New in ground Shotcrete Pool Build in South Florida.

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thank you all.. We don't really have much of a mosquito presence, but we did buy the mosquito repellent candles they sell at home depot. Only used them once. In the terrace we have 2 ceiling fans that push a good amount of air so i guess that helps keep them away.

Hey Zethacat how are you guys liking your slide.?? Im hoping the leak repair is a one day job.. but we all know how those things go. keeping fingers crossed that they are in and out...
 
I love the slide as much as the kids. My pool is not very deep so an adult has to remember to bend their legs on the way off or they will just be standing up after coming off of it. :D :D But as long as your legs are bent, you will not come close to touching the bottom. :D :D :D I wish I could have afforded one of those gunite slides.. every time I look at one I'm just in awe.. but it just wasn't in the budget.

Speaking of mosquitos, I had an electrical outlet put all the way in the corner of my yard opposite the pool for a bug zapper and it works quite well!!!
 
Hi Northrider how are you guys on Florida? We are frozen in Texas..... Anyhow, I remember awhile back, you said that your infinity spa initially only flow down one side, not all 4 sides.... How did your PB fix it? My infinity spa only flows to 2 sides and I approached the PB about it and they are dragging their feet to fix it. Also, what kind of pump do you have for your pool? Mine is 3 HP Pentair Intelliflo and it seems to have a hard time at lower speed and flow to get water through the spa into the pool. Do you have any insights? Thanks!
 
Hi CC. We are still pretty warm down here. It was 82 yesterday midday, although water is down in the low 70's. Hopefully you guys start to warm up here soon. PB sent out tile guy who removed about 3 rows of tile in the side that was low, put on some material and installed new tile. It's a lot better than it was but not perfect I have a few spots that flow just a bit less than others. The fix took about 1hr at the most. The tile guy originally spent 4 days on the spa alone, I know it's not careless work , just man made and will never be 100% perfect. I guess I just made my peace with it. But definitely have them come out and fix it until it meets your expectations. I have the same pump as you and I think it does a good job. It's not a forceful overflow but keeps a light sheet of water flowing. I have it set to 1400 for regular filtering and at 1800 for skimming but the spa overflow shuts off during skimming. Let me know if I can answer any other questions. Hopefully it gets resolved soon.
 
Thanks for your reply. I know it is man made and that is why I am still considering whether to have them to remove the beautiful tile work they did and fix the problem.....so, your pump is the same size with my pump, and you are good at running at 1400? My pump is to power the pool filtering, skimmers (2 of them), 3 bubblers, returns, spa overflow....and it seems anything lower than 3000 will not induce enough flow for the overflow in the spa. Am I doing something wrong? Also, how do you set the skimmers separate speed than the regular filtering? I did not know that you can do that. My PB never mentioned that either. How long do you run your pool pump?

Thanks so much for your help. My PB is really not good at post customer care......I have to find out a lot of things on my own. We are again in the 30 today.....cold....jealous of your nice temperature!
 
My spa now flows on all sides, its just when in low speed (1200 rpm) 2 spots within a wall don't flow much, Its ultimately your decision but if what you paid for its not what they delivered i would have them fix it. The pentair intelliflo pump comes with 4 preset speeds, and if its hooked up to automation you can set up and control up to 8 speeds. Mine its hooked up to an intellitouch I7+3, I control it from iPad/iphone/macbook pro and the speeds are assigned as follows


Normal Filtration (4 pool returns + spa overflow) - 1200 rpm 7:00 am to 9:30 pm
Skim mode (4 pool returns / spa overflow off) - 1600 rpm 10-11:30 am and 4-5:30 pm
Vaccum (4 pool returns / spa overflow off) - 2500 rpm
(4) deck jets + 1 Bubbler + Spa overflow (Pool Returns off) - 2200 rpm
(4) deck jets + 1 Bubbler + Spa overflow + Slide (Pool Returns off) - 2500 rpm
spa only (just to heat it up) - 1800 rpm
spa only (therapy jets on) - 2500 rpm

***I added a valve to the pool return line so it can be shut off when running my water features allowing me to run the pump at a lower speed. do you have a valve on your pool return lines? Also how many outlets make up your spa overflow line?? How big is the eyeball on the overflow fittings?? Mine is 2.5" reduced to 2" pipe and i have 3 outlets in the seat of the spa with 3/4" eyeball openings. I experimented with 1/2" and 1" but 3/4 was just perfect for the pool returns and spa overflows.

Don't feel too bad about your PB not knowing much. Mine didn't know anything about automation either, I read the manuals like three times until everything started to make sense. I did all my own setups, its really not that hard.. I run 2 skimmers fully opened and the main drain barely cracked. My pool is almost 30k gallons.
 
Thank you Northrider...I am in the process of getting the PB to fix the spa. It is important for me to have the spa flow at least the 3 sides that we can see. The one side that facing the wall and flower bed may be OK since no one will ever get there....

My is hooked up to Screen Logic, and the panel is Easy Touch 8.

My question is how do you turn off the spa overflow? I only have one spa return at the base of the spa, and 8 eye balls looking jets on the side of the wall. Is there an automatic valve that you installed? My spa over flow is tie into the bubllers of the pool at the pool entry deck.

I will go back to the drawing plumbing to see if I understand what was put in....

I will also ask the plumbing subcontractor to see if I can install a valve to the return line as well. It makes a lot of sense too. Is the valve automatic? Or you need to manually close the valve?
 

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I use screenlogic as well. My system allowed for five aux valve actuators after adding the expansion module and I use all five. My spa overflow its a line of its own and it does have an actuator . I actually have three outlets on the bottom of the spa for overflows and 12 jets on the walls (3 on each wall). Everything is turned on and off automatically (spa overflow and pool returns)
 
Northrider23 said:
I use screenlogic as well. My system allowed for five aux valve actuators after adding the expansion module and I use all five. My spa overflow its a line of its own and it does have an actuator . I actually have three outlets on the bottom of the spa for overflows and 12 jets on the walls (3 on each wall). Everything is turned on and off automatically (spa overflow and pool returns)
Click to expand...

Thanks Northrider, you know.....This is really a learning experience for me.....but too late....I should learn more of building the pool prior of me starting the process. Not sure what I can do now regarding the automation...I only have two actuators right now, one control the spa/pool mode, the other one is installed on a big pipe labeling Spa Suction? my PB is not responsive in my questioning at all. I am not sure why there is an actuator on Spa Suction?

So, when you added a valve to the pool return just recently, who did you go to get that added? Your PB or your self ?

One more question, on your spa jets, do you have special spa jet heads installed? My spa jets look like regular pool return eye balls.....In my contract, it states 8 jets in the spa but did not specify what kind of jet.....so, should those jets be different than the regular pool return eye balls?

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BeerGuy said:
I don't have any fancy automation system, but I can increase the spa spillover rate by partially closing the pool return valve. I figured that was a better option than increasing the pump RPM ($$).
Click to expand...

Hi BeerGuy, I may just have to do that.....it is a good idea. Thanks!
 
Hey CC. First sorry to hear about all your recent headaches ( I'm also following your build). I attached 2 photos and maybe it helps clear up some of your questions. the return valve was added by me and the plumber once we figured that the pump had to run on high for the water features to work correctly. Our spa jets look different than our pool jets mainly because we have 2.5" pipes for the returns reduced to 2" at the pool so we required a wall fitting.




Now this is how our actuators are set up

1 - Pool suction / Spa Suction
2 - Pool Return / Spa Jets
3 - Pool Return Shut off
4 - Slide
5 - Spa Return
6 - Bubbler + 4 Deck Jets
7 - Heat Pump bypass



The system comes with actuators 1&2. All the others i purchased separately, as well as the expansion module to fit them all in the system. What they do is either (Pool Mode)take and return water to the pool or when in (spa mode) take and return water from the spa. I believe that your system allow for the 2 you already have plus 2 more. I looked at the schematics for the EasyTouch 8 and it does not show the option for the expansion module.

If you send me a picture of your valves and how they are set up I can try to help you and see what can be done.
 
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Hi Northrider, you are too sweet to help me out like this. So here is my plumbing set up. Hopefully you can see clearly in the picture.
17ae0268d3b5e0651819964940c6feb2.jpg
cfbe8d66cdde593b440152311fd7891c.jpg

The first picture has to acurator for the spa/pool mode, and the other one is for spa suction.

I am running the pump at 2100 RPM and the water barely go over the spa edge, and the bubblers are very weak. So I really do jot know what is going on with the set up.
 
Hi CC. No sweat. That's what we are here for. From looking at your pictures I see our setups are very different. I'm going to start off by stating again that I'm by no means a pro or a equipment guru but maybe we can try some non-destructive options and see if that works.

Here we go.

On picture 2 I noticed that the valve for your bubblers is a 3way valve (I probably would have had them put single valves on the individual lines instead), Used to divert water to either the bubblers or spa fountain. By keeping it in the middle is half opened for both and may be why there is barely any water flowing through them. The way I see that valve set up is to either have the bubblers running or the fountain spa but not both at the same time.

Solution: turn off the pump, take all screws out of the valve labeled "bubbler" and flip the flapper/handle assembly upsidedown. Make sure the Oring is in place. Put screws back in. This will cause the flapper to be facing the sky and the handle point towards the ground. Water will flow unrestricted to the bubblers and fountain spa. This will make more sense once you open the valve and look at the interior design.

After doing that, the "return" valve can either direct water to just the returns (by making the handle point towards the heater) or close off the return and have all flow go to the bubblers and spa fountain ( by making the handle point to the sky).


If this fixes your issue you can order an 90degree actuator (I think Pentair 263043) and put it in the return valve. In screen logic you can program a features for the bubblers, when pressed the actuator will turn and close the pool return and allow water to go to those features.

Note**. if this is something you will contemplate you will also have to program a daily schedule for this function in order to cycle your spa water daily or your spa will turn green.

I hope all this makes sense. If not let me know and Ill try to draw it out.

Keep me updated.
 
Hi Northrider, thank you so much for the detail explanation. What you say is really making sense. Based on your comments above, I am more understanding about hoe the valve works and looked up the Jandy 3 way valve online too. So, at least now I know when the handle point toward certain directions, the valve is totally open, partially open or closed. So, thank you! I will look into adding the actuator to the return valve. I did had Pentair warranty person out last week, he said that there is a problem with the flow, maybe a dirty filter because the pressure gauge on the filter is showing too high of psi, and also the salt cell has a red light indicating a flow issue. However, my pool maintenance guy said he just cleaned the filter..... So he said he will clean again to see if the flow issue will get solved....

Another question I have is that the two skimmers barely sacking up leaves. They used to, but not anymore. The water level is good. The pump is at 2450 RPM as recommended by the Pentair guy. I increase the speed to 2850 for 4 hours a few days ago to see if the skimmers do better but not difference there.... So, can I close the main drain a bit to get more suction to the skimmers? Or if the problem with the flow get resolved by cleaning the filter, the skimmers will start acting normal?

Thanks again for all your help!
 
Yes, you can close the main drain some to improve skimmer performance.

Are you putting bleach in the pool or how are you chlorinating? SWCG do not make chlorine when the water temp is below 50ish. Sounds like your filter is dirty. I had this same problem a couple of years ago with an algae outbreak. It would clog the filter within a couple of days.
 
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