New Build

[davidkaleta]

Hello all, first post.

Need help with pool equipment advice. I live in Dubai and the suppliers here are not as up to date with technology as the are elsewhere, so no hayward or pentair equipment. What brands that are available locally, its always cheaper to buy from the states and ship to Dubai. I have found a builder who has installed some nice pools, but nearly all have been basic switch on/off, with pool maintenance taken care of by them.
The pool will be approximately 35'000 gallons, 13.5m x 4.5m including spa, as in the attached pics.

The equipment i plan on purchasing will be

• Variable speed pump
• Salt water generator
• RGB Lights
• Heat /Cool pump
• Jacuzzi Pump

So my questions are this;

• How reliable are the automation systems from the major players, taking into account that no backup here.
• What would be the minimum automation you would go for, i.e SWCG, PH dosing equipment, lights, etc.

p.s. still not happy with the design, all ideas welcome

 

[HermanTX]

Wow - from Dubai - brings back memories when I lived there in late 80's & Gulf War 1. Are you running the whole villa on 220/230 50hz?
Going with a SWCG is a great idea.
You need think through how many items you wish to control to pick the right automation. You have 2 pumps, 1 heat/cool pump plus how do you wish to control the lights - do you wish individual control or group control.
You do not appear to have any water features so that helps simplifies some of it.
I have Jandy iAquaLink automation and it is fairly straightforward to install and operate.
My assumption is that it can be set up for outside the USA. Others may know more on that.

 

[setsailsoon]

David,

I've lived many years as a foreign resident in SE Asia, Middle East, and Europe but that was 20 years ago. I think the answer is heavily dependent on what is available locally and your capability to do repairs/maintenance. If it were me, I'd look into local availability of parts. My preferred automation would be Intellicenter and its modular design might be helpful if you ever have major failures. I'd also want to go with salt and swg so long as salt is available. How do you get things in to the country? Is there an exorbitant duty or fee for bringing in parts? If you have a very difficult problem with this I'd probably go with the simplest automation you can and maybe have a backup timer system. Or maybe just a timer system depending on local supplies. I've never lived in Dubai but I understand it's not as difficult as Indonesia. When I lived there all I could get locally was fuming HCL and caustic soda pellets. The pool wasn't even on a timer - just an on and off switch. I could get parts into the country but it was usually net 2X the cost plus shipping which sometimes took months.

Chris

 

[setsailsoon]

Sorry, getting specifically to your question. I've owned Jandy and Pentair automation and found both to be very reliable. Lightning strike burned up the Jandy and I'm sure it would do the same thing to the Pentair. You might be limited to local wifi control if your internet connection is not reliable and/or access to the company servers is blocked in your location. There are some ways around this using a vpn but that may be problematic also.

 

[HermanTX]

What brands that are available locally, its always cheaper to buy from the states and ship to Dubai.

Regarding equipment availability - it is also tight in the USA with a large number of pools being constructed plus the delays due to COVID. Also the hard freeze that moved into deep Texas and Louisiana last February put additional strain on supply chain as people who had functioning pools were looking to repair damaged equipment. You can review some of the new construction on the forum and read about equipment delays, substitutions by the PB to finish the project, etc. So if you are planning to purchase in USA and ship back to UAE, then start that process soon to find equipment.

 

[davidkaleta]

Regarding equipment availability - it is also tight in the USA with a large number of pools being constructed plus the delays due to COVID. Also the hard freeze that moved into deep Texas and Louisiana last February put additional strain on supply chain as people who had functioning pools were looking to repair damaged equipment. You can review some of the new construction on the forum and read about equipment delays, substitutions by the PB to finish the project, etc. So if you are planning to purchase in USA and ship back to UAE, then start that process soon to find equipment.

Thanks Herman, didn't realize there were delays.

 

[davidkaleta]

David,

I've lived many years as a foreign resident in SE Asia, Middle East, and Europe but that was 20 years ago. I think the answer is heavily dependent on what is available locally and your capability to do repairs/maintenance. If it were me, I'd look into local availability of parts. My preferred automation would be Intellicenter and its modular design might be helpful if you ever have major failures. I'd also want to go with salt and swg so long as salt is available. How do you get things in to the country? Is there an exorbitant duty or fee for bringing in parts? If you have a very difficult problem with this I'd probably go with the simplest automation you can and maybe have a backup timer system. Or maybe just a timer system depending on local supplies. I've never lived in Dubai but I understand it's not as difficult as Indonesia. When I lived there all I could get locally was fuming HCL and caustic soda pellets. The pool wasn't even on a timer - just an on and off switch. I could get parts into the country but it was usually net 2X the cost plus shipping which sometimes took months.

Chris

Thanks Chris. The problem with what is available locally is normally either, eastern Asia brands, or for the likes of Pentair, tripple the cost. So even with shipping costs from America, the cost is lower than local. My main concern would be reliability. Also, i'm sure that warranties would be voided, so thats another issue. Pool items like chlorine and salt etc, are pretty easy to get here. With the amount of pools here in this country, i'm amazed that there are no major players in the country.