Hi TFP,
We did a renovation on our pool and the PB/Restorer left our job incomplete. One of the items that we need to fix is the 6 venturi jets in the spa.
We have a 30,000 gallon pool with a 9' deep end and and an attached spa as pictured here. The spa has a venturi on each end (2 total) that feeds 3 jets (6 jets total). There is also a new 2HP blower with 4 air outputs in the footwell of the spa. That works fine. We had the pool refinished with mini-pebble, new coping, and tile. There was a lot of debris that I cleared out of 1 of the 2 drains in the bottom of the spa. There was flow issues with the spinner jets that the PB/Restorer installed. We first noticed the spinners didn't all spin and only some would have ~25% of the bubbling they had before the renovation.
Here is what I did to try to get all 6 jets to flow and venturi bubble:
1. removed all 6 nozzles (end caps)
2. removed old 1/4 turn jet inserts
3. bought 5 new plugs with o-rings and both vacuumed and blew out the jet ports 1 at a time with the 5 plugs in the other ports.
4. removed drain covers and cleaned all rocks/sendiment left from renovation. I can run a small snake ~35' back to pump/equipment (which is ~60' away)
5. installed 6 new 1/4 jets
6. cleaned Pentair Sta-Rite System 3 filter & put in 6 cups of new DE
7. ran Pentair IntelliFlo at 3450 RPM (max) in SPA mode
When we do this, air bubbles weakly out of 2 ports on the left and 1 on the right. The pressure with the spinner nozzles on pulsates at ~50-75% what I think it should. I then tried this:
1. install original eye-ball nozzles --> a lot of water comes up the venturi air pipe valve if more that 1-2 of the eye-balls are installed. With the spinner nozzles no water comes up.
2. with spinner nozzles, blew shop vac air down venturi/air pipe one side at a time - those 3 jets bubble wildly on both sides.
I believe both of my drain lines are now clear. My filter shows 20 PSI at 3450 without DE and 24 PSI with DE (typical since we've had the pool). We did install a new heater that works fine, no leaks. Plumbing only changed slightly. For the SPA, the single pipe coming back to the equipment is 2" PVC and so is the single return line.
Can there be debris in the venturi (that went down the air pipe/valves when those pipes were open during demo)?
If not, I am thinking I have either a pressure or a flow problem but would like some expert advice or further things to try.
Your help and ideas are very much appreciated.
Rob and Alice.
We did a renovation on our pool and the PB/Restorer left our job incomplete. One of the items that we need to fix is the 6 venturi jets in the spa.
We have a 30,000 gallon pool with a 9' deep end and and an attached spa as pictured here. The spa has a venturi on each end (2 total) that feeds 3 jets (6 jets total). There is also a new 2HP blower with 4 air outputs in the footwell of the spa. That works fine. We had the pool refinished with mini-pebble, new coping, and tile. There was a lot of debris that I cleared out of 1 of the 2 drains in the bottom of the spa. There was flow issues with the spinner jets that the PB/Restorer installed. We first noticed the spinners didn't all spin and only some would have ~25% of the bubbling they had before the renovation.
Here is what I did to try to get all 6 jets to flow and venturi bubble:
1. removed all 6 nozzles (end caps)
2. removed old 1/4 turn jet inserts
3. bought 5 new plugs with o-rings and both vacuumed and blew out the jet ports 1 at a time with the 5 plugs in the other ports.
4. removed drain covers and cleaned all rocks/sendiment left from renovation. I can run a small snake ~35' back to pump/equipment (which is ~60' away)
5. installed 6 new 1/4 jets
6. cleaned Pentair Sta-Rite System 3 filter & put in 6 cups of new DE
7. ran Pentair IntelliFlo at 3450 RPM (max) in SPA mode
When we do this, air bubbles weakly out of 2 ports on the left and 1 on the right. The pressure with the spinner nozzles on pulsates at ~50-75% what I think it should. I then tried this:
1. install original eye-ball nozzles --> a lot of water comes up the venturi air pipe valve if more that 1-2 of the eye-balls are installed. With the spinner nozzles no water comes up.
2. with spinner nozzles, blew shop vac air down venturi/air pipe one side at a time - those 3 jets bubble wildly on both sides.
I believe both of my drain lines are now clear. My filter shows 20 PSI at 3450 without DE and 24 PSI with DE (typical since we've had the pool). We did install a new heater that works fine, no leaks. Plumbing only changed slightly. For the SPA, the single pipe coming back to the equipment is 2" PVC and so is the single return line.
Can there be debris in the venturi (that went down the air pipe/valves when those pipes were open during demo)?
If not, I am thinking I have either a pressure or a flow problem but would like some expert advice or further things to try.
Your help and ideas are very much appreciated.
Rob and Alice.
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