I'm shopping for a new inground pool. I'm looking at a 12' x 24' kidney pool (with vinyl liner).
I've met with 2 pool contractors with good reputations in my area. Eventhough they both claim to have the best product and installation techniques, on some elements they are completely contradicting each other. Who's saying the truth ?
1- The vinyl liner.
Contractor "A" includes a 40 mil (wall) / 30 mil (bottom) vinyl liner. He says it's the best you can have.
Contractor "B" includes a 30 mil only vinyl liner. He says to stay away like the plague from the 40mil/30mil liner as the seam between the 40mil and 30 mil section is likely to fail and tear the liner appart.
2- Liner "Coping"
Contractor "A" uses a fairly large aluminum coping to hook up the vinyl liner. Says it is superior/stronger than the PVC coping.
Contractor "B" uses PVC coping and says it is superior/stronger than the aluminum coping.
3- "Aqua Genie"
Contractor "A" uses the Aqua-Genie instead of the traditional skimmer + bottom drain and round returns. Claims it is superior.
Contractor "B" uses traditional skimmer + round returns and doesn't want anything to do with the Aqua-Genie.
4- Lighting
Contractor "A" includes 2 spots in the pool (Aqua-Lamp).
Contractor "B" says to steer clear from those as the housing is likely to crack during the winter (I'm in Canada) and cause water infiltration under the liner / damage to the pool.
5- Pool Pump
On this one, both contractors agree and they include a 1 1/2hp pump. This seems overkill to me as the pool only contains 7500 gallons and could be easily handled by a simple 1/2hp pump. Furthermore, the pump will be hooked to 1 1/2" pipes only which are limited anyways in the volume of water they can deliver (still plenty for such a small pool). Won't this create useless high pressures in the pipes? Is this really a case of "bigger is better"
Thanks!
I've met with 2 pool contractors with good reputations in my area. Eventhough they both claim to have the best product and installation techniques, on some elements they are completely contradicting each other. Who's saying the truth ?
1- The vinyl liner.
Contractor "A" includes a 40 mil (wall) / 30 mil (bottom) vinyl liner. He says it's the best you can have.
Contractor "B" includes a 30 mil only vinyl liner. He says to stay away like the plague from the 40mil/30mil liner as the seam between the 40mil and 30 mil section is likely to fail and tear the liner appart.
2- Liner "Coping"
Contractor "A" uses a fairly large aluminum coping to hook up the vinyl liner. Says it is superior/stronger than the PVC coping.
Contractor "B" uses PVC coping and says it is superior/stronger than the aluminum coping.
3- "Aqua Genie"
Contractor "A" uses the Aqua-Genie instead of the traditional skimmer + bottom drain and round returns. Claims it is superior.
Contractor "B" uses traditional skimmer + round returns and doesn't want anything to do with the Aqua-Genie.
4- Lighting
Contractor "A" includes 2 spots in the pool (Aqua-Lamp).
Contractor "B" says to steer clear from those as the housing is likely to crack during the winter (I'm in Canada) and cause water infiltration under the liner / damage to the pool.
5- Pool Pump
On this one, both contractors agree and they include a 1 1/2hp pump. This seems overkill to me as the pool only contains 7500 gallons and could be easily handled by a simple 1/2hp pump. Furthermore, the pump will be hooked to 1 1/2" pipes only which are limited anyways in the volume of water they can deliver (still plenty for such a small pool). Won't this create useless high pressures in the pipes? Is this really a case of "bigger is better"
Thanks!