Spa jet issues, new install

[afkemp01]

Last October we had a small in ground pool and spa installed. They are both from fiberglass shells from Latham, the Milan and the Royal. The plumbing of the two pools are completely separated, each have their own pump, heater, filter, etc.

Our issue is with the Royal. Its roughly 10’ square, has 1 skimmer, 2 bottom drains, a 2 HP blower, and 8 jets, 6 on an upper level, and 2 on a lower level. Before the spa was put in the ground, you could see there were two pairs of tubes that encircled the jets, one pair for the upper six jets, one pair for the lower two jets. I’m assuming one of the tubes in each pair was for air, and the other for water. At each jet the pair had a fixture over them that connected the pair of tubes to a jet.

Ever since they turned the pump for the spa on in April, water only comes out of the bottom 2 jets, and nothing comes out of the upper 6 jets. When the blower is turned on, air only comes out of the upper 6 jets, and it just rises straight to the top, it does not mix with water to create a jet. If I turn the pump off and turn the blower on, again, air only goes to those top 6 jets.

The people whose company installed this are at a loss as to what is happening. Although they are from the same company, the people who have come to look at it are not the same people who installed it. They themselves have admitted they don’t do spas very often.

This is a new install, and I have a sneaking suspicion that they plumbed the pool wrong, perhaps connecting only air to the top pair of tubes, and only water to the bottom pair. I hope I am wrong, but I’m not sure what else it could be. Latham was no help as they said they only make the shells, they don’t install the jets…

Let me know if anyone has any idea about what could be going on here and what else I could do next to trouble shoot.

Thanks!

 

[mas985]

Welcome to the forum!

Often times in builds, the water lines get some debris and can clog the jet nozzles. One thing to try is to remove all of the spa jet fittings and flush the lines. This includes both the exterior fitting as well as the interior nozzle:

 

[afkemp01]

Welcome to the forum!

Often times in builds, the water lines get some debris and can clog the jet nozzles. One thing to try is to remove all of the spa jet fittings and flush the lines. This includes both the exterior fitting as well as the interior nozzle:

So I emptied the spa and air only comes out of the vents in the upper 6 jet bodies. I figured out that these pieces are called gunite jet bodies, I think?

When I called the installer they said that how they installed it is how it’s supposed to be, with only air going to the top 6 jets and only water going to the bottom 2 jets, instead of pushing water and air to all 8 jets…

I found a video talking about gunite jet bodies and the Venturi effect, and another video showing a properly installed and functioning spa the same model as mine, and it doesn’t look anything like how mine is currently functioning.

Am I crazy? Are both pairs of tubes supposed to get air and water, not either/or? I’m hoping to have to avoid resorting to legal avenues of getting this done if they continue to claim how they installed it is how it’s supposed to be done.

There is also no Hartford loop that I can see or check valve, they just installed the blower on a PVC pipe that is high off of the ground. Is this going to cause me problems down the line as well?

 

[mas985]

It looks like the image I posted before is broken. The spa jets are generally plumbed like this:

The air line goes into one port (top), the water line into the other (back).

As for the Hartford loop, you can get away without one IF the air lines are not too deep nor too long OR you have blower.