Building a pool in Plano, TX

[PattonD]

After moving away from our pool in Houston 9 years ago, we are in the process of building one here in North Texas. We have 5 builders working on quotes, have one back already and will see another in an hour. Joining to try and understand the updated tech and sort what is worth spending the money upgrading and what isn't.

I am including a the pic of the 1st design we got back. We are looking at gunite or shotcrete (depending on the builder), 3.5/5/3.5 depth, a sundeck, and a small elevated area for the kids to jump off of. They sold me in a variable pump, I know how much my old single speed cost to run. We are up in the air on chorine/salt/mineral systems and researching that is the primary reason I am joining today.

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[tim5055]

Welcome to TFP!

Stay away from mineral systems. They will tell you that with minerals you can keep algae away with lower chlorine levels. That is true, but the "mineral" (copper usually) really doesn't help with pathogens that my cause human-human illness so you need to keep the chlorine levels up to protect against that. So, to be safe you have to keep the chlorine levels up so why the added expense of the mineral packs? Plus, copper stays in the water and builds up with the possibility of staining your pool and turning blond hair green.

I would recommend a SWCG double the size of your pool. So, a 15,000 gallon pool go for 30,000 SWCG capacity.

 

[PattonD]

Thanks, sorry I double posted, the ipad acted like it rejected the post, and I couldn't see it. Reposted from my computer.

 

[BoDarville]

Welcome to TFP!

Another vote to avoid the mineral systems, so I would take that option off the table.

As for SWG vs. manual chlorination, both will cost about the same in the long run. With manual chlorination, you will need to buy chlorine. With a SWG, you will need to replace the salt cell periodically, maintain proper salt levels, and run the pump for a longer period of time vs. manually chlorinating since the SWG produces chlorine when water flows through the salt cell. One of the main criteria in making this decision is, do you expect to travel a lot? If you have no other family members that can check on the pool and add chlorine as needed, then the SWG would be the way to go. Otherwise, I would go with manual chlorination.