Help with Concrete Spa Plumbing

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A

alimon

0
Apr 13, 2017
6
houston, tx
Hello, I am new in the forum, please excuse me in advance for any stupid question.

I am adding a spa to my pool, and I am doing it myself. Basically because there is nobody around that knows about it. This is my vacation home in Mexico.

Here is the setup

Spa, 6'x6' and 3 feet deep

1.5 hp pump, two speed (Balboa Vico)
Balboa controller (1 pump 2sp, 1pump 1sp, blower, circulating, led, ozone capable)
1.5 hp blower

I am ready to begin to pour concrete, and I have plumbing/jets questions.

1) Which jets and Jets bodies?. I had recomendations for Waterway #7. This has the jet in the Tee, and at the end a Eye ball needs to be installed. Not sure the proper size of air and water inlets. I also read about the Poly Gunite ones, in those the body is in the concrete and the jet screws at the end. Those are 2" water and 1.5" air. WHICH ONE IS THE BEST?

2) the Second question, size of plumbing. I was thinking 2" for water and 1.5" for air (same as Poly Gunite bodies), but i recently read in this forum that 2" is too small.

3) How to plumb the whole thing?? All thru the heater? Circulating pump or not? etc


Please help me with the setup, I have been for many hours on the web, and can´t find the answer. I can install a second pump if needed, and do any kind of plumbing suggested. Just can´t make my mind.

Thanks
Alex
 
1) #7 are fairly common jets. How many jets are you planning to use and what size? This will determine the amount of flow rate that is required and thus the pipe size you need.

2) That will be too small unless you have only a few jets.

3) I prefer a separate jet pump from the circulation and heating but it is really up to you. The problem with going through the heater and filter is that there will be a lot of head loss created which will reduce flow rates and jet strength. But this should be taken into consideration for the design.

There is a section in the Hydraulics 101 sticky (see sig) which covers spas that you might want to read.
 
Thanks for the reply. I was thinking 5 max 6 jets. The biggest question is which are better, #7 or poly Gunites.?? Which pipe do you recommend?

I can go bigger pipe, no problem, but does it matter that the pump discharge is 2" and the Heater is 2"??

The filtration will be done with the Pool pump and system, only the heating needs to be considered. What kind of pump is used for Heater only and circulation?

Thanks
 
For 6 jets, 2.5" minimum IF the jets require no more than 15 GPM each. However, some of the poly storm jets require 25 GPM each which could easily push you into two pumps for just the jets. This is why the first decision must be the jets and the number of jets because this influences the entire design. Higher flow jets will usually have more force than lower flow jets but it comes at a cost, delivering the increased flow rate.


The filtration will be done with the Pool pump and system, only the heating needs to be considered. What kind of pump is used for Heater only and circulation?
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I am not sure I understand this. Generally, a two pump spa uses one pump for just the jets and nothing else. The other pump is for filtering and heating which is also usually shared with the pool.
 
Will be 5 jets, trying to stay with a total of 75 gpm.


Again, the biggest question, #7 or Poli gunites (given that I find both around 15GPH). Which of both is a better choice?

Regarding the pumps, I am planning to use a two spped pump (1.5HP) in line with the heater (Balboa unit ) and the jets. Run it in low to heat and in high when Jet use.
A second smaller pump for water fountains and to get some pool water into the SPA for overflow to pool.

For the filtration, the spa has a return from the pool filter and a overflow to the pool. I am planning to do the filtration togehter with the pool. Pool is not heated, it is in a warm city.

Thanks for the Help



I
 
I would put the heater inline with the filter because they tend to have quite a bit of head loss so will compromise the jet action. You don't want anything "extra" inline with spa jets. This is the way my spa and pool are setup.
 
The Poly's just have a lot more heads that can be used with the jet. It just depends on what you want.
 

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