How do I turn spillway off?

[LivinMyBestLife]

Hi all, newbie here. 30k gallon PebbleTec Salt water pool with raised beam and spa on top which has spillover into pool.
I have constantly rising pH and it seems that having the spillway flowing 24-7 is part of the problem. I have a variable speed pump, which runs on high during day and low overnight... spillway is constantly going. I have Pentair and Jandy equipment, automated with iAquaLink. When the PB set everything up, they made it sound like the spillway should always be going, unless you switch to Spa mode (which won't circulate water in the pool so seems like a bad idea for long periods of time). Is there a way to turn off the spillway but keep the pool water circulating atleast during the low speed hours overnight? Here are pics of the plumbing... please help!

 

[Jimrahbe]

L,

Sorry, but your pool builder sounds like an idiot to me.. Constantly running spillway and running too fast does not fit my idea of running a pool the proper way.

You can't turn off your spillover because your pool builder took a short cut and did not give you a make up valve.. Instead, he offset your Automated Return valve so that it always dumps a little water into your spa when you are in the pool mode.

You could adjust the Return valve back to normal if you wanted, but then you would never have any spillover water going to your Spa.. unless you set up a "Spillway" function in your automation. Not hard to do, but I am not sure how to do it with your specific system. You would then schedule the spillway to run twice a day for half an hour, which would keep your spa filled with fresh water.

Let's see if we can get one of our Jandy automation guys to chime in...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[mknauss]

Jandy Aqualink RS - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

The within the above article it describes how to set up a Spillway function in your Aqualink.

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

To turn off your spillway you need to reset your return valve to fully close your spa return when in POOL mode. The handle should be aligned straight as shown by the red line.

This wiki page describes how to open up the actuator and reset the cam to change the close point....

Valve Actuators - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Then you need to enable dip switch 3 for SPILLOVER mode on your Aqualink panel as described in....

Jandy Aqualink RS - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[LivinMyBestLife]

Thank you! Is it common for pool builders to set them up like mine is? Or should I complain and see if they will fix it? We had a good experience with the build... but the service company they hand off to is very non-responsive. I have been asking for a year what to do about the pH and they have been no help! They suggested an acid feeder... but then never sent me a quote for it. I'm nervous to try to DIY this fix, but it seems that may be my only option!

 

[Jimrahbe]

L,

When you say you run your pump on "high" all day, what RPM are you running??? And what is your "low" RPM??

Tell you pool builder you don't like constantly running the spillover and see what options he gives you.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ajw22]

Yes, it is common to set it up the way you have it.

Builders do not understand water chemistry and they often don't understand the automation capabilities.

You can try and get one of their techs out to do these things. You will probably need to direct him exactly what to do. And he may try and tell you why you should not do it. Any tech who installs Jandy valves knows how to reset the cams since they know who to set the cam the way you have it.

Then someone who has installed Aqualink panels can change dip switch #3 in 10 minutes. The question will be if you have anything connected to Aux#3 that needs to be moved and if you have an open relay to move it to.

 

[LivinMyBestLife]

High is 2750 rpm
Low is 1750 rpm
--They were both set by the pool company at the time of start up. I can adjust them in the iAquaLink app. If I turn the rpm way down to around 1,000 it slows the spillover to a trickle, and I have considered this to see if it would help the pH... however I am already getting some scale on the rocks the water runs over and I'm concerned that slowing it to a trickle might make that worse.

This forum is so much more helpful than ANY conversation I have had with the pool company... so glad I found you all.