Spa air flow issues

[ChrisCor]

Just had my pool and spa resurfaced and tiled. They removed the special spa jets during the process and now I have noticed a few issues which I have never had in the last 16 years.

1. Water backed out the blowe tub so hard it blew the blower off the pipe. This has happened about 3 times in the last month. I have never seen water even come out the pipe before. This has not happened anymore today with my testing after I noticed two of the spa jets were not screwed in all the way.
2. Before the spa had air mixed with water without the blower on and now it is only water.
3. When the blower is on only 2 of the 5 jets get bubbles.
4. If I remove the jets from the spa then more get bubbles with the blower on. When you removed a jet then it would immediately start getting bubbles.

All equipment has has been cleaned and there appeared to be no blockages. I am wondering if it is the air/water mix settings on these 4 jets. There is one jet which is a different style that I cannot figure out how to remove but it does not appear to have a setting to adjust the air mix but has always gotten more air then the other jets. Currently with all jets screwed in the different jet and one other get all the bubbles.

 

[mas985]

You say that there appears to be no blockage but the symptoms point directly toward a blockage. Resurfacing can easily cause that type of issue. Fixing it however, could be complicated.

Have you tried running the spa jets with the venturi nozzles removed?

 

[ChrisCor]

Just went out to take some photos.

1. Air blower on but water pump not on. Notice all 6 jets have air.
2. Water pump on and now air only from 2 jets.
3. Jet I removed from let side of spa.
4. Now water and air from 4 jets. 2 original, the one I removed and one that I did not change on bottom of pic.



- - - Updated - - -

Can't upload 4th pic. I exceeded limit. But this makes me think the jets are installed wrong but I don't know what to do other than screw them in all the way and then adjust air water mixture. I have tried it several times with no luck.

 

[mas985]

The nozzles are deep within the spa wall. You need a long socket wrench to remove them. It looks like water lines are clogged. Remove the nozzles, run the spa and hopefully that will clear the lines.

 

[ChrisCor]

I do get water from all jets. Here is a pic with the 5 I can remove. The one they are on top off I can't figure out how to remove. I have reached in with pliers and turned the jet with no luck. Can't upload new photo but it looks a lot like photo one but with some more action from each jet.

 

[mas985]

If you want to clear the lines, you need to remove the nozzles. The ONLY way to remove the nozzles is with a long 9/16" socket wrench.

 

[ChrisCor]

Guess I need to call my remodelers back out. Now the small nozzle inside the bigger nozzle is loose and wobbling further back in the hole. But it did not loosen the bigger nozzle at all and I don't see a way to re tighten the smaller nozzle. Would my one be different style since it is from 1999? I did not feel any nuts for the 3 different sized sockets I tried but one of them grabbed enough to unscrew the inner nozzle.

 

[mas985]

Venturi Tees have been around for a very long time. The most common look like this:

The outlet can then be connected to a variety of jet features or just eyeballs. Because the nozzle narrows, it can block debris for exiting the smaller orifice. There are some other variants of the tee but basically work the same way.

You can look through these pics and see if your setup is similar to one of these.

Spa jet Venturi Tee - Google Search

 

[ChrisCor]

Why do I have 1 Venturi and 5 of the others I sent a pic of? Is that standard? The others are easy to remove. I am looking around the Internet for the one I have to figure out how to take it out but it is my Venturi that has the best flow and act like it did before the remodeling.

 

[mas985]

Any jet that has air mixed with water is a venturi jet so I think they are all venturi jets.

 

[ITR]

I have a similar issue. Air Blower I get venturi from all jets. Air blower off, with only the pump, I get venturi from sometimes 2..sometimes 3 of the jets. Someone suggested I take off the blower itself to see if it is blocking the airflow. I haven't done it yet, but not sure if they will help. And yes, changing even one of the nozzles will change the others as it's a closed system.

 

[ChrisCor]

Yeah I figured it out. My 5 Venturi jets (one pictured above) were not seated all the way due to some plaster in the grooves. This caused them not to function correctly. There were no clogs or blockages bout my jets if not screwed all the way in allow the water to flow up the air channel and out my blower.

Now ow without the blower all jets have nice bubbles and with the blower they all really bubble well. Working like new.

 

[mas985]

If your jets bubble without the blower on, you might try running them with the blower removed from the air pipe. If they work fairly well that way, you may not need the blower at all.

 

[ChrisCor]

We do run the spa a lot without the blower. We only run the blower when you want hard pressure from the jets. I get some cramps around my right shoulder blade and it really feels good to get in the warm water with the blower on to concentrate in that area.

so if your having issues it could be the installation of the Venturi jets. I know most people and blogs I read leaned to clogs. I did not solve my issue until I concentrated on the jets for about 4 hours today.

Take care,
chris

 

[zamazing]

Chris, I'm having the same problem as you with my Spa. When the spa pump and blowers are on, two or three of the jets have no bubbles, the water pressure builds up in the blower tube, and the blower eventually shuts off because it can't push against the water. Did you need to clean any of the jets or did you just have to tighten them fully?


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[ChrisCor]

I only had to clean the threads and tighten the jets fully.

 

[zamazing]

Unfortunately cleaning and tightening the jets did not work for me. I first removed all ten jets and and the blower, then ran the pump. There was no water buildup in the blower pipe. I cleaned and tightened the jets one at a time, each time turning on the pump and checking for water in the blower line. By the sixth jet, there was already a steady flow of water out of the blower pipe through the check valve.
I have contacted my PB and his solution is to replace my two blowers with a single high power "commercial" blower. What is confusing to me is why the water buildup only occurs on one of the blower lines and not the other.


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[mas985]

The problem isn't the blower, it is somewhere in the plumbing. Even with the blower off, water should never come out of the air pipe if the jets are working properly.

 

[zamazing]

I'm with you. I don't agree with my PB's diagnosis of the problem either. It seems they are just trying to throw more equipment at a plumbing issue and that's why I've been trying to troubleshoot this myself. My only theory is that they have the pump and one of the blower lines swapped but I haven't figured out how to test this easily.


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[simplemoe]

Did you have any luck with this? I have found a similar issue with mine. I had my pool replastered a couple of years ago, but up until recently, the jets worked fine. However, in the past few weeks I am finding that I do not get any bubbles. I have found that using a blower from a shop vac on the air inlet, while the spa is running for a couple of minutes fixes the issue temporarily - until I stop the pump again. When the pump stops, I hear water coming back up the tubes and can feel air coming back out of the air inlet. Is this normal?

I have had a look at the venturi tubes and cannot see a way to remove them. I think my pool is more than 15 years old. If I look in the inlet, it looks like at the base of the nozzle there is a ring with two indents in it. Is a special tool needed for this?