Heating the Spa and not the pool

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Sharkygirl

Sharkygirl

0
Gold Supporter
Oct 26, 2014
206
Sarasota, FL
Pool Size
18000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I have an integrated pool/spa. Is there a way to heat only the spa to a minimum temp without having to do it for the pool as well? I have a heat pump and a gas heater. The temps here haven't been great for swimming, but they are fantastic for hot tubbing. Last night I thought I would heat the hot tub with the gas heater. The water temp was 63 degrees. 2.5 hours later it only heated it to 83 degrees. This is the very first time I have ever tried to use the gas heater. Our pool is newish, (6 months old) but because our house wasn't finished we haven't been able to use the pool or spa at all. We have been here now for a little over 2 months. The temps during the day are 70's to 80's, but it's been getting rather chilly at night. I would love to simply maintain the spa water at 80 degrees all the time and then bump it up to 101 when we want to use the spa, but is this possible to do with the spa only? Without having to maintain the entire pool to 80.
 
When you initiate Spa Mode, your system should only circulate and heat the spa.

You will not be able to maintain a different water temperature for the spa water during normal operations. It is mixed with the pool system when you are doing your normal circulation.
 
So there isn't a cost effective way to use my spa then :(. Am I going to have to keep the entire body of water heated to 80 degrees then? It seems like there must be a better way. My first pool was in the keys. I had a separate pool and a separate hot tub. It was great for me. I kept the pool heated all the time except when the temps dipped below 70- then I didn't want to swim anyway. But I did keep the spa at 80 so that it wouldn't take too long to heat it. I had a heat pump and it took a little over an hour. So now we live in Sarasota and the pool builder and friends talked me into doing an integrated spa. I've never even tried to heat our pool yet because it's been too cold to swim. We opted for a heat pump and a gas heater. I was hoping we could just use the spa now in the winter. What do other people do here in Sarasota FL!?
 
Your 400k heater should heat the spa pretty rapidly. You just heat it to your set temp every time you wish to use it.

Was the gas heater running when it took 2.5 hours to increase the temperature 20 degrees?
 
Yes! It's a brand new gas heater too. It was just installed on Saturday. The first one was a lemon. We went to start it up and thought we would blow up the house. It made a loud booming growl that one could hear a block away. Needless to say it didn't run for more than 30 sec because we turned it off. Then the second attempt was by my contractor. Again, he turned it off and shut off the gas and the breaker. Had a Pentair tech come to inspect and it would not even turn on for him. So they sent me a new one as the first one was a lemon. I thought the gas heater would be able to handle it, but I can't be heating my spa for hours on end every day, it will cost me a fortune! There has to be a better way.
 
If the heater is 400K, and ran for 2.5 hours, and raised the water temperature only 20 deg, then your spa volume is 5400 gallons. I doubt that is true. Something is not working correctly.
 
I'm so disappointed in my setup. I should have put in a separate spa with it's own equipment- except having said that I wouldn't have had the room for all that equipment. I don't understand the equipment side of things. I question if the autofill float is set up properly. I've been trying to get our pool builder here to assess things, but it's like pulling teeth. I'm so frustrated right now I could scream. I just want to be able to enjoy my hot tub and pool and it's looking like it's just going to be a water feature to look at. It was built 6 months ago, we haven't been able to move into our home until 2 months ago and we still haven't been able to use the hot tub or pool. What is normal? Do people not heat their pools this time of year at all? The heat pump would have to run 24/7 and probably would never be able to get the whole pool up to 85 degrees without the help of the gas heater. Do people just bite the bullet for a couple weeks when they have company visiting. The water temp has been in the 60's. I haven't even tried to heat the water because the air temps drop into the 50-60's at night. I just want to know what is normal and what is expected.
 
mknauss said:
If the heater is 400K, and ran for 2.5 hours, and raised the water temperature only 20 deg, then your spa volume is 5400 gallons. I doubt that is true. Something is not working correctly.
Click to expand...
Well, that could be right. It is a pie shaped spa and it's 10X10 x the curve between the two sides
 
That is not 5400 gallons. Might be a 1000 gallons, though I suspect that is high.
 
Sharkygirl said:
So now we live in Sarasota and the pool builder and friends talked me into doing an integrated spa.
Click to expand...

That design is a mistake the way you like to use your spa.

You can tell your builder and friends about the misguided advice they gave you.
 

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The whole pool is 16,300 gal including the spa. The spa has seating on 3 sides though, which that takes up volume. There is rougly 3.5 feet deep in the center and 20" depth from the seat to the waterline.
 
Show us pictures of your pool and spa design so we can see your situation.
 
I was wondering about that. The water is just over the spa edge. It is supposed be a little bit below the wall when in spa mode. We turned off the autofill to let the water dip below. I have been thinking there must be another line where water comes in because we had it off for 2 weeks and the water level barely moved. My husband said that he felt the water that was going into the spa and he said it didn't feel very hot, just maybe warm. So perhaps a valve isn't shutting all the way?
 
When you are in Pool Mode, does the spa spillover? How is that done? Take a picture of your equipment pad in Pool Mode. Then in Spa Mode. Concentrate on the return valves.
 
That spa design does not sufficiently isolate and insulate the spa from the pool.

I hate to be negative, but you have a fundamental design problem.
 
When I am in Spa Mode, the water is right at the wall. The pool water is about an inch below the spa. I'll post the videos. As far as the equipment, the valves are automated.
 

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