Spa draining water into pool

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B

breweb01

0
Aug 22, 2011
27
Frisco, TX
I am loosing water once the pump shuts off for the night. So based on searches from this wonderful site, I replaced all 3 check valves. I am still loosing water from the spa.

However, If I turn the pump off at night with the spa valves activated the spa remains full. My thought is it must be from the Spa Overflow, I switched the check valves to make sure. It only looses water with the spa off and the pool valves open. I would also think this rules out any leak.

As a temporary fix, I just program the spa to run for 5 minutes before the pump is turned off for the night.

What else am I missing? Where could the water possbily go?

Thanks in advance!

The pic of the Spa Return is the Spa Intake from the drain

[attachment=0:216qr2fy]Pool Pump.JPG[/attachment:216qr2fy]
 

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If the spa is higher than the pool, the water will level to the pool level. if you're main drain is open in your spa, turn it off so no water goes through the spa drain. If you have check valves on all your returns, this should solve your problem. The only time you need the drain open in your spa is when you use the spa exclusively.
 
Still have this issue if I do not turn the pool off while in spa mode.

I do not believe the suction side is on for the spa if the pool is on. The overflow is in the middle of the spa on the floor.

My water only disapears if I leave the valves in the on position for the pool. To me this says it has to be the overflow to the spa, but I changed the check Valve???
 
Spa drains into pool:
1) Spa return line check valve
2) valve diverter seals on Spa MD line, or Spa Jet line (different from the spa return)
3) leak from spa (you would know due to water loss from pool)

When you go into spa mode (as opposed to spillover mode)
you effectively turn off the spa return, and turn on the spa jets and spa MD.

Easiest way to find it, assuming that you know it is not #3,
is to swap valve diverters from a known good valve into either of those positions.
Also, give them a visual inspection as you remove them, look for a bad diverter seal, or debris jammed into the seal.
Also, you have Jandy NeverLube valves, which are pretty robust, and also come with a lifetime warranty.

Good luck!
-B.
 
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Spa drains when off and valves are in pool mode. The check valve flapper has already been swapped, ergo:

The suction side valve used to determine pool or spa suction has a small leak, less than the return flow so you don't see it except that the spill won't be as strong, something that may not be noticed when running as the difference isn't enough. It's still happening though. Once the pump is off, water is leaking past the valve. When in spa mode, the valve is seated on the other side and may seal but in pool mode, it isn't seating.

Empty the spa. Remove the 8 screws holding the valve lid to the body and actuator. Remove the valve guts. I'd wager the gasket inside is damaged.

Scott
 
PoolGuyNJ - i think you have nailed it in my case. i had completely forgotten but my spillover had decreased quite a bit. i plan to dissassemble this weekend. i also have the Jandy Neverlube valves - how do i replace those under warranty? bought the house with the pool already installed and no docs about the pool.
 
Re: Spa draining water into pool - updated

ok, i'm still on the hunt for an answer. i checked the diverter for the spa suction and it looked good. also checked the diverter between the spa return and pool return and it looked good. check again the check valve for the spa return and it looked good. i'm running out of ideas. no water loss that i can find. here's a picture of my setup if anyone has any more ideas.

pump.jpg
 
Clay, first let me tell you your pool builder did you no favors keeping things so compact. I think you now understand why this is a bad thing.

With the symptoms you have described, either the diverter in front of the pool/spa pump has a set of guts, be it an o-ring or main blade gasket, or the check valve on the spa return line is bad. That is it unless the spa itself is losing water. You have indicated though that left in spa mode, there is no loss. There is no other path for the spa water to get to the pool. Look are deceiving sometimes.

Scott
 

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still can't find the culprit. i'm wondering if one of my neverlube valves was set incorrectly when i had some work done on the heater a while back.

what should the position be while in filter pump mode for the valves at both the returns and the drains?
 
When in pool mode:

The suction side should be off to the spa.

The return to the spa, assuming the jets in the spa are also the return, should be about 2/3 off to the spa or 50/50. The check valve should stop any back flow.

This would force more water in the spa, causing a spill over.

When in spa mode, both the suction and return should be off to the pool and use 100% of the flow for the spa. This way, what ever comes in, goes out.

When in spa fill mode. all suction from the spa is off and all return flow goes to the spa.

When in spa drain mode, the spa's drain(s) are open and the spa return flow is minimized. This forces the spa to drain faster than it fills, lowering the water level. Note that to completely drain a spa with a side mounted suction port. the side mounted port should be plugged so the draining is coming from the bottom only. They should be tied together.

The air loop is not connected to the pool so it can't cause this either.

If you have a separate pump for the jets and only one return inlet or 1/2 the jets as pool returns, and the check valve or suction side three way valve is not defective, then the only other possible solution would be a air leak on the spa booster. Since you said the water is going back to the pool, in this case, this situation is not possible but mentioned for those that have a spa booster.

Scott
 
I thought I should post an update. I had a pool guy come out, the actuator needed adjusting as it was not closing all the way while in pool mode. He said even with the check valve the was to much pressure allowing it to drain. In the first post picture above it was the actuator by the pump that I believe I mis labeled spa return. Not sure what it should be called but is from the spa drain.
 
breweb01 said:
I thought I should post an update. I had a pool guy come out, the actuator needed adjusting as it was not closing all the way while in pool mode. He said even with the check valve the was to much pressure allowing it to drain. In the first post picture above it was the actuator by the pump that I believe I mis labeled spa return. Not sure what it should be called but is from the spa drain.
Click to expand...

Could anyone walk me through what this "pool guy" did to determine that it was not "closing all the way" and how to know how far to adjust and how to make those adjustments? I may have the same problem

I took mine apart and noted where the "flapper" was when it was all opened. It looked like it was covering the holes completely. Is this all you do to check?
 
diamonddog said:
breweb01 said:
I thought I should post an update. I had a pool guy come out, the actuator needed adjusting as it was not closing all the way while in pool mode. He said even with the check valve the was to much pressure allowing it to drain. In the first post picture above it was the actuator by the pump that I believe I mis labeled spa return. Not sure what it should be called but is from the spa drain.
Click to expand...

Could anyone walk me through what this "pool guy" did to determine that it was not "closing all the way" and how to know how far to adjust and how to make those adjustments? I may have the same problem

I took mine apart and noted where the "flapper" was when it was all opened. It looked like it was covering the holes completely. Is this all you do to check?
Click to expand...



+1
 
On these Jandy type valves the gate (flapper) is directly opposite of the handle direction. As long as the handle is pointing directly away from the port you want closed the valve should stop the flow completely. Most of this type valve have stops (pins) that can be moved to different locations to control the movement of the valve. If the valve leaks by when the gate is fully covering the port hole then the gate seal is probably bad. they're pretty easy to repair.

As a note on the check valve.. If you completely remove the block valve the check valve should stop the flow in the reverse direction. Check valves are designed to hold the same pressure as manual valves. It had to be leaking too. It was probably easier to adjust the block valve than to repair the check valve.
 
Just found this post. I'm having the same problem - spa drains to pool when pump is off. One small twist, when I do select the spa, I notice that the two spa jets closest to the pump have normal (i.e. bubbly) flow. The two jets furthest from the pump have reduced flow (i.e. no bubbles). What's that telling me?
 

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