Spillway Circuit Not Activating in Freeze Mode

[jdolotina]

Hello,

I have a Pentair ET 8 with the Intelliflow VSF and that feeds our pool and raised spa. Just like others, putting the spa and pool circuits on freeze protect causes a slow draining of the spa. For the most part this isn't problem, but I have a prolonged freeze in North Louisiana coming up here at the end of the week, and this solution will eventually drain the spa out completely. I do utilize the spillway circuit on my pool and during the last freeze, I tested the ability to set the spillway circuit on freeze protect and the spillway did not function at all every 15 minutes. I made sure the spa protection was turned off while the spillway circuit freeze was enabled. As such, the pool just stays in pool mode and the spa just sits there stagnant during the entire freeze event. So what gives? Does the freeze protect not really work for the spillway circuit or do I have a setting that is not correct?

I have tried to search the forums for this issue, but coming up empty handed on a definitive answer on whether the spillway circuit works with freeze protection enabled. Thanks for the help!

 

[Jimrahbe]

J,

Only the Pool and Spa Circuits will cycle every 15 minutes. Anything else you set to "on with freeze" should come on and stay on.

I have a light that comes on with freeze and it just stay on.

It is possible that Pentair does not allow the "Spillway Mode" to work in freeze conditions, but I have not seen that noted anywhere.

Would setting the system to run 24/7, with most of the return water going to the pool and a little water going to your spillway work for you?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[jdolotina]

The more I keep reading other threads, the more it seems like that's the best option. Enable freeze protect for the pool. Disable freeze protect for the spa and spillway circuits and manually crack the valves open enough to allow water to circulate in both bodies of water with an emphasis on having more water flowing in the spa to create the spillover effect. Then once I get thru the deep freeze, I set it back. Sort of a pain, but I guess that's my option since the spillway circuit doesn't appear to operate in freeze mode in conjunction with the pool freeze mode.

I also have a separate pump running the waterfall and bubbler we have and it enables with the freeze protect. The only difference is the waterfall runs on a physical circuit and the circuit function is "generic" in SLConfig and the spillway circuit is listed as a feature circuit and the function is set to "spillway". Maybe I need to move the spillway circuit to a physical circuit instead of a feature circuit? I don't think I have tried that yet. Maybe that might fix it?

 

[Jimrahbe]

I also have a separate pump running the waterfall and bubbler we have and it enables with the freeze protect. The only difference is the waterfall runs on a physical circuit and the circuit function is "generic" in SLConfig and the spillway circuit is listed as a feature circuit and the function is set to "spillway". Maybe I need to move the spillway circuit to a physical circuit instead of a feature circuit? I don't think I have tried that yet. Maybe that might fix it?

J,

The only difference between an Aux Circuit and Feature Circuit is that the Feature Circuit has no relay. Otherwise, they are the same.

Changing the Spillway Circuit to an Aux Circuit will just waste a relay, nothing will change in its operation.

The Spillway mode will not work unless the Circuit Function is set to "Spillway".

Thanks,

Jim R.