Plumbing schematic at the pad - any suggestions/advice?

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M

mkmkmkmk

Active member
Dec 31, 2013
39
Northridge, CA
Pool Plumbing 800x600.jpg

We are building a 40x20 pool + 8' dia spa with spillway into pool.
3 bubblers + 4 laminars.
2 skimmers.


We'll have 2 pumps: Main & Spa Jets
Main Pump will serve 3 purposes:
  1. Filtration during normal operations [(A) and (B) equally open; (C) 100% to Pool side; (D) bypassing heater; (F) closed; (G) 100% to Pool side; (H) open to circulate spa]
  2. Heating the spa (or pool) [(C) on Spa side; (D) open to heater; (E) and (F) closed, (G) open to Spa]
  3. Running water features [(A) and (B) equally on; (C) 100% to Pool side; (D) bypassing heater; (E) Diverting to the features, (F) equally open to both features]

The main pump will be in Mode 1 most of the time. When we want to use the spa, we'll kick it into Mode 2 for a short period of time. When we want to enjoy water features, which will likely only be for short periods of time, we can turn it into Mode 3.

We will only have a 50A circuit available at the pad. It looks like each pump is 16A Max Load, so that only leaves a little bit for the EasyTouch, LED Lights, and SWG.


Does this diagram look correct? What should we change on it?
 
Are you sure the pumps are 16 amps? If they are 230 volt, I doubt that is true.

General comment about the 3 way valves, it is usually best that the common pipe is in the middle. That is not how you have some of them drawn. This gives you better control of the flow.
 
I am at the same step (planning) as you and have, more or less, the same features in mind. Since I'm a rookie, please take my comments as questions and not as advice.

My first question would be for the suction side. I'm wondering if you'd really want that many diverters for that? In my draft plumbing drawings, I have 1 diverter that controls the % of suction coming from spa vs pool. I was thinking of using regular old ball valves (cheap) to adjust the amount of suction on the pool drain vs skimmers. Does anyone know if ball valves are a bad idea for this?

Could "E" be moved up into the position of the T right above it?

I'm not really understanding what "H's" role is? I can't read the comment above H. Could "G" just take care of distributing flow between spa and pool?

Do you plan on running a suction or pressure side cleaner?

I picked up a good suggestion on another thread of needing a check valve on the spa return. That's apparently needed to make sure you don't drain your spa into your pool. You might want to search for info on this since there's some concern about check valves and certain VS pumps with vacuum safety features.

Thanks for posting your drawing ... it's given me a few changes to consider for mine. I am still trying to figure out if I want a heater bypass. What are the main benefits of having this?

Thanks

scot
 
The PVC ball valves seem to have a short life. They get stiff and difficult to turn and then the handle breaks off. Might be fine for places where you are going to set it in place and then rarely ever touch it again, but not recommended where you are going to be making changes often.

H just allows flow to the spa even when the 3-way valve is set to 100% pool. In reality, you could just not close G all the way and get a small amount of flow to the spa that way. But, the 2-way valve at H gives a little finer control of the spa overflow.

Again, personally, I recommend having the common pipe on the middle port of any 3-way whenever possible.
 
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