"Sherlock Holmes" because I'm at my witt's end I am starting to believe a poltergeist might be at play. I sure hope the community can help me. First things first before I show my setup diagram.
Spa level drop timeframe:
1. Sometimes overnight.
2. Sometimes in a matter of hours.
3. Sometimes not for several days.
Spa drop amount:
1. Sometimes to top of Jets.
2. Sometimes mid jets.
3. Sometimes right below jets, which appears to be almost at pool level.
4. Never drops to cleaners (built into seating area), returns (lower than setting), or lower side or floor drain level.
Known defects:
1. My square check valve located prior to the tab chlorinator is bad, but based on the diagram and gate position, should not matter
2. My round check value #2 (RCV-2) is also known to be bad, but the manual gate is closed just above it (M2W-2) - more below
3. My #1 round check valve on the Spa jets line was recently replaced (first assumed culprit)
Misc:
1. Pool level INCREASES in proportion to Spa drop (thank GOD! Thus not a leak outside of the system).
2. I have ensure positionally all gates are at 90 degree angles, so should be open/closed as desired, notwithstanding possibility of bad gates.
Here's a diagram of my pump setup which I created to illustrate:
What I have tried so far (see colored stars in second diagram below)
1. I replaced the check valve RCV-1 (green star). What I had not considered was that when the pool was off, the automatic diverter A3W-2 (purple star) was in the OFF position facing the Spa Jets, so even if RCV-1 was busted, back flow should have stopped at the diverter valve - UNLESS that valve gate is also leaking (keep reading).
2. After it kept draining, I next assumed that the gate on the automatic diverter valve A3W-1 (red star) for the Spa drain/suction must have gone bad, and since the manual valve M3W-1 is open by default, it could lead to the spa draining into the pool. To test that theory I closed off the manual diverter valve M3W-1 (pink star). Note: The small black triangle shows the default OFF position of manual valves. Gray triangle for automatic valves. I did not illustrate the positions of each test.
This didn't fix it.
At this point I'm getting desperate. If A3W-1 (red star) has a bad gate, could water be directed all the way through the pump (which is off), the cartridge filter, heater, through A3W-2 (purble), and down M2W-1 (orange) through the pool return?
OR, could water be coming up the spa return, through check valve (RCV-2) which is known to be bad, and make its way through the OFF gate of (M2W-2, aqua star), meaning a bad gate, and flowing back into the pool return via M2W-1 (orange star)?
3. To test both/either of these theories, I shut off the 2-way valve (M2W-1, orange star), AND for giggles, kept M3W-1 (pink star) off as well. Technically, there is NO path into the pool except via the Skimmers.
Levels still dropped! Interesting, it refused to drop when I spent an hour in the hot tub watching minute particles to see where water might be siphoning from. But the next morning it was back down again!
At this point I'm at a loss. Do I have multiple bad gates? At $50 each it's expensive to trial and error each one. Could the cleaner valves in the hot tub lose their seal and be forcing water into the pool via the cleaner closed loop?
What am I missing? What else should I try?
Any help would be much appreciated! I can also provide pics if the above diagrams don't help.
Spa level drop timeframe:
1. Sometimes overnight.
2. Sometimes in a matter of hours.
3. Sometimes not for several days.
Spa drop amount:
1. Sometimes to top of Jets.
2. Sometimes mid jets.
3. Sometimes right below jets, which appears to be almost at pool level.
4. Never drops to cleaners (built into seating area), returns (lower than setting), or lower side or floor drain level.
Known defects:
1. My square check valve located prior to the tab chlorinator is bad, but based on the diagram and gate position, should not matter
2. My round check value #2 (RCV-2) is also known to be bad, but the manual gate is closed just above it (M2W-2) - more below
3. My #1 round check valve on the Spa jets line was recently replaced (first assumed culprit)
Misc:
1. Pool level INCREASES in proportion to Spa drop (thank GOD! Thus not a leak outside of the system).
2. I have ensure positionally all gates are at 90 degree angles, so should be open/closed as desired, notwithstanding possibility of bad gates.
Here's a diagram of my pump setup which I created to illustrate:
What I have tried so far (see colored stars in second diagram below)
1. I replaced the check valve RCV-1 (green star). What I had not considered was that when the pool was off, the automatic diverter A3W-2 (purple star) was in the OFF position facing the Spa Jets, so even if RCV-1 was busted, back flow should have stopped at the diverter valve - UNLESS that valve gate is also leaking (keep reading).
2. After it kept draining, I next assumed that the gate on the automatic diverter valve A3W-1 (red star) for the Spa drain/suction must have gone bad, and since the manual valve M3W-1 is open by default, it could lead to the spa draining into the pool. To test that theory I closed off the manual diverter valve M3W-1 (pink star). Note: The small black triangle shows the default OFF position of manual valves. Gray triangle for automatic valves. I did not illustrate the positions of each test.
This didn't fix it.
At this point I'm getting desperate. If A3W-1 (red star) has a bad gate, could water be directed all the way through the pump (which is off), the cartridge filter, heater, through A3W-2 (purble), and down M2W-1 (orange) through the pool return?
OR, could water be coming up the spa return, through check valve (RCV-2) which is known to be bad, and make its way through the OFF gate of (M2W-2, aqua star), meaning a bad gate, and flowing back into the pool return via M2W-1 (orange star)?
3. To test both/either of these theories, I shut off the 2-way valve (M2W-1, orange star), AND for giggles, kept M3W-1 (pink star) off as well. Technically, there is NO path into the pool except via the Skimmers.
Levels still dropped! Interesting, it refused to drop when I spent an hour in the hot tub watching minute particles to see where water might be siphoning from. But the next morning it was back down again!
At this point I'm at a loss. Do I have multiple bad gates? At $50 each it's expensive to trial and error each one. Could the cleaner valves in the hot tub lose their seal and be forcing water into the pool via the cleaner closed loop?
What am I missing? What else should I try?
Any help would be much appreciated! I can also provide pics if the above diagrams don't help.