuator. None of the above helped. So I finally threw up my hands and bought this actuator because it's a heck of a lot less expensive than the jandy. And if the jandy is dead at 6 years not sure I want another one anyway. This one seems to be well built. And most importantly it works. It's not getting stuck it's not reversing direction and the valve is operating the way it's supposed to. So I will keep an eye on this if it starts misbehaving like the jandy actuator, I may have to replace the valve body. But that would be a bear because it requires cutting up the existing piping and starting over from scratch.

Good for the price point just a little slow in turning compared to name brands. Setting it up was a little tricky but once I got what the upper and lower did and how to adjust, it was no problem. Sure to buy again if needed.

Plug & Play! Preset at 180 degrees. Opened the panel unplugged the old one. Routed the wires for the new one and plugged it in. Closed the panel, tied in the new valve and we were off to the races!!! Back up and running smooth again. Loved the price for the same function and quality. We’ll see how long it last. Note: these valves require annual maintenance. Greasing certain locations inside and out. If you’re experiencing problems, probably because you failed to do the annual maintenance! Will buy again….

I like the that the price was about half of the name brand actuators. It installed just as easy as the others and worked great for 20 months before the motor burned up. It does not cycle everyday in my system. Maybe once a month. So I guess it is good for about 20 cycles. I have 3 of my original Pentair actuators that are 11 years old and still going strong. ( 2 of them cycle everyday) I will be replacing this with a new Pentair OEM actuator even if the price is double. This apparently is not a replacement for the OEM actuator.

The media could not be loaded. I've never installed one of these before and it was not too difficult. I had a manual pool valve that I was tired of explaining to the family how to use so this solved that problem.To prepare, you have to remove the lid of the valve and adjust the rotation to fit your needs but the manual does a good job describing how to do that. After opening it I discovered I didn't need to adjust it at all and left it at the default 180 degrees rotation.I think all are like this because of the large torque it takes to turn one of these giant ball valves but you should know it takes 30s to rotate the full 180 degrees.The quality of the unit seems decent. I haven't tried the high price jandy variant so I can't be sure. I will say that the first one I got had a broken microswitch inside and had to be returned. The physical, manual operation of this switch does seem janky and could end up fouling things up and I hope to never need to use it. My valve gets used every once in a while for a waterfall but I imagine some of these switches are required for use every day use of the pump so the fact that mine still works after a couple months is maybe less useful to someone who has a more frequent use case.There is both a wired control and a 3 position switch to electrically control this valve. The switch was nice during testing and hopefully all I need for manual operation.I connected the wired control to a DPDT relay and an old 24vac transformer I found in my parts bin (I think it came from a fan). Connect 1 wire to the 24vac wire and the valve goes 1 direction and connect the 24vac wire to the other wire (3 pins total) and the valve goes the other way. The configuration of the inside of the valve is what determines how far the valve turns in either direction). I have some smart home automation that controls the aforementioned relay which allows the family to control it via voice or smart app.You ofcourse can instead connect this valve to one of those overpriced and constantly breaking pool automation controllers but I don't recommend it based on how often I see the pool guy fixing those in my neighborhood.The jandy version is so overpriced that even if this breaks in a year, I'll just buy another one and still save money.

Bolted in. Plugged in. Worked perfectly