Valve position for spa with spillover

[dm1201]

I bought a house in Dec 2020. Never had a pool before. There is a raised spa, about 6" higher than the pool, with a spillover/waterfall effect. The spillover is set up in the control panel to turn on and run when the pool filter is running.

I noticed a little while back that a) the spillover was very weak, and b) the spa level was dropping when the pool filter was shut off. After reading online, I replaced the check valve flapper in the spa return, even though the old one looked to be in pretty good shape. This didn't improve the situation.

The only solution I found for both a) and b) above was to close the pool return. The attached pic is how the valves now look in pool mode.

My question is, is it bad to have the pool return closed? Also do these valve positions look generally correct? I have noticed that the spa is getting more dirty than the pool, and I'm wondering if having the pool return closed is the cause.

Thank you for any advice you can provide, and apologies for asking anything too obvious.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!
As you have the valving shown all returns are going to the spa. That will create a much more vigorous spillover which will push the pH of the pool water up. Also, your skimming of the pool surface is effected.
The check valve should prevent the spa from draining. Unless the automated valve is not completely closing off the Spa Jets line when in Pool mode.
What automation do you have?
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

 

[Jimrahbe]

dm,

Not having the pool return on means that you will not get much circulation in the pool itself..

I suspect that your problem is that your filter is very dirty.. When this happens the flow decrease and the first thing that you will notice is that the spillover spa slows down to a dribble.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[dm1201]

Welcome to the forum!
As you have the valving shown all returns are going to the spa. That will create a much more vigorous spillover which will push the pH of the pool water up. Also, your skimming of the pool surface is effected.
The check valve should prevent the spa from draining. Unless the automated valve is not completely closing off the Spa Jets line when in Pool mode.
What automation do you have?
I suggest you read ABC's of Pool Water Chemistry.

Hi, thanks for your response. I have a Hayward Goldline Pro Logic Controller which controls the two Hayward actuators in the previously attached pic, moving them 180 degrees when I select pool or spa mode. Maybe this is a basic question, but assuming the system were working correctly, what should be the position of these valves in pool and spa mode?

 

[dm1201]

dm,

Not having the pool return on means that you will not get much circulation in the pool itself..

I suspect that your problem is that your filter is very dirty.. When this happens the flow decrease and the first thing that you will notice is that the spillover spa slows down to a dribble.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Thanks Jim, that's interesting. I will look into this. Due to my lack of knowledge about pools (and not wanting to mess up a pool that seemed to be in good shape) I had hired a local company to clean the pool but I'm not sure how regularly they are cleaning the filter. I will research how to do this. I'm definitely leaning toward just handling the cleaning/chemicals myself at some point.

 

[mknauss]

As your system is set up, you should have the manual Jandy valve selected so some of your return is the spa but most to the pool when in Pool Mode. When you switch to Spa Mode, the return actuator blocks off that side of the return and all flow is to the spa jets.

With your automation, you could schedule what is called a Spillover function and thus you would turn the manual valve to full Pool return. Then when the Spillover function is scheduled (for 30 minutes or so twice each day, or as necessary to keep the spa chlorinated), the actuated valve on the return side would open the Spa Jets. Thus all flow would go to the spa. Then when that schedule is completed, the valve would return to full Pool return.

See Hayward ProLogic - Further Reading

 

[dm1201]

Thanks you. I have a spillover function scheduled while the pool filter is running, basically 9 am to 5 pm. But when the pool return is open at all, the spillover is weak, and then the spa level drops overnight (after the filter and spillover shut off). The pool cleaner advised replacing the check valve along with the black housing it sits in. I recently replaced just the flapper. My question is, is there any chance (more than a shot in the dark) that replacing the check valve housing (along with the actual flapper again) would fix this?

 

[mknauss]

Change the spillover function to only run a couple times per day for 30 minutes or so. That way, when the pump turns off, the system will be in pool mode and the actuated valve will be shut off towards the spa. Shut the manual valve that goes to the spa that is on the pool side of the actuated valve (and has the check valve). The spa will not drain down then.