Spillover trickle

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G

grumpiebk

0
Jun 22, 2016
906
FL
We have a 4.5' wide spa spillover. After finishing our build, the spillover was a full sheer waterfall. After a couple of weeks, it now trickles under the spillover and down the glass tile front of the spa as soon as the pool is turned on. As soon as we splash it by hand, it goes to full sheer waterfall. I've tried maxing pump speed for priming and even for running with no luck. We've gone from chlorine to salt and back to chlorine over the past 30-60 days as we were going through new plaster startup and now doing a refinish (no point in continuing to waste salt).

Our spillover has a nice sharp edge, not rounded.

Is this just water pressure related? Maybe I need to clean my filter more frequently if I want this spillover effect? Could the water chemistry impact it? Viscosity? It seemed to do it better with salt (or maybe I'm crazy?)

Any other thoughts? I figured I'd ask now while we are refinishing later this week. Thanks!


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Clean your filter. You're flow rate has slowed down. Happens all the time to me - clean filter and the spillover goes at even low speed; dirty filter and the spillover needs a kick to get going.


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Grumpie,

I looked at a pic of your spillover and it appears to come over a ledge..

So my question to you is... is there a sawcut or groove on the bottom side of the ledge??

I ask, because I believe that surface tension will cause the water to wrap around the ledge and back to the tile.

The sawcut/groove keeps this from happening.

My three "rockport" waterfalls all have this groove..

I believe that this is why you can splash it and cause it to start performing the way you want..

Jim R.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
Clean your filter. You're flow rate has slowed down. Happens all the time to me - clean filter and the spillover goes at even low speed; dirty filter and the spillover needs a kick to get going.


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Click to expand...

Yea. I'll give it a shot. We have the CC420. Should I be cleaning it once a month this early on? I know for sure at first for plaster dust, but surprised I need to do it again.


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grumpiebk said:
Yea. I'll give it a shot. We have the CC420. Should I be cleaning it once a month this early on? I know for sure at first for plaster dust, but surprised I need to do it again.


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Click to expand...

The first few months of life a cart filter with a new plaster finish needs cleaning. After a few months, it'll go much, much longer between cleanings.

As always, wait for your pressure to rise 25% above clean pressure.


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Jimrahbe said:
Grumpie,

I looked at a pic of your spillover and it appears to come over a ledge..

So my question to you is... is there a sawcut or groove on the bottom side of the ledge??

I ask, because I believe that surface tension will cause the water to wrap around the ledge and back to the tile.

The sawcut/groove keeps this from happening.

My three "rockport" waterfalls all have this groove..

I believe that this is why you can splash it and cause it to start performing the way you want..

Jim R.
Click to expand...

No sir. When you say bottom, you mean underside right?

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JoyfulNoise said:
The first few months of life a cart filter with a new plaster finish needs cleaning. After a few months, it'll go much, much longer between cleanings.

As always, wait for your pressure to rise 25% above clean pressure.


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Click to expand...

15psi is clean pressure. 18-19 doesn't seem like a drastic change, does it?


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grumpiebk said:
15psi is clean pressure. 18-19 doesn't seem like a drastic change, does it?


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Click to expand...

That's a 20-26% change in pressure. Yes, that is enough to trigger a cleaning. PBs (bad) advice is to wait until your filter pressure rises 10psi...you know what TFP thinks about PB advice, right?


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Yep... Right where you have nothing, I have a 1/4" x 1/4" groove all the way across. About 1/4 to 1/2" back from the lip..

There is a name for it but I can't get it off the tip of my tongue... :p

Obviously water flow has a lot to do with it, but it seems to me your problem is that it does not work consistently at the same water flow..

Jim R.
 
Jimrahbe said:
Yep... Right where you have nothing, I have a 1/4" x 1/4" groove all the way across. About 1/4 to 1/2" back from the lip..

There is a name for it but I can't get it off the tip of my tongue... :p

Obviously water flow has a lot to do with it, but it seems to me your problem is that it does not work consistently at the same water flow..

Jim R.
Click to expand...

My spillway is made out of tile. No groove but there's enough surface roughness on my tile to make the water flow slightly turbulent. The turbulence breaks the surface tension and starts the flow. However, when the filter is dirty (as it is now after a year without cleaning it :shock:), it still stalls. No matter what kind of surface you have, flow is the king variable...


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Ok jim I'm curious as to what you mean. I'm doing a stacked stone spill over and I'm going to have gunite at the end of the week and I want to make sure the water flows well from the spa into the pool. When you get a chance could you post a pic, I want to make sure i get the groves you speak off


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Oh!
So mine will produce a nice waterfall off the spa into the pool? And is there anything I should know about before they gunite? I want it to be slanted so it can have several layers of stone or quartzite.
And sorry if I kinda high jacked the thread, please forgive me [emoji20]


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That's exactly it and thanks for the info. That makes sense, sometimes I just see terms or different things for pools and I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything lol. I'm like a little kid who doesn't want to be left out. But you saved the day again sir
Much appreciated.
Is quartzite the best stone that will last the longest and stay the cleanest ? If not what should I consider? I may even try to get one or two more layers into the spill way


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