Pool-Spa question

I have an older (30 yrs) pool that has a main pool with a spa at one end that overflows into the main pool.The main pump has a drain and skimmers with returns into the main pool via the in-floor pop-up cleaner heads, and also one that goes into the spa. This keeps the waterfall going, and has a manual valve to control the flow into the spa.The spa has it own completely separate pump, filter and circulation system, with one drain, no skimmers, and multiple returns in the walls. It does not have a heater. Except for the timers, all of the settings and valves are manual, not automatic. We have lived here for 2-3 years.

I had a pool service until I dismissed them last year because the pool was always in bad shape, and I got fed up of wasting my money.

They always used the main pool system and never did run the separate spa system.

Now that I am trying to maintain the pool myself, I would like to know how often I should run the spa system itself. It seems to me that although the main system obviously works for the chlorination, it might not be doing enough for filtration. My water is in good shape right now, very clear, with good numbers for the various chemicals and conditions.

Thanks for any advice that can be offered.

Hi ebpool,

Thank you for the post! In my opinnion it is just a mater of making sure the water in the spa is getting filtered and chlorinated. It would seem that the spillover of the water from the spa into the pool would mean that eventually all of the spa water gets dumped over into the pool and then goes through the pool filter and chlorination process. The main issue would be if there is any water that is staying in the spa not getting dumped over into the pool thus not getting filtered or chlorinated, possibly the water at the bottom of the spa? If you want to be on the safe side it couldn’t hurt to run the spa filtration system for 30 - 60 minutes a day. I hope this helps, if you have any questions let us know.

Thank You

Patrick

www.inyopools.com

Thank you for the reply.

I was thinking this was the case, but wanted to be sure.

It was not clear to me why there was the extra expense of the entire spa filter and circulation system if it was not being used or needed. Maybe it is there for when there are people in the spa, since the ratio of water volume to people is much lower than the main pool.

Hi ebpool,

Normally the spa is set up so it can be dedicated to have all of the power of the pump going to spa jets without the pool, this can be done through a truly dedicated system like you have or through valving. The reason it is set up this way is so you can power the jets in the spa, they take a lot of water flow. Also when you run the spa it pulls water from the spa drain and returns through your spa jets, since this is closed loop when you have the spa running you do not have the water from the spa spilling into the pool. It is odd you would not have a heater in your spa as that is one of the main reasons for the spa, the closed loop is important when your heating the spa so the heater water does not spill out into the pool.

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That explains it, thank you!

I have wondered why there is no heater, perhaps they intended to install

one later, but never did. I think there have been one or more other owners

between the original owners who installed the entire pool and us.

Thanks ebpool,

If you decide to go with a heater down the road let us know and we would be happy to help you out.

Thank You

Patrick

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