Freeze protection and heating spa

[Afluv]

Can someone help me with my dilemma? I have a Pentair Intelliflo pump (as well as a cleaner booster pump) that feeds my pool/spa combo. The freeze protection (to protect the pump) kicks on at 35 degrees Fahrenheit. That sends water through the system (including through a spa return that spills into the pool). Lately we've had a lot of temps down below 36 degrees and it lasts for days. Anytime that happens I can't heat my spa because the valves default to the pool setting. Sometimes we're actually in the spa when it starts pumping 40 degree pool water in.

My questions are 1) Do I need to keep water running through the pool plumbing (including two wall mounted scuppers) to keep the pipes/pool from freezing? And 2) if not, can I switch the auto valves so that when the freeze protection kicks on it only circulates through the spa system and then I can turn the heat on. This would cut off all the pool plumbing and water features but I got the spa in large part for winter use of the pool. It seems every night and many days the temps are too low to enjoy it. Finally, if doing this is acceptable, how do I position the Jandy auto valve switches to make it happen? Do I just flip them to the opposite positions?

Thanks

 

[JasonLion]

There are several different things to understand here.

First, lows in the 30s are not going to cause freeze damage. It needs to get down into the low 20s for several hours or the mid 20s for days before you are going to have freeze damage.

Second freeze protection does what it does, some run in spillover, some alternate between pool mode and spa mode. Whichever yours does, there is no way to change it other than to disable freeze protection completely.

Third, running the pump to circulate water is one way to prevent freeze damage, winterizing is another, tenting the equipment with an incandescent light bulb for heat is a third. If the temperatures are getting into the 20s you need to do something. While lows in the 30s you can ignore it.

So you have several options, but none of them match up with the way you asked the question. You could winterize the pool and lock the freeze protection to spa mode only. But you can't just ignore the pool plumbing (unless the temperatures are never getting cold enough).

 

[Afluv]

Thanks. I understand what you're saying.

 

[Patrick_B]

Hey Afluv,

I'm in Miland with pretty much the same weather. At least for this season we are pretty well out of the woods now. We can expect the usual Easter frost, but I think our worries of freeze damage are behind us. I had one power outage scare this season, so I'm thinking about some plans for that next year. Coming through one with Sub 25 temps was a little scary but we made it through ok.