Help with new gunite pool in Houston

[agjr85]

Please do yourself a favor and get the SWG. It is worth it on convenience alone. I had a few PB’s tell me variable speed pumps aren’t worth it. I can tell you that they very much are worth it. Do some research on here. Running them at lower speeds for a longer period is what you will need to do and they’ll use very little electricity. It was less than $20 month to my bill. Robots do a much better job of cleaning your pool than anything else and are very energy efficient as well. As far as automation goes, make sure you get automatic valves that will switch your pool to spa mode. Also, some automation devices only come with a local remote control. Be sure you can control it with your phone if you want to be able to control it when your not home. Good luck with your build!

Robot is on the list, so going with a Polaris 9450. Was only $450 bucks extra.
I'm iffy on the VS Pump. Have been doing research and there's a lot of back and forth. Higher up front cost, if it breaks it is expensive to replace. Then the tricky part about having enough pressure so that the other pool components filter well. It is an $800 upgrade to go VS. I feel like I can probably source one later for the same price and just replace it. I think they are doing Jandy Pro Series PlusHP at 2.0HP for the pool and water feature. Then another pump for the deck jets, bubblers, and spa. Something like that, and a blower.

 

[agjr85]

Man I’d rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than not have an SWG in HOUSTON. You will be hating life dumping liquid chlorine in your pool EVERY day from June-October. You can read up on the troubles of Trichlor Tabs and high CYA. I wanna swim in my pool not make it my second job.
That Crud about the salt water eating up the stone around your pool is a hoax the pool builders came up with to steer people away from SWG. We are talking 3500 ppm in the pool not 50,000 ppm like the ocean. I’ve yet to see ONE SPECK of damage anywhere in my pool or on the travertine decking.
also I’d highly consider a Chiller here in HOUSTON unless you like swimming in a bathtub from June-October.

Yea we had to skimp on the chiller. After research I found the SWG to not save any money, but you may be right in terms of time needed to maintain it at the right levels.

 

[agjr85]

Thanks all for your input.
Excavation starts tomorrow!

 

[Dtkokay]

We have small kids and little ones. I went with PB2 and they dont use the auto fill, but instead a manual control valve to fill when needed. So I won't need to drag a hose out.

I‘m in Houston and have an autofill. I don‘t think it’s that important because we get so much rain, and it’s a very minor inconvenience to have to manually fill if needed. Now if you leave the house for a month for vacation, then I’d want the autofill. Otherwise no big deal.

 

[Exlonghorn]

Thanks, I guess I'll have to review the whole automation side and confirm the cost includes the proper plumbing and not just the control panel install with basic wiring.

Any opinions on Wetedge vs Quartzscape?
Jandy vs Pentair? Seems like those two plus Hayward are the top 3 dogs.
I'm not feeling the saltwater pool and may opt out for ozone / uv.

I'm in Houston, and I think it would be better to go with a SWCG. I have a Jandy setup and use a Jandy TRUClear and it's been working awesomely for almost a year. Only needs a minor 2 minute tweak every month or two to keep chlorine levels perfectly in line. And as a plus i consistently see almost zero combined chlorine. I use a VS pump and it gives me two advantages...it's very quiet at low-to-moderate speeds, and I can run it for 8 hours a day while consuming half the power of a single-speed unit. And with a salt pool your skin will feel better...not as dry, etc.

 

[agjr85]

I'm in Houston, and I think it would be better to go with a SWCG. I have a Jandy setup and use a Jandy TRUClear and it's been working awesomely for almost a year. Only needs a minor 2 minute tweak every month or two to keep chlorine levels perfectly in line. And as a plus i consistently see almost zero combined chlorine. I use a VS pump and it gives me two advantages...it's very quiet at low-to-moderate speeds, and I can run it for 8 hours a day while consuming half the power of a single-speed unit. And with a salt pool your skin will feel better...not as dry, etc.

Thanks bud, I'll have to add it down the line.