Testing and Balancing a pool and spa with SWCG

[mcdickey]

I have a pool and spa (elevated) combo with one pump and filter for both the pool and the spa. The water has consistently sparkled and I have had zero issues for the past year or or so thanks to TFP.

For the past three years (since I acquired my home) I have been running the SWCG with the valves set to full suction from the pool and return split about 50% to each of the spa and pool. The return to the spa allows for spillover from the spa to the pool and everything gets chlorinated. I like the effect of the spillover, but I have constant pH rise that I believe I can partially slow down by adjusting the valves and schedule programming to eliminate the spillover and the resulting aeration. If I make that adjustment I would need to isolate the spa from the pool and run the SWCG on each at different times in the day and test and balance the pool and spa essentially like thy are two different systems. Is that how most people with pool/spa combos and SWCG manage things? It does not seem efficient, but I am not sure how else to proceed and effectively sanitize both the pool and the spa.

Here are my numbers as of this morning with Taylor Kit:

FC 6
CC 0
pH 7.2 (Just added acid last night so pH is on the low side right now)
Alk 70 (I have been lowering regularly from a peak of 135 on 5/13/14)
CH 380
CYA 60

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[JasonLion]

Typically, you run the spa on spillover for an hour each day, and the pool alone for three or more hours. Trying to keep the pool and spa completely separate is far far more difficulty. Cutting the spa spillover down to a hour will certainly help with the PH increase.

Other things that will cut down on PH increases include: raise CYA to around 80, lower TA to around 60, don't ever lower the PH as low as 7.2 (except if lowering TA). Try to keep PH between 7.5 and 7.8.

 

[jblizzle]

It is normal to have the spa overflow into the pool ... much less work.

You could turn the bypass overflow off (assuming you have one) and then use the automation system to run mostly in Pool mode and then for a short period of time each day run the automation in Spillover mode, which is full suction from the pool and full return to the spa. Then you would only have aeration during that brief time the spa water is being refreshed.

Or you could change the bypass for less water to the spa so you would have less aeration all the time.

 

[mcdickey]

Thanks for the quick responses guys. You both said the same thing separated by two minutes.

I'll run on spillover mode for an hour each day and the rest on pool only. Does it make the most sense to run on spillover at the end of the cycle? Or does it not really matter?

 

[JasonLion]

It doesn't really matter when you run the spillover, one hour a day whenever you feel like it.

 

[mcdickey]

Thanks.