1963 pool resurection

[SunnyOptimism]

Ah, gotcha!!

I thought you were asking about general landscape lighting. I decided not to use my EasyTouch for landscape lighting but rather just go with a simple LV landscape transformer that had a photo sensor and timer. That way I did not have to think about it.

How about on the wall, after the pool renovation is complete and the inspectors are all out of your hair, you do some super cheesy light strings on the wall....(just kidding)

My one thing with night time lighting is that you keep it toned down and go light on the blue hues. Blue lights, especially LEDs, are really bright and harsh on the eyes. There's this house down the way from me that has outdoor flood lights and fence lighting in blue LEDs and, OMG, you could land frickin' 747 in the dude's backyard.


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[dumbcluck]

im having a hard time finding any pictures of Pentair intellibrite landscape lights in action in a real pool. there are a few lame pictures on the internet but always show the product instead of the results from it. should I take this as a sign that they suck? wouldn't you want to show off what they can do?
does anyone on here have some that they could post a picture of before I buy them? its a lot of money down the tubes if they don't illuminate well.
how about fencing? we only need a straight line with gate of approx. 30' my wife is insisting on glass. im trying hard to talk her out of it as our space is very limited and I feel that if we have to install one it should be the removable kind so we don't lose all that space. she swears she will keep it clean so that argument is done. any other options besides annoying alarms? temp fencing that isn't hard to look at?

 

[SunnyOptimism]

Sorry, I don't know any details on IntelliBrite. I just went with standard LED landscape lighting and I did it separate from the pool. Not sure if your plans allow you to hold off on that detail, but I found it very helpful to have the pool complete and then do the landscaping and lighting.

As for fence, we just use standard wrought iron fencing painted in color the same as the house exterior. They are self-shutting gates with standard padlocks. There are these things called MagnaLocks for pool fences that are supposed to be child-proof, self-locking, etc. Cost extra $$$ though.

I have a home alarm system that beeps anytime an exterior door or window is opened so I know if and when someone is coming or going. Also, all of my exterior doors have "pool-code" deadbolts on them (deadbolts 30" from top of door) so none of my little ones can open a door without asking for help.


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[dumbcluck]

more progress today

 

[kimkats]

That looks like nice work. Is it as nice in person? When will they start work on the main part of the pool?

Kim

 

[dumbcluck]

Looks great. Pics are kinda dark. Pools pretty much done structure wise.( that's just the shotcrete) Next step is coping and tile. Then equipment, deck and plaster. Last step, water.

 

[SunnyOptimism]

Looks great. Pics are kinda dark. Pools pretty much done structure wise.( that's just the shotcrete) Next step is coping and tile. Then equipment, deck and plaster. Last step, water.

No!

Last step - crack a beer and lie back on your floaty tube while enjoying your sparkly water and big beautiful blue sky....


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[dumbcluck]

Watch that last step, it's a doozy!
Anybody have thoughts on the spillway size? Seems like it should be a little bigger.

 

[mas985]

The larger the spillway, the higher the flow rate required to make it look like a waterfall and the more expensive it is to run.

 

[SunnyOptimism]

I have an 18" spillway. I have 4 water returns, 3 in the pool and one to the spa (separate from the spa jets). I have a splitter valve to control the flow between the spa and the pool. I have a 3HP IntelliFlo VSP.

In order to get my spillway to run, my pump is set to low speed (2500rpm) and my water flow is split to 2/3 to spa and 1/3 to pool returns. I have no flow meter on the pipes so I can't give you an accurate value for flow but 2500rpm (~1kW power) pumps a heck of a lot of water during a backwash.


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[dumbcluck]

Ok. Then it stays at 24".
That was the feeling I had, but had to check first.
You're the man, mark.
I will have the same pump sunny.
3" to the spa jets for return and 3 returns to pool. Nothing separate from jets in spa.

 

[Glock]

Oh my this is the most awesome thread ever. I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[slappie]

On the landscape lighting, I used the transformers from Lowe's (Portfolio brand) that have the photo sensor. I love that you can have them turn on at dusk and then stay on for any number of hours you specify. I have mine set to turn on at dusk and then off 6 hours later. Saves them from being on all night when I am asleep.

I used LED fixtures from Home Depot or Lowe's, whomever had the best ones. Home depot has a ton of options. Definitely use LEDs. The color light you want is 3000K or below. Anything above that gets too blue/white. All of the fixtures at HD or Lowes that are low voltage (not solar) are generally in this color. They look great.

For well lights, I got the Malibu or Portfolio standard halogen 35 Watt that they offer and then upgraded the MR16 bulb to an LED MR16 50 Watt equivalent. They sell these at Lowe's or Home Depot as well. You can get them cheaper online but I didn't want to wait.

I am so happy with my setup. It looks great and with the LEDs, the 50 Watt equivalent only draws 8 watts. You can put a TON of light on a 300 Watt run.

I'll try to get some pics tonight to post. Glad your pool is making progress. Have fun!

 

[SunnyOptimism]

Just a pro-tip here but you don't have to pay for "LED specific" landscape fixtures. Some Manufacturers try to make seem like there's a difference and charge a premium. Many older landscape fixtures can handle LED equivalent bulbs just fine as long as the LEDs are compatible with standard 12V DC power supplies.


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[dumbcluck]

I have the solar pipes roughed in from the pad area underground to garage where they stub up for future installation on garage roof.
Should I just go ahead and make all necessary connections at the pad now? I have a 3way valve, a 2 way valve, an actuator, a flowvis flow meter, and a temp sensor (for the rooftop)
Is there any reason not to install this stuff now while we are putting everything together?
I feel it would be better than fighting it after install. Thoughts?

 

[SunnyOptimism]

Considering you already have all the parts for it, I would definitely do all the setup work now.

All I would is make sure the PVC end that your "future" panels will connect to are sealed off (capped) as opposed to open in case a valve gets thrown by accident so you don't dump the pool water.


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[dumbcluck]

Of course.
Am I missing anything?
The rest of the stuff would be installed on the riser side, correct?

 

[SunnyOptimism]

Temp sensor on riser side for sure.

Flow meter, not sure which direction is best or if it matters.

3-way valve on riser side. (I assume the actuator is for controlling the 3-way)

2-way shutoff on downside, no?

Any chance you can post a picture of your proposed plumbing diagram?





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[dumbcluck]

By riser side I mean as opposed to pad side.

 

[SunnyOptimism]

By riser side I mean as opposed to pad side.

Ah. Ok.

Hmmmm, then please disregard my previous post. Without a better picture of the layout, I really don't want to speculate. Be happy to look at any pictures you'd be willing to post.

Sorry for the confusion.


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