Spa Blower

[Reed Kadavy]

I have a spa blower, see picture, that quit working about a year ago. I wasn’t really interested in fixing it at the time so I removed the wire in the EasyTouch panel to keep it from occasionally trying to operate. All was good until recently when the blower started leaking while the spa was in operation. Do I need to replace with a new blower or would a new motor suffice? Is this a DYI repair or do I need to call a technician.

 

[ajw22]

There should be a check valve in the blower air line to stop water from getting up to the blower. The flapper in the check valve probably failed. Find the check valve and fix it.

See the plumbing pics showing check valves here https://www.jandy.com/~/media/zodiac/global/downloads/h/h0507900.pdf?force=1

 

[Reed Kadavy]

So I checked the 3 check valves in the picture. They were all ok. I turned on the spa and the blower came right off the pipe. Isn’t there supposed to be something that holds it on?

 

[ajw22]

So I checked the 3 check valves in the picture. They were all ok. I turned on the spa and the blower came right off the pipe. Isn’t there supposed to be something that holds it on?

I can't tell from the pics what check valves you checked.

Blower installations specifically say not to glue the blower to the pipe. It provides a pressure release.

Are all your jets in the spa open? My WAG is the flapper on the blower check valve broke off and is blocking your water flow and sending it back up the air pipe.

 

[Reed Kadavy]

I can't tell from the pics what check valves you checked.

Blower installations specifically say not to glue the blower to the pipe. It provides a pressure release.

Are all your jets in the spa open? My WAG is the flapper on the blower check valve broke off and is blocking your water flow and sending it back up the air pipe.

 

[Reed Kadavy]

I have a total of 5 Jandy check valves in my system. The two not shown are for solar heating. I’m not sure which of the other 3 valves, all shown in the picture, is for the blower. The two valves mounted vertically I believe are for the spa jets which are all operational. The one in the foreground I believe is for the blower.

I removed each flapper and checked the rubber and all were not torn and were in tact. All of the flapper valves were replaced during the past 3 or 4 years.

I do remember one issue. The flapper for one of the valves for the solar heating did break off probably four years ago. I replaced the flapper and never found the loose flapper in the system. In removing the flappers from the three valves in the picture today I did not find any wayward parts.

 

[kadavis]

What is the elevation of the spa waterline to the height of the blower? Typically the blower should be 12" above the waterline, if the blower is below the waterline then you should have a couple of Hartford loops and a check valve underground near the spa. Is the blower supplying air to just the jets or is their an airchannel in the spa?

 

[Realaxpooltech]

The vertical air pipe the blower sits on is to short, you should raise it 2 feet ( 2'' pvc coupler and 2' length of 2'' pvc pipe )
This is probably the reason the blower has gotten wet.

Was the blower failure a year ago the result of water damage? ( just curious )

How well do the spa jets work? do all jets seem to mix air and water evenly and appear similar to each other, or are some weaker than others, maybe some dont mix the air and only have a water flow to them, are they all just water and no air mix?

If you remove the blower from air pipe, and turn jets on does water come out of air pipe?

With blower removed, air should mix with water from open air pipe evenly on all jets, and have a noticeable sound of air noise at air pipe opening, along with a slight suction when you cover open air pipe with your hand, does it?

 

[Reed Kadavy]

The air pipe is approximately 16” to 18” above spa water level. I’m not exactly sure the reason for the blower failure. It just started working intermittently and making loud noises about a year ago. I recently unhooked the wire on the EasyTouch panel because, using the spa side remote with no labels on the 4 buttons the blower was turned on by mistake. No blower action at the time, but strange noises occurred later and took awhile to figure out they were coming from the blower.


The blower was installed with original build in 2006. We purchased home in 2008 and blower worked fine until about a year ago although we never used more than a handful of times a year due to inconvenience of heating water 40-50 degrees in the winter for a half hour use each time.

All spa jets (6) work fine. Just replaced pool return fittings used as jets with 1/2” jets. When blower is removed and jets are on, water just barely overflows the pipe. Just a trickle.

I recently added screen logic and yesterday determined I could direct solar heating to the spa only, separate from the pool. It raised spa temp to 86 from pool temp of 64 and that’s when I noticed small amount of water coming out of pool house gate.

 

[Reed Kadavy]

Blower pipe is 16” to 18” above water line. Blower worked fine for 10 years after original build, then slowly started to make strange noises and not work well consistently.

 

[Reed Kadavy]

Blower pipe is 16” to 18” above water line. Blower worked fine for 10 years after original build, then slowly started to make strange noises and not work well consistently.

I’m thinking one option I have is to cap the blower pipe and remove the blower. The blower when it worked was never something we, especially my wife, cared much about.

When it quit working I posted for guidance on how to fix and someone replied that they too didn’t use theirs much and suggested I not fix or replace it, so I didn’t. The spa jets provide a more pleasing and relaxing spa experience without getting splashed in the face. The blower, although not even working, has only become an issue recently due to the leaking.

 

[kadavis]

If the jets work without the blower then I would cap off, just curious where the jets are getting air from. Must be a secondary air line that wasn't mentioned

 

[Reed Kadavy]

If the jets work without the blower then I would cap off, just curious where the jets are getting air from. Must be a secondary air line that wasn't mentioned

I’m under the impression that the spa jets are only shooting water, no air. I see no air bubbles with the jets. When the blower was working it would provide the air when turned on giving the effect like the water was boiling, maybe something you could enjoy for a few minutes. You couldn’t carry on a conversation due to the noise, not from a malfunctioning blower, just the operational noise.

We owned two Sundance spas in separate homes in Omaha before our move to Arizona. You could never compare the “water action” in my spa now with what the manufactured spas provided with or without a blower.

That doesn’t include the fact that the manufactured spasmwere covered and kept at 101 degrees for use at anytime. That was at temps at or sometimes below zero provided there was no wind and they were operated for a monthly charge of approximately what it costs to heat my spa with a minimax for a single use. Can you tell I’m not a big fan of spas in a pool/spa combinations.