cover over my equipment, yes / no ?

[tstex]

Hello to all,

Living in Hou., TX, the summers can get HOT, and humid. Based on a thread about breakers tripping and VSP's, Chuck, Jim and I had a pretty intense thread re possible electrical issues that could contribute to excessive tripping of the VSP's GFCI breaker. So far this winter, it's been minimized [knock on hard wood]

Since my equipment pad is in the shade all winter, spring/Summer is near, and both my VSP and pool panel can be in the intense summer sun. I am contemplating building a cover over the pump and panel. I am going to leave the filer and heater as is, but wanted to know are there any specific air-ventilation requirements or spec's I need to adhere too? I'm 6'4", so I'm not bending over, and I thought I'd go to 7ft tall. The goal is to prevent that 10am-4pm summer blazing sun off the electrical based components [VSP, Pool panel/Automation]. A fence is on the west side of pic one, so this helps too [see pics]

Last thing is, should I build a cover for everything, or just as pumps & pool service panel? I'm going to use a polybicarbonate material that filters out 99% UV and all direct sun. Thanks - tstex

 

[Texas Splash]

With everything still looking so new, you have a blank canvas to work with. The equipment is designed to be outdoors, but as oyu said, the weather can really take its toll. I finally decided to make something fairly simple with some scrap material I had laying around to keep the heavy rains off my equipment, and also shade them from the intense sun since my pad is on the west side of a shed. Here's what I did:

 

[tstex]

Thanks Pat...your set-up looks great. Always like to see clean, professional looking work. That gives me a few extra ideas.

The fence you see in pic 1, that is the west side. The sun rises opposite side, hits equipment about 1030-11am, then the sun's angle from that time till about 5pm is on the equipment, then blocked from the fence. My filter looks already pretty faded and I only get the sun from mid-spring to mid fall, then the stucco wall blocks it the entire winter.

When digging the holes for the 4"x4"'s, I need to be careful bc there's a lot of PVC pipe, 3 gas lines, multiple electrical lines and a drain line from the summer kitchen sink. I believe it would be ill-advised to pour any concrete around the 4x4's. Looks like I may be doing some paleontology like work digging around all those live systems. Another option would be to install a ledger board the full length of the wall on the stucco about 7ft 4" high, run 2x4's off that for about 4.5 - 5ft w roof material set at 15 degrees, then run 2x4's from the bottom back of pad angled to the end of the roofing...does this make sense? I'll draw it out later and post a pic.

thanks, tstex

 

[Texas Splash]

then run 2x4's from the bottom back of pad angled to the end of the roofing...does this make sense?

It does. But you know, like I said above about a "blank canvas", you're the artist on this one and for the most part no one is going to know or care otherwise. So as long as it works for your purpose and providing some protection from the intense afternoon sun, you've done your job. I did a bit of searching here on the forum for different ideas, and went through a couple previous temporary products before I finally decided on mine. You might do the same. I like the paleontology quote. Ha. Yes, if you do end-up digging ...... dig slow and accurate my friend. Certainly don't want to cause any new problems.

 

[tstex]

Thanks Pat - I'm not in a super hurry, so I can still do some research here..thanks again

 

[Jimrahbe]

Tx,

I built a shed around my pad... I use a third of it for the pool equipment and the rest for lawn equipment and pools stuff...

Here is a couple of pics...

I have no heater or in-ground spa, so my set up is pretty simple..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[tstex]

Nice and clean...good job.

Is the shed James Hardie materials? Where's the SWG, to the left? And yes, no heater surely simplifies things- thanks

 

[Texas Splash]

Okay, now Jim's just showing off again. :grin:

 

[Jimrahbe]

Nice and clean...good job.

Is the shed James Hardie materials? Where's the SWG, to the left? And yes, no heater surely simplifies things- thanks

It is not Hardie board... some kind of waterproof plywood with a coating on it.. I have used Hardie board before and do not find it very "user friendly"...

The SWCG is just to the left of the filter, right at the metal band holding the filter together...

Jim R.

 

[OrangeAndBlue]

I've been thinking of the same thing for my new pool and trying to decide what to do. My equipment pad is on the south side of the house along the wall of the house near a corner, like the OP setup except my heater and filter positions are swapped. There are some trees across the fence opposite the house that will provide some shade but it's going to get quite a bit of the afternoon Texas sun. I'm also getting a lot of rain run off from the roof onto the equipment right now as there is no gutter on the roof above the pad.

I was thinking to protect the entire pad. I can't imagine year after year of Texas summer sun not impacting the the plastic on all the equipment, even if it is designed to be outdoors.
I spoke with one of the local Pentair techs about this and he mentioned any roof / cover over the heater needs to be at least 5 foot above the top of the heater. That, and any potential HOA approvals I may need to build a structure, is the only requirement that I'm aware of for around here.

I had been thinking of building something similar to TexasSplash's setup, basically building a structure that sort of extends the roof of the house a bit over the pad. That's a great setup / picture by the way. Very helpful and I may shamelessly steal that design .

What is the consensus on the effectiveness of paint / coating the equipment to protect it from the sun instead? None of my stuff is painted.

 

[tstex]

O&B,

Howdy nbor....if you cover it, forget the paint. Also, not sure of anything that generates heat, you want to paint unless it's breathable. Not sure of the paint would prevent the heat from dissipating from the pump.

If you're on the S side, you get the less intense winter sun, but probably intense 2pm on sun...that UV will destroy your plastics..pool dealers tell you don't worry about it, but that's only lining their pocket book. Also, the pumps they made 20 yrs ago are WAY MORE DURABLE than the stuff made today...IMHO. Everything is designed w planned obsolescence.

BTW, I'm Pat's licensing agent for using his patented/designed equipment covers. Send me your paypal acct info and I'll forward the design... you will get a Texas Discount.