In ground pool hot tub drains when pump is on????

I woke up the other morning and my hot tub was empty. I tried to figure out what was up and this is what I have come up with. When I turn the pump on I am only getting about half the pressure that I should have. On top of that my hot tub drains.

I can fill the hot tub, turn on fill for the hot tub and it will maintain the water in the hot tub but won't flow over into the pool. Also, when I do this the filter baskets don't seem to have much/any suction.

I have an automated pool with 2 CVA Valve actuators. Is there a way to manually turn these valves as I am guessing that this is the problem. There is a switch that has 3 positions on the valve and it does not move when I change the position. This is the actuator that is on the line coming into the pump basket prior to the filter.

Help, I am clueless and have no idea what to do. It's getting hot here and I need some circulation quickly.

thanks,

Sounds like your valve actuator has died. If it's a Jandy actuator.....it should have a 3 position dip switch......on1.....off....on2. If the motor doesn't turn the valve when you switch the dip switch.....chances are the actuator is bad. It also sounds like the valve is set to draw all the water from the spa and and the return valve actuator is set to return the water to the pool.....causing the spa to drain. If it's a Jandy actuator.....you should be able to remove the thumb screw on top of the actuator that holds on the handle......then remove the 4 screws with a #3 phillips screwdriver. Then you should be able to lift off the actuator.....then set the handle back onto the stem....it will only go on the stem one way....then you should be able to manually turn the valve. If you don't feel comfortable doing all of this....call your local pool company. If you could post a pic of the valve before doing anything....that would help. Hope this helps.

Also....I'm guessing that your automatic system possibly was in spa mode.....sucking all the water from the spa and returning all the water to the spa.....then the system attempted to go into pool mode.......the return valve actuator turned.....but the suction actuator didn't......therefore putting all the spa water into the pool. Then the pump would have lost its prime. Usually once that happens.....it runs dry.....taking the little bit of water that remained in the pump and gets it so hot that it reaches near boing point. Usually then the fitting that is screwed into the front of the pump and the one that is screwed into the pump discharge become loose or damaged. Check if the fittings are loose. To check this....gently twist them with your hands.....if they are loose....you will see the slightly turn......if the one in front of the pump has loosened up.....this will cause a suction leak....causing your pump to run only half filled up with water in the basket. It may even have a difficult time priming up with water. The discharge fitting should leak water if it is loose. Hope I'm not confusing you.....with all of this info. But it sounds like what I explained above is possibly what caused all of this....I've seen it happen before.

I have had a similar problem with my actuators. Try removing the cover from the actuator itself, exposing the guts, first remove the valve handle. You will see four little wires attached to clips. Jiggle these wires, sometimes they become loose or get a bit of corosion causing them to lose connection. I actually take them off one by one and use a needle nose to close the clip a bit so it is nice and tight when I slide it back on the tab. Be careful though, these parts are fragileand be sure you put the clip back on the same tab you took it from. Otherwise the valve will try to turn in a different direction.

Wow thanks everyone for the help. It is the actuator and is a compool cva 24. I had the pool on spa mode the day before with the kids swimming and when we got done that night I turned everything off. So when the automatic control took over Sunday morning it drained the hot tub as the actuator did not work.

FWIW, I took the handle off the actuator, removed the 4 screws, and put the handle back on, and manually turned the valve. That took care of my problem and everything is working manually now. Yeah, that will keep the green stuff from beginning to grow!

I will go buy and actuator and replace it this weekend. I guess with everything being electronic now days I never learned how to actually operate my pool. (really I still don't know but I am getting better)

take a look at my previous reply. I really believe you are buying an actuator unnecessarily. Try my method first. I'm willing to be that is it. I had the same problem with my compool actuators.

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Originally Posted by markphin

take a look at my previous reply. I really believe you are buying an actuator unnecessarily. Try my method first. I'm willing to be that is it. I had the same problem with my compool actuators.

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Thanks, I will try that first this weekend when I get a chance prior to purchasing an actuator. The pool is only 3 years old so it is definetly worth a try.