We made it to gunite... finally!

[sll0037]

Our dig was delayed from 11/03 to 11/10 due to rain, but I'm still in research mode hoping to make some big decisions on our build details soon!

Does anyone have any recommendations for a pool chiller?

We're leaning toward a black pool finish now and our pool will be in full sun the majority of the day (Dallas, TX) so I think a pool chiller will be necessary even though we prefer warmer water. Initially, I had my builder include plumbing to add a chiller in the future, but now I'm considering just biting the bullet and adding it during the build.

I'd seen online a GPC210 (rated for 30k gallons) is about $2500 and a GPC215 (rated for 45k gallons) is about $4000.

I'm estimating my pool will be 30k gallons (7 x 20 tanning ledge, 10" depth) and (31 x 20 pool, 4' to 8' depth), and (7 x 9 spa).My pool builder said Glacier chillers are almost impossible to get these days (his last three orders were cancelled) and he's recommending a Tropicool TC-1500 instead.

As far as lighting is concerned, do we have the lights in the best places? We're using Pentair IntelliBrite 5G Color LED Pool Lights.



I'm a bit concerned about the light placed on the far side of the pool, facing the house. I've read all lights should face away from the house, but when I brought this up with my builder, he stated that due to the size of our pool, this configuration is needed to avoid dark areas. He stated glare shouldn't be an issue with these lights and my pool.

 

[HermanTX]

Lights in the pool should face away from your sitting area (patio, house). The 2 on the near wall look ok, there is one on the water feature wall - is that on the wall facing the housing or is that on the water feature itself?
The light on the short wall to the right facing the length of pool may not be needed if you put 3 on the near side wall.
The one on the baja deck must be facing upwards? Or is on the step facing the deep end?
The one in the spa is fine.

I would ask the PB to provide a plumbing layout so it shows the placement of the returns.
There are 4 bubblers - which is a lot of noise. Do you want to run them as a unit or individually? How the plumbing is set up will determine some of that.

I can't help on a chiller - but interested in what you able to settle on. Read the plumbing requirements for the chiller to ensure it is plumbed in correctly.

 

[mknauss]

We're leaning toward a black pool finish now

Realize the darker the pool finish, the more imperfections you will see on the final plaster finish. Expect to see swirls, color variations, etc. Also it will be hot. Very hot.

 

[sll0037]

Lights in the pool should face away from your sitting area (patio, house). The 2 on the near wall look ok, there is one on the water feature wall - is that on the wall facing the housing or is that on the water feature itself?
The light on the short wall to the right facing the length of pool may not be needed if you put 3 on the near side wall.
The one on the baja deck must be facing upwards? Or is on the step facing the deep end?
The one in the spa is fine.

I would ask the PB to provide a plumbing layout so it shows the placement of the returns.
There are 4 bubblers - which is a lot of noise. Do you want to run them as a unit or individually? How the plumbing is set up will determine some of that.

I can't help on a chiller - but interested in what you able to settle on. Read the plumbing requirements for the chiller to ensure it is plumbed in correctly.

The water feature wall light is on the pool wall facing the house (3 waterfalls). I'm assuming what the pool builder is saying is that the two lights facing away from the house would leave dark areas in the pool due to the 20' width of the pool.

Are you saying that three lights on the side of the house facing toward the water feature (away from the house) will light the pool well?

I have no clue about the light on the baja deck, as it seemed like a weird placement to me as well. I'm assuming it will be on the steps facing the deep end of the pool. I do want the baja shelf to be well lit though.

4 bubblers does seem like a lot... I'm not 100% on this element yet. Thank you for bringing up the noise concern and plumbing aspect of the bubblers, as I had not considered that yet.

I'd also wondered if we needed lighting in the spa overflow well.

 

[sll0037]

Realize the darker the pool finish, the more imperfections you will see on the final plaster finish. Expect to see swirls, color variations, etc. Also it will be hot. Very hot.

I was concerned about the heat but I figured the pool chiller would mitigate this risk.

The aesthetic concern is well noted... it scares me but my wife really prefers a darker finish.

 

[mknauss]

Remember that the chiller is an evaporative cooler. So you will use lots of fill water during the summer. Be sure to check the chemistry of your fill water as you may want to use softened water for make up water.

On the aesthetics, no complaints about the finish if black is used. Do not go by pretty pictures or small samples. Do a thorough review of the old threads in Under Construction here on the forum. There are many examples of very dissatisfied owners with dark finishes.

 

[sll0037]

Remember that the chiller is an evaporative cooler. So you will use lots of fill water during the summer. Be sure to check the chemistry of your fill water as you may want to use softened water for make up water.

On the aesthetics, no complaints about the finish if black is used. Do not go by pretty pictures or small samples. Do a thorough review of the old threads in Under Construction here on the forum. There are many examples of very dissatisfied owners with dark finishes.

I do plan to use softened water for the auto-fill. I'm even considering mixing softened water with city water during the pool fill, but I haven't done enough research to know whether this is advised and how to execute on this correctly so as to yield the best, safest result for the pool finish and long term health of the pool.

 

[HermanTX]

The water feature wall light is on the pool wall facing the house (3 waterfalls). I'm assuming what the pool builder is saying is that the two lights facing away from the house would leave dark areas in the pool due to the 20' width of the pool.

Are you saying that three lights on the side of the house facing toward the water feature (away from the house) will light the pool well?

Lights facing the sitting area tend blind the person so lights facing away provide a more soothing look.
See the link below which provides a lot of information but take note of the top part where there are several embedded links for proper sizing of lights in various pool configurations.

Pentair LED Pool Lights - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[sll0037]

Lights facing the sitting area tend blind the person so lights facing away provide a more soothing look.
See the link below which provides a lot of information but take note of the top part where there are several embedded links for proper sizing of lights in various pool configurations.

Pentair LED Pool Lights - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Interestingly enough, I was just checking out the new Jandy Infinite WaterColors lights and I stumbled across their helpful lighting guide.

• Can I use Jandy lights and control them with my Pentair Intellicenter?

Based on what I read, I may be able to do the following (green circles indicate light placement):

4 Pool Lights - Facing away from house

• Higher Wattage to increase throw (24 Watts?)
• Considering a black pool finish as well

1 Spa Light

This still leaves me figuring out the best way to light the tanning ledge and spa wells.

Spa Wells

• 3 Lights Total - 1 for each channel

Tanning Ledge

• Option One - 3 LED Bubblers
  • Although I've read led bubblers are not great at lighting up tanning ledges
• Option Two
  • 2-3 LED Lights behind the tanning chairs, facing in toward the pool
  • My concern here would be putting any lights on the spa wall facing the pool, as it may not look great considering the wall will be covered with a large porcelain slab facing.

 

[Hotbobcool]

Can you not put lights on the shelf stairs and deep end wall? Facing east and west vs all north (directions relative to drawing).

 

[markdpratt]

Our dig was delayed from 11/03 to 11/10 due to rain, but I'm still in research mode hoping to make some big decisions on our build details soon!

Does anyone have any recommendations for a pool chiller?

We're leaning toward a black pool finish now and our pool will be in full sun the majority of the day (Dallas, TX) so I think a pool chiller will be necessary even though we prefer warmer water. Initially, I had my builder include plumbing to add a chiller in the future, but now I'm considering just biting the bullet and adding it during the build.

I'd seen online a GPC210 (rated for 30k gallons) is about $2500 and a GPC215 (rated for 45k gallons) is about $4000.

I'm estimating my pool will be 30k gallons (7 x 20 tanning ledge, 10" depth) and (31 x 20 pool, 4' to 8' depth), and (7 x 9 spa).My pool builder said Glacier chillers are almost impossible to get these days (his last three orders were cancelled) and he's recommending a Tropicool TC-1500 instead.

As far as lighting is concerned, do we have the lights in the best places? We're using Pentair IntelliBrite 5G Color LED Pool Lights.

View attachment 539554

I'm a bit concerned about the light placed on the far side of the pool, facing the house. I've read all lights should face away from the house, but when I brought this up with my builder, he stated that due to the size of our pool, this configuration is needed to avoid dark areas. He stated glare shouldn't be an issue with these lights and my pool.

In regards to the chiller, we have the Glacier GPC210 chiller on our 16,000 gallon pool with off-white plaster and little shading. We operated it for the first time this summer in the hot/humid south Louisiana summer and would run it basically 12 hours from dark to morning. It would drop the water temps about 8 degrees - from the low 90’s to the mid-80’s - which was perfect for us.

Since your pool will be 30,000 gallons and have dark plaster, I would think you definitely need to go with the larger Glacier or other brand cooler.

Good luck.

 

[sll0037]

In regards to the chiller, we have the Glacier GPC210 chiller on our 16,000 gallon pool with off-white plaster and little shading. We operated it for the first time this summer in the hot/humid south Louisiana summer and would run it basically 12 hours from dark to morning. It would drop the water temps about 8 degrees - from the low 90’s to the mid-80’s - which was perfect for us.

Since your pool will be 30,000 gallons and have dark plaster, I would think you definitely need to go with the larger Glacier or other brand cooler.

Good luck.

Thanks! I don’t think it’ll be quite as humid here in Dallas, so I’m hoping to get better efficiency but I do think it’s a great idea to go with the GPC-215 based on your experience.

 

[sll0037]

Can you not put lights on the shelf stairs and deep end wall? Facing east and west vs all north (directions relative to drawing).

I don’t think it’s out of the question. Putting lights on the stairs doesn’t help feed light to the tanning ledge though.

The deep end bench wall light(s) would provide more light for the deep end.

 

[HermanTX]

Can I use Jandy lights and control them with my Pentair Intellicenter?

We need someone with an Intellicenter to answer that question. I have Jandy AquaLink and it does control Pentair IntelliBrite lights and Hayward lghts - so my hope is that Pentair Intellicenter can control Jandy lights

Spa Wells

• 3 Lights Total - 1 for each channel

This will look nice - best to talk to PB if best to put on floor looking up or on wall facing down each channel -

Tanning Ledge

• Option One - 3 LED Bubblers
  • Although I've read led bubblers are not great at lighting up tanning ledges
• Option Two
  • 2-3 LED Lights behind the tanning chairs, facing in toward the pool
  • My concern here would be putting any lights on the spa wall facing the pool, as it may not look great considering the wall will be covered with a large porcelain slab facing.

Consider putting light on the wall on the short side of the tanning ledge facing each other.
I would not put any on the spa wall facing out as that may not look good.
Alternatively - 2 lights facing upwards spaced out on the tanning ledge - not part of the bubbler.

 

[sll0037]

Dig day is finally here!

I’m excited and nervous all at once. My two year old is intrigued by all the noise.

 

[Newdude]

My two year old is intrigued by all the noise.

For my first pool when the kids were little, there were little kid high nose prints on the sliding back door, to match my adult high nose print.

Congrats on the destroyed yard !!!!

 

[sll0037]

For my first pool when the kids were little, there were little kid high nose prints on the sliding back door, to match my adult high nose print.

Congrats on the destroyed yard.

That's too funny! I keep finding myself walking to the back door to watch forgetting I could just as easily pull up the backyard camera.

My oldest daughter just turned two and she's so scared of loud noise and big trucks, but she seems to be quite interested in what's going on back there. We have a very small round plastic pool she used this summer to "swim" and when I told her this would be a much bigger version of that, she just smiled ear to ear. I can't wait to see all three of my girls (my wife, my oldest: 2, and my youngest: 6 months) back there having the time of their lives.

 

[kimkats]

Let the MUD begin!! Now throw some old cloths on the kids and let them play in the mud!

 

[an1vrsy]

Thanks! I don’t think it’ll be quite as humid here in Dallas, so I’m hoping to get better efficiency but I do think it’s a great idea to go with the GPC-215 based on your experience.

Congratulations on the start of your build. I have one suggestion, I have skimmed this thread. So I don’t know where your utilities are in relation to your pool equipment. AND if you can get a change order to move the equipment pad with the Glacier GPC-215 away from where I see it on the drawings.

I have that very chiller. I purposefully moved the equipment pad from next to the house to the other side of my yard. Variable speed pumps are quiet enough when running with low rpm’s. However the GPC-215 is loud. When the fan is on, it is loud. You do not want it next to the house. You will hear it and dislike it. Those with GPC-210s don’t really say that, but the 215 is the big boy. Just my .02¢

 

[sll0037]

Congratulations on the start of your build. I have one suggestion, I have skimmed this thread. So I don’t know where your utilities are in relation to your pool equipment. AND if you can get a change order to move the equipment pad with the Glacier GPC-215 away from where I see it on the drawings.

I have that very chiller. I purposefully moved the equipment pad from next to the house to the other side of my yard. Variable speed pumps are quiet enough when running with low rpm’s. However the GPC-215 is loud. When the fan is on, it is loud. You do not want it next to the house. You will hear it and dislike it. Those with GPC-210s don’t really say that, but the 215 is the big boy. Just my .02¢

Man… this is tough because it’s the most logical place for the equipment. My gas meter is on this side. I don’t have room for equipment on the other side of the house.

We have one window by the equipment pad and it’s to our dining room. Otherwise, all that’s over there is the living room and kitchen.

My main concern would be for my neighbor, as his master bedroom is on the other side of our fence. There is about 20 feet between our houses wall to wall.