Hi! The best thing to do is swim in 3' or 3.5' with the kids. It may not be possible for you. We luckily did this in community pools. We found 3.5' to be the shallowest tolerable depth and will use it for our upcoming build. Good luck in your decision.
Design suggestions ideas
- Thread starter Blueice89
- Start date
SALT to the max!! Get a SWG that rated for 2x the size of your pool. Saves power costs and cell life over time.
You get plenty of free uv from the sun and the ozone does not really work that well. Here is a link about it all: Ozone Systems - Further Reading
Kim
You get plenty of free uv from the sun and the ozone does not really work that well. Here is a link about it all: Ozone Systems - Further Reading
Kim
Do you think we have enough steps for the pool ?
Is it weird Baja step I didn’t just keep the steps all across the Baja step ? Not sure . Was curious .
Is it weird Baja step I didn’t just keep the steps all across the Baja step ? Not sure . Was curious .
If you go deeper on the shallow end you may need to add a step or two for getting on the the shelf from the pool. You don't want your steps to be too high. A house step is 7". Pool steps tend to be around 10". Me? I would get as close to 7" as I could get with out taking up too much of the pool area.
This is your pool. Do it how YOU want. Don't worry about what other people did. Not having the step all the way across the shelf leaves you more play room in the pool which is a good thing.
Kim
This is your pool. Do it how YOU want. Don't worry about what other people did. Not having the step all the way across the shelf leaves you more play room in the pool which is a good thing.
Kim
I truly want trouble free pool.
My pool builder tried very hard to keep me on Ozone & UV system but I trust that you guys are more in the know on these things and pushed for big salt cell system.
He said I would have to design dislcaimer that I install salt, then disclaimer for entry for 3.5' entry.
This is pretty standard?
It was funny he said, that I do have to tell everyone these disclaimer.
They said, it will require me to replace pumps sooner / equipment sooner the salt system, any truth?
They also said that salt system will need new cell in 3 years or so, no could be true.
Overall they said salt requires more maintenance than Ozone + UV.
From what I read here though, it sounds like the group does not agree with these terms and given choice would always choose salt.
My pool builder tried very hard to keep me on Ozone & UV system but I trust that you guys are more in the know on these things and pushed for big salt cell system.
He said I would have to design dislcaimer that I install salt, then disclaimer for entry for 3.5' entry.
This is pretty standard?
It was funny he said, that I do have to tell everyone these disclaimer.
They said, it will require me to replace pumps sooner / equipment sooner the salt system, any truth?
They also said that salt system will need new cell in 3 years or so, no could be true.
Overall they said salt requires more maintenance than Ozone + UV.
From what I read here though, it sounds like the group does not agree with these terms and given choice would always choose salt.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,441
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
You should tell your builder to stop bullying you and you are paying him to install the pool you want. He can write you any "lawyers letters" he wants to notify you of whatever he wants to put in writing. You should not need to sign anything.
No.
You will tell everyone how much better your salt pool is and why that PB is so wrong.
No. Pentair, Jandy, and Hayward sell salt systems with their equipment. Call their customer support line and ask them.
Depends on the size salt cell you buy and how hard you run it. The salt cell is a consumable and needs replacement when it's salt generating capacity is used up.
Like the UV and Ozone systems don't need maintenance? Ask him when the UV bulb needs replacement and how you can test if the UV and Ozone system is doing whatever it is supposed to do? The problem is you cannot test it.
I have had SWG's in pools for 30 years. My equipment has never failed sooner then expected. If I bought a house with a pool without a SWG I would install one the first week I owned it.
Well... I just replaced my first cell with a replacement. It worked for 8 years. I'd say your PB is pushing a bit too hard to be trusted on any equipment issues.
UV is free and plentiful from the SUN. Usually only handy for indoor pools.
Ozone will actually break down your chlorine slightly.... so it uses more than non-ozone pools.
The ease of having a pool make its own chlorine means I don't have to do squat, day after day. In fact, its ideal for vacations! I've left for 17 days before and come home to crystal clean water.
You can trust us....we ain't selling you nuffin!
Maddie
UV is free and plentiful from the SUN. Usually only handy for indoor pools.
Ozone will actually break down your chlorine slightly.... so it uses more than non-ozone pools.
The ease of having a pool make its own chlorine means I don't have to do squat, day after day. In fact, its ideal for vacations! I've left for 17 days before and come home to crystal clean water.
You can trust us....we ain't selling you nuffin!
Maddie
Not to hijack the OPs thread... but is the efficacy of breaking down viruses with a UV light same as the atmospheric UV rays? At the hospital I work at they "disinfect" rooms/equipment by bringing a UV light cell into a close room for like 30 min.Well... I just replaced my first cell with a replacement. It worked for 8 years. I'd say your PB is pushing a bit too hard to be trusted on any equipment issues.
UV is free and plentiful from the SUN. Usually only handy for indoor pools.
Ozone will actually break down your chlorine slightly.... so it uses more than non-ozone pools.
The ease of having a pool make its own chlorine means I don't have to do squat, day after day. In fact, its ideal for vacations! I've left for 17 days before and come home to crystal clean water.
You can trust us....we ain't selling you nuffin!
Maddie
Very good point. The biggest difference is the fact the hospital UV light cell is in a CLOSE room where in a pool the water is moving past it and does not stay there any real length of time. Add that to the fact you cannot be 100% sure ALL of the water even goes by the UV cell at some point of the run.
He said you have to create a disclaimer then make anyone that uses your pool aware of it??
I dont know how far along you are with this PB, but i'm seeing a bit of a red flag here. He clearly assumes you "dont know what you dont know," and is willing to take advantage of that. Thats not a good basis for a builder / client relationship. My trust in him wouldve taken a major hit if he tried to BS me like that.
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Oh no he said I would sign a disclaimer . I guess pool builders have standard disclaimer for salt install.
Oh sorry, i thought you said you had to design a waiver.....now i see it was probably a typo and you meant 'sign' . My bad.
Still....do I understand correctly that he told you that you have to tell everyone about these disclaimers? If so, than what I said previously still stands.
This is my fault for trying to type hurried on iPhone . I meant to say he tells everyone these disclaimers about salt but builds lots of salt pools . Just company requirement to disclaim issues with salt .
I just went through picking a builder and about half of them were heavily resistant to salt. However none of them refused. One did ask me to sign a waiver. I ended up passing them up. I went with the builder who listened to what I wanted and said yup I can make that happen. Although he doesn't put a lot of salt pools in these days. I think what I'm trying to say is you should feel supported and good about such a large expense; listen to your intuition.
Pool fence wise, I think we are thinking mesh, I don't think we have to do that until much later.
They drew the lines on the ground and probably will start the pregrade soon.
I like our builder. Most important to me is someone with good customer service and will stand behind their work and is financially secure and at least for me I wanted someone my neighbors used so that if I had questions I could ask them about their experience, this was just easy for me to make this choice.
They drew up the CAD document and its looking pretty good I think.
I'm pretty curious as to how well heat pump will work out.
We cannot have natural gas and propane tanks for us would be crazy expensive.
That said we do have 1 propane tank for our kitchen stove top that is a 100 gal.
Should I try to have the builder stub a gas line in the event we want to add a propane tank for pool area?
I am not sure, heat wise, for spa and pool I am hoping the Heat pump will be enough.
We're doing SQ 166 By AqualCal with breezer and we have 20k gallons to heat.
I have solar power and our power is pretty cheap on avg 5cents per kwH .
They drew the lines on the ground and probably will start the pregrade soon.
I like our builder. Most important to me is someone with good customer service and will stand behind their work and is financially secure and at least for me I wanted someone my neighbors used so that if I had questions I could ask them about their experience, this was just easy for me to make this choice.
They drew up the CAD document and its looking pretty good I think.
I'm pretty curious as to how well heat pump will work out.
We cannot have natural gas and propane tanks for us would be crazy expensive.
That said we do have 1 propane tank for our kitchen stove top that is a 100 gal.
Should I try to have the builder stub a gas line in the event we want to add a propane tank for pool area?
I am not sure, heat wise, for spa and pool I am hoping the Heat pump will be enough.
We're doing SQ 166 By AqualCal with breezer and we have 20k gallons to heat.
I have solar power and our power is pretty cheap on avg 5cents per kwH .
For salt pool- we have nice stacked stone being used for design in on the spillover and scuppers . Kinda like bling corner our pool . How will the salt affect these areas and what do you suggest to keep it tidy clean and not hurt the stacked stone ?
Attachments
- May 3, 2014
- 58,350
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Salt will not be the issue with stacked stone. Calcium buildup will. No matter what you will get evaporite in your splash zone.
Stacked stone is not a good idea for any splash zone/wet locations in our area with high calcium water.
Stacked stone is not a good idea for any splash zone/wet locations in our area with high calcium water.
Is there nothing you can do to make sure the stack stone fairs well with calcium like clean it weekly?
- May 3, 2014
- 58,350
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
To be honest, no. Cleaning it means with acid. Not sure what stone it is but acid may not be its friend either.
You live in an area of high calcium content water. With our temperature and low humidity you will get evaporation quickly wherever pool water splashes. That will eventually build up a calcium scale/evaporite. The stacked stone looks very pretty new. After a year or so, well, not so much.
You live in an area of high calcium content water. With our temperature and low humidity you will get evaporation quickly wherever pool water splashes. That will eventually build up a calcium scale/evaporite. The stacked stone looks very pretty new. After a year or so, well, not so much.