Heating IG spa

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R

rodgerstag

0
May 31, 2013
16
Gold River, CA
Just bought a house with a pool and inground spa and can't get the spa to heat.

The heating unit gets extrememly hot (too hot to touch), but the spa water does not heat. There are two valve controls, each is labeled pool at 9 o'clock and spa at 3 o'clock. I assumed having the intake and return both set to spa with the heater switched on would heat the spa.

What am I missing (aside from common sense, apparently)? And is it normal for the heating unit to be so hot to the touch?
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!! :wave:

Please add your pool details and location as described HERE as it will help us help you.

I would also assume you just have to turn 2 valves and flip on the heater ... heaters get hot, that is their job ;)

Post up a picture of your equipment pad.
 
So did you turn the two 3-way valves such that the handle was toward Spa and the "off" was toward Pool? The orientation you have them in the pictures has both the pool and spa open ... that is generally not a good idea on the suction side as you may end up draining the spa.

What is that other pump back by the heater?
 
jblizzle said:
So did you turn the two 3-way valves such that the handle was toward Spa and the "off" was toward Pool? The orientation you have them in the pictures has both the pool and spa open ... that is generally not a good idea on the suction side as you may end up draining the spa.

What is that other pump back by the heater?
Click to expand...

I had both handles pointed to spa when I turned the heater on. I leave both handles in the middle for normal filtering. That's how the previous owner had them.

The pump by the heater is for the spa jets.
 
So where does the heater tie into the plumbing? No picture of that.

If you leave both suction lines open ... make sure you are returning more water to the spa that you are sucking out ... there should always be some spillover back into the pool.
 

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So it appears that the filtered water is always flowing through the heater (correct?)

If you have the suction and return set to spa, do you feel water flow through the spa? (You must have separate drain and return for the filtered water if that other pump is for the spa jets) If you do have flow, then with the heater turned on, you would have to feel hotter water returning to the spa. I am not sure how it would be possible for the water to flow through the heater (which is hot to the touch) and not have the water heated before returning to the spa.
 
It's working now! As expected, something obvious missed on my part. The previous owner painted white lines on the handles as pointers, but apparently the valves are labeled backward. The way his "pointers", having both valves set to "pool" circulates water in the spa only. Also, it appears I need to have the blower on for the jets, as well, or perhaps that simply heats it more quickly.

Thank you for your help!
 
Glad you got it figured out ... sounds like maybe the pipe are not labelled correctly?

The blower has nothing to do with the filtration/heating loop of water so it should not affect the heating.
 
jblizzle said:
Glad you got it figured out ... sounds like maybe the pipe are not labelled correctly?

The blower has nothing to do with the filtration/heating loop of water so it should not affect the heating.
Click to expand...

The water didn't seem to be circulating without the blower, even though the pump was on. I'll turn the blower off in a few minutes to see if the temp is maintained/still heating. Already gained 10 degrees pretty quickly.
 

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