Spa Mode Won't Stop Overflow To Pool

[LearningAsIGo]

I've had one season experience with an approx. 5 year old pool at a house I purchased last spring. Pool was in pretty bad shape and I've had to change out a lot of parts on my own. The design is one where the spa is built just on top of the deck level of the pool and has a waterfall overflow the flows back into the pool under normal operation (i.e. Pool Mode). Everything had finally been working just great until last week.

Now, when the system is put into Spa Mode, the Jandy actuator rotates to the proper position but it no longer causes the water to recirculate only to the spa. i.e. it continues to overflow into the pool.

Any suggestions on what to check? I'm pretty capable of performing most repairs if I just know what I'm looking for.

Thanks very much for any guidance.

[txpoolguy]

There are two actuators - one on the valve on the inlet side of the pump, and one on the valve on the return side plumbing , after the heater. If water keeps overflowing into the pool, it is likely that the actuator on the inlet side of the pump is not rotating to "spa mode" and is still drawing water from the pool, rather than drawing water from the spa as it should.

Somewhere on the back or bottom of this actuator, there is a small 3-position switch. The center position is "OFF", and the other two positions will allow you to manually rotate the actuator to either spa mode or pool mode.

Put your Jandy control system into spa mode, then use the actuator switch to manually move the actuator to spa mode. If it does not rotate in either of the two positions, there may be a failure in the actuator. If it does rotate properly, leave the switch in the position that turned it to spa mode. Then, use your main Jandy to go back to pool mode, making sure that both actuators rotate properly.

[LearningAsIGo]

You sir are very astutue and clearly know your pools. I only wish that I would have checked the posts yesterday afternoon. It would have saved me some headache (see below). I actually sort of figured that out on my own before seeing your reply. I noticed the other actuator and the switch that indeed was in the OFF position.

I had replaced my old DE filter with a sand filter about two weeks ago. I must have inadvertantly hit that switch when doing so. I reset it and everthing works like a champ.

The issue I now have is that, before noticing the other valve/switch issue, I had removed the post-filter actuator and valve top to see if there was a problem with it. It, of course was fine and I replaced everthing but I have been unable to get a really complete seal on the valve now. It's not a large leak.....really just a pinprick size. I can still run everything fine but I do need to fix it at some point.

I think that the issue might be that when I removed the top, water continued flowing out of the top of the valve (pump was off). I'm wondering if the water pressure pushing upwards when trying to seat the valve top down is preventing it from getting a completely good seal. I let the water flow out for a little bit thinking that it might just be draining out of the piping between the filter and the valve but it really never slowed down.

Do you have any suggestion on how to stop the water from flowing out so that I can get a good seat? I tried different multiport settings but that didn't seem to have any effect. I pulled it off and reseated it 3 times but had the same issue each time. BTW.... there was no gasket or anything between the two halves, which surprised me. Just the two hard plastic surfaces. Is there supposed to be a gasket of some sort?

Thanks again for the post as you definitely know what you're talking about!

[txpoolguy]

There should be a thin o-ring between the valve cover and the valve body. There are also o-rings around the valve diverter shaft where it passes up thru the valve top. It's almost impossible to get a good seal without the o-rings. You can purchase an o-ring kit (I assume the valves are Jandy also) which will have the valve cover o-ring and a couple of diverter shaft o-rings. You might also look carefully on the ground below the valve to see if the o-ring fell off unnoticed. The gentle water flow should not prevent the parts from seating as long as the o-rings are present. You should also moisten the o-rings occasionally (twice yearly or as needed)with a silicone based lubricant to extend their life.

[LearningAsIGo]

There should be a thin o-ring between the valve cover and the valve body. There are also o-rings around the valve diverter shaft where it passes up thru the valve top. It's almost impossible to get a good seal without the o-rings. You can purchase an o-ring kit (I assume the valves are Jandy also) which will have the valve cover o-ring and a couple of diverter shaft o-rings. You might also look carefully on the ground below the valve to see if the o-ring fell off unnoticed. The gentle water flow should not prevent the parts from seating as long as the o-rings are present. You should also moisten the o-rings occasionally (twice yearly or as needed)with a silicone based lubricant to extend their life.

No doubt that is the problem then. Thanks many times over, TxPool. Hopefully I can return the favor to someone else on this board at some point. Off to the pool supply house I go.

[LearningAsIGo]

TxPoolGuy - You were right on. The old o-ring had shrunk in size so that it was actually on the interior of the valve and not in between the two halves...it was wedged around the perimeter which is why I hadn't noticed it. Replaced with a new one, a little MagicLube and no more leak.

[txpoolguy]

Good job! Now you'll have to change your screen name to "ComingAlongPrettyWell".

[Denz]

Previously my jandy spa normally overflow into the pool and you can see activity with the water pumping but now since that pool guy came and touch it, all of that stops. How do I fix this?

[RDspaguy]

You have posted a new topic to an 11 year dead thread with multiple responses. No one will notice it is new. If you want help, start your own thread and people will respond.