I believe my signature should cover the pool layout good enough. I will also post pictures.
Just realized my signatrure didn't save because it was too long. Here's the extra bits:
Layout:
Pool: 3 ground returns, 1 main drain, 1 side return with booster pump
Spa: 4 jets, 1 odd return which appears to give water from pool, 1 hole between pool/spa, and a spillover
Pool room: Enclosed, 3-way to control flow from spa/pool and to spa/pool. Booster pump pulls off of 1 of the 2 main return lines to pool
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First some background. I am a new pool owner. I purchased this house last June and finished up the season using the TFP method which worked amazingly well. I got tired of hauling the bleach from home depot and pouring it every other day, so I installed a SWG just a few days ago. It's working great, and none of the plumbing I re-did is leaking (first time working with PVC in plumbing, ever...). I found out that my Hayward 244T's sand is about 16 inches from the top instead of 6 inches so that's a problem, but not something I care to fix right this moment as my water is clear.
The pool was built in 1971, a couple years after the house. I assume the spa was built at the same time.
Measurements from yesterday:
FC 6
CC 0
CYA 80
CH 300
TA 90
Salt 4000
Borate 0
Temp 55
When I am in the spa, I've always noticed that there's a small return jet that is near the bottom of the spa which always spews cold water (pool temperature water) into the spa. It's low flow, so low that I just assumed it was some sort of hydraulic balance PVC that ran between the pool/spa in order to ensure the SPA always had water, but didn't draw from the pump. Unfortunately, I have no pipe blueprints or diagrams.
Now, sometimes, there's no cold water coming out of this mystery return line in the spa. I've thought it may have something to do with water level, but I'm not sure. The previous owners left notes and I even have some notes from the first owner of the house when they sold it sometime in the 1980's. They both mentioned that the pool fill line is essentially a few millimeters below the height of the spa's spillover. Makes sense, since you don't the pool water spilling over into the spa.
I never really cared much about the mystery spa return line since it's not impacting anything. Until now. Now - my SWG is generating chlorine and I installed it according to the manufacturers recommendation for variable speed pumps. AKA, it is powered on all the time and the flow control valve controls whether the SWG is on or off. The SWG is on the main return before the return splits into spa/pool at the 3 way. The flow control is on one of the two pool return lines so that it should only be capable of generating chlorine when the 3 way is returning water to the pool. Now, the SWG produces bubbles in all of the pool returns. I've read the TFP thread that went into this in depth, and they are just hydrogen bubbles (tested with a lighter and got ignition pops). I'm not worried about that, but it brought something to my attention. That mystery return line is putting chlorine into my spa!!
So now the mystery return really does matter to me. I know that the water circulates between my pool/spa, but I fear not enough to balance out the chlorine going directly into the spa. The last thing I want is a nice 100 FC spa to jump into and boil my families skin off. I could obviously just plug this mystery return, but that's just a workaround. Does anyone have any idea why that return line is there? How is it pulling water from the pool return? It must obviously be T'd off the pool return considering that it has hydrogen bubbles, so it is obviously not just pulling water from the pool directly. What gives? Is this a normal design? What might I do to combat this? What's the right thing to do? Also - note there's already a 2 inch hole/passage way directly between the pool/spa.
I can't upload more than 250KB apparently, so I'm going to host it elsewhere and post the links.
Just realized my signatrure didn't save because it was too long. Here's the extra bits:
Layout:
Pool: 3 ground returns, 1 main drain, 1 side return with booster pump
Spa: 4 jets, 1 odd return which appears to give water from pool, 1 hole between pool/spa, and a spillover
Pool room: Enclosed, 3-way to control flow from spa/pool and to spa/pool. Booster pump pulls off of 1 of the 2 main return lines to pool
----
First some background. I am a new pool owner. I purchased this house last June and finished up the season using the TFP method which worked amazingly well. I got tired of hauling the bleach from home depot and pouring it every other day, so I installed a SWG just a few days ago. It's working great, and none of the plumbing I re-did is leaking (first time working with PVC in plumbing, ever...). I found out that my Hayward 244T's sand is about 16 inches from the top instead of 6 inches so that's a problem, but not something I care to fix right this moment as my water is clear.
The pool was built in 1971, a couple years after the house. I assume the spa was built at the same time.
Measurements from yesterday:
FC 6
CC 0
CYA 80
CH 300
TA 90
Salt 4000
Borate 0
Temp 55
When I am in the spa, I've always noticed that there's a small return jet that is near the bottom of the spa which always spews cold water (pool temperature water) into the spa. It's low flow, so low that I just assumed it was some sort of hydraulic balance PVC that ran between the pool/spa in order to ensure the SPA always had water, but didn't draw from the pump. Unfortunately, I have no pipe blueprints or diagrams.
Now, sometimes, there's no cold water coming out of this mystery return line in the spa. I've thought it may have something to do with water level, but I'm not sure. The previous owners left notes and I even have some notes from the first owner of the house when they sold it sometime in the 1980's. They both mentioned that the pool fill line is essentially a few millimeters below the height of the spa's spillover. Makes sense, since you don't the pool water spilling over into the spa.
I never really cared much about the mystery spa return line since it's not impacting anything. Until now. Now - my SWG is generating chlorine and I installed it according to the manufacturers recommendation for variable speed pumps. AKA, it is powered on all the time and the flow control valve controls whether the SWG is on or off. The SWG is on the main return before the return splits into spa/pool at the 3 way. The flow control is on one of the two pool return lines so that it should only be capable of generating chlorine when the 3 way is returning water to the pool. Now, the SWG produces bubbles in all of the pool returns. I've read the TFP thread that went into this in depth, and they are just hydrogen bubbles (tested with a lighter and got ignition pops). I'm not worried about that, but it brought something to my attention. That mystery return line is putting chlorine into my spa!!
So now the mystery return really does matter to me. I know that the water circulates between my pool/spa, but I fear not enough to balance out the chlorine going directly into the spa. The last thing I want is a nice 100 FC spa to jump into and boil my families skin off. I could obviously just plug this mystery return, but that's just a workaround. Does anyone have any idea why that return line is there? How is it pulling water from the pool return? It must obviously be T'd off the pool return considering that it has hydrogen bubbles, so it is obviously not just pulling water from the pool directly. What gives? Is this a normal design? What might I do to combat this? What's the right thing to do? Also - note there's already a 2 inch hole/passage way directly between the pool/spa.
I can't upload more than 250KB apparently, so I'm going to host it elsewhere and post the links.
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but I can address the sand filter. So long as the correct "poundage" of sand was added you are good with how much is in the filter body. This comes from the filter company. We just had that come up with a new build.
