First winter with this house and pool. I ran the pumps overnight (we're in Houston, it barely got below freezing), but around 7 this morning it switched itself into freeze protection mode. This turned the heat on and switched it to spa mode which I haven't ever done. Half the water has drained out of the spa and I can't switch it back to pool mode because it's in freeze protection mode. Any ideas??

Probably not something you can do right now - but my website app (not the phone app) allows me to change the settings of what happens in freeze mode.

Ezra Brooks said:

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Probably not something you can do right now - but my website app (not the phone app) allows me to change the settings of what happens in freeze mode.

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Thanks

No obvious water leaks anywhere. The pump is working hard and the filter pressure is super high. I'm wondering if the spa returns have a partial blockage or something?

Are you getting any flow into the actual pool? This can also happen when you are only taking water out of the spa drain (skimmers off) but water is still returning to spa and the pool.

I think that is all splash out loss. With the amount of water your pump moves, if it were sucking the spa and dumping into the pool, the spa would be empty. I don't think there is anything you can do now. When it warms up and it kicks out of freeze mode the spa will fill right back up. I think freeze mode kicks the rpm's high so that is probably causing the increase in pressure.
I am not an expert, I just see the same thing with my pool.

Pool was probably a little low on water. Looks like the pool is running in reverse where the water overflows from the pool into the spa, when normally it runs from the spa into the pool.

If you add water to the spa and bring it up to a level just below the overflow, it would likely stay there.

That bit of water would likely not make much of a difference in pool level when it goes back to normal operation.

I agree with the other posters about checking your freeze settings. Personally, I don't see a need to have your heater kick on unless it the water temp starts to get down to freezing. Just need to circulate water thru all of your equipment and pipes when the air gets down to near freezing. I think mine is set to 35 degrees. I don't have a heater, but my water will not get near freezing unless we have days of low teens/ single digits like we had a few years ago. Even then, If I had power it would have kept circulating the water enough to avoid any freezing. Without power, I got a small thin layer of ice on top.

Can't help on the pool issue, but in Houston there should be no problem with freezing pipes anywhere even outdoors. It takes hours of subfreezing temps (<25 deg F) to freeze water in pipes.

GigEmAgs08 said:

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I bet one of your valves did not turn properly when it switched from pool to spa mode, causing your pump to empty the spa and push into the pool. Once out of freeze mode, when you switch to pool mode, the spa will fill back up properly.

The issue with this is you likely have a dead leg of pipe where water is sitting and prone to freezing. Today, you should check to see if one of the vales isn't turning properly. I had this happen last year. The proper fix is to replace the auto turning valve. The short term fix if you can't get a new valve today prior to tonight's freeze is to remove the automatic valve and put on a hand turning valve and just leave it partially open. Then turn off freeze mode and leave the pool running constantly until the freeze ends.

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I think this was part of it. I tried to use the switch on the 4 way valve to pull from the pool instead of spa but it isn't really moving. I'll have to take it apart and rebuild I guess. Hoping I can just get it back to normal pool mode today and turn off freeze protection or change the settings

Thanks everyone

This pool looks very familiar. Was Jamie your realtor? You will likely need a new actuator. If the motor has failed it can be overridden and controlled manually by disengaging the gear. Happy to help, let me know.

GigEmAgs08 said:

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I bet one of your valves did not turn properly when it switched from pool to spa mode, causing your pump to empty the spa and push into the pool. Once out of freeze mode, when you switch to pool mode, the spa will fill back up properly.

The issue with this is you likely have a dead leg of pipe where water is sitting and prone to freezing. Today, you should check to see if one of the vales isn't turning properly. I had this happen last year. The proper fix is to replace the auto turning valve. The short term fix if you can't get a new valve today prior to tonight's freeze is to remove the automatic valve and put on a hand turning valve and just leave it partially open. Then turn off freeze mode and leave the pool running constantly until the freeze ends.

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Was going to post the same. Could also be the check valve

I lost water in my spa a year or two ago...it was check valve that went bad....

For those posting about a bad check valve, that is a typical culprit for elevated spas being drained. However, a failed isolation check valve on the return loop will only drain the spa to the same water level of the pool. (Backflow to equilibrium) notice the spa level is significantly lower than the pool level, eliminating that as a point of failure. The spa being drained means that there is most likely a failure on the return side actuator.

Ahh ok yes you are much better at this then lol.

My issue was related to a spa that is elevated....

The spa return line check valve is not holding…this is a very common problem. When the check valve doesn't
hold, the spa water level drops to the same height as the pool water level.

Likely a check valve gasket issue

Nm

this

Late to this and may be one of the things others have said, but mine did this during freeze protection mode as well. I have three things included in freeze protection:

• Pool
• Spa
• Cleaner - which only goes to the pool, not the spa

What would happen for me is the cleaner would run nonstop on freeze protection regardless of if pool mode or spa mode was on.

In pool mode, no problem - suck water from pool, put it back in the pool via pool mode AND cleaner. When it switched to Spa mode, it would suck from Spa, return to Spa AND cleaner, which as we know, the cleaner is in the pool. So, I would essentially be draining my Spa because the cleaner never turned off in freeze protection and was delivering water back into the pool.

I'll spare you the story of me asking my pool guy to give me panel with any feature I'd ever want, but I ended up getting a basic one and couldn't do what I'm about to say. But if you're able, change the setting on freeze protection mode so that the cleaner ONLY comes on when the Pool is on.

So is your cleaner line plumbed in after the heater on the return side but before the automatic valve that switches between pool & spa? If this is the case then does your spa slowly drain when you're just using it for enjoyment?

If so then I would consider re-locating it to the pool return line with a tee and cap the tee coming off the main return line. It sounds like it was plumbed incorrectly.

Corps_Ag12 said:

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So is your cleaner line plumbed in after the heater on the return side but before the automatic valve that switches between pool & spa? If this is the case then does your spa slowly drain when you're just using it for enjoyment?

If so then I would consider re-locating it to the pool return line with a tee and cap the tee coming off the main return line. It sounds like it was plumbed incorrectly.

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Thanks for dipping into this!

Cleaner is plumbed just past the filter, before the heater. Not connected into any returns. When we only have Spa mode on, the Spa does what it needs to do and doesn't slowly drain. It will only drain if we are in spa mode and have the cleaner on… or the kids splash all the water out.

Some pics if it helps: https://imgur.com/a/6QCtqYx