Need help with new spa that was added onto existing pool by an idiot

[Hippieboy9]

I hired a pool guy that had good references but he seemed lazy and sloppy. One day he quit talking to me and I found out he ran off on his wife and kids for some chick and left me with a lot of unfinished work and not much money left in my remodel budget. I finally got it all finished and had to redo a lot of things like the tile. I also removed my 1200 sq ft pool deck and coping overlay and replaced it with a new overlay. I hired another PB my neighbors used to do my plaster once I had it all prepped (took me about a year or so). I think he only took the job because he felt bad for me.

Anyway, the pool and spa look great but the raised spa was added on new onto my existing pool and I tried out the spa jets for the first time today and they were a dud. At speed 3 on the VS pump, only one jet put out any water (the lower jet he put in by the feet) and at speed 4 I got a couple more to put out water but very weak. It has 5 jets total that screw in and spin when the water is pumped through them. I was reading a lot online about a venturi tee for the spa and how most spas have a separate air line from the water line. I saw how the piping looked before the gunite went in and it looked like he plumbed it like regular pool jets with no air line. He also had the jets use what looks like a hartford loop where they come up and then turn back down. He said he did that to keep the water level in the spa from going down. He also ran 1.5" pipe from the pad rather than 2" to run all the way to the spa. The pad is about 50 feet from the spa and I think the smaller pipe is causing some of my problems.

I have a blower but it is still in the box. The first guy went back and forth about whether I needed one. I definitely do not have a venturi anywhere. The spa is currently plumbed like a pool with 5 returns and the pad just has a pipe to the spa jets and pipe back from the drains.

So my questions are:

1. Can I add a venturi at the pad or somewhere just before the return pipe enters the spa?
2. Should I replace the 1.5" pipe with 2" pipe up until I get to the spa?
3. Can I use the blower with the spa as described above if I have some way of injecting the air into the return pipe before it enters the spa to the 5 jets?

Thanks.

 

[Casey]

Mas (Mark) is the guy you need to speak with. he could probably give you a lot more info than i could ever dream of. I just pm'ed him so if he can help you, he'll be along. Sit tight bud.

 

[cowboycasey]

just south of you, I wish your remodel went better... Sorry I can't help with the spa but someone will be able to, hang in there..

 

[mas985]

1. Can I add a venturi at the pad or somewhere just before the return pipe enters the spa?
2. Should I replace the 1.5" pipe with 2" pipe up until I get to the spa?
3. Can I use the blower with the spa as described above if I have some way of injecting the air into the return pipe before it enters the spa to the 5 jets?

1. Unfortunately, no. The jet is part of the venturi and both need to be very close to the spa wall or they will be worthless.
2. You could but it still won't help with number 1. Also, most spas should have at least 2.5" pipe.
3. Given the setup, it won't help.

Unfortunately, if the PB truly did design the spa as you have said, then the only solution is to replace all of the pipe and the jets. Otherwise, the spa will not perform much better than what you have right now.

Are you absolutely sure there are no venturis in the spa? Are there any stubbed pipes close to the spa or pad?

 

[Hippieboy9]

He ran 3 pipes to the spa. before I got plaster, I tested the pipes with a shop vac and one blew to the drains, one blew to the jets, and one didn't seem to blow to anything. That last one is currently capped off and some people thought that is where the blower would go. I assume he didn't do it right since I had to fix so many of his problems and the fact that he ran such small PVC pipes (probably to keep more money in his pocket). I really regret not getting a pic of what the plumbing looked like before the gunite went in. I would rather not replace the jets since I would have to take off tile and chip out concrete. Also, I don't want to risk damaging the plaster. I need to find a solution to make it work better with the way it is now. What about a booster pump or any other ideas?

 

[mas985]

I would first uncap the pipe and see if bubbles appear in the jets. If so, you have venturies. That saves you a lot of work.

The water pipe is still too small and no matter what size pump you have, it won't produce enough flow rate for the jets.

However, you may be able to replace the jet nozzles with smaller jet nozzles so they don't require as much flow rate. That is not difficult to do as long as the nozzle is removable.

But check the capped pipe first.


Also, when you currently run the spa, what is the filter pressure?

 

[Hippieboy9]

I uncapped the pipe and no bubbles appear. Also there is no suction. I'm not sure what the pipe does. It may not even be hooked up to anything. I have to dig up the pipe anyway since it is also 1.5 inch pipe so I will see where it goes.

I have to drain the spa before I can replace the pipes to it but I cannot do that until the plaster is finished curing. The new plaster is only 9 days old.

I forgot to look at the pressure on the filter so I will report back on that.

 

[Hippieboy9]

Are there any pool builders on this forum that I can message with about how I can fix this? I am planning to run bigger pipes from the pad to the spa. I assume I only need to run 3 pipes (1 for water to jets, 1 for water from drain, and 1 for air). I also plan to re-do the jets at some point so they are proper with an air line and add some additional jets (there are only 5 jets now and I was told a spa of that size needs 8). I am hoping I can do all of this without tearing up too much of the gunite but I understand that I will need to chip out enough room for piping, etc. Any info that can be provided will be great.