My first opening (after my first closing)

[iadams]

I am adding some picutes of my water to show how it looks right after removing the safety cover. It looks a lot better than it did when the pool company opened it last year when I was buying the house (I required they open it so I could see it before buying). Is this about normal, or should it open even clearer? I did get a lot of worms in the water over winter.

I also drained the spa completely for winter, but it was completely full at opening, so I either have a cover leak or it back fed from somewhere (I am going with cover leak). I hope there was not freeze issues. I didnt have water at the 3 way valve on the return to the spa 2 monts ago, but there was water there yesterday.

Note how far I drained the pool. I estimate my total volume at 17K gallons, and figure I dumped about 5-6k to lower below the returns. I did not go below the light, as there wouldnt have been much left at that point. Is it normal to have to dump so much water for closing?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Is it a solid cover or a mesh cover?

 

[iadams]

It is a solid Loop-Loc cover - which I may add that my wife and I were able to remove and fold and get back into the storage bag nicer than the PC did last year.

One thing I will be interested to see is if I got the DE filter back together right. I cleaned the grids at closing, which I will never do again. I should have closed the pool and saved cleaning the grids for another day - perhaps a warm winter day.

 

[iadams]

I'll hijack my own thread to see if I get any hits, since the photo of what I am talking about is already here.

I have been open since Memorial Day, and everything is good: chlorine holds overnight, water clear, CC below 0.5. Last night I went to open the suction side of the attached spillover spa and lost prime - fast. It sucked a lot of air. I havent been losing any more water than I would expect from evaporation and backwashing, and dont see any wet areas around the equipment pad.

I had drained the spa for winter, but it did fill back up over the winter from holes in the loop loc cover. Upon opening I did not have water in the pipe at the pump pad for the suction side of the spa.

Is it possible there is a lot of air stuck in the pipe? Any other ideas? My thought is to put the filter on recirculate, suck and return only to the spa and see if any dirt comes out to point to a leak.....problem is that I lose prime FAST....

Note that it took a week to notice because I do not normally run the drains on the spa except to brush it, and when shocking I crack the drain slightly to make sure there is turnover at the deeper part.

 

[Richard320]

I'll hijack my own thread to see if I get any hits, since the photo of what I am talking about is already here.

I have been open since Memorial Day, and everything is good: chlorine holds overnight, water clear, CC below 0.5. Last night I went to open the suction side of the attached spillover spa and lost prime - fast. It sucked a lot of air. I havent been losing any more water than I would expect from evaporation and backwashing, and dont see any wet areas around the equipment pad.

I had drained the spa for winter, but it did fill back up over the winter from holes in the loop loc cover. Upon opening I did not have water in the pipe at the pump pad for the suction side of the spa.

Is it possible there is a lot of air stuck in the pipe? Any other ideas? My thought is to put the filter on recirculate, suck and return only to the spa and see if any dirt comes out to point to a leak.....problem is that I lose prime FAST....

Note that it took a week to notice because I do not normally run the drains on the spa except to brush it, and when shocking I crack the drain slightly to make sure there is turnover at the deeper part.

If the pipe was empty and the valve was closed, there was air trapped in the pipe. Did the pump recover and prime itself? If it did, I think the problem fixed itself.

 

[iadams]

I'll try again tonight. What is the maximum length you would let the pump run this way - it almost goes completely dry within 6 seconds. I tried shutting down and opening the pump basket and opening only the suction side of the spa and a steady stream of water comes out. I would think (perhaps erroneously) that air would rise in the pipe with everyhting off and simple bubble out of the drains.

 

[Richard320]

I'll try again tonight. What is the maximum length you would let the pump run this way - it almost goes completely dry within 6 seconds. I tried shutting down and opening the pump basket and opening only the suction side of the spa and a steady stream of water comes out. I would think (perhaps erroneously) that air would rise in the pipe with everyhting off and simple bubble out of the drains.

I'm not understanding...

You shut the pump off, opened the strainer basket and the spa drain and water drained out of the pipe into the spa? It should; the pump is higher than the spa. When the lid is back on and you start the pump, I'd expect it to make some funny noises for a few seconds then start splashing around inside the strainer, and be primed and running all within maybe 20 seconds.

 

[iadams]

Sorry, I'll explain:

My pump station is lower than the spa and pool - I would say the deepest part of the spa is approximately 1-2'' amove the height of the pump (pool raised on a slope, I estimate the deepest part of the pool section is about even with the equipment pad). If I open the valve for the spa suction side with the pump off and basket cover open, water comes out. If I do it all closed up with the pump on, it pumps water for 4-5 seconds, then air, then is dry within 10 seconds. I did not let it go 20 seconds as I was not sure how fast the pump could be damaged running dry (or close to dry).

Because the drain on the spa floor is about even with or slightly higher than the pump, I would think with everything off, any air in the lines would simply rise up and bubble out through the floor drains of the spa.....of course I am making assumptions here as I did not see the pool built to know if there are any rises and drops in the line on the way to the pump that might trap air.

So I guess what I need to do is just let it go for a bit longer to see what happens - how long it too long before there could be pump damage?

 

[Richard320]

If the pump is below the spa water level, you should prime virtually instantly. There's got to be a restriction in the suction side somewhere - it's open; the fact that water rushes out with the basket open proves that. But maybe not enough to feed the pump. I'd start getting suspicious of the valves. Or maybe a winterizing plug wasn't completely removed. A wad of mud hardened up beneath the drain cover. Something. I doubt it's an air leak, the pump should gravity prime with your setup.