How to recycle water in spa only? For heat pump to only heat the spa...

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fox_and_hound

fox_and_hound

0
Jun 19, 2013
79
Sunny Florida
I have an older Heat Pump that came with house when we bought it. The sellers showed us that it worked and the spa was hot, but now im not sure how to do it myself. Typical me.

I know to turn spa jets open and pool jets closed. But thats all I know....I tried to play with valves but...

Water is still spilling out of the spa and into the pool so I assume this is not exactly how to heat the spa. Plus, its barely heating. I think no water should come out the top of the spa into the pool, right? The heat pump is sweating and creating cool air above the fan blades so Im hoping it works. Any advice?

Also, I have 2- 90 degree bends in plumbing and I dont understand why they are there...?

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There should be two valves that need to be switched. One switches to cause the pump to draw 100% of it's water from the spa, and the other causes 100% of the water to return to the spa. From your description you turned the return valve, but not the suction valve.
 
Thanks guys, so I switched the vale before the pump, but there are 2, I switched the immediate/closer one, and I put the valve to only have water flow through the spa returns. I could feel warm water for a bit, but since water keeps spilling over the front of the spa, im not sure this is efficient and the spa is not very warm, only a slight temp change over 2 hours.

So, I turned off the system and I noticed the water level in the spa went down when the system shut off.

I turned it back on and I got nice warm water coming out the spa returns, but within a few minutes as the water level on the spa was increasing/filling up and then started spilling over into the pool a bit, the warm water was harder to notice. I left it on for 2 hours and it felt somewhat warm, but not truly warm. I keep seeing water trickle/spill from the spa and into the pool, is this correct??

A couple questions...could this be plumbed wrong? How long should a heater take to warm a spa? I believe it is 120 BTU, but 10 years old. The fins on the heater look great, cool air can be felt above the fan blades, it sweats water on the ground (not sure if that is a leak or sweating). Not sure what to do.
 
The water level should not change of you are not in spa mode. Spilling over indicates you have some suction from the pool still. But, a lowering water level in the spa indicates you have more suction from spa than you are returning. Those 2 things are not possible at the same time, so clearly I am not understanding.
 
A spa can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours to come to spa temperature, depending on the relative size of your heater and spa, and the starting water temperature.

As jblizzle said, if the water level in the spa is changing, you don't have the valves in the correct position.

If you post some closer up pictures of the valves we might be able to figure out which one needs adjusting.
 
Hi, so this is how I thought I should position the valves to only heat the spa. I didnt touch any valves except the two that I circled. In this position, after 2 hours, the spa is getting only slightly warm, but there is still water spilling a bit over the spa and into the pool. Even after 2 hours, the spa is not really "warm" per say but the fan blades are moving well, the fins are nice and clean (not bent), and cool air is above the fan. But the heat pump is either sweating or has a leak bc there is some water on the concrete pad. The manufacturer says sweating is normal.

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The slight spilling over happens when the valves are in the position above and this is what I thought was the corrrect position for the spa to heat up. Someone told me another valve needs to be turned, but they didnt seem to know which one. During this time, when the valves are in this poision, the water level in the spa does not change, but some water is spilling over.

When I turn off the system, the water level decreases a bit in the spa. It does not do that under normal settings. But as soon as I turn the system on again, I can really feel warm water coming through the return spa jets, but the water in the spa fills back to normal level and is spilling over a bit and the warm water is lost.

The labels on the picture were placed by a pool company tech but he was very fast and Im not sure how accurate it is.
 
The valve just in front of the pump in the photo is set to draw water from both the pool and the spa. You need to turn it so it only draws from the spa. I can't be sure, because I can't read the labeling on the pipes, but I think the correct position is handle towards the pump.
 
Hi, well when the pool is functioning normally, for the valve on immediate left of the pump, the handle is positioned toward the pump. I will try it though...??

Should no water spill from the spa into the pool or is it normal for some water to do so?
 
No water should spill to the pool when in spa mode.
The valve right in front of the pump either needs the handle point to the pump (There is the word "OFF" on the valve opposite the handle) or 180 degrees from the picture. In the picture, there is nothing turned off.
 

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Yes! If handle points at wall, 180 from picture, it works!!! Hot in 25 mins!!
Thank you! Thank you!

Just another question, where is the main pool drain here? My pool robot is so slow and gets stuck on drain, I was wondering if it had anything to do with the valves. I have replaced almost all parts inside the pool robot. :(
 
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