Equipment List - What Would You Change?

[Dirk]

Update... here's a TFP thread where someone figured out how to cool their pool with an EasyTouch. Hopefully Pentair carried this capability through to its other offerings.

EasyTouch won't allow solar night cooling

My pool is too hot (91F right now) and I'd like to use the Night Cool feature of the Pentair EasyTouch controller to run the solar at night to cool the water. But my EasyTouch 8 won't let me move the blinking selection to Night Cool. It moves between the screen number (2 in the photo) and...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Sparks22]

Admittedly I haven’t done the math but great callout that I need to do it. I’ll search for a calculator to make sure I understand the cost. Thanks for the suggestion.

Here is what I come up with from Pentair's calculator for the UltraTemp 140, March through October, and the gas cost and electric costs from my last utility bills (we are both in Austin, so I assume those should be accurate for you as well):



So based on their calculator, you will save $70 per season by using the heat pump instead of the heater. Except this doesn't factor in that you are likely going to spend $4k+ up front to buy the unit and have it installed.

I will again caveat that this analysis uses current utility rates, which will definitely change over time. If natural gas prices start to become more expensive relative to electricity prices in the future, it could make the heat pump more attractive.

 

[Tlaw]

You definitely make some great points. Maybe I’ll have it setup with the mounting anchors as planned but hold off on buying the table for now. That‘ll make sure we still have the option but aren’t exposed to as much of the downsides.

I am looking up “in pool tables” as we r deciding if we want it or not. I love the look of it more than anything and I design lends itself to it but now that we r down to it we r having difficulties with putting it in since it wasn’t in our permit so we r wondering if it’s worth going back thru the process or just skipping it all together. Wondering if you ended up with table, removable or not? If so what are your thoughts now?

 

[wgipe]

On another topic, you might consider going the Halco / J&J or Florida Sunseeker route for lights rather than Pentair 5Gs. The 5Gs are prone to failure, with many here replacing after 2-3 seasons, while the others are less expensive, brighter, and users report them lasting for a long time.

 

[joepaiii]

For your size pool you will need more than one intellibrite. They are 1000 lumens and the goal is 4 lumens per sqft. I don't recall what yours was but by over all dimensions you are likely 600+ which would mean at least 2 maybe even three. If you go with a dark plaster and like some of the different colors you may want to have more light than you think you would compared to the old incandescent style lights.