Any thoughts. I travel for a living so i'm gone a lot and would love to no my pump is getting the water it needs. Pb says he wouldn't because of the failure rate. Is there so something better on the market these days? Thanks Steve

I have this one. http://www.mp-industries.com/products.html#autolev

The lever broke after 12 years. I found the replacement part online, and on eBay for a reasonable cost.

I like not having to fill the pool.

I think that has some merit. automation is great but, when unattended, a failed autofill can cause some big problems.

I'd say go for it. I've got one and love it.

Do you have an overflow drain and does it drain somewhere you can see it?

as long as you have an overflow i'd use one. there isn't a lot that can break and for safe measure I'd regulate the amount of water that can flow to the auto-fill. Filling the pool is a nuisance and you'd likely lose as much water every year doing that manually as you would if the auto-fill malfunctioned.

The one on my pool isn't exactly quiet. If it ran free from some amount of time i'd hear it.

One of the main problems with autofills that we tend to see here is that they mask pool leaks. When something is automatically topping off the pool, a leak may go unnoticed until the water bill comes.

Looks like everyone is still divided on this one I guess I'll give this a little more thought.

Well, there are lots of people here who have them and have had good luck with them. In those arid areas with lots of heat and low humidity, they can really help out since the evaporation rates in such areas can really be high. That's the great thing about TFP though. We have lots of active users of various products and you will definitely get any and all opinions out there on the pros and cons of things.

A big YES vote here.
The Pentair autofill I installed is as reliable as your toilet tank valve, (same valve without that flapper to leak or go bad).
I put a shutoff on mine and open it for a couple of hours each week. Some people add a timer as a safety measure.
Like mentioned before, I also put the overflow drain where we could see if it ever started draining due to a faulty autofill valve.
My neighbor was filling with a hose, forgot about it and left it on for days, so nothing is foolproof.
I think you will be glad you did it as it would be much more difficult and expensive to add later.

Best of Luck
John

Here in AZ every pool has an auto fill. There seem to be two types. Mine has a brass valve and an arm with a brass float that is similar to a toilet fill but the water comes in from the side not the bottom. The other one uses a plastic Fluidmaster Water Saver fill valve right out of a toilet tank. The nice thing about that one is that you can replace the whole guts of it for about $10 from any hardware store, HD or Lowes

I have an auto fill and it is a must have. One less thing to worry about on a weekly basis.

Thanks for the info everyone. I must say I'm leaning toward putting one in. I just need to convince the builder. Wait I'm the boss aren't I.

Rv4hess how does the timer work? If I understand you right your using your as a manual fill that you don't have to worry about shutting it off at the exact time.

Put it this way It's a 150 dollar option on a pool that costs tens of thousands, and it can always be turned off. Adding one afterwards is a grand at least!

Good point.

An inexpensive irrigation timer can be installed between the supply and the auto filler. That can be set to limit how much time the auto filler is allowed to run each day. That way even if a filler did fail it wouldn't be running 24/7.

Thanks for the info great idea.

Hi Steve, the timer thing is like what Chiefwej said, and yes I just open my shutoff valve once a week for a few hours. By then I usually need 1-1.5 inches of water.
What I saw people on TFP doing was putting the pool autofill on a zone of their existing irrigation system.
Any type of irrigation timer and, of course, a manual shutoff valve should protect you from what your PB is concerned with.
You should only need to add water once every 5-7 days so you could turn it off while you are not going to be around.
That way you don't mask a leak either.

Best of luck,
John

Thanks John they are installing it as I write this. Thanks you guys You talked me into it. Steve