Spa drain plumbing

[thehowheels]

My spa has two drains: one on the floor and one on the wall. Only the drain on the wall appears to be sucking any water. This is slightly annoying because debris settles at the bottom and stays there. If I sweep debris towards the drain on the wall, most of it gets pulled into the drain, but it can be a little like playing whack-a-mole as I watch it eventually settle at the bottom again.

Is this the correct behavior? Am I right to assume that if I covered the drain on the wall somehow, that the bottom drain should suck water? Or is this a sign that my bottom drain may be clogged?

 

[jblizzle]

Re: Spa drain plumming

I am guessing that the 2 drains should be plumbed together, but maybe the wall has the least resistance so very little come through the floor.

Easy enough to try putting a piece of plastic or something over the wall drain and see if the floor starts sucking.

 

[Richard320]

I have the same setup. The wall drain is teed into the main pump and pool, and feeds two returns. The floor drain goes to the booster pump and feeds the rest of the returns.

My booster isn't connected to a timer. The only way to turn it on or off is with the circuit breakers. The pump leaks bad and makes noise, so I haven't run it for a year at least. When the main pump is 100% spa, there's plenty of spa action.

The blower that feeds holes in the floor also can add plenty of churning if I want that.

 

[thehowheels]

Re: Spa drain plumming

Easy enough to try putting a piece of plastic or something over the wall drain and see if the floor starts sucking.

I think I just thought of a good experiment to perform with some of the wife's Tupperware

 

[thehowheels]

I have the same setup. The wall drain is teed into the main pump and pool, and feeds two returns. The floor drain goes to the booster pump and feeds the rest of the returns.

That makes perfect sense! I rarely use the booster pump. I'll try it out and see if that's the answer!

 

[thehowheels]

Richard, I owe you a beer. I flipped on the spa boost pump, and just a minute later all of the dirt on the bottom of the spa vanished!

 

[jblizzle]

But the booster pump may bypass the filter, so are you sure it did not just get recirculated?

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short

 

[Vette]

But the booster pump may bypass the filter, so are you sure it did not just get recirculated?

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short

Regardless, isn't it still an improvement? Extra circulation is always a good thing, so the drains that lead to the filter have an opportunity to pick up the dirt while it is suspending.

 

[Richard320]

But the booster pump may bypass the filter, so are you sure it did not just get recirculated?

Posted from my Droid with Tapatalk ... sorry if my response is short

That's all mine does.

I generally suck from the spa and return to the pool and brush stuff towards the drain. When it gets down to the last few inches, it's really easy to get everything going that way. Then I switch things back and refill. It gets as much dirt out as I get when I try vacuuming the spa. And actually, I vacuum the pool while the spa is refilling, so there are no stray currents in the pool from the returns. It works out well for me.