pooldv texas pool thread

[rlefig]

Re: pooldv pool thread

Does look great I am looking into doing solar for next year I have a garage that is adjacent to pool. But first I need to fix the garage roof as I think it is 60+ years old. The pool is almost 50

 

[pooldv]

Re: pooldv pool thread

I have been asked about salt and flagstone quite a number of times so I will post a response here that sums up several of the last few questions I have answered.

This is our 4th swim season with salt and flags. I think the whole flagstone salt thing is totally overblown. I know quite a few people with flagstone and salt and none are unhappy with it. In fact, I don't actually recall ever hearing from anyone directly that they have had major issues and/or had to replace their coping due to saltwater erosion. Only just a lot of warnings from PBs. Flagstone is a natural material and some holds up better than others. We have at least three different types here. One that looks exactly the same as day one. Two different kinds that flake off a little, one with very paper thin flakes and one with slightly thicker flakes. And one that sort of pits a little bit. All of them are cool, natural and add their own value. None of them are even close to needing to be replaced and based on where we are right now may never need to be. A few of the worst pieces of flagstone that we have are on paths away from the pool and never get saltwater on them. As for sealing, I do not seal anything. The only type of flagstone that might benefit from it is the one with pitting. The ones that flake would flake no matter what and take the sealer with it.

Bottom line, I have no regrets. I would do it again. I would not seal. If you like the look of flagstone and natural stone then I think you will appreciate the naturalness of it. It seems that the people who don't like their flagstone really wanted a more uniform material and probably should choose something more uniform or man made.

Our PB who has been building pools in DFW for almost 30 years also has salt and flagstone and he recommended that we use flagstone because of our setting. He said it is all about getting good stone.

 

[Nursenini]

Re: pooldv pool thread

DV- what a beautiful pool you have!!! I love the decking and stone, gorgeous combo!!

 

[pooldv]

Re: pooldv pool thread

We decided to add a small heat pump this spring. We like a warm pool and we like to swim every day. Hayward came out with a new small, efficient and inexpensive heat pump, less than 1500 bucks. We ordered the Hayward HP50HA heat pump, a couple of valves for a heater bypass and a clear, 8 mil solar cover from sunplay.com. Time to get serious about warm pool water and extending the swim season!*

The heat pump will not be the primary heat source, we will heat with solar first, heat pump second. It is rated for 13k gallons and my pool is 20k. But, we are in Texas so it seems like that makes it easier for the heat pump. We also have solar panels. And we have no desire to use it if daytime temps aren't in the mid 80s which puts night temps in the mid 60s. So, the heat pump will be very efficient. Part of the dilemma on getting a heat pump is the initial cost plus operating cost vs installing more solar panels. This heat pump is 1500 bucks vs at least 2500 bucks for the bigger ones. The main drawback of installing more solar panels is that they would have to be in a different location (probably on house) from the existing panels because that roof is full.

Here are my pros on why this small heat pump is better than more solar panels. There have been a lot of days in spring and fall where the solar panels didn't quite get us there and 5ish more degrees would have made it good. We can heat the pool when it is cloudy or rainy. Most of the time the solar panels get the temp up so the temp differential for the heat pump is normally small. Now that I am paying for heat I'm more likely to use a solar cover. The operating current is 2.68 amps, so even if it runs 4 or 5 hours a day it will only cost about 10 bucks/mo to run it.

The heat pump should be here this week and I'll install it in the next few weeks and we'll see if we can swim in April this year.

 

[kimkats]

Re: pooldv pool thread

LOL a man after my own heart. I HATE cold water so do not get in the pool until well into the Spring!

Kim

 

[Nursenini]

Re: pooldv pool thread

I hope we can add one in the future
Sounds like this is a good investment for you!

 

[bmoreswim]

Re: pooldv pool thread

Isn't it nice when a company builds just the product you need/want?

 

[pooldv]

Re: pooldv pool thread

Isn't it nice when a company builds just the product you need/want?

I know right! I read about it and it took about 4 seconds to order it! It got delivered today.

 

[boyzu]

Re: pooldv pool thread

The heat pump should be here this week and I'll install it in the next few weeks and we'll see if we can swim in April this year.

Pooldv, with the weather we are seeing lately in our area I'm planning swimming next month! Heck yesterday was swimmin weather no

 

[pooldv]

Re: pooldv pool thread

Yeah, I'm starting to get optimistic. I was just looking at the forecast and trying to decide if it was time to turn on the solar panels to start heating things up. If it keeps up like this we'll definitely be swimming in March.

 

[NeedMoreSun]

Re: pooldv pool thread

I ended up ordering the same heat pump. It was delivered today, and the new small pad by the existing one was also poured today to make room for it I'm not sure when I will get around to doing the electrical and plumbing and actually put it to use yet, but will be watching to see how you like yours, or let you know how well it does if I beat you to it!

Well, other than I'm not sure how well I'll track temps before and after, and just the ending temp which could be useless info Our son is here visiting and he checks the temp a few times a day so I'm trying to get him to start logging it, lol.

 

[pooldv]

Re: pooldv pool thread

The race is on! We have rain all this week, out of town next week and bathroom remodel in progress so you might have an advantage.

 

[Doggo]

Re: pooldv pool thread

Did you ever keep track of what temperature your solar was able to keep your pool during different months?

 

[pooldv]

Re: pooldv pool thread

No, not really. All I realized is that I don't have enough solar panels to really make a difference. And I don't have room for more. Our solar panels do a good job of recovering from rain, cold fronts and cool days once the pool is warmed up. Which is normally late May through early October. So, we decided to buy a small Hayward heat pump and a solar cover to see if we can extend the swim season.

Here is the log I kept

date temp diff weather notes
3/15/2015 61
3/16/2015 64 3 78 and mostly sunny
3/17/2015 68 4 84 and mostly sunny
3/18/2015 67 -1 65 rainy
3/19/2015 66 -1 65 cloudy rainy
3/22/2015 65 -1 days of rain, sun came out pm, high 67
3/23/2015 69 4 sunny 73
3/24/2015 73 4 sunny and 79
3/25/2015 76 3 sunny and 81
3/26/2015 72 -4 63 cold and windy, sunny in pm
3/27/2015 71 -1 62 and sunny
3/29/2015 75 4 81 and sunny
3/31/2015 77 2 82 sunny
4/1/2015 75 -2 77 cloudy rain
4/3/2015 78 3 71 and sunny
4/4/2015 68 and sunny
4/5/2015 69 -9 rain am 53 noon
4/6/2015 73 4 81 sunnyish
4/7/2015 75 2 80 sunnyish
4/8/2015 -75
4/9/2015 75 75 81, cloudy, rainy
4/10/2015 74 -1 69, half cloudy half sunny
4/16/2015 73 -1
4/18/2015 75 2 lot o rain
4/19/2015 76 1 sunny 74
4/20/2015 76 0 69 sunny
4/21/2015 71 -5 rain then 75 sunny
4/24/2015 69 -2 rain rain rain
4/25/2015 75 6 88 sunny
4/30/2015 73 -2 85 sunny
5/1/2015 76 3 85 sunny
5/2/2015 77 1 80 partly sunny
5/4/2015 80 3 81 mostly sunny
5/14/2015 74 -6 cloudy rainy
5/15/2015 73 -1 cloudy rainy
5/17/2015 77 4 79, partly cloudy
5/18/2015 81 4 88 hot sunny

 

[Doggo]

Re: pooldv pool thread

Very good notes, it would good to see more people post this sort of thing to help other people size their systems. Are you going to start using a cover and the heat pump at the same time? It would be interesting to compare some data with just the cover and then the heat pump. The sizing calculators I've seen seem to indicate using a cover has the same effect of doubling the collector size.

 

[pooldv]

Re: pooldv pool thread

I never really wanted to use a cover because I was worried about all the trees dropping stuff on the cover and making a mess. But, I figure since I'm going to be paying for the heat now I better use one!

Yes, it will be interesting to see how much using the cover alone would increase my daily heat gain. I would expect at least a few degrees. I think the cover people say 5-8 degrees. If I had gained 4-5 degrees on the above temps and avoided some of the big losses then we could have been swimming earlier. Which is why we decided to get the heat pump to give us that extra few degrees and a cover to keep it in. We are 85 degree water people. We did swim in the low 80s a couple of times last spring.

I will put the cover on and turn the solar panels in a week or two to start preheating to pool, ground and gunite. We will see how that goes. Then start using the heat pump around the beginning of May as needed.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

Re: pooldv pool thread

out of curiosity - can you run the heat pump in cooling mode? Im concerned about the pool getting too warm in the summer heat and think it would be neat to cool it down a little bit.

.

 

[bdavis466]

Re: pooldv pool thread

Unless you religiously use a pool cover, I don't see that happening. The warmest my pool got last year was 88 and I'm East of you in a warmer climate. The pool was at that temp for a very limited time.

The trouble in our region is how low the nighttime temps drop relative to the highs during the day.

 

[pooldv]

Re: pooldv pool thread

out of curiosity - can you run the heat pump in cooling mode? Im concerned about the pool getting too warm in the summer heat and think it would be neat to cool it down a little bit.

.

This heat pump does not have a cooling mode, but many do. We do run our solar panels at night to cool the pool in July/August sometimes.

Correction: the heat pump does have a cooling mode.

 

[Frank Rizzo]

Re: pooldv pool thread

Unless you religiously use a pool cover, I don't see that happening. The warmest my pool got last year was 88 and I'm East of you in a warmer climate. The pool was at that temp for a very limited time.

The trouble in our region is how low the nighttime temps drop relative to the highs during the day.

My point exactly. 88 degrees is horrible. It feels like bathwater - not refreshing at all.
Might be cheaper to have block ice delivered...