Raised Spa Overflow Pump, Plumbing, & GPM Advice

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S

syenisch

Member
Feb 4, 2014
9
Florida
Hi everyone,

About to go into permitting on a new construction pool in FL. Here is some background info on the pool. We have a 10x8 spa raised 6" above deck with a 7' spillway into main swimming area. My pool builder says we need 12 gpm per linear foot of the spa spillway. He says this is necessary to achieve a "curtain" of water off the edge of the spillway. We really don't care to have a curtain from the spa because we have the two 36" waterfalls that are much more visible and on a focal point in the design. However, we don't want water to be dribbling off the edge and give the appearance things aren't "functioning as they should". 84 gpm (12 gpm * 7 gpm/ft) is putting a lot of additional demand on the pump though. I am wondering if we were to angle the spillway down into the pool at approximately 45 degrees, could we achieve a nice laminar flow of water from the spa down into the pool at a lower gpm? Any other ideas/suggestions?

Thanks,
SteveIMG_8519.jpeg
 
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Since you have 2 additional waterfalls, do you need the 7ft wide spillover from spa to pool?

Do you plan to have your spa spillover continuously to the pool? That is not recommended as it will drive your pH higher quickly. It is recommended to refresh your spa 2x a day for max 30 mins. So if you do that then the pump only has to run at higher speed maybe 1 hr per day vs continuously.
Also, are your waterfalls using dedicated pumps are being supported by the main filter pump?
 
Not functionally, really just like the aesthetics with the glass mosaic tile on the spillover.

Currently the builder is planning on a dedicated 70 GPM pump for the waterfalls only. The rest of the pool would use a 3.8 HP pump. I am wondering if it makes more sense to use a Water Feature Pump for the waterfalls and spa fountain and use the main pump to circulate the pool through its jets and spa through its dedicated jets at a low flow rate. The water feature pump would be off most of the time, only turning on a few hours when we are home after work and on the weekends. Thoughts?
 
It would be helpful to have some model numbers of the pumps the PB is proposing.
Is it 1 dedicated pump for both waterfalls or does each have its dedicated pump? Is the waterfall a sheer decent type of feature or a flow over a rock type waterfall? Will the pump(s) dedicated to the waterfalls use wall drains (the suction drains are positioned on the wall to prevent small debris from entering the waterfall circuit as there is usually no filter on a dedicated water fall pump).

The main filter pump (confirm it is a 3.8 HP pump as most top out at 3.0HP) needs to function to support the Pool mode and the Spa mode. It also then can be set up for spillover mode which causes the spa to spill over into the pool. Spillover mode sucks water from the pool and returns it to the spa which spillovers back to the pool to make the complete circuit. This spillover mode should only be used a couple of times a day to refresh the spa water because the spillover creates aeration which increases the pH of the water. If spillover mode is used continuously it can be an issue to control pH over time. I point this out so you are aware of the potential issue but it is manageable.

A dedicated pump can be set up for spa jets. It requires to have multiple floor drains in the spa. One set of floor drains is used for normal pool/spa operation and another set of floor drains leads to a dedicated pump that returns back to the spa jets only. This is usually to have high flow jets in the spa.
 
Thank you for your response thus far, and sorry for the delay in mine! I was waiting on the construction plans from the PB and then got tied up with some other things.

The rep helped us design the pool based 2 pumps with only the two 36" shear descents running off Pump 2 (it does have a drain in the wall). I thought about it some more and was thinking I'd prefer the spa bubbler also be run off Pump 2 and have a return or two in the spa tied to Pump 1. That way I can keep Pump 2 off except evenings and weekends when we're home. Looks like his engineer was thinking the same. However, now I have a 3.8hp Jandy ePump VS running the pool and a 1.0hp Jandy FloPro 1spd running the shear descents and bubbler. Feels like Pump 1 is oversized and Pump 2 is undersized. Pump 1 is used in Spa mode BTW.
 
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syenisch said:
Thank you for your response thus far, and sorry for the delay in mine! I was waiting on the construction plans from the PB and then got tied up with some other things.

The rep helped us design the pool based 2 pumps with only the two 36" shear descents running off Pump 2 (it does have a drain in the wall). I thought about it some more and was thinking I'd prefer the spa bubbler also be run off Pump 2 and have a return or two in the spa tied to Pump 1. That way I can keep Pump 2 off except evenings and weekends when we're home. Looks like his engineer was thinking the same. However, now I have a 3.6hp Jandy ePump VS running the pool and a 1.0hp Jandy FloPro 1spd running the shear descents and bubbler. Feels like Pump 1 is oversized and Pump 2 is undersized. Pump 1 is used in Spa mode BTW.
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The 3.8HP VS ePump is fine. You will be able to run it at a low speed which saves lots of energy costs but still more a lot of water for circulation.
I would prefer to have a VS pump for the shear descents and bubbler and not a single speed pump. What happens if you only want to run the bubbler - then all flow from that single speed pump goes to 1 feature which may be too much. Using a VS pump allows you to adjust the speed if you have 1, 2 or all 3 water features active. Ask about a 1.8 or so VS pump for the water features vs. a single speed pump.

On another point - we see many members from Florida being sold small filters. Not sure what volume your pool will be but highly recommend get a minimum 300 sq ft cartridge filter.

When you get a chance, consider adding the description of your setup to your Signature, which will aid the experts to quickly tailor responses to your pool and equipment, and you won't need to repeat it in future posts.
 
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Thanks, do you feel like I can back down on the 3.8hp for Pump 1? Would be nice to save a little money on Pump 1 since it appears I’ll be upgrading Pump 2. Jandy makes “water feature pumps” specifically for shear descents, bubblers, etc. Should I consider that for Pump 2?
 

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syenisch said:
Thanks, do you feel like I can back down on the 3.8hp for Pump 1? Would be nice to save a little money on Pump 1 since it appears I’ll be upgrading Pump 2. Jandy makes “water feature pumps” specifically for shear descents, bubblers, etc. Should I consider that for Pump 2?
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I would not recommend that. The 3.8hp is a fine pump. It will move a lot of water at a lower speed. Also, low speed will run quieter. Over the long term, you will appreciate the larger HP pump.

Please let us know more about the overall pool and equipment by filling out your signature -- Create Your Signature - Further Reading
 
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