Our setup is a little different, and I would guess more typical than the one arielitas_mom described (although her setup sounds much better).

Our pool uses the same pump for the spa and the pool, and you just switch it using a set of valves. The main downside to this is that the spa doesn't get nearly as much circulation as the pool, so the chlorine levels are usually lower. Our spa is the first place algae breaks out when we have a problem. To combat this, we use those floats that hold the chlorine tablets to give a little more chlorine to the spa. The advantage of having 1 pump is - having just one pump to maintain, replace when it wears out, suck up electricity, etc.

Likewise, our heater is set to heat the spa or pool - whichever you happen to have the valves set for (i.e. it's dumb). I've seen the newer heaters that let you have 2 setpoints for spa or pool, which must be what the previous poster has. They look nice, but in our case at least it's not needed because we live in a very warm climate (Texas), so the only time we need the heater is for the spa. We tried heating the pool once so we could swim a little earlier in the season, but it costs too much $$$ to do it a lot.

i think the detached hot tubs will give you better therapy,comfort, options,etc. than an integrated spa. but in my opinion the detached spas look like crap compared to an integrated spa. if you go with an integrated spa just make sure you get a builder who knows how to plumb a spa. there are plenty of threads on this forum regarding spa plumbing. i finally decided to use a seperate/dedicated booster pump for the spa jets. i am in florida so most people just use their heat pumps for the spa but it certainly can be used in jan/feb to extend the season.

You can do either way. You can heat both as one body of water and they circulate together. This is what you see when the spa is spilling over. Or, you can heat the spa alone to spa temp, in which case you have bubbles and no spillover happening. Your equipment will have controls that allow you to do both. I'm not sure that both can be heated to two separate temps at the same time, though. It's both to one temp as one body of water, or the spa only (or, you could do the pool only).

In pool mode, my pool and spa act as one. I have one pump. I have 6 return jets in the spa and 4 in the pool. The spa spills over 360 degrees into the pool. If I turn the heat on to the pool, it heats the water to all 10 returns, so the spa and pool are the same temperature.

If we chose to use the spa, valves are turned (ours in controlled by our Jandy Aqualink) by just pushing a button. The water then just circulates in the spa. If the heat is on to the spa, the spa only will heat up, and the 6 spa returns are all that work. If we want bubbles we push the blower button.

When we're done with the spa, we put it back in pool mode and the spa spills over into the pool and they become one temperature again.

With our heat pump it gets expensive to heat the pool in the winter, but we did it on school holiday weeks. We use the spa by itself a lot in the winter, you just have to plan a little ahead. With the Jandy, you could set it to heat and be ready for you on your Aqualink!

We went through wondering if we should get a pool and a separate spa and we decided on the attached. We're glad we did. It's one thing to take care of and looks good to boot. The only thing that I wished that I had pushed for was calf jets. The guy that I talked to from our pool builder said that they didn't do it and that I didn't need them. I need them. LOL

Good luck!

Mikester,

The amount of return water to your spa in pool mode should be adjustable. At least ours is. There's a diverter valve which either sends the return water to the spa, or to the pool. The valve has a stop to control the lower limit to the spa. It should be a small matter to change the stop setting so that you can divert more of the return flow into your spa when in pool mode. You should be able to get as much as you want. If there's no stop, you should be able to accomplish the same thing by setting the valve by hand and remembering the setting each time.

Regards,
John

We have our spa integrated into a rectangular pool. When the spa is off it normally overflows into the pool. When the spa is turned on, it stops overflowing and is isolated so that it circulates directly through the heater. It heats up in no time, and no water is being exchanged with the pool.

We have two hot water return jets in the spa as well as eight "spa" jets for a total of 10 jets in the spa. The eight spa jets are tied into a separate 2HP pump with the air injector for the bubbles. It sounds like there are a variety of ways to implement the plumbing, but we're pretty happy with the way ours was done.

BTW, we also have an automatic pool cover. The cover rolls from the deep end and the spa is on the shallow end. So we can roll back the cover to expose only the spa end which is pretty neat.

regards,
John

If your spa is built in alongside the pool, how to do fix any leaks that can occur in the spa section? We have a stand along spatub and on occasion a jet has leaked and we have had to access the underside to fix it. How does one do it if it is all sealed in concrete?

The jets unscrew from the front for servicing. It's not likely that pipes encased in concrete would ever need servicing. However, if they did, it would probably wouldn't be pretty.

We plumbed our spa separately from our pool; it is essentially a miniature pool, with its own pump, filter, and gas heater. We have a waterfall that looks like it is coming from the spa, but it is actually piped from the pool. The advantage of doing it this way is that the spa heats up nice and hot in about 15 minutes; no advance planning required when we want a hot spa. Disadvantage is expense, plus we have to balance the spa water separately. We only run the spa filter 2-3 hours per day, using a computer control. If I were doing it again, I might ask for a 2-speed pump for the spa.

Morton5, I'm afraid I don't see the advantage of the separate spa system. On my pool, I press a button on my remote, and the heater output is directed entirely to the spa. The spa has a set of drains which are also enabled at the same time, so the spa water is isolated from the pool. It too heats up in 15 minutes, no advance planning required. When we turn the spa off, the system goes back into pool mode which merges the warm spa water into the pool so that no energy is lost. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't see any advantages at all to the set up you have, and you've doubled the complexity.

Hey Anthemguy, sounds like you may be moving to Vegas by your name. Both kim-in-LV and I are here to help a bit. I'm not a plumber but have had a pool here for 15 years. Spas integrated with the pool are expected here. Make sure you can heat the spa separately for winter, you will not be doing any winter swimming. We swim til late Sep only. I have a heater for the pool, but don't really need it. I put a solar cover on in the spring when air temps are 80's and can warm the pool in about a week from 60's to mid 80"s. I use the solar cover all summer at night to stop water loss, we can lose an inch overnight with wind. If the pool gets too warm I just leave the cover off for a night, it will cool the pool at least 5 degrees. If you are going to some other desert location than Vegas, we need some of those Phoenix/Tuscon folks to advise. My girlfriend came from Phoenix and they used to throw ice blocks in the pool in summer. Hope this helps, Barb

johnmgreen, are you heating with gas or electric heat pump? That influenced our decision-- only our spa is heated with gas (which heats quickly), the pool is heated with a heat pump. Our propane tank was not big enough to heat the pool. Also, our PB told us that water from the spa and from the pool would be mixed in the filter. Heated water would be diverted directly to the spa, but water would be mixed as it goes down the main drains.

Morton5, Thanks for the explanation. We heat with natural gas, so we don't have that issue. It sounds like your system makes a lot of sense given your constraints.

Your pool builder's explanation about the single pump system with respect to pool and spa water mixing in the filter is incorrect, however. As I mentioned in my previous post, the pool drains are turned off in spa mode so that the spa is completed isolated.

So, it seems the key to having a spa that heats up quickly is a gas heater. If you are using an electric heat pump, the spa will take longer to heat. BTW, johnmgreene, your set up sounds very nice.

We are thinking about installing a pool with attached spa (rectangular shaped with spillover spa). Does anyone have thoughts on what type pool cover would work best?

Possibly dumb technical question. I bought a house in July in Florida and am new to having a pool. With pool I have a spa that has a waterfall to my pool; I can adjust the valves to heat spa without heating the pool (closing pool drain, opening spa drain, and flowing heated water thru spa temporarily, e.g., increasing temperature in the spa to 104° with pool temperature at whatever it was before I turned off valves providing it with heated water, let’s say 60 - 80°. When I return the system to normal operation (with the spa water flowing back into the pool by spa waterfall (at 104° into substantially cooler pool water) could that adversely affect pool chemistry/ph? Any other maintenance considerations?