Spa flow decreases through the day

[BowserB]

Bill,

Sounds like you found it..

Please tell me your normal schedule for running your pump?

Just trying to fully understand the issue.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hi Jim. Filter pump runs 7:40 am to 8:20 pm. SWCG is on timer currently at 8:15am to 7:45pm. I take water samples during the times when the SWCG is off but the pump running. Last night's OCLT results: evening 12.0 ppm; this morning 12.0 ppm. I've reset the IC40 to 40%, as there is I think now no further reason to suspect algae and can safely report "Look Ma! No algae!" (Anyone here old enough to remember the Crest commercials from the 1950's? "Look Ma. No cavities!") Still, the "estimated flow" seems to decline through the day but less--26gpm first thing to 24-25 at the end of the day, and the flow over the spa spillover is visibly lower by the end of the day.

Our equipment pad is on the west side of the house in an L space with the south side of that L blocking the prevailing south wind, so I'm wondering now about the heat affecting the flow. We've had more 100+ days this summer than the last 6 years combined. Yesterday actually hit 108. So I've moved a patio umbrella over to the equipment to shade from the afternoon sun. Still thinking about taking the diverter and backflow preventer apart, but I'd feel better if I had a repair guy available in case I break something or if it breaks on its own.

WDS, I got a computer repair call Sunday night, so I missed Patriot's hours yesterday. Heading over there this morning, though. Being without liquid chlorine is like being without toilet paper. Just scary!

Thanks again, guys, for the advice and ideas. I never suspected the filter could be that dirty that fast. And I can't believe there isn't a better way to clean filter cartridges. If there were a way to cap one end and have a hose fitting at the other, then one could put water pressure on the inside. Then hosing from the outside might be more effective at washing contaminants off rather than wash some off and drive others farther in--which I'm convinced must happen from just hosing from the outside.

Have a good one. High temp forecast for Katy today is only 99. Then back to the 100's tomorrow. And mandatory water conservation here in the city allows us to water our yards only Wednesday and Saturday and then only before 8am or after 8pm.

 

[wdsheffer]

WDS, I got a computer repair call Sunday night, so I missed Patriot's hours yesterday. Heading over there this morning, though. Being without liquid chlorine is like being without toilet paper. Just scary!

I was there this morning. 6 gallons for $18. God love 'em.
Good luck on your flow rate issue. Above my pay grade.

 

[generessler]

You got a lot of great advice. I have a CCP 320, one size smaller than yours. I'll just toss in that I find - especially with older filters - there is cleaning and there is cleaning. If I use a nozzle with a high pressure stream and hit every pleat on both sides until the color changes to white, I get way different results from just washing off the chunks. The first way takes some time. Well over an hour. I'm sure this has to do with all the tree dandruff my pool gets. It makes a slimy mess. But it's worth the trouble as it makes a 2x difference in time to next cleaning.

So did new filters. Old ones' age was unknown; they came with the house. Went from maybe 5 weeks to 5-6 months.

One more thing is that if your spa is getting part of the flow while the rest goes to pool returns, that balance is _really_ delicate in my experience. It does not take much flow change to see what you're seeing. So fwiw I think you're on the right track looking at the filter. I don't know of other stuff that could cause a small flow change during the course of a day.

 

[BowserB]

I was there this morning. 6 gallons for $18. God love 'em.
Good luck on your flow rate issue. Above my pay grade.

Went to Patriot Cleaning Supply yesterday morning. My iPhone GPS directed me to a vacant lot between two strip centers. Went around to Morton Rd and through the first strip center there and finally found my way to the destination the warehouse businesses all but invisible from either Mason or Morton! I commented to the guys, "If you're trying to hide back here, congratulations...it's working!" I exited through the drive to Mason. Truly, it could be useful if there were a sign on Mason at the drive. Oh well. Got three gallons for $9.

 

[BowserB]

Thanks again everyone. To generesser: You described exactly the cartridge cleaning procedure I use. I use a thing called filter flosser on the water hose. Has about a dozen tiny streams in an arc that converge about 3 inches out, so I can hold it close to get a bit of water in every pleat, or back away to have the full force of all streams. In practice I do both. After a thorough hosing, I flip the cartridge upside down and do it again. Before the hosing, I spray them all with Simple Green and let them stand for a few minutes.

As to the setting of the diverter, I line up one side of the handle with the center of a phillips head screw just below. That's my "10 o'clock" position and is fairly precisely repeatable. That position favors the spa side of 50/50, so in theory, more water, or at least more water pressure, is going to the spa. That's the setting I have used for five years, other than when using just the spa in cool weather.

Report from last evening and this morning. Clean filter. Pump program set to 1725rpm running 7:40am to 8:20pm. Diverter at 10 o'clock.
7:30pm last evening Pentair Home showing 25 gpm--1 gpm below normal. Slow trickle from the spa spillover. Pump shuts off at 8:20pm

This morning 8:30, pump has been on since 7:40. Well BLEEP! There is NO water spilling from the spa. The spillover is totally dry. Pentair home shows flow of 23gpm--3 gpm below normal. So...
* I moved the diverter to 100% pool (no spa). Now I'm getting 25-26 gpm (the display switching back and forth every few seconds). Of course, there is nothing spilling out of the spa, nor should there be.
* Next I moved the diverter to 100% spa (no pool). I see the rush of water through the window on top of the spa backflow preventer. Now I'm getting a flow of only 21 gpm. There are fewer returns in the spa than in the pool, so maybe this is normal, but I've never looked at the rate of flow with this setting before.
* After about 20-30 seconds, I moved the diverter back to 10 o'clock. Flow goes to 26 gpm (normal), and I see the expected water spillover from the spa. As of now (9:30am) spillover still looks "right" and Pentair Home still reports water flow is 26 gpm.

Guys, you've been smarter than I all the way so far. Where would you look now?

 

[Hootz]

Perhaps it has something to do with the bypass in your heater affected by high ambient temps.

 

[BowserB]

Perhaps it has something to do with the bypass in your heater affected by high ambient temps.

Thanks, Hootz. I have wondered that too, since we've never had the multiple days of 100+ that we're having this summer. And my equipment is on the west side of the house, so I moved a patio umbrella to shade it. It was shaded all afternoon yesterday. I don't have anything to say that made it cooler or not. Anyway, another consideration--and I'll test this again this afternoon--is that any time the flow to the spa has been reduced, just changing the diverter from 10 o'clock to full pool only then to spa only then back to 10 o'clock has restored normal flow...even in the hottest part of the day. Again, I'm going to test that this afternoon, as I'm not absolutely certain about it.