Hello,

Were are currently in the middle of our new pool build and are having the good 'ol problem everyone seems to have...picking out our interior color. We have decided to go with the Stonescapes Mini Pebble, but are having a hard time deciding between Tropics Blue or Midnight Blue. I have scoured the internet, forums, NPTpool.com, etc. but am having a hard time finding what I can rely on as "accurate" pics. And I'm certainly having a rough time finding any pics of Tropics period. I can find plenty for Midnight, but not many people seem to be choosing Tropics. I have asked our builder for references we can go look at, but unfortunately most of his clients have been choosing a different brand, or they won't reply to his/our requests to look at their pools.

Would anyone who has either of these two colors installed be willing to post any pics of their water? We are looking for a deeper blue (not like "electric" blue or anything) just a deeper, slightly darker blue color, but definitely not a lagoon look. We are also trying to keep away from anything with any kind of green or aqua/teal color to it as well (which is why we quit considering Tahoe, as it still seems to have a slight tinge of green to it). We are in sunny Florida and our back yard is south facing, so it should get a lot of sun and virtually no shade (unless it's cloudy), so if anyone has or can take any accurate pics in full or mostly sunny conditions, that would be WONDERFULL!! Like I said, I have poured over this site especially, but seem to get different postings with different looks for the same color name.

Any help anyone has on this would be GREATLY!!!! appreciated. We are definitely the type to do our research and due diligence, but in the absence of any pool we can view in person, we are having to rely on online pictures.

Thanks everyone!
Sean

Because of my job (Insurance Underwriter) I was able to attending the Pool and Spa Show in Atlantic City earlier this week.

I'm shopping for a new liner and so this was a great opportunity to speak w representatives from the 3 biggest liner manufacturers/distributors in the country. My biggest concern about getting a new liner is fading - because mine has indeed faded after only three years. To be frank - I don't know anything about the quality of my liner because it was in the pool when we bought the house and it was not faded when we bought it.

Anyway, I asked each one of them how chlorine levels affect the fading characteristics of an in ground pool liner. As we know - the "standard" chlorine level in pools w pucks is 1 -2 parts per million. However, using the "bleach method" when my CYA is at 40 (which is where I keep mine) the recommended Target FC level is 5-7 and should never drop below 3. So because my target is 5 to 7 - I normally target around 8 or 9 because I get FULL sun all day long from sun up to sun down.

All of the liner manufacturers said that this was WAY to high to keep chlorine levels in a vinyl pool and it absolutely 100% would lead to premature fading of the liner (something I have indeed experienced w my own liner using the bleach method) and possibly weakening of the material itself - shortening it's overall life span. They all agreed that to maximize the life of the actual print on the liner - you want to be at no more than 2-3 parts per million MAX on a daily basis.

I asked if buying a better(more expensive) liner would help prolong the fading process and they all said no. It would only get you a thicker liner.

Anyone care to comment on this?

I'm a bit confused because this is not what I have read on here. But - these are the guys that actually manufacture and sell the liners so you would think that they know what they are talking about.

Hi all, I just bought a new Dolphin Explorer E20. Not sure what that's equivalent to but it's a low end model with one brush.

I've been looking at these things for 3+ years and finally pulled the plug: CA$1000 later and what a disappointment.

I've run it around 5 times now and it just kind of bounces back and forth missing huge parts of the pool. And I mean after five runs there are large parts of the pool it's never been to. It is able to climb all of the walls and slopes with no problem but only occasionally does it go all the way to the surface. It doesn't struggle, it just stops and goes back down immediately after going vertical.

It also seems to favour two or three places which it will visit over and over – I assume because the pool shape is guiding it? I've tried starting it in different places running the cable from different sides and it just seems to make very little difference.

I have a 16x32 hopper shaped vinyl pool with fairly smooth transitions between surfaces. Is this unusual behaviour or did I just get my hopes up that it would be amazing? Do these things have any smarts at all? so far it seems more simplistic than my base model Roomba (half the cost) which at least knows roughly where it's been.

We are buiding pool! Well - we hired a pool contractor.
Fiberglass - 16x32 - American fiberglass Lazy 8. Going with SGC (scg, dont remember)
Actually in the getting the financing stages.
Looking at how to control the system, and found Chief's thread.
I will keep an eye out there.
First time posting, here, too! This is a great forum.

Hey everyone, I have not posted in quite a while but I wanted to share this bypass that I made yesterday. I originally purchased an Impresa bypass by a big online company and it arrived cracked. This brand felt really thin and cheap, not something that I felt could last long term. I ended up and sent it back and decided I will just pony up and pay for the original Pentair bypass from the same company but different seller (I am sure you'll know who I am talking about). This seller listed it as a Pentair product, even posted the original Pentair picture, linked it to Pentair's website etc. At over twice the price as the Impresa I was getting the original one right? Well once it arrived I was shocked to see I was sent the another Impresa from a different seller. At this point I was fed up. I sent it back and then decided to make my own. I took a chance and looked for 2" male unions online and compared the threads to my Pentair IC40 and took a gamble on ordering them once I felt I had the correct unions. These arrived yesterday and they were the correct part to make my bypass.

I found that my 7" miter saw along with an aluminum blade cut through the 2" PVC with no chipping and smooth as butter, way better than using a hacksaw. But if you do not have a miter and most people do not a hacksaw or PVC cutter will work just fine. As you will see this turned out very well and the total cost for me was just under $12.00. This was due to the fact that I had a piece of 2" schedule 40 PVC laying around from a previous project as well as the paint. If I did not have the 2" PVC and the paint then the total cost would have been more than the Impresa but a higher quality that should last for many years if not more since this is the same PVC used on all the pool plumbing. You will also have left over 2" PVC and paint for a future repairs, etc.

I purchase the male unions online at Leslies and being a pool perks member I received free shipping. No way you can go wrong here.

I have attached photos and if this helps out just one person I have done my job here.

So I opened my pool (myself) and was so nervous of the outcome of closing it (myself) last year. I’m happy to tell you that all things work fine. I was so nervous for months because closing my pool (by my self) was something I thought I couldn’t do. But I did it. Or we did it ( my hubby helped). I just needed to say this.

TFP for life.

We had a nice run of 75-85F last week...and these are sat in direct sunlight pretty much the entire day...(south facing)...$12 for 4 gallons is pretty good, unless you're buying water...

Picked up a 4 pack of 1-gallon MA (31.45%) at Ace Hardware this weekend, for only $31.99, and get to use my Ace Rewards on it too. Much better than the pricing I've been finding at Home Depot or elsewhere ($9.99/ per allon) where I usually get the stuff. Just a heads up if others are looking, I go through about 2 gallons a week so happy to see a place selling it a bit cheaper.

Welp! Bags of salt, aiming low to start, what could go wrong?
Well,
Pool volume and assuming a zero salt level to start!
Since day 1, 1998, I was told my San Juan, Newport pool was 12,000 gallons! So for shooting low, I calculated 10,000 gallons with a target of 3000 ppm salt. So I just added 6 bags-to start— Pool Store reading says 3900! I have no starting point other than, 800 TDS!
This AM, doing google searches on my model pool, I found specs saying it’s 8500 gallons! The SWG hasn’t been brought on line yet, so no harm! Really bad rookie mistake not verifying my starting point!
FYI, my test stuff is in the mail!

I just completed this project today...I need to still upload my latest pictures but here was the status a week and a half ago.

In the back you can see a failed start for the hole...I decided I wanted it closer to the action (electrical and plumbing). The tank is a standard 15 gallon one that can be bought in many places, I got mine (actually 2) on Cragslist for $20 each. The pooper scooper and the dig bar were indispensable in digging the hole. No way I could get down in there to get the dirt out. If you look closely, the hole is sandwiched between two buried pipes on either side.



It fits...but I wanted the ability to take the tank out easily so I asked my brother-in-law for a pipe to put it in.



And did he ever give me a piece of pipe! I didn't know they made PVC 15" in diameter and an inch thick. This piece was 34 inches long, cut from a 20 foot piece he had in his construction yard. He owes me for a lot of things...haha.



I'll try to upload the remainder of the photos tomorrow.

Hello All,

I appreciate any guidance you can provide. So we finally moved into our new home 2 months ago. We have had 6 pool companies come by. 2 pool companies came about 3-4 weeks ago and no call back or email. 2 other said 2-3 week, with one it has bee 2 weeks, the other going on 3 and nothing. We did like one company called Eclipse pools where the owner was very very relaxed, professional, and new what he was talking about, he is the 2nd best communicator, but lately he hasn't responded quickly usually 3 or 4 days and then I have to send a reminder email. The new company we met with last week Thomas Pools the guy was awesome, on time, has taken the time to respond to our calls or emails right away and he is coming back tmrw to trace out the pool for us because I asked him if he could do that so we can get somewhat of a visual. I've also asked him to make the deep end and shallow end 3ft. wider to add more area to the pool. We have 3 young kids (5, 7, 11) who are like fish and our last house had a pool, so they are for sure fish out of water right now. We asked each what they would like and they either said, a bridge, a waterfall, and a slide. I think we achieved this. So the pool companies that did get back to us all ranged between $73k - 85k. Thomas pools who we are leaning towards right now came in originally at$74k but with the addition of the 3 ft. to each end of the pool it added another $1600 making the new price $75,600 which seems very fair. The pool is 16,187 gallons. I don't have sq. ft. & perimeter ft. for new expanded design but it was 477 sq. ft. & 110 perimeter before the change and the pool layout PDF also shows the width BEFORE the 3' ft. expansion to the deep end and shallow end. I have attached the pricing of everything as well as several renderings he has sent us and our Lot plan which shows our build area within the yellow lines. The left side of the yard with big X's is for gardening Also, there is a grotto that will be big enough for 5-6 adults with tall ceiling which will have lights and speakers inside of it.

THIS IS WHERE WE NEED THE COMMUNITIES HELP PLEASE : ) Other than the Filter list in the attached price file (we are upgrading that to a Pentair DE filter), how does everything look and is there any recommendations of what we SHOULD or SHOULDN'T do, lessons learned etc.. You will see also that Quartz bottom is included in the pricing they don't charge more like the other builders.

ANY insight to design, pricing, styling, features (do's & dont's) etc.. we are totally open to. Want to minimize the mistakes as much as possible. Thank you all very much!

Mike

I had my pool re-plastered late December, and waited until now to add salt. Went to Home Depot and got 16 bags for my 20,000 gallon pool. It was clearly labeled Pool Salt with 'highest purity'. But it was actually brown salt and created a oily film on my pool and totally clogged my cartridge filter. Here are a few pictures. I was not sure if this was normal, so took the pictures just in case. 4 hours later, and the pool shows brown staining on the 4 month old plaster. Entire pool is just icky brown and oily. You can see the picture of my skimmer that was clean before but full of oily scum after adding salt. Any thoughts on what to do? I stopped at 8 bags added given how bad it was getting. Help!

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here, new to pools and everything that goes with owning one. I'm usually a pretty diligent researcher on home improvements, but...let's just say I missed a few homework assignments on this one.

Yesterday I had a 15X24' oval pool installed semi-inground. The installer told me to start filling it about 1 foot per day so now it's a little less than half full. They are coming back on Saturday to backfill the excavation and hook up the filter and pump. It will be a salt water system.

My question is, how urgently do I need to get it pumping and add chemicals? Can this wait until the weekend? I don't want to miss some chemical launch window and have to empty the pool.

I learned a lot by reading this thread--> Filling a Salt Water Pool from someone in a similar situation but what I want to understand here is the timing of the initial steps.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give. Just looking through the forums this seems like an awesome community and I look forward to learning a lot from you all.

Ok, I read Honda is getting out of the gas lawnmower biz after California imposed too strict of emissions standards from what I understand. So I went out and picked up a Honda HRX217HZA today since Honda's are known to be built like tanks. I had an ego for 7 years and the batteries are expensive as heck and slowly but surely it required more recharges to complete my backyard cut (two full batteries plus half of a third to mow a little less than a half acre 7 years later). When I started I could mow the whole back on the one battery with limited self propel use. So I said I'm going back to gas since my yard is about a full acre with the front added in. For smaller lawns I think you can definitely go electric if you want and be fine. Anyhow, the first mow today on one tank of gas on full mulch with full self propel and it looks like a carpet. Best looking cut I ever had on a lawn. Was blown away on how nice it looked. So thumbs up on the mower.

Hello everyone.

I'm officially starting my O/B in Queen Creek. I thought I'd make some posts on here sharing current rates and timelines I'm getting from bidders so others can have a good idea of what to expect. Also - maybe people can point out if I'm getting ripped off!

I've only officially had plans for 2 days.
My pool specs are attached
My goal is to build a pool for under $40,000 and hopefully get some use out of it before summer is over.

Current Bids (I will update as I receive more)
A/C Moving Cost: $500 Moving my A/C for an excavator to 1. Get a lower price on a bigger machine and 2. get it scheduled quicker. They will just remove my unit for a day or two and then put it back when the bobcat is out.,
Didn't have to move the A/C, just paid $400 for a smaller tractor on excavation

Layout: $150 - excavator included this

Excavation: $1,900 included wall breakdown. Put the wall back up for $300 (different contractor)

Plumbing #1: $5,400
Plumbing #2: $2,750 (Ended up paying $2,300 from this guy)

Shotcrete #1: $8,720 for my entire pool and will get me on the schedule ASAP.
Shotcrete #2: $5829 for my entire pool but is booked 12-14 weeks.
Shotcrete #3: $6400 fully available
Shotcrete is a nightmare right now - probably will be paying $7000 for this

Rebar #1: $2,567 - unavailable until April
Rebar #2: $1,700 - ended up paying $1,900 so he would double up the grid near the walls to keep the inspector happy which apparently isn't a requirement

Electrical: Ended up paying $3,200 which I think was a rip off but it was the only contractor I found that would respond and also the only one that didn't want to package together plumbing, electrical, excavation

Waterline Tile: $1230 for material and labor, basic water line tile.

Plaster and Pebble: $4,725

Equipment was $4100 after tax. Does not include a heater. Going to purchase the heater in the middle/end of summer for probably $3,500

Travertine Deck: $4/sq ft install + $8.12 sq/ft material cost. Higher cost for coping install. The current total for silver travertine deck + coping appears to be $6,233.20.
Update: This is probably going to be closer to $7000. I paid $4500 for 500 sq ft of Silver Travertine + Delivery.

This is all i have for now, I'll continue to update the process as I move along. When I was starting this I didn't see too many people talking about costs associated so I plan to post all of mine and maybe even the contractors once they are finished!

Hi Everyone,

Spring is right around the corner and the seasonal pools will start to be unpacked and put together for another pool season. Questions will start to fly as the weather gets better. As a fellow Intex pool owner I have received many emails and pm's about the Intex pool and various modifications I have done to the pool. There are many threads about these pools from other members that have the same, if not better, ideas to make these pools more enjoyable and efficient. I thought I would put together a list of links about these pools. Please feel free to ask questions and post answers on this thread.

Here we go:

Census Poll on Intex Users
Intex Pool Inground
Never Buy Intex Type A Filter Again
Intex SWG with Copper Question
Upgraded Plumbing and Thru-wall Skimmer
Second Return and Fountain for Intex Pool
Making Plumbing Adapters for Intex SWG
Custom PVC Pipe Adapter for Intex Pools
Winterizing an Intex Metal Frame Pool
Intex 1000gph Pump vs 2500gph is like Night and Day
Cutting My Intex Pool
Trouble keeping Intex Easy Set Ring Inflated
Too Unlevel
Easy Set Pool How to Run the Skimmer and Main Drain Together
Pool Water relief in an Intex Pool
Adding Thru-wall Skimmer
Intex Pool and Deck Build
Backyard build in Central Texas
Hard plumbed Intex pool
Heated Intex Pool
Intex Easy Set Skimmer Bracket MOD
Cutting Larger Intake and Return Holes


As more fine topics are posted I will update the links.



Mod Note:
Please feel free to add more useful links to this thread. If you have questions please ask them in your own new thread.

Hey all! I finally didn't get an eyeroll from the wife when bringing up a SWCG for the first time, and instead was being asked questions about cost, longevity, ease of install, salt to add, etc. So it sounds like she's giving me approval to investigate adding a SWCG.

My current pad looks like this (some minor changes since this photo from 2-3 years ago, but nothing substantial):



The run between the heater and the returns is the logical place for it, but I'm concerned it might be difficult to fit around the filter.

My understanding is that SWCG consist of two components - a controller that goes on the wall, and the salt cell that goes in the plumbing. The brick you see right behind the pad is my chimney. Any issues with putting the controller on that? I could install right above the switches on the right side, probably. The switches are for my heater and my pump, which are on separate circuits, though my heater also has some exterior lights on the same circuit. Should I just put it on my pump circuit? I can get more information (amperage of line, etc.) if that would help.

This might be a time to think about some sort of automation, too. Pretty sure both my heater and pump could be on a box that would be connected to the wifi and controllable via app. Or is that overkill when you don't have a spa and would just have the heater/pump/SWCG on the controller?

During the summer of 2021 we switched from using 3-inch Trichlor tablets in Pentair feeders to peristaltic pumps using 10% - 12.5% Sodium Hypochlorite (Bleach) hoping to reduce operating costs and to save water (periodically having to dump a lot of water due to constantly rising CYA). At peak summer we had typically used about 3.88 PPM chlorine per day in each of our 2 approximately 32,500 semi-public pools here in Tucson, AZ, averaging 2.33 8-oz Trichlor tablets/day/pool. After the conversion to Bleach we noted we were having to use substantially more Bleach than we had estimated, based on the 12.8 fl oz/PPM/10,000 gallons (10% Cl2 equivalent) vs 1.48 oz Trichlor/PPM/10,000 gallons guidance.

As a result, I started trying to figure out what was causing the higher-than-expected Bleach use. It wasn’t “weak” Bleach solution. I started testing the chlorine content and found it was as advertised. During my “research” I found a posting on the TFP forum by member mas985, dated 7/1/21, titled “CYA vs UV Chlorine Loss Test – Updated”.

A Recap of Test Conditions presented by mas985 of the single sample source pool water for the initial condition and subsequent dilutions, and the results:

Initial Sample, FC 7.2, CYA 80, FC/CYA Ratio .09, pH 7.2.

Resulting 2-hour FC PPM Loss .4 PPM

1st Dilution 1:1, FC 3.6, CYA 40, FC/CYA Ratio .09, pH 7.02 (adjusted from dilution with pH 6.9 distilled water)

Resulting 2-hour FC PPM Loss 1 PPM

2nd Dilution 1:3, FC 1.8, CYA 20, FC/CYA Ratio .09, pH 6.98 (adjusted from dilution with pH 6.9 distilled water)

Resulting 2-hour FC PPM Loss 1.4 PPM

Initial, 1st and 2nd dilutions were in open-top clear containers placed in mid-day summer sun for 2 hours.

The first thing I noticed was the critical role of CYA in shielding the chlorine from solar UV burn-off.

At one-half the CYA concentration (CYA 40), the FC loss was about 2 times that of the Initial of 80 PPM CYA sample. At one-quarter CYA concentration (CYA 20) the FC loss was about 4 times that of the Initial condition of 80 PPM CYA.
But, note that the FC/CYA ratio is exactly the same in each prepared sample.

Of considerable help to me in understanding the CYA – Chlorine relationship was a web-based application I had found: “Free Chlorine and Cyanuric Acid System Simulator”, created by David G Wahman, U.S. EPA. The tool is based on the equilibrium model presented by O'Brien (1972) and O'Brien et al (1974). Accessible at: https://usepaord.shinyapps.io/cyanuric/ . The application generates graphic representation of resulting values and can generate and download to your computer a CSV file of computed results. Note: All chemical relationships are at 25 °C.

The Application's results are given as negative log molar concentrations. So, you need to figure out the math and conversions.

EPA Application Definitions and Terminology Equivalents:

Total Chlorine: CYA-Bound + Unbound Chlorine = DPD tested Free Chlorine (FC)

Total Free Chlorine: Chlorine Unbound from CYA, HOCl + OCl-. Can’t be directly tested, has to be computed, and is the concentration of the chlorine exposed to Solar UV. Equivalent to Free Available Chlorine (FAC).

Total Cyanuric = Stated CYA concentration

Resultant data points for the 3 test conditions:

Initial 1st Dilution 2nd Dilution
FAC Molar Concentration 0.009295707 0.019057203 0.037339955

FAC PPM 0.066929089 0.068605932 0.067211919

Reported 2-hr FC PPM Loss .4 1.0 1.4

Computed FC PPM Loss .4 .820 1.607

I attribute the bulk of the variance between Reported and Computed FC Loss to the +/- .2 PPM accuracy range of the FAS-DPD test, along with some small variance due to the inability to represent lesser than a .1 pH precision in the computational simulator.

Observations:

At the constant FC/CYA Ratio of .09, the starting FAC PPM remains essentially flat across the Initial, 1st and 2nd dilutions tested.

The FC PPM Loss rate is directly proportional to the FAC Molar Concentration, not the FAC PPM.

Therefore, I believe a Rate Constant loss is present: R * FAC Molar Concentration.

I calculated the 2-hr FC PPM loss Rate in this test as 43.0306 * FAC Molar Concentration across all three test solutions. The Rate Constant expression is dependent on the amount of clear-sky solar insolation, which varies throughout the year and by geographic latitude.

The FC/CYA Ratio is highly correlated to maintaining adequate HOCl PPM for disinfection:

Initial 1st Dilution 2nd Dilution
HOCl PPM (computed) 0.045933451 0.053248808 0.052166838
Note the increased HOCl PPM in 1st and 2nd Dilutions due to the reduced pH of those solutions having shifted the HOCl/OCl- ratio a bit more toward HOCl.

The mas985 test was a “static” test over a two-hour period – declining balance at half-life intervals such as the approximate 12-min interval of OCl- over a 2-hr period, I assume that a “dynamic” constant-feed of chlorine will result in a higher chlorine loss at any given CYA level, particularly when adding unstabilized chlorine as with 10% – 12% pool bleach or with a SWCG, versus using Trichlor, which will continuously and progressively change the FC/CYA ratio.

Caveat:

My calculated FC PPM Loss Rate Constant of 43.0306 * FAC Molar Concentration for the mas985 test samples group is Not Applicable to a real-life swimming pool situation, in which the ratio of exposed pool surface area in square feet / the total cubic feet of water will have significant effect on the calculated loss rate of the full FAC content in the pool, due to UV shielding at depth from the limited UV penetration of water.

However, for me, this was an eye-opener into the mechanism of solar UV chlorine loss and the validity of the previously established FC/CYA ratios.

I just purchased a 27ft round (52 inches deep) above ground pool with a salt system. I have a family of 4 ( 10 and 6 year old girls and husband ) . My husband and I debated getting an oval (15x30) or round pool (27 ft) either shape fits our yard. We really leaned towards oval primarily bc we like the look of it a little better. However we got sold on the round bc it was a few thousand dollars cheaper (including install) and capacity was similar. The pool was delivered yesterday and set to be installed mid May. I woke up very early this morning and could not fall back asleep wondering if I should return the pool and exchange for the oval shaped 15x30. Can anyone share their opinions of pros/cons to the size and/or shape difference with these pools ???? Thanks

This pool was built by previous owner about 5-6 years ago. This is going to be my 2nd summer.

I have this gap around the whole pool and I believe this gap is getting bigger(or may be I just started paying too much attention to it). Guys who closed my pool last fall said they have never seen a gap like this and it must be filled otherwise pool surface my start falling. What do you guys think? Does this gap need to be filled and if so, what does it need to be filled with?

Thanks

The pool store raised an eyebrow when I purchased 12lbs of stabilizer. I typically use 8+ lb to get to the STILL reccomended SWG levels of 60-90.
They were going on about how the Gov't lowered the standard amount of CYA in pools to 20ppm. Something to do with the shock that people buy from WallyWorld containing CYA.
I stopped listening after she said "Gov't" and politely said I'd check my sources.
You can add this to the mantra of "don't listen to what the pool store tells you".

No chemical levels at this time - tons of work to do before we get to that point.

Steve

I want to wait a few more weeks since I don't trust our night time temperatures and we don't have a heater so we can't swim until late May/early June anyway but I'm itching to get this cover off! I cracked open a corner and things are looking pretty good! A ton of worms and dirt on the bottom, which is an every year thing, but I can clearly see the bottom. The cover makes a weird green shadow but you can see the main drain at 8' down . Water temp is 54*

I previously had a Dolphin SE which stopped working after around 3 years. I saw these wireless models by Aiper and thought I would give them a try. I first tried the Aiper Elite pro for about a month and all together I was happy, I probably would not have returned it if the new model was not released. There were three things I did not like about the elite pro 1) It was too light, it did not sink well and it would not stay contacted with the ground 2) the foam wheel was wearing quickly on my pebble flooring and 3) I didn't really like the bottom closure for getting to the debris bag. Enter the Seagull Pro!!!!

I just received my new Seagull pro today. It is currently charging but I noticed a few things in comparison to the Elite pro immediately.
1) Much heavier and more similar in weight to the Dolphin
2) The power supply is probably 4 time larger than the elite pro, it is big.
3) The plastic quality seems improved
4) The basket reminds me of the Dolphin but it only comes with the fine mesh basket inserts however in the manual it appears you can buy others if needed
5) Just an item to note but the instructions have directions for replacing some of the wear components, this is good as it appears they should make those available.

Once it is charged I will continue this review but so far so good. Here are some pictures

.

UPDATE, Dec 25th, 2020: As per many of my threads, this gets very long. So here's some links to more interesting bits for new readers:
Post #30, I swap a pump with a bad bearing with a new pump.
Post #61, I pull apart a pump to change the bearings.

Alright, so not many pics yet. But I'm finally going to be tackling a few things I've been putting off, and documenting them.

First off, here's our spa.


The cover is in sad, sad shape. It was not sealing well last winter, and steam could be seen leaking out when the wind blew. That's just money down the drain. So I'll be measuring for and ordering a new cover, but that's fairly boring stuff.

Of more interest to people is probably the process of fixing the other two issues. First, there's a leak, or at least one. Ever since we bought the house last year it's been leaking, know it's a leak as even during dry stretches in the summer the concrete on the low side is always wet. So we'll be digging in, quite literally, to find the leak, which I suspect will be hidden under lots of factory spray foam.

And finally, the real kicker for getting me off my butt is that a bit over a week ago a bearing started making noise. It got bad fast and I eventually shut the power off a few days ago until I could fix it. But note the ice on the cover, winter is coming and I need this fixed! Unfortunately the bad bearing is on the primary two stage pump used to circulate water for heating on low speed and half the jets on high speed, and not the second pump with is only used for the other half of the jets and filter cycles.

So stay tuned, and tag along for a picture filled thread as I figure out exactly what is wrong and fix it before winter really hits!

EDIT: I also need to fix the waterfall, the valve o-ring popped out and now we can't shut it off, so it's always on and I find it to be annoyingly loud when the pumps are on high and my head is next to the waterfall.

Just had a delivery. Got it charging. Will let you all know how I get on in the next few days but here’s some pics if you are curious of its size and layout.

Once upon a time, a man bought a house with a very ugly painted pool


and very ugly pool equipment.

But he bought a new filter

And he bought a new pump

And after spending way too much money being pool stored, discovered a lovely web site and forum that taught him about the BBB method of pool care, and life was good and the pool was sparkling.

So after reading a bunch of these threads and threatening to do something like this I started to pull the trigger.
Thanks to segalion, jonpcar who have provided very interesting reading, and most of all cmc0619 who ideas I primarily "borrowed"

1 Raspberry Pi 3b
1 Sequentmicrosystems MegaIO relay hat. Plus 1 spare for expansion or when I break this one.

Din rails, plus accessories and a bunch of other stuff I have not ordered yet.

My primary goal for this was to drive 4 valve actuators to go from Pool Mode to Spa Mode. My wife loves the spa and apparently turning 4 valves is too much work (many of you know what I am talking about).

So far I am in the early stages of bench testing this. The Pi is working, the relay hat is working and I can turn the relays off and on via command line and Node Red (thanks again cmc0619).

I will try to document as much of this a possible so that people can copy and improve upon it. However, I got so caught up in the moment tonight I did none of that. Although it is probably a good exercise for me to blow it all away and start over anyway where I can document it.

Things to think about and get comments on about future expansion:

1 Want to measure pH. Seems to be the hardest thing in my pool to keep steady.
2 Set up a Stenner pump to dose acid. (see item 1)
3 Have a single speed pump, should upgrade to a VSP and control that as well (more on this later).
4 Adjust the temperature on my Hayward heater using RS-485 (don't want to cycle the power on and off, just seems kludgy). This item seems the hardest to do, I just cant find the protocol anywhere.
5 Turn my SWG on and off with my pool pump.

Running valve actuators seems pretty simple and is very low risk. If I make a mistake water just goes in the wrong place.

I can do items 3-5 by upgrading my pump to the new Hayward VSP 950 with Omni system for about 2K installed. I can tap one of the relay circuits in the omni to sense spa mode and have my Pi drive the actuators. I figure the pump is worth about $1200 so I am paying about $800 for some automation and the installation which is not a terrible price. BTW for those of you building on top of your Intellicenter configs this would be very similar just with the Hayward version.

Or I can just buy a VSP pump from INYO pools and have my new controller handle everything.

I am happy to answer any questions, and so far this seems like a fairly easy project to do and I am happy to help anyone out.

I've seen several owner builders going on and several questions about how much savings can be had by doing that. Thought I'd share my savings for those looking at it. Disclaimer: my savings are not necessarily what you'll see and pricing is very regional.

I'm not yet done with my build (a week away), but there are enough known costs that I think it's pretty representative. I'm sure I'll get surprised again by an extra cost I didn't foresee but hopefully not too big of a swing.

First of all, the guy on howibuiltmyownpool.com also has his cost breakdown and his savings seems to reflect mine.

Secondly, the builder that I'm comparing to is a national builders price quote in Austin for a very basic pool. Every other builder was more expensive, but this builder was reputable (by some accounts cuts some corners, but a decent one).

And my savings was... Roughly 30%. I've heard that builders shoot for at least 25% margins and that seems to be the case. My entire cost breakdown can be seen in my spreadsheet here: Pool - Google Sheets

I had to take out some of my upgrades that I did to compare apples to apples (like adding a heat pump), but I think it's a pretty fair comparison.

I have to qualify this 30% savings however. You will NOT actually save 30%. That is, I would not have spent $64k on my pool. You WILL upgrade things that you wouldn't have otherwise because "hey. I'm getting it a lot cheaper than I would with a builder". I could have built my pool for a lot cheaper, but I couldn't resist. And Im glad I didn't cheap out in my usual fashion (though I might be saying a different story if a go broke ).

The things I liked about the OB process:

• I liked having control. I'm the type of person that even with a PB I would have been overseeing everything, annoying the contractors.
• I liked saving money
• I liked the sense of ownership I took in doing it myself

I don't like:

• If something goes wrong, I have some blame in that and my costs might go up
• i don't have a great warranty. Each sub stands by their work but for a short amount of time (though sometimes with PBs their warranty is not worth much because they either go out of business or play the fine print game)
• I've felt like I had to obsess over this process (that's just sort of what I do), which has taken away from work and family

Anyway, that's my experience and those are my numbers (unless I get surprised). Let me know if you have any questions.

We had a historic rainstorm in south Florida yesterday. We had 26 inches of rain within 24 hours, a historic record. I am next to a river, and the river water rose up higher and higher, higher than many people's docks, streets got flooded and there was a continuous body of water from the river to the streets into my property. My pool got flooded, my spa got flooded, my garage got flooded everything that is less than 20" off the floor got flooded.





Where do I start? Do I drain everything with a sump pump and get the pool and spa empty first?

I also left the pump running for hours before I went outside to turn it off so there may be debris and dirty water in the piping, pump and filter.

I'm 90% of the way done with replacing my equipment.

Before:
Pentair Superflo Single Speed
Pentair Sand Filter

After:
Pentair Intellicenter
Pentair Intelliflo 3
Pentair Clean and Clear Plus 520
Pentair IC60
Pentair MasterTemp 400

Mainly, checking to see if there are any obvious errors I need to fix or other things I should do now while I'm in the midst of it.