No more bubbles out of the spa jets

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wetwilly

wetwilly

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LifeTime Supporter
Aug 15, 2010
24
Southern California
So I have an in ground pool and spa with an overflow waterfall. When running the spa, I no longer consistently get bubbles out of the jets. I do not have a blower, just an air pipe. I recall there used to be some suction at the opening of the air pipe, but it is almost undetectable now. Intermittently, I do get some bubbles out of 2 of the jets.

So far, I've tried:

- Checking the air pipe for obstructions, but I have not tried snaking it out. The air pipe opening faces down, so other than maybe spiders, I doubt there's much in the pipe.
- Draining the spa below the level of the jets and filling again. When I do this there are bubbles for a while, but when the water gets high enough, they stop.
- Attaching the output of a wet/dry vacuum to the air pipe. That didn't help although last time I had this problem about a year ago, it did seem to resolve it.

Our spa does not get much use. This is probably the first time I've tried to use it this year. Perhaps lack of use contributes to the problem.

I have no idea what is going wrong or how the air pipe connects to the jets.

Any ideas how to fix this?

If I bought a blower would that fix the problem?

Thanks

- Bill
 
Usually this problem is caused by either water or debris getting into the air pipe. If it is water in the pipe, then blowing into the pipe with a vacuum while the jets are running should clear it. But if debris has gotten into the pipe it can be tricky to clear. Sometimes you can clear it by removing the jets and then blowing with the vac.
 
1) Drain the spa. This keeps you from getting wet.
2) Close the valve that sends pool water to the spa. If the spa jets are on a separate pump, block it's exhaust flow to the spa.
3) Plug all but 1 spa jet.
4) Blow air in from the blower side of a shop vac.
5) Repeat for the other jets, i.e. unplug one jet and use that plug to seal the one you just blew.

That should clear any obstructions in the jet bodies' air channel.

Sometimes the foreign obstruction is too heavy for the air flow to move. Repeat the above except fill the spa to just above the jet ports. The added water may provide an added bit of umph. The water will bubble and splash some, but not as much as if it were a full tub.

Scott
 
wetwilly said:
So I have an in ground pool and spa with an overflow waterfall. When running the spa, I no longer consistently get bubbles out of the jets. I do not have a blower, just an air pipe. I recall there used to be some suction at the opening of the air pipe, but it is almost undetectable now. Intermittently, I do get some bubbles out of 2 of the jets.

So far, I've tried:

- Checking the air pipe for obstructions, but I have not tried snaking it out. The air pipe opening faces down, so other than maybe spiders, I doubt there's much in the pipe.
- Draining the spa below the level of the jets and filling again. When I do this there are bubbles for a while, but when the water gets high enough, they stop.
- Attaching the output of a wet/dry vacuum to the air pipe. That didn't help although last time I had this problem about a year ago, it did seem to resolve it.

Our spa does not get much use. This is probably the first time I've tried to use it this year. Perhaps lack of use contributes to the problem.

I have no idea what is going wrong or how the air pipe connects to the jets.

Any ideas how to fix this?

If I bought a blower would that fix the problem?

Thanks

- Bill
Click to expand...

Hi mate, did you get this sorted? My mate had the same problem, ended just being debris. :p
 
I had this same problem last year and found my problem to be debris as well. It seems very odd that when you drained the water to a lower level the jets would blow but when the water level was raised back up it would stop blowing. I would think that if there was water in the piper it would have blown out when you lowered the water levels. Let us know if you have figured this out.
 
Gah. Same problem here...still haven't figured it out. I've tried cleaning the filters, replacing check valves, checking JVAs, etc. I'm stumped. I'm going to try blowing out the lines next. I'm also wondering if the gas heater manifold is clogged, or the flow valve (Pentair MiniMax 400) isn't working right...any ideas greatly appreciated...
 
I know this is an old post but I am having the same problem now. I had a two pump system before. 1 pump for the pool and 1 pump for the spa. I had a pool heater installed and when replumbing they went to a 1 pump system. The heater works great and I'm happy with it but I the amount of pressure and bubbles that come out of my spa seems to be significantly reduced.

I have placed my shop vac out put onto the air intakes to the spa and pretty much blown them out. It works find for a little while but next time its turned on there are fewer bubbles.

I'm think the lack of bubbles and pressure is due to going down to one pump. It;s a 3/4 horsepower pump. Perhaps I need to switch to a 1.5 hp pump? Or did the pool company plumb this wrong? Not sure what to do next to get the pressure back.
 
3/4 HP pump is probably undersized for your spa. Not only that but going through the filter for the jets reduces the flow rate significantly. If possible, a two pump solution will result in much stronger jets.

What was the original size of the pump, how many jets do you have and what size pipe goes to and from the spa and do you happen to know the orifice size of the jets?
 

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Originally I had two 3/4 HP Pumps. One for the pool, one for the Spa. Now I am down to one 3/4 HP Pump since they installed the heater. I flip valves to switch the intake and output from pool to spa now.

There are 4 Jets in the spa. I believe the orifice is 1/2".

I believe the piping to and from the spa is 2"
 
Are you sure the jets are 1/2"? The jet is on the inside of the pipe behind the exterior eyeball or fitting. 1/2" is pretty big for a jet and more common jet sizes are 3/8" or 7/16". If the jets were pretty strong before with the old 3/4 HP separate pump, then they were probably 3/8", otherwise they might be 7/16" if they felt more on the weak side. Another option might be to swap out the spa jets depending on what type/size you have now.

Also before upgrading to a larger pump, you should make sure your filter can handle the increased flow rate. What type/size is the filter?
 
mas985 said:
Are you sure the jets are 1/2"? The jet is on the inside of the pipe behind the exterior eyeball or fitting. 1/2" is pretty big for a jet and more common jet sizes are 3/8" or 7/16". If the jets were pretty strong before with the old 3/4 HP separate pump, then they were probably 3/8", otherwise they might be 7/16" if they felt more on the weak side. Another option might be to swap out the spa jets depending on what type/size you have now.

Also before upgrading to a larger pump, you should make sure your filter can handle the increased flow rate. What type/size is the filter?
Click to expand...


I'm an idiot. I think you;re right they are 3/8" . But that's not what makes me an idiot. I cleaned the cartridge filter last night and TADA... jets are back in action. When they replumbed the system the Spa now goes through the filter, which it didn't used to.

Thanks! :goodjob:
 
I would likely use an air compressor starting at 50 PSI if the vacuum cleaner fails? You'll have to fabricate fittings if sticking the a/c nozzle in wrapped with a rag does not cut it up to 100 PSI.

~~~~
I once got a crazy obstruction in my decades old pool in the skimmer return line right after backwash and adding DE. I worked for a couple of afternoons trying to figure this out, taking out Ortega valve parts and such.

I have one of those awesome balloon like things you can put at the end of a garden hose that blow up to fit pipe diameter, modulate the flow with a crazy, 800 or 1200 Hz frequency, and will ALWAYS blow out my washer drain plumbing of excess c--p such as lint that ends up in the pipes. Get one at Home Despot or Ace. (It was also great for restoring prime to my earlier, anemic pumps when put in the skimmer return pipe with water pressure applied.) No joy from either end of the pipe with the Ortega valves correctly set.

---> THAT was surprising in that it din't work!

I tried all kinds of other stuff that I can't even recall.

As a hair pulling last resort, I ended up fashioning a combo of all manner of crazy hardware to put 3/4" garden hose output at around 90 PSI, PLUS my air compressor output in a venturi configuration at 100 PSI backwards towards the pool from the pump intake at the basket. I put in a 90 degree ball valve so I could turn it on and off sharply. (The pump basket intake port internal diameter was exactly the right size to accept a ~4" length of 2" [?] galvanized, threaded pipe which I scrod in, attached a 90 degree elbow pointed UP, and attached all of the other crazy stuff to.)

It blew up small chunks of gravel and lots of diatomaceous earth, which I had probably put in too quickly. Heaven only knows where the gravel came from.
 
[Possible Solution Below]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for posting your suggestions. I had this exact same problem in November 2017 and I wanted to keep this thread alive for anyone else looking into solving this. My pool is a 25k with an in-ground spa with 8 jets and a large snorkel pipe sticking out of the ground by the equipment area. When the snorkel is working properly, you can put your ear to it and here bubbling. Last night we were in the spa and noticed that only one side of the spa jets were blowing with air. Shortly thereafter, the jets were all pushing water but no air, thus no bubbles. Listening to the snorkel pipe also revealed there was no air being sucked in. I don't believe I had debris in the line, but instead water in the snorkel. PoolGuyNY's post with step-by-step instructions is what I followed to remedy the solution. This is the first time I've had this problem with a 2-year old pool and this may not be the solution for everyone.

1.) Drain the spa water below the jets about an inch.
2.) Connect your shop vac's output to the snorkel pipe and plug any air gaps with a rag. (Your shop vac needs to output a strong pressure to blow out the line)
3.) You should see and hear air coming out the spa pipes at this point.
4.) Remove every jet and let all of the water drain out of the pipes. Each pipe will spit water for a while.
5.) Replace each jet and plug each jet with a wine cork except one (wine cork fit perfectly for me). This will increase the air pressure in the line.
6.) Moving from jet to jet, plug the next jet with the previous jet's plug.
7.) Repeat until each jet is no longer draining or spitting water.
8.) Remove all the corks from the jets and open each jet to its maximum setting.
9.) Start the pumps and circulate water for the spa only and you should see stronger pressure coming form the jets with air.

On a side a note, I don't believe there was debris in the line, but instead a water-lock. If there was debris, I didn't see it come into the spa upon blowing.
Everything is working now after about an hour of work.

Hope this helps someone!
 
Thanks huggablejunk, your post solved my problem. 20k pool, inground spa, heat pump, 4 jets and no blower. Failure of our spa jets was sudden. When going to spa mode by Jandy valve, all 4 jets were extremely weak and no venturi air at all. After cleaning all 8 grids in the Pentaire DE filter there was no change. Removed and inspected all 4 orifices - all intact and no debris. Followed your post, lowered spa level to below the jets, shut off the filter, allowed all 4 jets to drain out, used Shop Vac discharge air at 2" snorkel located at the filter, blew air through all 4 jets, then plugged all but 1 jet with corks etc. After blowing air to each individual jet turned filter back on and we had all jets strong with water/air, back to normal. No debris was discharged from the jets.

My questions are: 1) What could have caused the jet failure?
2) How can I prevent a recurrence?
 
Last edited:
So I had the same problem.. my pool is new (about 10 months old) half of my spa jets just stopped spitting out bubbles. Had plenty of flow from pump just no bubbles from 3 of the 6 jets. I called out pool contractor since I still have warranty left. He knew exactly what it was and solved it very easy. Now I don’t exactly know the physics behind it but this was the solution. he pulled the last jet out. You need a tool to do it .. it’s like a pipe with slits in it. He put it in and turned and the jet came out. On the back side of it is a cone shaped piece. That piece got turned somehow which stopped the air ... what I dont understand is by fixing that one it opened up for the other two next to it. So basically pull the jets out and make sure the little piece on the back is shoved in tightly .. he actually discouraged the shop vac solution cause he says you can actually blow that little cone piece too much and dislodge it and it can get stuck in pipes which can be a huge mess.

hope this helps someone

rob
 
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