Water flow issues - quick connects/lack of circulating pump?
Need some help troubleshooting further before I go back to the vendor...
Little bit of history:
First unit arrived with a cracked tub. The chiller turned on, limited water flow and did not cool at all. Also did not come with the right fittings to connect the chiller to the tub - looked different than was posted on their site, etc. Had to go source my own brass fitting just to get water moving. They sent another chiller and tub.
Second unit arrived with the same incomplete hardware situation. Only got it connected because I held onto the fittings from the first one. Also included a 3/4 to 1/2 fitting that does not connect to anything in the setup and directions are not clear enough to figure out what it is for. Chiller works and is getting to temp but water flow is identical to the first unit. Both tubs also have slight leaks at the inlet and outlet regardless of plumbers tape.
What I am seeing on unit 2:
- Tub is 75" x 31.5" x 25.75"
- One jet does nothing but bubble continuously
- Other jet spits out a trickle of a bubble every 30 seconds if anything
- Water is getting cold so the chiller itself is functional
- Tub inlet and outlet: 3/4" female openings with a 3/4 male to male fitting installed, exposing a 3/4 male thread to connect to
- Chiller inlet and outlet: 3/4" male threaded openings but the chiller inlet runs through a pre-filter that connects via quick connect fitting
- All connection use quick connect fittings that in my uneducated opinion could be restricting water flow due to size.
Questions:
- Is the lack of an external circulation pump likely the culprit here?
- Are these quick connect fittings known to strangle flow and is swapping the hoses out for something else that connects directly to the 3/4 fittings a reasonable fix attempt?
- At what point do you just cut bait?