What size pipe to plumb my pool and spa?

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In the picture, the center of the fitting with the small hole is the jet itself that points out into the spa. The two coupler looking objects on both sides of the jet are where the air line and water lines connect. They will run in parallel around the spa with the air line above the water line.

Like this:

Jetted_Tub_CIrculation_023ss.jpg
 
The purpose of a hartford loop is keep out water from an air line. So a water line would have no need for that.
 
Thanks Mark.
Now another question for anyone: When installing blower air lines around an inground spa does it matter if they are above ground level or below (buried in dirt, rather than above the dirt. If above the dirt they would be running close to the fiberglass spa outside wall but enclosed by a cement board that I am going to mortar beach rocks onto) as far as noise goes? I can run the lines high or low so does it matter on the noise. Either way they have a hartford loop before they run back to the blowers at the pad. So does it matter on the noise, the air going through the 1 1/2" hoses that feed two jets each on either side of the spa, above or below ground?
Thanks, Jim
 
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Thanks, and that's good to hear because I glued it in up high, even though the line I was asking about is the top one off the air control valve and that looks like the tape came loose that was holding it and it slipped down in the second 2 pics. The first pic shows where those two air lines join and go into their Hartford loop and then to the blower at the pad. Keeping the air lines higher, I figured might be better for keeping much water pressure out of them, but it's probably a small matter.
I thought you might be interested in this unusual plumbing, with both passive and active (blowers) air feeds. I wanted to try both, so this is the only way I could think of. When the air control valves are closed I can use the jet air blower. The foot and seat air just comes from a second blower, of course, and you can see that Hartford loop in the second photo.
I wanted to make sure I had equal pressure on all jets (only 4) so I T'd the 2 1/2" water supply into two 2" lines that T'd again between each pair of jets into 1 1/2" lines, (because that's what size pipe my jet housings took.)
The first time I tried glueing the plumbing into the jets was a nightmare because
(1) it's only 9 or 10 inches between the fittings, and
(2) I couldn't get the flex pipe in enough,
(3) I used the wrong silicone seal on the jets,
(4) when I put the pipe in, it moved the jets and broke the silicone seal,
(5) the outside spa wall was seriously uneven with a big raise right on the top half of each jet hole due to the molding process, so all
but one jet body leaked and 3 or 4 of the hoses.

So I belt sanded the outside of the spa shell around the holes to even it, cut the hoses that were putting a lot of pressure on two of the jet bodies, sent off for another jet body and Boss 802 silicone, re-installed the jet bodies and then reinstalled the hoses, this time with either 45 degree or coupling fittings where necessary to be able to make the bends without excessive pressure.

Tomorrow I fill it and check for leaks:)

I owe this attempt at passive air feeds to Mark who taught me that blowers aren't necessary, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it works and maybe I'll not use that blower much. Stay tuned:)
I have to read up on what to do about salt water and my IC60. The pool's not resurfaced yet so it's just for the spa at this point.
Thanks everyone for all your help.
Jim
 
So now I am confused. It looks like you have an air inlet at the spa itself? You don't need a separate airline to the spa.
 
Sorry for the confusion, Mark:) I can see how it can be confusing. The airline (air control valve) at the top of the spa lets air in if I unscrew the valve. So I would only do that if the blowers were off and I just wanted passive air. (I close the a c valves when using the blower.) That's only for the air in the jets because the seat air is just from one of the blowers. The hose that comes of (at the top) and goes around the spa brings air in from a blower if I turn it on. From my testing so far, the blowers push more air than the air control valves bring in.

What I need to know now is, even though the manual says hook the Intelliflo directly to the circuit breaker, can I run power from that expensive gfci 240 circuit breaker to the line side of the pump relay and then go to the pump from that same line side? The load side of the relay will switch on the heater and swg when the Easytouch tells it to. The pump will always have power and be turned on by it's own com connection. I've seen a lot of pictures and posts here where guys didn't even have gfci on the pump and hooked it up that way. So I'm going to do it the way I asked about until I hear different, or it blows up:)

And I did read the reason they want the pump directly in its own cb is because they don't want single pole power ever going to it.
 
But if you have air line that close to the spa, you should never need a blower. You will get more than enough air because of the proximity to the spa.

What I need to know now is, even though the manual says hook the Intelliflo directly to the circuit breaker, can I run power from that expensive gfci 240 circuit breaker to the line side of the pump relay and then go to the pump from that same line side?
Click to expand...
Yes
 

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Hi and thanks ahead of time. Bond wire issue for old pool light replacement on pool renovation.

I will get my pool replastered. It is now empty.

I have the back of the pool wall dug out behind the niche where the red brass comes up right by the coping. I want to extend the conduit back 9 feet to the wall and bring it up to a jbox. I can extend the conduit with red brass though I haven't looked into it, or with pvc electrical conduit.

The clip has come off the metal ring in the cement light niche so that will be replaced. I see no bond connection either to the ring or to the red brass conduit coming out of the cement niche.

I have the deck off so I can run a bond wire under the future deck all around the pool.

I've installed my inground spa light (with the separate ground wire from the interior of the canister through the conduit back to pad, and also the bonding wire from outside the canister, in the ground, back to pad,) so I know how to do that.

Question: How do I bond the new light canister to everything else? It seems the question is how do I get the bond wire out of the cement niche?

1. Can I attach the bond wire to the red brass and use that? I could isolate that brass from any other ground by using a plastic jbox.

2. When the ring comes off during the replaster maybe there will be a bond attached to it but I seriously doubt it. I've chipped around anything that looked like it was an attachment and nothing.

3. Do I have to bust through the cement niche to bring the bond wire through, and if I do that should I replace the brass with pvc at the same time?

4. The only rebar I found in the pool wall (besides when I was core drilling and I can't get to that) is a halfway corroded line coming out and running about 2 ft along the edge of the shallow end wall a couple inches below the coping. If I get out of the niche I can run a bond wire around the pool under the deck and attach to that and the bond wire from the spa light to the pad, right? Also if I put in a ladder of Uframes for a diving board I can attach to those, right?

5. I think the main thing is getting out of the cement niche and if I can use the brass conduit it would be the easiest. I can get to only the top of about 2 inches of the conduit inside the niche without chipping out concrete. I'd rather not chip out much as I've chipped some of the back off to expose the conduit and am not sure how thick it is, so how to attach to that? Solder, screw. If I can use the brass conduit for the bond I can figure it out but i don't know if solder is allowed. I figure I'd need to pot it.

Thank you,
Jim
 
solved the light bond problem I think. Exposed enough of brass conduit to clamp to that.

1. I Need to know where to get those metal bands they plastered in the inside of the cement niches that had the clip the can attached to. The clip is broken off mine. Pool will be replastered sometime. They will probably have one but not sure.

2. Just-a-PB I need to go through the wall again for a water leveler line and again for a dedicated vac line. Last time I used a 2" core drill and had a hard time getting the cement between the 1 1/2" pvc and the inside of the hole. Should i go bigger or just do it the same? Anyone is welcome to advise.

3. Also you suggested drilling a guide hole before core drilling but I can't picture that since the core drill is hollow. Did you mean a starter hole to keep the core drill from walking (running really!) at the start?

4. If I use a star bit with my rotohammer will it take out a lot of the wall on the back side?
 
An auto fill is a pretty basic piece of equipment. Mine is simply a float valve in a box that has a cover and an outlet to the pool. Not sure brand makes much difference.

It is best to put a pressure regulator on your line to the autofill so that it sees lower pressure than your line pressure.

Take care.
 
Thanks Mknaus,
I bought a Pentair with a Flowmaster. That probably won't need a regulator since it's like a toilet, correct?
also

Do suction side cleaners screw into a regular 1 1/2" return fitting? What fitting do people use for that? I am installing that suction cleaner line now.
 
Thanks Needajet,

Speaking of which.... I will not have a main drain, but I do have 6 returns and a dedicated suction port for a waterfall. Also I have an spillover spa. So I would like to hear from everyone on whether to go with a suction cleaner or robot. I already put in a valve and line for the suction cleaner line but haven't drilled through the pool wall yet.
So with the fact of no main drain and all the above, what's the best choice? I welcome all opinions.
Thanks,
(becoming more and more the) Repairman
 

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