Small Pool build in NW Peoria, AZ

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azjim66

azjim66

0
Jul 19, 2018
34
Peoria, AZ
Hi All,


I have been lurking a little here nad there while we considered taking the plunge to do a pool. We signed a contract in August and permit was approved in September. We had our excavation delayed a few days due to rain. They dug the pool 2 weeks ago between rain storms. Unfortunately we had a hard dig. I am in far NW Peoria and this area is known for caliche. We had anticipated a hard dig and it was actually less $$ than we expected so we feel like we are ahead of the game. We decided on doing just a basic play pool with just a few upgrades including a salt water generator, an upgraded pebble radiance finish, and a larger filter. Nothing too fancy. We are a blended family with kids from teens to 30's and one grandchild with another on the way. My wife and I hope to make our home a gathering spot for all the kids, grand kids and friends. Even though the nest is almost empty we think adding the pool is a great way to have fun and relax during the AZ summers. Our house was built in 2015/16 and at the time we did not think we wanted a pool. So I landscaped the back myself and planted palms, pavers, artificial grass and 18 tons of landscape rock. It was a lot of work. A few weeks ago I basically tore it all out to make way for the pool. Fortunately, I will be able to re-purpose everything but the fake grass, which I donated to my Father in Law.

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Time to dig!!
Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Caliche!

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

They started on Friday 10/5 and finished up on Saturday. Brownie isn't so sure about all of this!

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr
Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr


Last Wednesday Plumbers arrived
Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Last Friday the steel guy arrived

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by Jimbo, on Flickr

Amazingly this work got done between epic rains here in AZ. The electric should be run this week hopefully.

I did have one plumbing question. I noticed when they pressurized the plumbing it was at 35psi and now is is slightly below 30psi. is that normal for that to fluctuate?

I have enjoyed looking through all your build threads out there and wanted to share.
 
Hi azJim66. I think you are practically my neighbor.

Nice looking project. Will look great in your backyard.

Not sure if you are looking for any tips/suggestions. The biggest one that comes to mind is to plumb in a soft water line to your autofill. I built my pool without one and am now wihing I could refill with soft water to avoid high CH. Otherwise, you'll be draining your pool every 2 years.
 
If you can use your water softener water for make up water (what you add due to evaporation and splashout) it will reduce drastically your CH rise in your pool water. You have to be sure your water softener can handle the extra flow (typically equals about 1 person) plus adjusting your recharges due to the low flowrate the pool make up water runs is not always recognized by the softener.

Or, like me , you can drain the pool every 2 years (mine is more like 16 months) and start over.
 
mknauss said:
If you can use your water softener water for make up water (what you add due to evaporation and splashout) it will reduce drastically your CH rise in your pool water. You have to be sure your water softener can handle the extra flow (typically equals about 1 person) plus adjusting your recharges due to the low flowrate the pool make up water runs is not always recognized by the softener.

Or, like me , you can drain the pool every 2 years (mine is more like 16 months) and start over.
Click to expand...

I do have a water softener and I am sure it can handle the extra work. That being said.... how do you go about connecting the autofill to the softener? Sounds difficult.
 
To clarify we are talking about adding a water softener for your house that has extra capacity so that you can plumb it to your pool for refills. Since your yard is already dug up, now would be the time to run pipe for this (if you choose).

As we all know the desert has terrible levels of calcium hardness (CH) around 250ppm. Here in Phoenix your pool’s entire volume of water will evaporate about 2x each year. As a result, your autofill will be adding water to replenish. However, because evaporation leaves behind the calcium, each refill adds to the calcium left behind. Make sense? So when your pool is complete and filled, you will start with CH of ~250. After a year (~2 refills) your water will have a CH of 750. After 2 years it will be around 1500 (I had a ring by the time my pool hit 1500CH). CH causes the waterline rings you see often. These rings become more difficult to prevent as the CH climbs higher. For this reason, the water will have to be drained and refilled after 2 years or so. Draining isn’t a huge deal, and a pool service can do it for you. If you instead decided to use a softener for refill water, theoretically you’d never have to change your water as the CH is virtually nonexistent in the soft water. For this reason, you may consider the idea of running a pipe for soft water. Presumably you would run this from the garage (near softener loop) to the autofill. It could instead be possible to tap into another pipe in your house (a water pipe along an outside wall) so you could avoid a longer run.

Sorry, this is probably waaaay too much information, but I am looking into this myself right now and wished I planned for it. Most people don’t have softeners attached to their pool’s, but they would surely make things easier.

Good luck.

PS: I’m in Vistancia also.
 

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Where I live the water (well water) is very hard, nearly 400. Luckily, I have a hose bib that is tied into the soft water system, I think it was primarily for watering plants and what not on the back patio. Anyway I use it to offset evaporation, and along with rainwater I’ve been able to keep my CH under control for 3 years. Sitting around~475
 
Lykly said:
Where I live the water (well water) is very hard, nearly 400. Luckily, I have a hose bib that is tied into the soft water system, I think it was primarily for watering plants and what not on the back patio. Anyway I use it to offset evaporation, and along with rainwater I’ve been able to keep my CH under control for 3 years. Sitting around~475
Click to expand...

Man that is some challenging water you have. TA of 300+ ? I suspect you must be dosing acid frequently trying to keep the pH in low earth orbit.
 
Brownie you will love your shelf they built just for you once everything is done!

That is looking nice! Had to hurt to take out all of the work you did before but good you will be able to reuse most of it again. This time you will have a cool pool to jump into to cool off after (or during if you are like me) the hot, sweaty work!

Have you measured to make sure it is wide, long, deep, etc enough? Add about 6" for the shell and plaster.

Kim:kim:
 
azjim66 said:
Yeah Sorry!! haha This rain lately won't quit!! Crazy thing is no standing water in the pool yet. However my side yard where the machines went in and out have left some nice little ponds!
Click to expand...

Yes the rain will stop eventually. I hope. Hopefully it doesn’t side track your project to much. We are starting our build in January. Then I can send some mud your way. ��
 
There are a couple of ways your water softener can be plumbed to your autofill, one of which Spoonman touched on.
For my setup, my entire house is plumbed with soft water excluding the front hose bib. My autofill is tapped into the rear hose bib line, which is soft water.
Having your rear hose bib plumbed with soft water has some advantages/disadvantages. The main advantage is obviously it’s easy to connect your autofill line to, and IMO its really handy when power washing patio furniture, privacy walls, pool decking, etc, as it leaves no white residue behind from the hard water. The disadvantage is, if you need to water flowers, gardens, etc by hand, you don’t want to use soft water to do so.
With that being said, my irrigation system is plumbed off my front hose bib, and I simply put a Y splitter on the hose bib, and ran a hose to the back of the house under the gravel to supply me with regular water when needed. :cheers:
 
I'm over in Gilbert and fill my pool with city water but the makeup fill valve is plumbed with soft water. My home layout offered me a lot of options and being a handy guy (that doesn't like to drag long garden hoses all over the place) I have added 8 outdoor hoses bibs since moving in. Three of them are fed with soft water for car washing, patio cleaning as well as one I tee into with a vacuum breaker for topping off the pool. I got a Fleck 5600 SXT softener system delivered for under $600 and installed it myself. It has plenty of capacity for our needs.
 
kimkats said:
Brownie you will love your shelf they built just for you once everything is done!

That is looking nice! Had to hurt to take out all of the work you did before but good you will be able to reuse most of it again. This time you will have a cool pool to jump into to cool off after (or during if you are like me) the hot, sweaty work!

Have you measured to make sure it is wide, long, deep, etc enough? Add about 6" for the shell and plaster.

Kim:kim:
Click to expand...

Thanks Kim! I did get in there and measure and we are good to go. My old guy Brownie will definitely enjoy the shelf!! I rented a mini skid steer from Home Depot and got all my landscape granite up on that knee wall. The rental only cost me $140 and the PB was willing to do pre-grade for $1000. So that was a no brainer and I had fun with that little machine. Now those pavers were a beast to move, those suckers are 40lbs each, I cant wait to start carrying them around again. I am a retired firefighter who has has had a corporate desk job for the last 11 years and I have gotten soft!! Electricians should be out on Friday so looking forward to getting that done!!
 

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