South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - STARTUP PHASE

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Re: South Florida Pool & Outdoor Living - STARTUP PHASE

Jimrahbe said:
I'm pretty sure it would be much easier for me to become the "one in the middle" rather than trying to understand your plumbing set up. :bowdown:

Jim R.
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Its easy. From left to right where they come through the ground:

Acid Pump
Waterfall Return
Waterfall suction
Air Line
Conduit for IC and actuators
Spa Return
Spa Suction
Vacuum Line
Main drain
Pool Return

The two lines at the bottom of the picture are skimmers

A waste line is plumbed before the filter

The two lines behind the waste valve are for solar heat

5 Actuators!
 
bdavis466 said:
Correct. There really is no purpose for it since the ET has full control of the Pool/Spa valve. If you didn't want the bubbles from the jets, it would be easier and less costly to put an automated valve on the air line. I did that on my own pool plumbing so I could have a clear view of everyone's feet :suspect:
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I don't know, I like having the dedicated spa return line. Since the "spa return" line is on the pool side, you get to determine how much water goes into the spa. With the ET built in method using the spa jets, it's all or nothing - you either return water to the pool or to the spa to flow into the pool, but not both. Also, I once drained the spa and filled it using the spa return line. It was very easy to do it that way. Using the spa jets to fill the tub would be messy.

Then again, I've contacted the Hair Club for Men on their "Mullet Mania" product line, so ya know, old-school me and all....

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JoyfulNoise said:
I don't know, I like having the dedicated spa return line. Since the "spa return" line is on the pool side, you get to determine how much water goes into the spa. With the ET built in method using the spa jets, it's all or nothing -
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Why would you want just a trickle from the spillway? You can always adjust the pump speed to satisfy your needs for the tinkle sound

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bdavis466 said:
I think you are thinking your automation system is smarter than it really is...there is nothing smart about it.


The Pool Spa return valve is designed to rotate when the Spillway feature circuit is activated. If you don't already have this circuit set up then here is how you do it:

Menu> Settings> Circuit Names> Scroll to Feature 1 (or 2 or 3 or 4...) and set the name as SPILLWAY > Return to Settings Menu

Settings> Circuit Functions> Scroll to Spillway> Change Function to SPILLWAY> Return to Settings

Settings> IntelliFlo> Pump#1> Speeds> Scroll to Spillway> Set desired speed (***Should be lower than the SPA speed even if only by 10 RPM***)> Return to Menu

Menu> Feature Circuits> Scroll to SPILLWAY> ON (The valve will rotate and the pump will ramp up to your desired speed)



If you want to manually activate the spillway then just place the toggle switch on the back of the actuator into the opposite position.

Has ScreenLogic been installed yet?
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No screen logic hasn't been installed yet. Supposed to have that done when I get the equipment tutorial. Thanks for the diagram, it was really helpful! However I think still don't appreciate everything my automation can and can't do. I just suspected that if the valve that controlled the spillover (via the spa return) was manual and didn't have electrical wires running from it that I wouldn't be able to manage that valve through automation.

I followed all of your steps above. The only hang up I had was on the last step. I could not locate the spillover on the feature circuits menu. It just listed "feature [#]". So I assumed I wanted to turn on the same number that I set the spillway to in the circuit name/functions menus. When I turned that on, nothing happened (the pool/spa valve didn't move and there was no change to spillover).


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Did you scroll through all the features and still didn't see Spillway?

If not then it wasn't named correctly or the function wasn't assigned to it.

.........Under circuit names, select an available feature circuit and name it what you want

.........Under circuit Functions, the Spillway circuit FUNCTION must say Spillway

You can automate any valve you want, it just requires buying another actuator and screwing it in place.
 
Yes I am pretty sure I set this up as you indicated. It was easy to follow. I will double check and take a pic after the kids get to bed.

But riddle me this - if the pool/spa valve is activated when I switch from pool to spa mode, and the spillover turns off in spa mode (and is on in pool mode unless I turn the manual spa return valve off), how will the spillover ever be activated through automation via the spillway circuit? Unless there are some inner-workings of automation I don't understand, I expected the diversion of water to be limited to the values (manual or automated) that we have in place. When I walk through your diagram, I don't see a way where it works.


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The actuators are not that smart. They can either be in one position or the other.

You currently have the valves set in POOL mode and the automation panel is in POOL mode...The way it should be. When you hit the V (valves button) on the panel or the SPA button on ScreenLogic, the EasyTouch switches the power supply to the actuators to the opposite leg of the circuit. This makes the valves rotate to their opposite limit switch so the suction valve rotates to the spa and the return valve rotates to the spa.

--If you are in SPA mode and you hit Spillway, nothing will happen because the valve is already rotated to the spa return.

--If you are in POOL mode and you hit Spillway, only the return valve will rotate (to the spa)

--If you are in Spillway mode and you hit SPA, only the suction valve will rotate because the return valve is already in spa return position.

The one limitation to the way that your pool is plumbed is that in order to have the bubblers active and the spillway also on, you will either have to open the Spa return line or manually activate the Pool/Spa return actuator to open both the pool and spa return lines. This is why it is always advised to have a separate pump for water features. As you already saw, with the spillway active, the bubblers performance is handicapped. You can now see the limitations of your setup and if you plan on having the spillway and bubblers active then you may want to consider automating the Spa make up line.
 
Here are my settings:

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So my default pool mode has the spillover on. As you explain it, turning the spillover circuit on will activate the pool/spa valve into the spa position. The spa position does cut off the spillover, however it also cuts off the water flow to the pool returns and moves it all to the spa.

I think I may concede defeat here on this one and wait until I can get some hands on training for the PB.


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For everyone keeping track, I got the spillover circuit to work per Brian's instructions. But that was at the cost of the pool returns turning off. The only way I can toggle back and forth is through the manual valve. I am going to have the PB automate it that way our system actually is "automated". Thanks for all of the help!


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bdavis466 said:
What are you trying to accomplish with the Spillway and pool returns active?
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Better water circulation, especially towards the skimmer. My thought is that on the weekends we will want the spillover on when we are home and enjoying the yard/pool. But we will also want the surface being skimmed of bugs, leaves, etc. I didn't think the spillover will be enough alone and wouldn't direct water towards the skimmer. Am I incorrect?


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I personally think it's fine to have either the returns or spill over on, but I'm new to this. I would setup the circulation cycle to run early in the morning when you are less likely to be swimming. I think you want to avoid them being linked to avoid aerating the water.


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I think you can accomplish what you want by adding an actuator to "Matts monkey poop valve". It should allow you to send all the water to just the pool returns or split it between the pool returns and spa fill. The split does not need to be 50/50 in case you want more or less overflow. Pentair says you need a bypass loop on the IC60 if you exceed 80GPM, so with your large overflow you need to be careful.
 
Foosman said:
I think you can accomplish what you want by adding an actuator to "Matts monkey poop valve". It should allow you to send all the water to just the pool returns or split it between the pool returns and spa fill. The split does not need to be 50/50 in case you want more or less overflow. Pentair says you need a bypass loop on the IC60 if you exceed 80GPM, so with your large overflow you need to be careful.
Click to expand...

Yup this is exactly what I was thinking.


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PB came out yesterday for second round of chemicals. I just got to testing tonight. I didn't need to test to know my chlorine levels were going to be through the roof again. Walking onto the patio, the smell was a dead giveaway. The FC reading was very similar to that of a day after the first round of chemicals.

Does anyone know why chlorine would be set so high? It is just because they are only coming once a week and that's what it needs to get through a week?

Here are all of my results so far. Chemicals were added 1st on the afternoon of 2/6 and again yesterday afternoon 2/13. The 1/19 reading was my hose fill water:
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I am supposed to meet with them tomorrow to install automation and go over all equipment, but I may not be able to get out of work. If I meet with them I will be sure to ask.


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