Unable to Turn off Spa Waterfall to Heat

[FloridaMan]

Hello. I had a heat pump installed. My system runs off of one pump. In normal operation, the spillover from the spa is always running. I can't for the life of me figure out how to turn off the waterfall so that I can independently heat the spa.

My issues:

1. I can obviously turn off the spa return and stop the waterfall. However, I cannot heat the spa then.
2. I can turn off the pool return and the aeration increases and the spillover increases.
3. If I turn the spa lever on the right, it's the bubbles. The waterfall continues and aeration pressure increases in the spa but the pool aeration seems to stop.
4. If I turn the spa lever on the left, I believe its the spa main drain. The waterfall stops of course the water level continues to go down. I haven't just let it sit but I'm assuming the spa will drain into the pool?

This all leads me to believe, unfortunately, that I can only heat my spa with the spillover running. Is that correct? Why would someone build something that way? What options do I have to fix it?

 

[mas985]

Welcome to the forum!

The picture is showing the spa is off. Turn both handles 180 degrees. The handle always goes in the direction of desired flow. Both 3 & 4. You want to draw from the main drain and return through the jets.

With the handles in the correct position, you should be able to heat just the spa.

 

[FloridaMan]

Welcome to the forum!

The picture is showing the spa is off. Turn both handles 180 degrees. The handle always goes in the direction of desired flow. Both 3 & 4. You want to draw from the main drain and return through the jets.

With the handles in the correct position, you should be able to heat just the spa.

Thanks for the welcome! I feel like we are getting somewhere. I did what you said which I thought might be correct and turned bath spa handles 180 (first image). The spa bubbles came on and the spillover did stop. The aerators to the pool also went off as well as the normal single aerator in my spa (there is one aerator that usually runs and four more that go on for the spa bubbles).

1. Do I need to even mess with the pool and spa return knobs, or is this enough?
2. Do I have to heat the spa with the bubbles on? That seems odd to me.
3. If I only turn the left one 180 degrees (second picture) does this drain my spa without the other on turned?

I'm sure these are dumb questions but this has me baffled.

 

[mas985]

1. That should be all you need to do.
2. Yes, that is typical for many pools.
3. Correct.

 

[FloridaMan]

1. That should be all you need to do.
2. Yes, that is typical for many pools.
3. Correct.

Thanks so much for clearing this up. It's appreciated. Can you cover (without hurting anything), or does covering the air intake help with heating more efficiently?

 

[mas985]

Thanks so much for clearing this up. It's appreciated. Can you cover (without hurting anything), or does covering the air intake help with heating more efficiently?

Are you talking about the spa jet air intake? What do mean by covering it? I did not see it in any of the pictures.

 

[FloridaMan]

Are you talking about the spa jet air intake? What do mean by covering it? I did not see it in any of the pictures.

Apologies as it's not in the picture. On the outside of our spa is an air intake tube. When you turn the spa on it sucks air into the spa returns, makes a ton of noise. My thought was that this additional air being pulled would tax the heater and make heating less efficient and quick. That is what I meant by capping the air intake.

 

[mas985]

Yes you can cap the air inlet but of course the bubbles will stop. This will help a little bit in efficiency but I don't expect it will be that noticeable. But you can try it both ways to see how much of a difference it might make. However, given the location, it doesn't look like it will be that easy to cover and uncover at will.

 

[FloridaMan]

Yes you can cap the air inlet but of course the bubbles will stop. This will help a little bit in efficiency but I don't expect it will be that noticeable. But you can try it both ways to see how much of a difference it might make. However, given the location, it doesn't look like it will be that easy to cover and uncover at will.

Thanks so much.