Some pool weirdness

[jnojr]

A couple of days ago, a hose bibb broke. My wife shut off the pool fill valve in an attempt to shut it off. Last night, we used the spa and noticed the water level was low. I remembered her saying she'd tried to turn off the water, found the valve, and opened it. We went to bed. This AM, the spa was running. Turns out the thermal mode of my pump had kicked in, and I guess because the valves were last in spa mode, it ran the spa... but didn't fill it. I switched to pool mode, and the valves changed. A few minutes later, I noticed the spa is running again! But still not filling.

Any ideas what the heck is going on here?

 

[Jimrahbe]

jn,

Maybe I just don't understand your layout, but in general, the Spa will not get any additional water when in the Spa mode. So, if the Spa is low on water, it will stay low on water.

You can manually add water to the Spa, or you can go into the spillover mode.

Most auto-fill systems only add water to the pool.

Did I just miss the main point of your post? I am easily confused...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[jnojr]

Most auto-fill systems only add water to the pool.

So how does a spa replace water lost to evaporation? Or when it's in spillway mode, and water runs into the pool... how does it maintain it's level?

 

[Jimrahbe]

jn,

With an automation system you can set up a schedule to run your spillover a couple of times a day for half an hour at a time, which will keep the spa full of fresh chlorinated water..

Most pool/spa system also have what is called a make up valve. This valve allows a little water to bypass the Return valve and continually add a little water to the spa. Using the make up valve will cause your Spa to continually spillover into the pool. The amount the valve is open/shut will determine the amount of spillover you get.

Depending on how you chlorinate, running a continual spillover can cause your pH to constantly try to increase.

For all I know you may have a special auto-fill just for your Spa, but I really doubt it..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[jnojr]

I do have my automation running spillway mode for a bit each day. I didn't know that was necessary for filling, I thought it was just to dump junk out of the spa and into the pool to be skimmed or vacuumed. But the only thing that changed, to my knowledge, before the level dropped, was closing the autofill valve.

I was in thermal mode, and the pump just exited that mode, so I put it in spillway mode to see if that fills my spa back up.

 

[Jimrahbe]

jn,

You can also use the "V" valve button when in the Service mode to go into the fill mode, but it seems to me to be much more trouble than to just schedule your automation, as you have already done.

As you noted, running the spillover also helps to "dump the junk"..

Jim R.

 

[jnojr]

Well, my spa is full and spilling over. I remain completely puzzled as to why the level dropped. I know the schedule is running, as my visiting in-laws were commenting about watching the vacuum drive around last night

Thanks Jim!

 

[Jimrahbe]

jn,

Because the Spa is elevated above the pool, gravity will cause the water in the Spa to drain back into the Pool. There is normally a check valve to prevent this.

The two things that normally cause a Spa to drain down are .. a bad check valve, or misaligned or bad Automated Return or Intake valve.

The key is that this happens when the main pump is off and generally takes several hours.

Thanks,

Jim R.