Hot tub water evaporation in spa mode

[poolman112]

I have a pool/spa with jandy iaqualink and jandy valves. When in spa mode, the pool suction is fully closed and the spa suction is fully opened.

However, over time, due to evaporation , bubbling, and people entering or leaving the pool...the water level in the spa drops a bit.

Ideally the hot tub would remain full while in use. The only way I can have that happen now is to turn off spa mode which turns off the heat pump, activate spillover mode for a bit, and then turn the heat pump and spa mode back on. Takes forever and is cumbersome.

Is a better solution to set the valve for the pool suction from off to a couple clicks open while in spa mode so it pulls in pool water to keep it topped off?

 

[Jimrahbe]

112,

How long do you run in just the spa mode??? For the water level to drop where you would notice it, I suspect it would have to be many hours...

If it drops in an hour or so, then I would suspect that your Return valve is leaking, so that a little water is actually going back to the pool instead of the spa. Since spas are small, it would not take much of a leak before you'd notice..

I suggest that you run the spa mode, without the heater or people, for several hours and see if you still see the drop.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[poolman112]

112,

How long do you run in just the spa mode??? For the water level to drop where you would notice it, I suspect it would have to be many hours...

If it drops in an hour or so, then I would suspect that your Return valve is leaking, so that a little water is actually going back to the pool instead of the spa. Since spas are small, it would not take much of a leak before you'd notice..

I suggest that you run the spa mode, without the heater or people, for several hours and see if you still see the drop.

Thanks,

Jim R.

It takes about 2 hours to heat it to 104 and yeah then its running for a few hours before level dropping. And yeah when people enter it, the water gets pushed out. The spa mode with no heat or people results in not much loss of water.

 

[JJ_Tex]

Do you have the ability to control your pool via your phone?

My spa will do that when people leave. If I'm staying in the spa after the rest of the family leaves, I will just grab my phone and switch it to pool mode for a few minutes to refill the spa, then back to spa mode. In those few minutes I may lose 3-4 degrees, but its not enough to make me leave the spa and I'm back up to temp in a few minutes of spa mode. I certainly would not see that as too time consuming or cumbersome, unless you have to leave and do all of that at your equipment pad.

 

[Jimrahbe]

112,

Sounds to me like normal operation...

I'm exaggerating , but if 10 people get in the spa, all the water they displace goes over the spillway.. Once that happens there is no automatic way to get that lost water back... You have to either put it in the pool mode, like JJ mentions above, or use a hose.

They do make hose-end pool level systems.. You might be able to add that to your spa and then it would auto fill..

Like this... Amazon.com

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ajw22]

. You have to either put it in the pool mode,

POOL mode or SPILLOVER mode?

To top off the spa you can put the spa in SPILLOVER mode which will route pool water to the spa and then turn SPILLOVER off and SPA mode back on when the spa fills and before the hot spa water actually begins spilling over.

You will lose a small amount of temperature in the spa water that way and the heater can turn on once back in SPA mode to get the spa back to desired temperature..

 

[poolman112]

The issue is that spillover is disabled while in spa mode. So I have to go through the process of turning spa mode off, which turns off heater, change to spillover, then redo everything

 

[poolman112]

Maybe a smart jva board on the spa return valve is the way to do it

 

[ajw22]

Maybe a smart jva board on the spa return valve is the way to do it

I don’t think the Aqualink will allow any independent control of the return actuator other then POOL/SPA/SPILLOVER modes.

All the automation systems have their annoyances about how they work.