Imagine Illusion 40 Complete 10/19/21

[Casey]

I have someone coming out on the 9th to give me an estimate on an inground pool. I already told him I want a large DE filter, 2 speed pump, 2" pipes and a SWG. He said it sounds like I know what I want! Anything I should be requesting or whatnot? Help me build my perfect pool. I also told him I'm not interested in UV/ozone.

 

[cowboycasey]

Casey, that is AWESOME

You want a VS pump, way lower energy used and worth the extra price up front.. I just switched my 2 speed pump motor to a VS and wow it made a difference and I used low 90% of the time on a 2 speed...

What 2 speed pump do you have from the old pool, was it an inground like mine was or did you have the above ground pump? and there is nothing wrong with using your same filter unless it is way small..

 

[Casey]

I believe the above ground pump is a Pentair 2 speed 1.5 hp pump and the filter is a DE 50 for an above ground pool. I will have to upgrade to the in ground filter system. I'm debating on whether I'm going to put the above ground pool up for a year or not... It gets hot here and I hate coming home from the prison and not swimming!!! The guy I spoke to said he can't get me on the schedule til later this fall, Oct/Nov so I have some time to really get this together. I know pools are skyrocketing and if I'm going to do this, I want to do it now verses waiting another couple years. I spoke to a couple ladies and they both said that everything is going up in price and no one can get scheduled til end of year 2021, next year 2022. I'm also looking at my big 5 year pay raise and everyone said that is a huge pay raise. I remember when I first got hired I told myself once I hit that raise, I'm going to do something nice for myself. Here we are... I want my in ground pool.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Casey,

I used to like DE filters until I had a large cartridge filter installed at my house.. I will never, ever go back with a DE filter again..

Cartridge filters have dirt simple plumbing, no MPV to stick, or leak, and best of all no messing with DE.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[cowboycasey]

So I love some Pentair for the quality but it is more expensive.. It really will depend on the builder as most are locked into a certain company, Pentair, Hayward or Jandy..

I agree with @Jimrahbe I have a Clean and Clear Plus 320, A little smaller than his and love it, clean it once a year... Have them pipe in a 3 way valve off the return of the pump so you can lower the water when you need to (if you do not get an auto filler and overfill) You can see how I did mine

IMAG0015.jpg

• cowboycasey
• Sep 12, 2020

 

[Casey]

Casey,

I used to like DE filters until I had a large cartridge filter installed at my house.. I will never, ever go back with a DE filter again..

Cartridge filters have dirt simple plumbing, no MPV to stick, or leak, and best of all no messing with DE.

Thanks,

Jim R.

I love DE though. It filters so well. I know that it is the only reason why I could clear a swamp in 2 days.

 

[bmoreswim]

Great news Casey! Yeah, it's hard to change from something you like. But either way will be good on the filtration - just a few more nighttime floaties for cartridge given the same pump runtime and speed - but still super clear. Channel drain if you get a main drain, so it sits flat and won't obstruct a Dolphin robot. Well spaced equipment pad on a poured slab. You may need to be onsite with the plumber or approve a drawing of the pad for proper spacing. They don't care about your maintenance issues. I like to remove my pump in the winter so it doesn't sit in a pile of melting snow for a few months. My first one aged early due to that moisture issue. For your SWCG in your location, 1.7x is fine, though 2x is fine too. The sun angle just isn't as strong up here. Place for as much sun as possible, subject to other competing requirements. Your Princess may like a bubbler to play in. I personally get scared of the LED bubblers as just another thing to fail, but I also don't have any bubblers. LED light(s) for sure. Though I'm not up on which types have become the best choices lately for reliability and replacement costs.

Heater? Will you go vinyl or concrete?

 

[kellyfair]

I have someone coming out on the 9th to give me an estimate on an inground pool. I already told him I want a large DE filter, 2 speed pump, 2" pipes and a SWG. He said it sounds like I know what I want! Anything I should be requesting or whatnot? Help me build my perfect pool. I also told him I'm not interested in UV/ozone.

Wow!!!! Amazing news, Casey!

 

[Casey]

I'm going vinyl so bubblers aren't very important to me but returns are. I want as many returns for circulation as possible because I'm going big on this pool. I don't want to say I wish I had a bigger pool. I'm thinking either a 20x40 or a large style lagoon pool. It's going to come down to how much of a price difference between the 2 but I'm leaning toward the lagoon style because I love the free formness of the pool rather than a rectangular but I'm not going to split hairs as long as it big and within my budget. I'll go out and take pics of the pool site. It's going to get full sun most of the day. The sun will come up on that side of the house and set on the other side of the house so the pool will get evening shade by 7pm or so.

Any advice on a robot? I still want to manually vac too. It's my stress reliever from the prison and my bonding time with the pool. I use that time to look for any issues that may arise.

Lights... I will want the lights on the side of the pool closest to the house so it doesn't create a glare when I look out my big bay window.

My Princess and I will be in this pool every single day.

 

[Casey]

I think my yard is big enough. I told my husband when we bought it... that's my yard for my pool! the first pic is from my bay window in the dining room and I sit at that window with my small dog I got from my mom when she passed.

 

[bmoreswim]

The Maytronics/Dolphin S200 or twins is the best value for your cleaning dollar if you get one in addition to the manual vac. It has the fewest features but still all of the cleaning ability. If so, recommend buying it over the phone from Marina Pool and Spa in Colorado. No online sales but really good prices.

I like the size you are talking about. Ours is 18 x 38 and looks/feels quite big. 20 x 40 is a great size, but don't worry if you need to go down a notch in size. I did the math once, but a lagoon with the same 20 x 40 max. dimensions is like 15% smaller as I recall, due to the curves.

 

[bmoreswim]

Nice open space!! Any idea how much slope you have over the length or width of the pool? That may be an important pricing aspect of the build. If a lot, then a wall could be needed. I'd request the PB shoots the grade with a laser level to avoid any grade estimating issues. PB's misjudging slopes comes up with some regularity.

 

[Casey]

Nice open space!! Any idea how much slope you have over the length or width of the pool? That may be an important pricing aspect of the build. If a lot, then a wall could be needed. I'd request the PB shoots the grade with a laser level to avoid any grade estimating issues. PB's misjudging slopes comes up with some regularity.

I'm definitely going to need a wall. That may take my pool size down a notch to cover that aspect of the build. I'm being realistic. I'm not sure what the actual numbers are based on the slope but it's not as steep as the 6ft+ at the other house. I will say closer to 4-5 feet by my guesstimation because there is a definite slope. It may look steeper than it actually is because I had the back of the yard behind the pool excavated and we pulled all that dirt to the pad where the garage is sitting and to the side of the drive because we had to build that up so we weren't wasting money on fill. I was actually going to put my pool where the garage is but money on fill won out because we used the dirt from the above ground dig. I'm going to use the fill from the in ground and fill in the yard behind the garage.

 

[Newdude]

I love DE though. It filters so well. I know that it is the only reason why I could clear a swamp in 2 days.

My cartridge filtered out 17k gallons worth in less than 24 hours. Afterwards I cleaned it because it was a good idea, not because the PSI rose anything significant. They were much better than I was expecting when i opened it. They always looked way worse after the pollen came down

 

[Newdude]

Pollen pics for reference

 

[Casey]

Heater?

I missed this... I'm going to look into a heater. If I use it at all it'll be to get an early start or extend the season. These pools, when sitting in the sun all day, get blasted by the sun.

 

[Casey]

Pollen pics for reference View attachment 177589View attachment 177590

Looks like it does a great job of catching the fineness of pollen.

 

[Casey]

What else should I add to my list for the builder on the 9th? He already knows I want what I want.

 

[Newdude]

So if you go 20X40 you’ll be looking at 28k-35k gallons depending on how big of a shallow end you get. You’ll want a 60k SWG which leaves Pentair and Circupool. I had 35 people in the pool for hours at a blowout party and the water got cloudy. I cranked the IC60 and pump to 100% and it was clear before I went to bed 4 hours later with the SWG/Fliter combo. The DE would do fine as well, but go as big as they have because your massive amount of gallons will need filtering.

The VS pumps are the 011028 and 011056. They are basically the same pump but the 56 has variable flow as well. You won’t ever need that but if the builder has a better price on it, Take it.
I was shopping them both recently and the 56 was about $300 cheaper on sale at that time. The builder probably won’t reflect the internet sales, especially this far in advance.

 

[Newdude]

Looks like it does a great job of catching the fineness of pollen.

It was a 10 micron difference between the DE and cartridge IIRC. The DE ‘wins’ but in the real world the only thing it wins is bragging rights. (Brag all you want though, because fair is fair ).

I challenged a member to come spot those microns once and said I’d provide the beer. I guaranteed him we would be blackout before he found one.