Adding Spa Jets and other features during construction...

[chatcher]

Like most pool projects, mine has inflated from the original idea to "put in a pool" to "what other things will I later regret not adding". I started with a vinyl pool with walk-in steps, to steps with seats, deck jets, spillover spa, etc...

Before I added the spa, I planned to add a few spa jets to the step unit. With the spa, they won't be as important, but they are pretty simple and easy to add BEFORE the backfill goes in, so I probably will anyway. I was a little confused about the air supply for the jets, but I think I understand now and will include an air line and air control valve, either at the steps or back at the equipment pad.

The spa I ordered is a 92" round Triac spillover spa which comes plumbed with 6 jets. I haven't seen it yet, so it's difficult to visualize what additional jets might be useful for it, or how hard they would be to add (assuming it has insulation around it). Anyone have one of these? How satisfied are you with it? Does it need to be "modified"?

What other additions would you recommend during construction? Dedicated vacuum port? Pressure cleaner port?

 

[JCJR]

Don't know how they did your trenches but running any speaker,electrical cables or conduit while the trenches are there is a good idea. I had to reroute sprinklers so I did it while trench was open. Also I ran an outlet from the equipment pad. Some people run lines or extra electric for a future heater.

I had the same issue as you, I kept adding stuff to the budget because of the thinking, "I spent all this money so it will be a shame if I don't add...." Furniture, umbrellas, umbrella bases, landscaping (grass, plants, palms, privacy hedges, mulch, sprinkler rerouting, walk ways, patio stones), pool toys, floats, pool equipment ( brushes, nets, vacumn heads) pool storage box, roof gutter ( so new paver patio doesn't flood), basketball pad ( might as well do it now so I do not have to pull up new sod later) bathing suits, swimming gear (mask, fins, snorkels for everyone), extra towels, mosquito control sprays/pads/cintrella and the list goes on. I budgeted way to little for landscaping I thought $1000 for grass and stuff but ended up spending close to $5000 just on landscaping.


Good luck

 

[waste]

If you need a little info on doing the spa jets in the steps, just ask me, it's how we do all of our new pools. We also often install the 'spill-over spas' on many of them.

 

[chatcher]

If you need a little info on doing the spa jets in the steps, just ask me, it's how we do all of our new pools. We also often install the 'spill-over spas' on many of them.

What do you do with the air lines to the spa jets? I don't so much need an air control as I want to prevent the air lines from getting clogged later. I am considering drilling a hole in the top of the steps for an air control valve, or running an air line all the way back to the equipment pad.

Have you used the Triac spillover spa? Any complaints about the standard jets, or requests to add more?

Thanks in advance!

 

[waste]

Catcher, grab yourself a cold mint Julip and have a seat

When we do the stairs, we drill a ~3" hole on both sidewalls, centered on the front edge of the 2nd step & ~ 14.5" down from the top of the stair. The size of the holes we drill is determined by the size of the fitting we use (I think it's made by Hydro-Aire) - the hole should allow the male threads of the inside ring to pass through, while still being able to have the interior gasket seal to the wall. The ones I've seen look like 2 1.5" tees attached to the through-wall fitting. We plug the 'tees' on the pool sideand duct tape the other sides. The top 'tee' is for the air feed, the bottom is for the water feed, on ours the top tee has a ~3/4" plug that needs to be glued in.
You may be wondering at this point why we duct tape the 'active' ports. It's because, years ago we found that the pipes would break from the settling of the backfill material and so we wait until the deck is immenent to plumb up the stair fittings, we use flex pipe for ~ all of our underground plumbing. We run the feed line for the steps and cap it off and tape it to the center support for the top step to tap into when the stair plumbing gets done.
Ok, let's move on... (if you've any questions about the stair fittings - just ask for a little more detail)
Modifying the spa is not something I would want to undertake! They are 'foam sealed' and busting through that and trying to get equal pressure to any 'add-on' jets would be a major PITA!

As for what I would 'add- on' :
Reserve lines - I'd plumb both the ports on the skimmer - only connect 1 to the pump, but stub the other line up right next to the main one, so that if the main line breaks sometime down the line, you don't have to rip up the deck to have the replacement line available. I'd also put in a couple of return reserves which wouldn't get 'cut in' with the active returns, but again are just there in case a return line breaks, or you could use 1 of them to install a designated vacuum line or presure cleaner in the future (you can have all sorts of 'just in case' lines done when building the pool - the cost of the pipe and fittings is cheep compared to the cost of ripping up sections of the deck and digging a new trench to the filter pad!)
Low returns - We put 3 'low returns' on a pool, if you have a heater they add the heated water down in the pool, heat rises! , if you have a chem feeder it puts the chems in lower in the water so they don't just 'float on top' and they help to stir up the water in the bottom of the pool.

I think that's about it, if you want more info - just ask, and similarly - I'll edit or post again if I missed something major in this post. Good luck with the construction - if you have any other questions about installing a liner pool, just ask - I've only built a few hundred of them :lol:

 

[chatcher]

Thanks very much for the tips. You're giving away your trade secrets!

What goes at the other end of the air lines to the jets? Do you just leave them open? I was thinking some kind of screen or filter would be a good idea but can't find anything made for the purpose except maybe the variable air control valves.

 

[waste]

Don't worry about 'trade secrets', I would advocate BBB to our customers if my boss wouldn't fire me the least I can do is tell all the folks here some of the 'tricks' I've picked up over the last 19 yrs :slidehalo:

The other end of the air line gets plumbed to an air fitting (I assume that it's the one you had said you would install on the top of the steps- that's the way we do it). I forgot to mention to PLUG the step fittings while waiting for the backfill to settle and plugs in the reserve ports on the skimmer (s), if you go that way.
Please let me know the proposed plumbing plan for your pool if you get a chance, I'll tell you what and where I would place things