Austin Owner Build (Raised Pool with Infinity Edge)

[GregSS]

I was able to pour the base of my fire pit. I will need to get fire bricks and put the stone and a cap on the pit. I have been working the rest of the travertine. I hope to have most of it installed this weekend. Unfortunately, rain continues to be an issue in my area.

 

[GregSS]

I completed the installation of the pool equipment and electrical. This portion of the project was semi enjoyable. The plumbing ended up being a little less difficult than I anticipated. I also installed all 13 of my globrite lights. I have a total of 4 light transformers for the lights (spa lights, pool lights, bubbler lights, and catch basin lights). The intellicenter seems to work pretty good. Programming does not seem overly complicated, but I am having issues with certain aspects of programming. Specifically, the intellicenter website and the Intellicenter iphone app do not seem to be set up properly to program a hybrid heater. Hopefully Pentair will have an update to address some of the programming issues being experienced by me and others with the Intellicenter.

I realized that the cord on the pentair valve actuator is only 25 feet long (20 feet on the Intellivalves), so I will have to splice longer cords at some point. I guess I should have set my Intellicenter 5+ feet closer.

I still need to paint the plumbing and elecitrical pipes.

 

[bdavis466]

I really like the XF pumps. Those were a good choice

 

[GregSS]

Attached are a couple of pictures of the Intellicenter and electrical conduit. I used a heat gun to bend the conduit. The only thing I still need to do is to hook up a 120v to 24vac transformer so that I can use the Intellicenter to turn on the water on the autofill line. I installed an autofill but decided to also add a sprinkler valve as a secondary backup just in case the autofill float fails/gets stuck.

While I have not attached a picture, my autofill also has an RPZ (backflow device) and is hooked up to my main water line. Hooking up a swimming pool autofill to an irrigation system is not allowed here.

 

[GregSS]

I really like the XF pumps. Those were a good choice

I was going to use 3 xf pumps, but the pool supplier said that I should not in case of warranty issues with the heater/filter. The concern was that the power of the XF could blow other pool equipment apart and could be a reason to deny a warranty claim. I took their advise and put a regular intelliflo pump on the pool/spa side (I am not sure they were correct but . . . ).

 

[bdavis466]

No I don't think that's correct. There's nothing wrong with the standard pump but the XFs are noticeably more efficient

 

[kimkats]

Coming along! The fire pit is going to be well used and so much fun to use. Everyone loves a good fire to chat around.

That is some nice work done there!

Kim

 

[Don_TLR]

Wow what a great looking pool!

 

[Foosman]

I did not paint my electrical conduit and it is turning black from the sun hitting it. I need to paint it once it warms up a bit around here. Note on the plumbing paint...I used Krylon Fusion Almond which others recommended. It is really hard to find at a decent price. The Ace hardware in Wimberley had it...I have a co-worker who lives there and he was nice enough to pick it up for me.

 

[GregSS]

I did not paint my electrical conduit and it is turning black from the sun hitting it. I need to paint it once it warms up a bit around here. Note on the plumbing paint...I used Krylon Fusion Almond which others recommended. It is really hard to find at a decent price. The Ace hardware in Wimberley had it...I have a co-worker who lives there and he was nice enough to pick it up for me.

Black electrical pipe--that seems odd. I have some unpainted electrical pipe that has been exposed for a long time and still looks the same as the day it was installed (it gets the afternoon/evening sun).

I have a couple of cans of spray paint that I picked up at Home Depot (I do not remember the brand.). I have had good luck with some of the spray paint at Home Depot on electrical conduit. But, I normally wipe the conduit with Acetone and then immediately paint the pipe.

 

[Foosman]

Black electrical pipe--that seems odd. I have some unpainted electrical pipe that has been exposed for a long time and still looks the same as the day it was installed (it gets the afternoon/evening sun).

It's more a dark brown color and is only occurring on the top of horizontal runs where it looks like I'm getting direct sun and sun reflected off the red brick on the house. I would imagine the red brick on the house is heating up nicely and helping accelerate it. Kinda strange how it starting turning color within the first year of installation.

 

[chiefwej]

I did not paint my electrical conduit and it is turning black from the sun hitting it. I need to paint it once it warms up a bit around here. Note on the plumbing paint...I used Krylon Fusion Almond which others recommended. It is really hard to find at a decent price. The Ace hardware in Wimberley had it...I have a co-worker who lives there and he was nice enough to pick it up for me.

Check here
https://www.amazon.com/KRYLON-2437-FUSION-SPRAYPAINT-12/dp/B000C0159S/ref=cm_wl_huc_item

 

[Phx_Jay]

It will change the look quite a bit once you get that all painted. The pumps, electrical and plumbing look fantastic. You are really doing a great job on this design!

 

[GregSS]

Thanks for all of the compliments!

The travertine pavers are mostly installed. I have a few pavers that I cannot install until the railing is installed (bonding issues). Next up is to complete the fire pit. I purchased the fire bricks.

 

[JamesW]

The regular intelliflo and the xf will generate about the same amount of total pressure or flow.

There's really no significant difference.

In any case, the total rpm should be limited before ever starting the pump.

In my opinion, the XF is the better pump.

 

[kimkats]

That is look so good! Has the settling stopped? I will enjoy watching the fire pit being built as I have not see that yet!

Kim

 

[GregSS]

That is look so good! Has the settling stopped? I will enjoy watching the fire pit being built as I have not see that yet!

Kim

I will not know if the settling has stopped until I get more heavy rain. I have some travertine that I still need to pull up and rest since it sunk about 1/2”. The 1/2” is very noticeable.

I have never built a fire pit; so, this is new to me (of course building a pool is new to me). I have discovered that the outdoor refractory cement is a challenge for me to work with. The brand I picked up has small rocks (or something small and hard) which makes it a challenge to get the fire bricks very close together.

More rain is forecasted for my area. This is pushing back plaster and Aquabright and slowing down my already snail pace on this project. But, I am still hopeful that the plaster and Aquabright will be shot this month.

Greg

 

[kimkats]

THIS month?? Oh yeah!! Did you ever think you would be able to say those words????

I wonder if you need to change cement? Yeah small rocks would make it almost impossible to snug up those blocks!

Kim

 

[vermaraj]

Too late now. But, best way to compact deep fill is to flood it with soaker hose. Very low pressure, just let the water run for a week or so to soak fill slowly from the top. Thereby compressing the fines into the air pockets.

 

[GregSS]

Too late now. But, best way to compact deep fill is to flood it with soaker hose. Very low pressure, just let the water run for a week or so to soak fill slowly from the top. Thereby compressing the fines into the air pockets.

The fill in question was exposed for 6 months or so with heavy rains during that time. It originally sunk 1 foot (this was prior to me laying travertine the first time). I am hoping it will not sink further after I raise it up 1/2” to 1” at places. Each time the sinking gets smaller and smaller.

If I could go back in time, I would leave everything around the pool hollow and have poured concrete for the travertine to set on. This would have allowed easy access to the pool plumbing and avoided any sinking issues.