Spa Filtering Best Practice

[houstonguy]

The pool at the home we bought less than a year ago has an attached spa with spillover design. We don’t use spa mode regularly. It recently hit me that relying on just pool mode/the spillover might not provide enough filtration for the water in the spa.

Am I overthinking this, or is there a preferred way to handle spa filtration?

Should I be setting my automation to run in spa mode (sans heating) for a set amount of time each day? Is it better to partially open the drain valve so that the spa and pool drains are used simultaneously for an extended period of time? Should I brush the spa separately and run spa mode for a while immediately after?

Seems like any of those would be effective, but are they necessary and is one, or some other approach, the best practice?

Thanks!

 

[ajw22]

Does your spa spillover continuously run when in POOL mode?

Or is your spillover scheduled to run during the day with your automation.

Yhe spa spillover will dump all the spa water Into the pool and replace it with fresh pool water. If your spillover is working correctly the spa water will be as fresh and filtered as your pool water.

 

[HermanTX]

We don’t use spa mode regularly. It recently hit me that relying on just pool mode/the spillover might not provide enough filtration for the water in the spa.

The spillover should supply sufficient flow to filter the spa water. How long does it run in spillover mode each day?

Should I be setting my automation to run in spa mode (sans heating) for a set amount of time each day?

Only do this if there is grit or debris on the bottom of the spa that may only be able to be removed through suction via the spa bottom drain. You would need to brush the spa bottom when in spa mode to ensure all debris sitting on the bottom is sucked into the spa drain. This may be weekly activity if needed.

Is it better to partially open the drain valve so that the spa and pool drains are used simultaneously for an extended period of time?

Where is the return flow going - back to the pool? The spa? Both? You risk draining the spa because it is a smaller body of water. You would need to watch this. I would not do this.

 

[houstonguy]

Yes, ajw22, the spa and pool share a pump so the spillover runs whenever the pool pump is running and the equipment is set in pool mode. I agree, circulation & water chemistry should be fine under these circumstance.

My concern is mainly that without using the spa drain regularly, any particulates in the water would not actually flow over into the main pool to be filtered out but would just settle at the bottom. Any brushing would stir everything up, but it seems like having it in spa mode would be the only way to actually filter that stuff out effectively.

To HermanTX’s point, using spa mode when brushing seems to be the logical solution. I have a polaris pool cleaner for the main pool and brush regularly but don’t ever manually vacuum anything. Seeing dirt, pollen, etc in the spa get churned when brushing led to the question. Was curious how other people were handling this type of setup.

Also, HermanTX the pool pump feeds returns in both the spa and the pool, so in theory I could move the drain valve to the middle and pull from both drains without draining the spa. But it seems like that could hurt overall circulation or lead to other issues as you mentioned.

Thanks!

 

[ajw22]

Do you have an air blower in your spa?

 

[1poolman1]

Yes, ajw22, the spa and pool share a pump so the spillover runs whenever the pool pump is running and the equipment is set in pool mode. I agree, circulation & water chemistry should be fine under these circumstance.

My concern is mainly that without using the spa drain regularly, any particulates in the water would not actually flow over into the main pool to be filtered out but would just settle at the bottom. Any brushing would stir everything up, but it seems like having it in spa mode would be the only way to actually filter that stuff out effectively.

To HermanTX’s point, using spa mode when brushing seems to be the logical solution. I have a polaris pool cleaner for the main pool and brush regularly but don’t ever manually vacuum anything. Seeing dirt, pollen, etc in the spa get churned when brushing led to the question. Was curious how other people were handling this type of setup.

Also, HermanTX the pool pump feeds returns in both the spa and the pool, so in theory I could move the drain valve to the middle and pull from both drains without draining the spa. But it seems like that could hurt overall circulation or lead to other issues as you mentioned.

Thanks!

In theory your builder could have installed two sets of equipment and you would not be having this conversation.

The following is what I have seen on about 30 -50 pools over the years of people trying to accomplish the same thing.

In fact, you will never be able to balance the suction and return to both the pool and spa, it just doesn't happen. All it takes is the filter to get a bit dirty and the whole "balancing act" falls. At low speed, the return to the spa may not be enough to even lift the water over a dam wall or spillway, but it will keep pulling water from the spa until it is empty enough so the pump starts sucking air. Then, your filter pump runs dry, the shaft seal (at the very least if caught soon enough) gets damaged, water starts to fill the motor, depending on the pump you have and the rest of the system you get a new motor or new pump.

In normal operation (pool mode) just allow some water to constantly flow to the spa to get it fresh or it will get algae very quickly as that small body of water will get much warmer than the pool and that will equal algae growth if the water isn't exchanged by a standard overflow during normal operation. Once in a while, have all the suction come from the spa while you are there brushing debris to the drain and you will be good.

Pool/spa combos have been set up like that for at least 40 years with no problems. Automation was only in the realm of people with a lot of money to spend on a pool, and even then it had no "overflow" option until about 20 years ago. Overflow takes all the suction from the pool and puts all that water into the spa. The greater flow is expected to stir the entire vessel and force the debris over the dam wall. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, depending on what gets into the spa.

 

[houstonguy]

Do you have an air blower in your spa?

Yes. My initial thought was to schedule spa mode (sans) heater to run for a short time at the end of each day, and also set the blower to run for a shorter time in the middle of that window. Just to get some additional filtration for the spa and churn things up bit. I think that, plus running the spa when I brush it would be more than enough to keep any debris from building up.

 

[ajw22]

Yes. My initial thought was to schedule spa mode (sans) heater to run for a short time at the end of each day, and also set the blower to run for a shorter time in the middle of that window. Just to get some additional filtration for the spa and churn things up bit. I think that, plus running the spa when I brush it would be more than enough to keep any debris from building up.

Yup, that is what I was going to suggest.

Run your air blower and spa jets while in spa mode for a while to churn up debris and filter it out.

 

[1poolman1]

Yes. My initial thought was to schedule spa mode (sans) heater to run for a short time at the end of each day, and also set the blower to run for a shorter time in the middle of that window. Just to get some additional filtration for the spa and churn things up bit. I think that, plus running the spa when I brush it would be more than enough to keep any debris from building up.

You can just not "enable" the spa heater and let the spa run daily. You will have to remember to "enable" the spa heater if you want to use the spa. That was easy with an "All Button" Jandy control, its a bit more work with other systems,