Spa Jets Explained

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SPA Jets Explained

Consider a simple spa jet. Spa Jets have 3 main connections – water in, air in, and a water and air mixture outlet. The water is pushed into the jet by pressure from the pump and flows through and comes out the front. This is how the air gets mixed into the pressurized water stream that we will be discussing.

How Spa Jets Work

The air gets mixed into the pressurized water by use of a venturi inside the jet. The venturi effect happens at the tip of the orifice which is a small hole inside the jet that all the incoming water gets pushed through.

To understand the venturi effect you have to first understand the way fluid acts inside a pipe. If we reduce the size of a pipe with fluid moving through it, the velocity (speed) of the water increases, but the pressure in the pipe decreases. So if we have spa water flowing through a 2” pipe and we reduce the size to 1.5” for part of the run, the water in the 1.5” section moves faster but at a lower pressure.

If you look inside a spa jet they all have a reduction in the internal plumbing size, we call this reduced size section the “orifice”. The most common size of the hole in the orifice is 5/16” of an inch. This means that we reduce the incoming water feed that was lets say 1” pipe, and we force all this water through a hole just over a 1/4” wide.

This causes a section of the water to travel at a higher velocity and at a much lower pressure. This low pressure at the tip of the jet orifice is lower than the pressure of the air in the atmosphere outside. Since the outside air is a higher pressure than the water at the tip of the orifice, air gets pushed into the water stream at the tip of the orifice and mixed into the water. This water and air mixture then flows out of the front giving us the jet action we are all familiar.

What goes wrong with Spa jets?

Most complaints about spa jets have to do with them no longer mixing air properly. Customers will report that the jets are “broken” or not working, they will also sometimes refer to the pump “not being as strong as it used to be”, or even talk about the air controls or the air blower being broken.
Jet malfunctions usually lead to weak jets or jets with no air in them at all, but they can also lead to water shooting out of the air controls or a the jet sucking water in instead of blowing water out.
Almost all jet problems are centered around the orifice. I will list some of these troubles below:


Insufficient water input – if the pump is not delivering enough water to the jets they may not develop a low enough pressure inside to suck air from the outside world effectively. This can cause jets to be weak or have no air at all. The diameter of the hole in the orifice determines how much water a jet needs to work properly. If you have insufficient water input it can mean that you have a dirty filter cartridge, an obstruction in the pump impeller, or even an undersized pump for the amount of jets you have.

Too much water input – if the pump is over sized it can cause back pressure inside the jet after the orifice, this can cause the jet to not draw air correctly by applying pressure inside the jet where the low pressure is supposed to be formed. This back pressure is between the orifice and the eyeball at the front of the jet where the water and air mixture come out. Sometimes this problem can be relieved by increasing the size of the eyeball in the front. I have seen this problem most often in gunite spas.
Another problem with the older style gunite spa jets is the length can be an issue. With the orifice tees set back inside the wall the length of the pipe between the orifice and the front eyeball can vary greatly. The length of the pipe run itself can cause back pressure with long piping runs through walls it is often necessary up size the eyeballs, or even reduce the size of the orifice opening in the back of the jet and reduce the water flow. Modern design gunite jets move the orifice to the front and eliminate this issue.

Gasket/O-ring Problems – many modern jets have the orifice inside a removable jet internal. On these jets there is often a gasket or o-ring that separates the water pressure area from the low pressure air suction area. When this separation breaks down the high water pressure can leak over to the low pressure air side making the jet not draw air correctly or at all. If this leakage gets severe enough it can also cause water to come out of the air controls.

Plugged Orifice – a small obstruction can get lodged it the orifice obstructing the water flow. Running a screwdriver or other long, thin object through the orifice will often knock it loose, this works best with the jet pump running to help push the object out. If the the object is too large, you will sometimes need to remove the orifice and manually pull the object out of the jet.
Note that other jets may be affected from a single obstruction. The air line on the plugged jet is usually hooked to the air lines from other spa jets. The neighboring jets will still be drawing a suction on those air lines. Sometimes this will cause the surrounding jets to suck water through the air line backwards through the plugged jet, causing the plugged jet to be pulling water into the eyeball instead of outward. This usually only happens on inground spas where the air intake is far away, or for any reason, easier for one jet to pull water from another jet than to pull air from the air intake.

This Article is courtesy of Spa Parts Plus

Until Next Time....

Fire pits are a great way to get outside and enjoy these beautiful cool night's

www.rickrobinsonhomes.com

Fire pits are a great way to get outside and enjoy these beautiful cool night's.

There are several types of Fire pits, wood burning, propane, and natural gas.

Remember to have your fire pit on a non-combustible surface so we have no accident's. You can use patio blocks or pavers as a base.

Remember to keep the wood dry if you use the wood burning version, wet wood will not burn.  Set up your fire pit away from your home so you do not melt your siding etc.

Here is a breakdown of the 3 Basic Fire Pits:

Wood:

With the wood burning pits you would light these like any fireplace, use kindling to initiate the fire and you will burn firewood, being careful to mind the popping that is created with the wood fire. It is a great idea to have a screen or top over the fire to protect the people around the fire pit.

Propane:

Or low pressure gas. These fire pits are usually designed with a simulated log fire, you can light this and the propane will burn a nice even flame. You can relax around the propane fire pit without the popping of the wood like in the wood burning fire pit's. Keep in mind these operate on a 20 lb propane tank like that of your barbecue.

Natural Gas:

These fire pits would have to be installed by a qualified licensed plumber as you would for the stove in your home. The big advantage with these over the others, is that you would have an endless supply of fuel for the fire pit, with no worries of running out of propane or wood.

Many manufacturer's offer all the above designs.

You just have to decide which type you prefer. I love the real wood burning pit. There are also many styles available including the chimney style. Or you can design your own fire pit and have it built to your specific needs.

This is the best time of year to get outside and get that warm and cozy feeling.

Until Next Time...

Accessories are a must have for today's spa owner

Hello everyone, today I want to talk a little about  accessories that are a must have for today's spa owners.

One of the biggest obstacles I have found in selling spas; is for the height challenged people out there. The shorter people tend to shy away from a new spa due to the fact that they think they can not fit in the seats and feel they will drown when the spa is full so they are too scared to invest in a spa and are missing out on a great experience.

This brings me to my first recommendation of an accessory that I think is a must have for ALL spa owners. The spa BOOSTER SEAT, even if your family is all good , your future guests may need one, why not have one on hand.

This will give your guests or yourself the needed lift to feel comfortable and safe in the spa, you can move this around the spa to your favorite seat and enjoy all the benefits of spa ownership.

The next great accessory is a spa side table or handrail. Everyone goes out to their spa with toys in hand, (cell phone, I-pod, Drink, Food) and you need a dry safe place to put these down in a spot so you do not have to get out of the spa every time you want to get at them. There are many different ones out there. I have found the Spa Butler Jr. to be a nice unit as you can get this with a tray table and add towel racks to it and even a hand rail in the full size (Spa Butler) unit.

Butler Jr.

The Butler Jr, will screw to the cabinet of the spa and you can rotate the tray table  360 degrees so it can hang over the water edge or be rotated to close the cover when finished. The towel racks can be added to this unit to accommodate as many towels as you can fit.

Full size Butler

The full size Butler has a plate on the bottom of the unit that would need to be placed under the spa and then has a small bracket that you would screw into the spa cabinet. This plate is used as the counter balance due to the handrail that is part of the Butler, this handrail will make entering and exiting the spa a breeze. You will have to empty the spa to install this unit so wait until you are ready to do a water change to install this Butler. As with the Butler Jr you can add a tray table and towel racks to this unit. The handrail and accessories can rotate to accommodate the cover as well.

Lastly, if you are using a handrail you will need a set of steps. There are many different styles out there and many different price tags as well. You do not need to spend a fortune to have a safe durable set of steps. I have been selling a great step that is inexpensive and durable it can hold up to 700 lbs and comes in 8 different colors to match you spa cabinet, it is called the Dura Step by Leisure Concepts. It is 27" wide by 25.5 long and 15" high so it fits perfectly, and it will work with both square and round spas, all you do is flip the top step around if you need a round top step.

Dura Step II

So there you have it some of my favorite accessories for the spa. Anything that makes my life a little easier I am all for, and none of these items will break the bank and that is the most important.

Until Next Time....

If you need a crane to open your spa cover...

Rick the Spa guy

If you need a crane to open your spa cover... I think you need a new one. Here are a few tips that you should know.

Spa covers have a life of about 3-5 years.

One of the first things you should look for is the taper of the cover. This is where the cover looks like the roof of a house to allow rain to run off the cover and not pool in the middle. 

Most replacement covers out there offer a 3"-2" taper. This is good because it will do what it's designed to do. A 4"-3" taper is better but usually offered at an additional cost.


The next thing should be the density of the foam core inside the vinyl. I recommend a 2 lb Density foam core. 

Also you want steam stoppers, these will prevent the steam from escaping and lowering the water level prematurely. Most times you will have a good selection of colors to choose from if you want to match your house color or patio set. In most cases if you purchase on-line you will have to supply the spa dimensions to the company. 

This should be done with the cover off the spa.(Always measure the spa itself NEVER the old cover. The old cover has probably taken on water and swelled up and if you use those measurements the new cover will not fit correctly.


If your spa has Radius corners you will need to supply that dimension as well. This is easy to figure out. Get 2 rulers lay each ruler against the outside edge of the acrylic where the radius just starts to make it's turn, extend both rulers outward until they intersect each other. 

Now measure from where the acrylic just starts to turn in to the radius and measure out to where the rulers intersect and that measurement will be the radius of your spa corner.


The last thing I want to mention is that after you have purchased your new spa cover you should be cleaning the vinyl about every 6 months and using a spa cover cleaner and protection, this will recoat the UV protection and help shield the vinyl from the suns rays. 

A cover lifter will also improve the life of your new cover and make it a lot easier for you to open and close. I will go over these options in another post.


Oh yeah, and if you want the straps to line up on the new cover to the old locks you will need to give them those dimensions as well, It sounds worse than it is...Its easy... Hope this helps .......


Until next time.......