#1) Separate the drain from the skimmer lines. When they meet at the pump, use a 2.5 inch line to go to the pump from the valve.

#2) Thats 3" total of spill. It will need a 10 GPM/minute/foot or 30 gallons per minute of flow to sheer cleanly. A single 12" will only need about 10 GPM and will give you the skimming effect for the spa you need, helps keep the chems more stable (spills will cause the alk level to drop and then the pH), and allows you to run the pump at a the slower speed you are looking for.

#3) Typically, in spa mode, the pump us sucking water from the spa and sending it right back. The pool is isolated at that point. In pool mode, both get heated but normally to a lower temp.

#4) I prefer to see the spa jets open slightly to allow freshly chlorinated water into the spa as opposed to a pool return in the spa. This typically gives you better control and simplifies the plumbing.

#5) The size of the pool is needed. As for which light(s) to use, IMHO, Pentair all the way down the line for equipment except for heat pumps. There, I prefer Aqua-Cal's offerings. Since you have a spa, a gas fired 400k Pentair MasterTemp is the ideal choice.

#6) The Pool Cleaner is very well received.

Scott

Thanks for the response.

The pool is built and I'm in the coping and tile phase so I can't make any changes at this point.

The two spills are 12" inside the spa and they open to 18' as they enter the pool. According to your formula does that mean I will need 20 GPM or still 30 GPM since thay open to 18"? Since I am stuck with this high GPM what does that mean as fas as pumps and proper circulation?

Will I not be able to run the 4x160 pump at it's lowest speed and still sheer cleanly? If not would I be able to run the pump at a hiher speed for a bit to clean the spa and then circulate only the pool at a slower speed for a longer time?

The pumps/circulation is all very confusing to me.

Im upset with myself because I originally only had one spill out of the spa, when the gunite crew was there they all said it would look better with two spills and so I went with that and did not research the consequences.

If I really messed up the plumbing/pumps by adding the extra spill I suppose I could have the coping pulled off and fill in one of the spills and redo the coping and tile?

I wanted to save on energy costs by using the 4x160, but maybe that is not going to happen now, so do I even want the 4x160?

I will probably use the spa nearly every day year round and want to be as energy efficient as possible

Running the pump at it's lowest speed would cause the spills to dribble.

For a clean sheer, expect 10 GPM per foot. That's 30 GPM. In order to reduce the volume, you might want to raise the sides of each spill slightly. \_____/ instead of :_______:. That would narrow the level pool side edge of the spills and reduce the GPMs. Not that the above example is done using just the keyboard characters and exaggerates what I mean.

Figure another 20 GPM for the pool returns.

The Intelliflo pump will still use less energy than any other pump, as far as I know. Be happy that your pool will still use less energy dollars than most.

I didn't see a chlorination system. How are you planning to add chlorine? Tablet feeders typically need more flow than salt cells. Salt cells usually want about 25 GPM to satisfy their flow switch and tablet feeders, depending on the unit, want about twice that so that enough water can wash over the tabs and be sent to the pool.

IMHO, don't get too hung up on the energy usage. Getting to the 80 to 90% performance curve of what's possible with of the shelf stuff is great. Getting to 98% costs 10X more.

Think of the enjoyment your new addition to the family will bring. It wants your family and friends to swim in it. Hanging with the significant other or chilling with your pals in the spa with a frosty cold drink!

A pool is an artificial life form. It has a heart, kidney, veins, arteries, needs to be fed and cleaned or it will get sick. It might take you an hour a week to see to it's needs for the hours and years of enjoyment it will provide. Its the new baby that won't need college or wedding paid for.

Scott

harrispool,
Your biggest impediment will be getting the amount of water you need for the 8 jets. Remember, your running the 4x160 at high speed and you are trying to force all that water thru the filter(120GPM capacity) and then thru the heater(probably 100GPM capacity) and then get spa jets to function properly. Hopefully you are using a jet that does not require a lot of GPM's. Jets vary from about 8 GPM to 20+ GPM flow rate.
Plumb your Salt system on the pool side of the 3 way valve.
Bypass is a pipe that allows water to flow to the spa under normal filtration. It will have a check valve(because your spa is raised) and some type of two way valve to adjust the flow and yes you will be heating thru the jets.
Hindsite being 20/20, it would have been a little more efficient to run a separate jet pump. It would have also been a little more expensive. Good luck.

The heater can take up to 120 GPM. I would recommend a bypass be installed to short circuit some of the flow.

Setting high speed to be less than 3450 rpm is easy to do.

Jet selection for the spa is as important as golfgeek suggests.

I would have liked to see a Quad-DE 80 installed for the added flow rate. 160 GPM vs 116 GPM is a substantial delta. 80 Square feet vs 56 sq feet yields longer periods before cleaning.

Scott

I only have the equipment spec'd on paper. Nothing is installed yet except the plumbing. All plumbing is stubbed up awaiting a concrete pad before the equipment is set. I can make changes to the equipment selection if needed.

I could specify low GPM jets from the pebble sub or I could buy them, any suggestions on the best jets?

I suppose I could get another pump for the jets as suggested by golfgeek, any suggestions on which one to get?

I could also upgrade to the Quad DE 80 as suggested, I have also considered cartridge?

I guess what I'm asking is that knowing I do not have the equipment installed yet but sticking with Pentair products what would you suggest to be the ultimate setup using the EasyTouch system? Remember I have a raised spa with two spill ways and pipe sizes as specified in my first post.

Thank you