Advice for old inground pool

[Cprtrails]

Bought house almost two years ago with inground 20x40 vinyl liner pool that hadn’t been used in two years per seller, but I think it was longer. Had a pool guy out that quoted me $3500 for liner and opening. I did a lot of research and had a list of equipment at the time, but our house renovations spiraled and the pool went to the back burner. I know I need to get serious if I want to get it opened anytime this season but have some concerns.

The pool was built in 1970 with cinder block walls and some type of lightweight concrete floor. It had a sand filter which looked to be 20 years old. There is one skimmer and a floor drain providing suction and there’s only one return eye on left side a couple feet from stair side wall. There’s also a slide with a water line so I guess that would be my second return. All of these lines are 1.5” diameter. I calculated roughly 32k gallons for the pool.

I keep reminding myself that this pool ran for probably 45 years with a single speed pump and sand filter. That being said, I feel like for the size of the pool, the two suction and two returns at 1.5” pipe is not enough by today’s standards and will need to run long for proper turn of water. For same reasons I’m concerned a heater and SWG may not be very efficient. I still need to pressure test the lines, but either way wondering if I should consider replacement to two inch where I can reasonably dig up and replace. I don’t know if I’m over thinking it or if it makes sense. List of components I had come up with before is below, but not set in stone. You can see pool as it was when we moved in and after pressure washing and installing cover. If I can provide more info, just ask.

- Hayward HP21404T Heater
- Hayward PL-Plus salt water chlorinator and control panel
- 011018 Pentair Intelliflo pump
- Pentair Clean & Clear Plus cartridge filter. 160301 or 160332

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum.
Biggest deal with one return is skimming efficiency. Realize that ‘turnover’ is a myth. A vs pump run at a low speed most likely 24 hours per day to generate your chlorine will maintain the pool quite well. Again, you may find you have to manually skim leaves some, but not a big deal. Get a robot to clean the pool. .

 

[Orion7319]

We moved into a house 2 years ago that has an an old vinyl pool. We had to replace the fiberglass stairs, the liner and the pump. We upgraded to saltwater and added a safety cover as well while we were at it. That’s not a bad price you were quoted for that liner. When they replace the liner don’t be surprised if they tell you they need to upgrade the bottom drain from a single one to a double. This is a new code requirement apparently. Also we had to replace the circuit breaker with one with a GFCI, older pools don’t tend to have those installed and they are important for safety reasons. As mentioned, they make robots to clean the pool and they also have solar powered robots to skim the pool.

 

[bp460]

I have a "vintage" pool that came with my house as well. It has a single 1.5" suction line in the skimmer box and 2 returns. We have been using it and enjoying it for the past 12 years while repairing and upgrading along the way. My best advice is to replace the liner and get the pool up and running on the equipment you already have and learn as you go. And most important... enjoy that pool!

-Brad

 

[YippeeSkippy]

The pool was built in 1970 with cinder block walls and some type of lightweight concrete floor.

Probably Vermiculite as the base.

 

[Dirk]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! If the plumbing works, leave it alone. Replacing only some of the pipe will get you very little improvement. Replacing all of it will not get you much more. 1.5" is fine. But if you break some of it trying to "improve" it, Murphy's Law clearly states it'll break in the worst possible place...

PS. Welcome to TFP!

 

[Cprtrails]

Thanks all for the replies. I have a pool guy locked up now and going to do a lot more than originally planned. The bottom needs some work and I was quoted to do a 1.5” skim coat of vermiculite. We decided while we are at it to change the bottom. The floor slopes continuously from the stairs to the deep end so we are having the shallow end raised so it’s flat for 8-10 feet and gradually slope back to the original slope about a foot behind the slide; they came out today to string line the new floor layout. I’m going to install the new equipment pad, probably 4x8 to have plenty of room. Pool guy will be installing Pentair SuperFlo VST pump, Hayward Pro-Grid 60sq DE filter, Pentair IC40 with power center, and depending on availability either a Pentair master temp or Raypack natural gas heater. They will be starting next week on the floor and he’s optimistic he’ll have rest of equipment and have pool ready for summer. Now the hard part, the wife and I agreeing on a liner color/design. Gonna cost a lot more than I naively thought when I bought the house, but I’m looking forward to enjoying the pool.