Well there are a lot of factors, head pressure, useable filter area, It sounds like you have plenty of pump. Try this, Remove your filter from the housing, and see how it goes, make suet the valves are fully open. If the pressure jumps up then the filter is the problem. I plumed my spa to bypass the filter when in spa mode to get the max flow. I also increased the feed & return lines to 2.5" ID lines to reduce head pressure. If flow doesnÂt increase with no filter in....Check your drain lines. The last pool I put in some 8 years ago , the builder was sloppy and got gunnite in the drain. It really decreased the flow and was a royal pain to get out.

jim in delrey fl,
Unfortunately, I think you are SOL. There is no way to operate nine jets effectively on a single pump system with 2" plumbing.
You might ask the PB to reduce the oriface in the venturi to see if that helps. Using a separate pump would help if you have the additional suction line to do this. But nine jets will be an uphill challenge to say the least.
It's common to use an air blower on a raised spa. The venturi's can't overcome the amount of water that is in the air line between the raised spa and the pool. Good luck.

Thanks wbeatty & golfgeek. I hate to hear that I'm SOL though after spending so much $$. I'll check with my PB to see if I have that extra suction line. There are 2, which is code...isn't that enough? In your opinion, would closing off 1 or 2 jets make much difference? I'll also see what he says about bypassing the filter in the spa to add flow.

Here is a link that might be useful: here's what the pool/spa looks like.

jim in delrey fl,
A picture of the equipment-set may be more helpful.
You will probably not be able to tell if you have two suction lines by looking at the spa. Two grates does not equal two suction lines.

Does this photo help?

Thanks. I appreciate you input.

My PB says we can add a 3 HP pump which would just operate the spa. Not sure if that is my best option or not...

Here is a link that might be useful: Pool Equipment

Sorry I missed the 9 jets part.... I not sure just oncreasing Hp would be enough. I think you are going to have to adress head pressure. Reduceing it to say 6 or 7 jets would be a big help in the short term, Do you have the type you can close off?

Here's another photo, if it helps...

I'll have to ask the PB about closing off a couple jets before I go through the expense of adding a larger pump.

Here is a link that might be useful: Another photo of the pool equipment.

jim in delrey fl,

I'm.....uh........speechless!

Does your PB have any clue what he is doing? I would suggest that he is making the equipment set a whole lot more complicated than it should be.

I must admit I'm at a loss for words of encouragement.
Looking briefly at both pictures, I see no rhyme or reason for the plumbing scheme. Make sure he explains the operation to you in detail. Good luck.

jim in delrey fl,

It's unusual to see so many 3-way valves on a set.
I would suggest you ask the PB to separate the spa jets with a separate pump. I can't see in the picture if the spa has more than one suction line. You may be able to shut off or plug 2-3 jets to help the system work better.

Sorry about the last post. After looking at the pictures a little more I figured out what your PB has done, sort of.
There are a lot of ways to plumb pools, some just seem more efficient than others.

Let me know how things come out after your PB has an opportunity to work on the system.

Thanks, golfgeek. Your first "speechless" message kinda scared me...but I hope this can still be corrected. I seem to understand the way he has it plumbed, but I don't know if it is the BEST way or not. As far as the 3-way valves are concerned, I'll try to explain. We have a seating area in the deep end of the pool that has jets as well (connected to the blower), which is why there is an additional manual valve...it can be set for the regular return jets, the pool seat jets, or a combination.) There are two automatic valves. One is the intake (pool or spa) and another is the return (pool or spa). Then there is also a manual valve for skimmer or main drains, and also a manual valve to enable the infloor cleaning return/salt generator.

When the "spa" setting from the panel is "on" (spa suction and spa return) it is using the entire 2 hp pump, so if I get an additional dedicated spa pump, it would have to be larger than the 2 hp I currently have, otherwise I don't see how there would be any improvement. Do you recommend 2.5, or 3 or ? I will also explore closing off 2 jets first, just to see if that helps.

Thanks again. PB is not paid in full yet since the in-floor cleaning is not working (missing gaskets). I need to have all my issues resolved before giving him my final payment. (I already have my certificate of completion from the city.)

quote" I'm.....uh........speechless! Does your PB have any clue what he is doing? "quote

OMG!!! I've never seen a more miss spec'd equipment set in my life.

quote" Looking briefly at both pictures, I see no rhyme or reason for the plumbing scheme. "quote

I see the plumbers objective in his pipe fitting but he totally missed the KISS (keepitsimple) formula necessary for homeowners. As you plumb in to many bypasses you begin to outfox the buyers ability to follow your mindset of proper valve orientation, and will only be able to get a digital controller to do it by giving up precious relay space for remoted valve actuators.

You've already experienced the first major problem here;
quote" This is especially true when the filter pressure is high and the cartridge needs to get cleaned, which seems to be every few days since the pool is new "quote

Your filter is to small.

In order to utilize this filter your current bypass around the heat pump must be placed after the pump outlet and before the filter inlet then joining back up with the return line after the outlet of the heat pump. This fix will flow much more, but filter much less water. Your best bet is replacing your existing filter with either a DE 60sq/ft or a multi cartridge 400+sq/ft or larger. You can then leave your existing bypass in place around the heat pump.

In the hydro-therapy action at the spa jet, you are unfortunately, as Geek stated "SOL"

Both the piping and pump size are way under sized, you'll never be able to address this affordably after gunite.

quote" My PB says we can add a 3 HP pump which would just operate the spa. Not sure if that is my best option or not... "quote

Whatever you do DO NOT TAKE THIS AVENUE

Your current piping and filter, even with bypasses, won't take anything over a 2hp full or a 2 1/2hp uprated pump.

My suggestion is a smaller jet nozzle diameter, placing a valve actuator on a 3-way to bypass prior to the filter around both it and the heat pump. Your Aqua-logic will have the available space to control it remotely.

Quite honestly, I'm shocked that your infloor zones are even popping up with the authority necessary to effectively operate the cleaning heads.

See ya,
Kelly

A stronger pump will not overcome poor plumbing. I would start with a larger filter and adding an accuator as described by huskyridor. The plunber has made it far more difficult than he needed. Did the plumber get paid by the valve?

Jim in delrey fl,
Huskyridor is right. The pop-ups will probably not be effective. The filter does appear to be too small and 2" plumbing will not support more HP.
I left these items out of my (after speechless) post because I thought the PB should be offered the opportunity to make the system work and you should be left with a little hope for success. You and your PB know you have a problem.
Bottom line statement to your PB should be...."Make it all work like it's suppose to work!"
Perhaps there is a Hayward rep in your area qualified to give you some on-site help. Your PB will, unfortunately, get some OJT on this one. Good luck.

Thanks, all. I appreciate your input, and will work with the PB with some of your suggestions. We used the spa this past weekend with a new filter cartridge, which definitely helped...and with the use of the blower it had adequate flow. (not perfect, but much better) The Polaris in-floor cleaner has yet to be tried, as PB needs a new gasket/clamp thing (?) to prevent it from leaking. I sure hope it has adequate force to do a proper cleaning job, or my PB is in big trouble. I'll keep you posted.

I have a question about the bypass recommendation though. If I want to use the spa, but then bypass around the filter & heat pump...that will cause greater flow? I have to wait till the spa is heated sufficiently, then have an automatic valve to switch to the bypass using the AquaLogic? I'll also look into the smaller jet nozzles.

skp1020...I prefer not to tell you the name of my PB just yet. Let's see if he fixes my problems. I will say that it is a small 2-man company that came highly recommended from a friend, and we were quite happy till now...

I'm curious, what's the swept area of the new filter?
If it's 400+ sq/ft I'd suggest simply placing smaller nozzles in the jet body. You already have a bypass around the heat pump in place with the current plumbing.

The bypass I recommended around the filter and the heat pump was for if you left the small filter in place and wanted to increase flow. Using it in that manner you would have redirected the excess water the filter couldn't handle around both. You'd have still been able to heat with the heat pump while your in the spa. The problem with this fix was that although you noticeably increased the flow you equally decreased the amount of water being filtered because water under pressure will always take the path of least resistance.

See ya,
Kelly