Building in-ground cinder block pool, "square flange" return jets & skimmer

[mjcjives]

I am in the beginning stages of building an in-ground cinder block swimming pool. Have been looking at various return jets and skimmers, but haven't had any luck finding ones that have a "square flange" that would better fit with cinder block construction. Anyone have suggestions?

I am just looking at installing 2 return jets and 1 skimmer, no drains. Just wanting to get ideas on how others installed return jets in cinder block wall pools. Any links to products would be great. The overall pool volume will be around 10,000 gallons, so looking at suggestions for in-ground pump recommendations as I am calculating a pump that is at most 1HP.

I calculated the GPH at 21 for 8 hour turnover.

Thanks!
Matt

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Hey there Welcome!
I've got a great thread of one of our best cinder block builds for you to check out. The builder is one of our Pool Experts here at TFP, so if you have specific questions you can send him a personal message here.

An unusual pool build

On this cold, dreary day in NC, I hope you find this pool build interesting. My goal was to build a pool with the skills I was capable of.....that eliminated plaster and gunite. Also, I really like some characteristics of a vinyl pool so I ended up with this hybrid. I did virtually all this...

www.troublefreepool.com

In exchange for sharing this dynamite thread, would you let us follow along as you plan and build? We can offer suggestions, but we also just love to look at the pics too.

Maddie

 

[Brian PacNW]

I found some YouTube videos of cinder block builds. Here are a few screenshots. No promises.

 

[mjcjives]

Thanks for the information. I'll add some photos when I get a chance!

 

[mjcjives]

Was wondering if anyone puts a "drain" that can be opened manually on the side of their pool just below the jets as a way to keep the pool level lower when they go to winterize it?

 

[Newdude]

Self draining lines are problematic where we winterize as the top layer of pool water is ice at times. The water level would stay at the opening and freeze/thaw many times over the winter at our latitude.

As is, the return lines need to be capped as the ice may grab a hold of rubber winterizing plugs and pull them as it shifts.

 

[mjcjives]

do you have any recommendations for return lines?

 

[Newdude]

Bungee plugs if you arent already draining below the returns, or Threaded plugs if the water level will be below the returns

 

[mjcjives]

Thanks for the info. Here are some pictures of our progress. Constructing the larger 4 foot deep pool (12 ft x 29 ft). The tanning ledge will get completed in 2nd phase, it is around 1ft deep (4 ft x 16 ft) and opens into larger pool. We added tiling and tied it to our eave spout tiling and added a clean out. Have had good weather so far, but still have a ways to go. At this point we plan to not use a liner and to use Drylok FastPlug for our corners and seams to waterproof and DryLok Pro to finish and waterproof with a green/blue tint. We have looked at Insl-x rubberized pool paint, as well, so still a little torn between those options. We have not included a floor drain as I added a clean out for lowering the water.

Was looking at adding a drain on the side just below the skimmers that could be opened and directly ran into our clean out to keep water levels in check, thoughts from those seeing this thread?

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Do you get cold winters? If so, we suggest not using flex pipe but rather sticking with PVC meant for pressure lines.

PVC Repair - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

I like your plan to have the tanning shelf offset so the pool itself has plenty of swim and play room.

Maddie

 

[mjcjives]

Do you get cold winters? If so, we suggest not using flex pipe but rather sticking with PVC meant for pressure lines.

PVC Repair - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

I like your plan to have the tanning shelf offset so the pool itself has plenty of swim and play room.

Maddie

Winters here are definitely cold, well below 0 F during January & February. Thanks for the tip on PVC. Do you recommend the 2 inch PVC? I calculated our pump hp to be 3/4 or 1 HP based on 11,000 gallons.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

I don't know about sizing pumps to plumbing so....
Let me ask one of the pump gurus- @mas985 @mknauss @ajw22

 

[mas985]

I calculated our pump hp to be 3/4 or 1 HP based on 11,000 gallons.

I calculated the GPH at 21 for 8 hour turnover.

Turnover is irrelevant for proper pool maintenance. That is the wrong way to size a pump and besides, you probably won't be able to find a single speed or dual speed pump anyway as the DOE has banned the production of both SS and DS pumps except for very small and very large pumps. A VS pump is really the only way to go.

Turnover of Pool Water - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Pump DOE Regulations - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[timjs]

Hi! Just wondering if you've had any progress? I assume winter has put a stop to most of your work. I'm doing a similar build as well, just found your thread interesting. Cheers

 

[mjcjives]

Sorry for the delay. So I started back at it again after a pretty cold winter with a fair amount of snow along with a couple weeks of blizzard. During the winter as you will see I worked on a deck that will wrap around the pool and we are putting up 6 foot fencing (horizontal) as well.

Will begin starting the finishing of the interior. I have done a lot of research this winter and am planning on using a base waterproofing product by Akona (Heavy Duty Base Waterproofing) followed by painting either Drylok Extreme or Ins-lx rubberized paint. I am using Akona Hydraulic Cement to patch a few places that I didn't finish completely last fall. The pool will have 3 jets, 2 on one end and 1 on the other. I will have 1 skimmer as well. It is 14 x 28 x 4 feet. The sun shelf is 4 x 15 x 1 foot.

Will continue to keep you updated as I am now able to start working again as it has been very rainy these past few months.

 

[mjcjives]

Here are a couple other pictures prior to winter. I was fortunate that our eave spout tiling went near the pool (blue arrow in picture), so was able to tie it to our 4 inch tile, so when draining the rain/snow, it made that process easy.

As I built the walls, I used rebar both vertically and horizontally on each layer and in each cavity and filled each cavity with type S mortar.

Anyone use familiar with Saltwater Pool System? I found a few online that were designed for 15,000 gallon pool that I thought might be better than chlorinated. Otherwise I have research pool pumps and sand filters and found one that runs on standard 115V outlet that would make the overall process much easier.

 

[mjcjives]

Here's another recent photo showing the fencing that I have started. Our plans are to have the pickets put in horizontal instead of vertical to make it look a little different. These walls will be 6 fee with the exception of part of the back deck which is 4 feet high.

 

[Newdude]

Saltwater Pool System? I

What's the pool volume ? For Iowa you want a 2x+ unit. They're rated for 100% runtime so a 2X makes the same FC in 12 hours, 3X in 8 hours, etc. They live proportionately longer for much less cost than lifespan gained.

And they save the electricity needed those extra hours of runtime also.

Circupool is hard to beat if you don't have automation.