Level Spa with Inground Pool

[Pspeech]

I am so happy to find this thread. I just had a pool built and my spa is integrated within my pool with tile no coping on top of spa. The spa water doesn't heat properly as the pool water is always overflowing into our spa. I would appreciate any advice how to have the pool company fix this issue. We don't have an overflow mechanism installed. I've been told that this is important so that the pool level doesn't go over the spa every time it rains or there is somebody swimming in the pool causing a disturbance in the water level. I don't believe we have a separate spa pump. The pool company is just proposing to raise the spa wall an inch which is currently just below the middle of the tile line. While i agree the wall of the spa needs to be raised it doesn't seem to be the only thing needed to solve the issue. I would greatly appreciate some advice so we can solve this issue and start enjoying the pool and spa.

 

[spool]

There are 2 ways to address the problem. One is expensive, the other not so much.

Low cost method - exactly as your pool builder is suggesting. Raise the spa edge so it's an inch higher than your normal water level height. If middle of tile is your normal water level - assuming a 6" tile and no autocover = pool water is 3" from coping, spa edge should be 2" from coping.

The second and much more expensive method is to lower the pool water by pumping it to a catch when spa is in use. I saw this on an infinity edge pool that had the spa at water level. It looks incredible, but wasn't practical or worth the $$$ when designing my pool. If you have an infinity edge pool, you already have the basin to dump water into. I would have had to figure out where to store it.

I guess you could dump it to waste and then fill with fresh water. Seems like chemical balancing, water temperature, water cost all come into play with that approach though...