couple of plumbing?'s Spa level dropping when pump shuts off

[4x4tx]

Ok I am confused about a couple of things with my plumbing....

short story...bout a house with a pool built in 2001...16K gallon sport pool with a 7Ft spa/ waterfall....

three pumps, filter, cleaner and waterfall.....

1st question...should my main drains on the bottom of my pool "suck"? I often see leaves standing on the bottom of the pool even sometimes on the drain...I believe I have my main drains on along with both skimmers...but I can never feel that main drain on the bottom of the pool doing anything..should I? should the drain in my spa being sucking as well?

2nd Question, my spa level drops when the filter pump shuts off..i can stop that by moving my valve to a setting called water feature..which appears to have been a water sprinkler in my spa...when the valve is set on water feature, my spa level stays up..put if I put it on pool return or spa return it drops....guess I dont understand what is happening there...

any ideas?
Thanks

 

[mas985]

Ok I am confused about a couple of things with my plumbing....

short story...bout a house with a pool built in 2001...16K gallon sport pool with a 7Ft spa/ waterfall....

three pumps, filter, cleaner and waterfall.....

1st question...should my main drains on the bottom of my pool "suck"? I often see leaves standing on the bottom of the pool even sometimes on the drain...I believe I have my main drains on along with both skimmers...but I can never feel that main drain on the bottom of the pool doing anything..should I? should the drain in my spa being sucking as well?

Sometimes is difficult to see if the main drains are drawing in water. It can also depend on valve settings. Sometime the main drains have a separate line to the pump which is controlled by a valve so check that. If the valve is open then you are probably getting some level of suction it is just not enough to move debris on the floor of the pool. The pump will be drawing water from the skimmers and main drain so that the flow rate from each can be fairly moderate depending on the size of the pump.

2nd Question, my spa level drops when the filter pump shuts off..i can stop that by moving my valve to a setting called water feature..which appears to have been a water sprinkler in my spa...when the valve is set on water feature, my spa level stays up..put if I put it on pool return or spa return it drops....guess I dont understand what is happening there...

Your spa is probably higher than the pool, correct? If so, the pool builder should have put in a one way valve in the spa plumbing so that it would not drain when the pump is shut off. I suspect there is a line open to the pool when you shut off the pump and when you adjust the valves it is shutting off this line. Without a plumbing diagram it is hard to know for sure.

any ideas?
Thanks

See comments above.

 

[4x4tx]

Thanks...

As for the spa level...there was an ortega check valve that i replaced the spring and seal in there on...it stopped the spa level from dropping but only in the water feature setting

 

[Guest]

what you should do is take some die and squirt some over the drain and see hoe fast it sucks it.

 

[4x4tx]

Re: couple of plumbing?'s Spa level dropping when pump shuts

My spa level is dropping again, its been what 5 years since I posted this orginally. Is that about normal for these things to wear out? Anything to do fix this one? Seems ok, I guess its just sticking and not closing off all the way. http://store.poolcenter.com/pentair-ort ... 59362.aspx

Its part #2 in that picture. Also where is the best place to buy this , online or maybe at warehouse pool supply?

 

[smooth2222]

Re: couple of plumbing?'s Spa level dropping when pump shuts

Does it drains partially? or fully?

I also have a pool with a spa, and when the filter is off, the spa water level will balance out with the pool water level. leaving have the spa filled with water, as its above the pool.

totally normal.


i can also flip a valve so this doesn't happen, but i like the overflow spa into the pool when filter is on. So always leave the valve in appropriete position

"now ofcourse if your spa is way higher than the pool, you wouldn't want it to drain completely"

 

[4x4tx]

Re: couple of plumbing?'s Spa level dropping when pump shuts

It only drains partially but it leaves part of the plaster exposed about water, its def dropping too low.