Need help deciding on pool components

[bobbyseal]

My wife and I are looking to build a pool. We have a Thursday pool builder in our area who is fairly new to pool building. I know that it's probably a red flag, but when I talked to Thursday pools directly they informed me that he learned from their highest volume pool building in Indiana. We will be going to look at one of his pools fairly soon...

Anyway, he is kind of leaving it up to us to decide what model heat pump, pool pump, sand filter and salt water generator to buy. He prefers to use Pentair. He told us he could provide standard recommendations, but if we wanted something upgraded that would be fine.

So, with that in mind we are going to install the Goliath 37' pool. No spa. No water features. Automatic pool cover.

He leans toward getting a 2 HP single speed pool pump, but I was thinking about the 3 HP Intelliflo pump. Is it worth the extra $500 for the variable speed pump?

What kind of heat pump? My wife likes a pool fairly warm and we live in the southern part of Ohio. Is the ultratemp 140k BTU overkill for our area and pool size? That's what the wife was leaning towards.

Finally, any recommendations on what kind of SWG and size of sand filter we should go with?

Thanks for helping out a newbie!

 

[Swampwoman]

Welcome to TFP, Bobby, and congrats on your new pool. I'm sure others will chime in shortly so I just have two comments for the moment.

He leans toward getting a 2 HP single speed pool pump, but I was thinking about the 3 HP Intelliflo pump. Is it worth the extra $500 for the variable speed pump?

Yes, the $500 is worth it because over time you will be able to dramatically reduce your energy consumption. I switched my pump to a retrofit VSP motor for $400 earlier this year and will easily make it back this year in electric.

Secondly, while I love my Aquarite with T15 cell for SWG, if you are considering automation at all, you're best to select equipment from the same mfg. So if your VSP is Pentair, then choose the Pentair IC60 swg. Even if you don't start out with automation, later integration will be much easier...and with upgrades, be accessible to control by phone.

For heaters, just about all of them will interface with controllers. I'm on NG so have a Raypak, which is a TFP favorite...but I'm not familiar enough with heat pumps to make a recc....I'm in Michigan, where heat pumps are kinda useless on a pool given the extremes of shoulder season temps. NG is faster at heating from cold water temps. Heatpumps shine at maintaining heat but can't work right below certain temp thresholds.

 

[domct203]

Welcome to the forum!

Regardless of brand, your SWG should be spec'ed 2-3X bigger than your pool. This will allow you to run the cell (& pump) less hours, and greatly increase it's service life.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Bobby,

Welcome to TFP... A Great resource for all new pool builders no matter which day of the week they are buying from...

In my opinion, building a new pool with a single-speed pump should be illegal...

Yes... upgrade to the IntelliFlo, which is the Gold Standard of pool pumps.

With a SWCG, you will have to run your pump long enough to generate the amount of chlorine you need. This can get expensive with a single-speed pump.

For reference, you can run an IntelliFlo, 24/7, for less than $20 bucks a month. And it is so quite you almost have to touch it to make sure it is still running.

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[Pooldesigner1]

Pentair makes a 1hp VS pump. Intelliflo-i. No need for a 3hp pump that you will be running at a lower speed to save energy. Stay with Pentair Filter - the bigger the better and a Pentair Intellichlor IC-40 (or 60) . If you buy 3 or more components from Pentair they will double your warranty.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Bobby,

The two IntelliFlo pumps that Pooldesigner points to are pumps for special circumstances... The i1 is designed to be used when the local government has set a maximum pump/flow size and the i2 when 220 volt power is not available. Neither pump makes much sense for the average pool owner.. They cost more than a regular IntelliFlo and offer lower overall performance.

It you have either special condition, then they make perfect sense, otherwise, you'd be much better off with the normal IntelliFlo.

One other thing I just thought of... Do NOT get any IntelliFlo with the "SVRS" option. This is a safety option that is not needed in new pools with twin main drains and they are somewhat problematic in their operation. And... they have a restricted low speed limits..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[bobbyseal]

Wow! Thanks everyone for their responses. I really appreciate it.

So, it seems that pentair has the intelliflo and the superflo which are both variable speed pumps. Would everyone opt for the intelliflo?

As for the heater, we don't have a natural gas line to our house. We have a propane tank, but it is one of those 120 gallon / 420 pound ones. I'm not sure if that's going to be enough propane to cover a pool heater. We only use propane in the house for the fireplace and our range. The house has a geothermal heat pump. If you all think that we wouldn't need the propane guy to come by every week, maybe we could look into it.

Thanks for the advice on the SWG. We will look into the larger cell.