Spa draining to pool lvl when pump is off.

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B

bluediamond

0
Dec 16, 2015
14
Sunrise/Florida
Hello Everyone i wanted to start off by saying i never truly wanted a pool in my new home but me and my wife fell in love with the house so the pool came with it as a bonus.So being a complete noob to the regiments of a pool maintenance came on fast. With in the first three weeks the pool got green on me, after my first trip to the local pinch a penny got all the chemicals needed for cleaning ran the pump 24hrs and done the next day the pool looked like glass.kept it up with no issues for two months, finally it rained for a week straight and all heck broke loose went to the penny i had to buy stabilizer and alkalinity. Cleaned the filter that was at 30psi instead of 15psi the filter was borderline black i pulled it out and cleaned not only the filter but the pump basket as well put everything back after cleaning and dumping and mixing the chemicals. Ran pump for 24hrs.

The the pool was a mirror clean, My wife had pointed out that the pool spa water line was low i ignored her and went about my business. 15min later she was right the spa had drained down to pool level.I turned on the pump and tried different things to fix it but all results lead to spa draining. I just don't know what i'm doing but i don't want to spend big money to have some guy come and turn a valves. Plus i want to learn, can some one please help see what i did wrong so that the spa stops draining when the pump is off.

STEPS I HAVE TRIED:
- Turned MAIN SPA DRAIN OFF
- Turned the pool RETURN OFF and the SPA RETURN ON
- Turned the pool RETURN ON and SPA RETURN OFF
- Turned pool and spa RETURN OFF
- Turned poll and spa RETURN ON

image_zpslzjohzvl.jpg image_zps670uqbvi.jpg image_zpswokzkqnh.jpg image_zpswzaq2za0.jpg

*All actions leading to the pool spa draining, i am at my last whit i don't know what else i can try to fix this can anyone give me any ideas?
 
bongardjm said:
Is the spa higher than the pool?, if so the water will level to the pool level if no check valve is installed.
Click to expand...

Yes the Spa is higher than the pool and there is a check valve installed this issue only started happening after i pulled the filter for cleaning. I had already pulled out the check valve and made sure the rubber seal was not broken or damaged. And it was not so i put it back in.

Just to be clear when you say check valve you are referring to the flap that is connected to spa return correct?

*The valve on image #4?
 
Right..the check valve on the spa return. Does the water seem to be going back in to the pool when draining from the spa..can you tell?

If the pump is running and you turn the valve that controls return water to the spa position and then the suction valve to the spa, is the water level still dropping?.
Or is it only occurring when you turn off the pump?
If only when pump is off it still sounds like a leaky check valve.

As far as it only occurring during cleaning the filter, The only thing I can think of did something get loose during cleaning that is affecting the control of the check valve operation???, sediment or something. Although I know you checked it. Fun stuff huh! Don't get frustrated we (this site) should be able to figure this one out!! I got a new pool 2 summers ago and freaked out on everything, you will get the hang of it!
 
Also ...is there a check valve in the pool suction line (pool line going into the pump suction)?. Since the spa is higher than the pool any time the suction valve is drawing from both spa and pool, water will flow backward in the pool suction line and drain the spa.
Just a thought?
Although as you said it never drained until you cleaned the filter..right? like never, ever, ever :)
 
bongardjm said:
Also ...is there a check valve in the pool suction line (pool line going into the pump suction)?. Since the spa is higher than the pool any time the suction valve is drawing from both spa and pool, water will flow backward in the pool suction line and drain the spa.
Just a thought?
Although as you said it never drained until you cleaned the filter..right? like never, ever, ever :)
Click to expand...

well when i turn that valve i do see the open and close slowly, as far as i know when i do that the water does not rise when the pump is on but when its off it still drains i know its has to be one of these valve sequences that i am doing incorrectly.

But no the spa never drained like that when the pump would shut off it always stayed high.
 
Turn the suction valve 100% to pool and the return valve 100% to spa (or in your case I think turn off completely the pool return valve, and turn the spa return 100% on). Turn on pump, this will fill the spa. Once at the desired level, turn off pump and move spa return valve to off and turn return valve to pool 100% on.

Does it still drain?
 
bongardjm said:
Turn the suction valve 100% to pool and the return valve 100% to spa (or in your case I think turn off completely the pool return valve, and turn the spa return 100% on). Turn on pump, this will fill the spa. Once at the desired level, turn off pump and move spa return valve to off and turn return valve to pool 100% on.

Does it still drain?
Click to expand...

Yes, still dropping but slowly now. Question, wouldn't opening the return to the pool and turning off the pool do just that drain the spa into the pool? Im sorry al of this is really confusing and i am trying really hard to understand it all.

To understand the function of the Check valve it closes shut when the pump is off preventing water to go back to the spa correct?

I also took apart to inspect the Jandy valve and Check valve for bad seals and a possible obstruction on the pipe, it all seemed ok to me and i don't know enough to say nope this valve is bad.

http://s20.photobucket.com/user/ste...b-4160-bb10-372d4849b412_zpsqpby9ith.jpg.html
 

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Can anyone shimmy in? How can i tell if the spring is still holding the load of the water as the seal does not look to be faulty. The water level stops right at the jet level i went to the local pool store and they wanted 60 bucks for the check valve, i was like holy cow that's a lot of money for a flapper i am clearly in the wrong line of work.
 
So to add to this i "Canceled" the order for the valve and as i was going through the pipes again i noticed that the 3-Way valve from the pump and filter to the Spa Jets was OPEN closed it and its been about 3 hours and no draining.

Picture ONE shows it clearly and no one saw it here is this not a very popular forum?
 
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