Imagine This:

In your back yard, you have a swimming pool & spa combo. Every day, your swimming pool equipment is circulating your water from mid-morning/afternoon until well into the evening. Every night you go to sleep thinking all is well. However, one morning you notice that that water level in your spa has dropped… Significantly. In fact, that morning and every morning after from then on, you see that the water level in your spa is dropping all the way down to your spa jets. What could be possibly be happening? Well for the sake of this example, let’s say that every day once the pool has shut off, the water loss drops to the bottom of your spa jets and then it stops dropping right there…

In this hypothetical scenario that we’ve come up with, there’s two things that could be happening. 1) It’s possible that your spa has developed a break on the spa jet line and that break is causing the water level in the spa to drop to exactly where the jet line sits. Orrrrrr for the sake of this scenario and this article…….. 2) The check valve on your spa jet line has gone bad.

Ok… So what exactly does that mean?

Simply put, when the check valve on your spa has gone bad, all that is happening is that water is flowing from what is typically an elevated or higher body of water (your spa) and flowing backwards through the spa jets, past your spa check valve that has gone bad, and then flowing into the pool plumbing that is leading to the body of water that makes up your swimming pool.

So! Before we do anything too dramatic…

We definitely want to make sure that a bad check valve is what we are dealing with and not anything more invasive. Luckily, we have a few easy ways to confirm this! One thing you can easily try is this: Fill up the spa to the point where it’s at it’s normal operating level and then turn your equipment off. Once your spa is full, perform a dye test directly in front of your spa jets to confirm that’s where the water is getting pulled out of the spa. If it’s happening quick enough, you see your fluorescent dye get rapidly pulled into your spa jets. The next in this process is then to dye test in front of all of your swimming pool jets. If you see that the dye/water is getting pushed further into the swimming pools body of water, then you have an easy visual demonstration to help you confirm what exactly is happening.

Another test you can perform is this: Once again when your spa is full, put your ear against you spa check valve. Typically, if the spa is draining fast enough, you will be able to hear water working it’s way past your check valve with your ear alone. If you are not sure which valve at the pool equipment is your spa check valve, it is going to look exactly like this…

Your spa check valve is always going to be on the return side of your equipment and always attached to your spa return line!

One final test you can perform is this: Pay attention to the water loss in your swimming pool. If you truly did have a broken spa jet return line, then every time your equipment turned on you should be able to notice a significant water loss out of your swimming pool. However, if you only notice that your spa water level is down in the morning but other than that you are not noticing any type of water loss in the swimming pool itself, then you should be able to safely conclude that you are just dealing with a case of water displacement and getting a new check valve installed at your swimming pool equipment should have your problem resolved in record time!

Ok… Right. But How do I fix it?

Right. It’s an easy fix. And we have 7 quick and easy steps for you to get that check valve replaced and your spa working perfectly again. Your instructions are…

• 1) Make sure you first turn off all of your swimming pool equipment by putting your pool in service mode or by cutting the power with the breaker at your equipment.
• 2) Make sure you release all of the air that may be trapped in your system with your air release valve on your filter (if necessary)
• 3) Remove the screws from the old check valve on your spa return line.
• 4) Discard the old check valve and O-ring. You won’t be needing their services anymore. Go ahead and make sure that the check valve housing is clear of any old junk or debris.
• 5) Lubricate your new check valve o-ring and place it around your new, shiny check valve ready to be installed!
• 6) Place your new check valve lid into your check valve housing. Make sure that it is facing that correct direction. There should be an arrow on the top of the lid pointing which way that water should be flowing through your check valve. (If you’re still confused as to which direction, a quick Google or Youtube search will help you out)
• 7) Ensure that your o-ring is properly seated around your check valve and then fasten that sucker down with the screws that you’ve already got!

That’s It!

With those seven steps (and perhaps a few Youtube videos…) you have successfully changed out your very own check valve. Give yourself a pat on the back! In a perfect world, this should mitigate whatever water loss you are noticing in your spa when your equipment shuts itself off. If changing out your check valve doesn’t eradicate the problem completely, then it might be wise to bring in the help of a professional to see what else might be going on.

Conclusion

Hopefully this mitigates your spa water loss dilemma! However, if you are worried that you have further damage in your spa, keep taking a look at our spa related articles. It’s such a small body of water, there’s a good chance you will be able to figure out what the problem is on your own!