m, I've looked at the photos, I've thought, I've looked again and thought some more ... (I saw this last night and looked again today - {I'm currently having to fight w/ DW for computer time - I made the mistake of giving her an Ipod for an aniversary present, I should have stuck with jewelry }.

OK, so the glaring thing that I see from the pics is that #1 and #3 show the same valve settings. From this I surmise that the topmost line is the 'spa fill' (pic #2 shows it as open). I am also figuring that the suction side has an actuator valve on it, I'm thinking that it only opens the spa drain when in spa mode or spa fill, otherwise it's closed. From what I can see in the pics, the 2 pipies on the 'un-actuated' valve (bottom in the pics) feed the in floor system (2" line - the left one)and the wall rets and spa rets(the 1 1/2" - right one).

The best I can come up with is that you have a nearly identical set-up on the suction side (a spa line comming into the actuator valve with 2 (or more) suctions comming from the pool with a 'manual' turn valve between them. This could explain what's happening to your pool, but won't explain why you used to be able to use it without the spa draining , I'm obviousely missing a peice of the puzzle

If you need to use the spa this week, call in the pool pro, if it can wait - please post pics of the whole system, and we'll save you $ (if not time)

Sorry I can't be more help, but if you're willing to give me an 'e-tour' of your set-up, I can probably help you. With the pics I got a much better idea of what's going on, unfortunately not enough to tell you exactly what has happened (or is happening) - sorry