Help! New House / Old Pool Complete Remodel Questions including new equipment and control panel

[Phasers]

Hello! Long time lurker, first time poster. Sorry for the long post.

So I just purchased a new (to me) home with a 25,000 gallon pool which was built in 2001. The previous owner it seems did not take the best care of the pool, as there are:

• Multiple leaks in the equipment (mostly from the pool heater which seems like it has been rusted out for years)
• Corroded Wiring conduit (see pic)
• Inoperable pool light (suspect a short / water in the conduit as the breaker flips every time you try and turn it on)
• Pool slightly out of level (see tile pics)
• Mechanical pool vacuum controller inoperable (vacuum runs when pool is on)
• Long skinny crack in plaster, ~15ft at bottom of pool, suspect cosmetic but don't know for certain at this point due to leaks. Unfortunately very difficult to get a picture but if it was leaking I think the pool would be losing a lot of water and I would have even more issues than I do.
• Coping mortar and mastic is shot, loose stones, hollow sounding under many of them (see pics) - I suspect the salt is not helping with the stone erosion
• Pool equipment pad completely shot (probably due to water damage)

I am looking at doing the following to "fix up" the pool:

• Re-Plumb all equipment
• Pour new 3" Concrete Pad
• Remove Heater Entirely (no Spa, don't see the need for just the pool)
• Replace Main Pump with Variable Speed Pump (Pentair 011028 IntelliFlo Variable Speed Pool Pump 3HP ?)
• Replace Mechanical Controller with newer one (Pentair 522353 EasyTouch PL4 - Single Body with ScreenLogic Wireless Bundle ?)
• Remove Salt System and put inline chlorinator
• Replace Pool Light assuming it is possible to repair conduit (Pentair 601001 IntelliBrite 5g Color LED Pool Light)
• Replace Pool Filter and Backwash Valve with new ones (Pentair FNS Plus 60 sqft D.E. Filter and a multiport valve ?) - [not cartridge]
• Resurface pool with mini-pebble finish
• Replace all pool tiling at water line with 6x6 tile
• Rip out all coping/flagstone and replace with new Oklahoma flagstone and Mastic
• Redo all plumbing obviously
• Possibly replace booster bump while I am at it since I will not have to pay any extra for labor/plumbing if I do it now
• Add Autofill source water tied into water hose faucet (can't tie to Sprinkler due to code in North Texas apparently)
• Add Overflow drain to pool

My quotes for all this have come in at about $19k to $25k, not including any leveling which may or may not be needed. I am not sure how much it matters that the pool is out of level by 2" or so (see pics) but the deep end skimmer sucks air if the water gets too low while the shallow end skimmer will be fine.

Is the equipment chosen good? Any advice or recommendations? I am new to this and could really use advice! Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum.
All sounds good except for not using a SWCG (unless you plan to add liquid chlorine EVERY DAY) and not switching to a cartridge filter. I would suggest researching those items more.

 

[Jimrahbe]

P.

I suggest that you do not buy the PL4. The "L" stands for lite as in lite salad dressing.. It should stand for Loser... It has no load center and very limited functions. A max of 4 programs and schedules.. You should be looking at a real EasyTouch with a IntelliChlor salt system build in, or better yet the new IntelliCenter that is almost the same price. The IntelliCenter is a much, much better system.

Why in the world you would not want a saltwater pool? The easiest type of pool to care for...

I too would dump the DE filter with its multiport valve and go with a large cartridge filter. I have two rent house pools that have DE filters, but have a cartridge filter at my house.. As soon as the rent house filters die, they will be replaced by cartridge filters. I will never own a DE filter again.

The IntelliFlo pump is the "Gold Standard" of pool pumps, and mates up perfectly with the EasyTouch or IntelliCenter and with the IntelliChlor saltwater system.

I would also dump the pressure side cleaner and its booster pump and go with something for this Century, vs. the 60's.. See this link..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Phasers]

P.

I suggest that you do not buy the PL4. The "L" stands for lite as in lite salad dressing.. It should stand for Loser... It has no load center and very limited functions. A max of 4 programs and schedules.. You should be looking at a real EasyTouch with a IntelliChlor salt system build in, or better yet the new IntelliCenter that is almost the same price. The IntelliCenter is a much, much better system.

Why in the world you would not want a saltwater pool? The easiest type of pool to care for...

I too would dump the DE filter with its multiport valve and go with a large cartridge filter. I have two rent house pools that have DE filters, but have a cartridge filter at my house.. As soon as the rent house filters die, they will be replaced by cartridge filters. I will never own a DE filter again.

The IntelliFlo pump is the "Gold Standard" of pool pumps, and mates up perfectly with the EasyTouch or IntelliCenter and with the IntelliChlor saltwater system.

I would also dump the pressure side cleaner and its booster pump and go with something for this Century, vs. the 60's.. See this link..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Can you please tell me what you would recommend as far as filter/valve and intellicenter? Right now the salt is really messing up my pool coping.

Edit: Reason I was looking at the "L" is because I don't have a spa, nor do I have any water features to control. Literally just the pool light, main pump, and booster pump.

 

[Jimrahbe]

P,

My job is to provide you with info, and your job is to do whatever you want..

The idea that the salt is what is messing up your coping is a myth. Poor coping stones, especially flagstone, will just flake away whether you have a saltwater pool or not. Who told you it was the saltwater? The salt level in a saltwater pool is about the same as what is in your tears... Total Bull Stuff, that it has caused any of the pool problems that you are having.

The PL4 has a max of 4 programs, so if you wanted your VS pool pump to run at 3 different speeds, you have basically used up 3 of the 4 programs. If you want your pool light to come on at 7 pm and off at 11 pm, that is another program used. If you want to just manually turn on the light and have it run for 2 hours and shut off that is another program. etc, etc. Will it work, sure , will you be happy with it, maybe, but I doubt it. Oh, and the booster pump would take yet another schedule.

If you go with a large cartridge filter, then there is no multiport valve. The pipe comes out of the pump and right into the filter.. Out of the filter and right back to the pool through the pool return eyeballs. Dirt simple. I would go with a Clean and Clear CCP-420 or 520. You would only need to clean it once or twice a year at the most.

Almost everyone here at TFP, is here because of using 3" chlorine tablets in their tab feeder. Just keep that in mind.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[wireform]

What Jim said. If I were doing anything poolwise I would take his advice and run with it.

 

[Phasers]

Well seems I have a lot more research to do. If flagstone in general is a poor coping stone, and considering the extremely large expense I am about to take on to replace them, does any have recommendations for what to change with my plan above to ensure a long term, problem free pool?