- May 7, 2014
- 429
- Pool Size
- 29980
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Thanks...it was a lot of work. The pool house has a mini-split heat pump/ac unit. I am very happy with it. It uses almost no electricity.
New DIY Inground pool build - Arkansas (Picture Heavy) - Outdoor Kitchen Complete!!!
- Thread starter duckcmmndr
- Start date
Thanks...it was a lot of work. The pool house has a mini-split heat pump/ac unit. I am very happy with it. It uses almost no electricity.
GaryParr
Well-known member
I really need to click links more often because I just now found this thread. Great work on everything!
- May 7, 2014
- 429
- Pool Size
- 29980
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Thanks, I'm not finished yet. Outdoor kitchen in progress and Glacier Chiller on order. I will try to post updates once the kitchen really gets going.
- Nov 7, 2018
- 1,049
- Pool Size
- 14000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
I just noticed it too!!! But wow...what a fantastic job by the OP. I think I am pretty handy with "general mechanical stuff" (my Dad was also a master at just about ANYTHING he touched) but certainly not to that level.
Man, I am super jealous of the land you have to work with, the pool house, the pool, everything. Looks great.
Where did you order your kit from?
Neve rmind, I see it's from Poolwarehouse. Missed that the first time through.
Neve rmind, I see it's from Poolwarehouse. Missed that the first time through.
Amazing build OP. I love DYI but this, a pool is way beyond anything that I would want to tackle. Getting things into the ground, square and plumb is not easy.
Two thumbs up, impressive.
Two thumbs up, impressive.
- May 7, 2014
- 429
- Pool Size
- 29980
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
It pushed my comfort zone a few times. I am glad I did it, but when I look back at the build pic's I find myself saying, "I can't believe I did all of that". I will say that having it completed has made me lazy...I have been needing to finish my outdoor kitchen all summer and I somehow end up in the pool each afternoon rather than working on the kitchen.
Turbo1Ton
Gold Supporter
- Dec 26, 2019
- 1,839
- Pool Size
- 14500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
You aren't kidding. My wife and I told some friends of ours the other day, the worst thing about the pool is that nothing gets done around the house. If I don't get it done before noon or so, and I happen to wind up in the pool with a beverage, that day has just ended.
--Jeff
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That's why you did the pool in the first place lmao, and you did a fantastic job.
- May 7, 2014
- 429
- Pool Size
- 29980
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Well operation "Pool Chiller" is underway. I received it a week or so ago and had to order a new Jandy valve and Hayward valve actuator as well as some other plumbing parts to be able to install it. I got it set in place over the weekend, cinder block base dug into the ground and leveled with air conditioner pad on top of those. I wired it up yesterday afternoon. The unit itself seems well thought out and constructed. Plumbing can be quite involved, depending on your current pool pad configuration. Fortunately for me I had more returns than I needed, so I am going to dedicate one for this chiller.
They recommend locating it in the shade, but at the same time in a location where there is nothing within 5' above the top of the unit. This rules out my covered pump pad area because the roof would be closer than 5'. I really did not want it there anyway due to sound. The only sound it makes is the fan and while it's not loud...it makes enough sound that you could hear it from the pool area if it was by the pump and I did not want that. I ended up putting it about 10' from the pump pad behind my pool house. This wall faces due North and it will be in the shade 100% of the day. Also in this location you can not hear it from the pool area.
I added it to my Omnilogic system. I configured it as a water feature with a high voltage relay and a valve. Once you turn it on it will open the water supply valve and turn the unit on both. I can configure it as an interlock and have it trigger at a set water temperature...but if I do that I will loose the ability to turn it on/off on a schedule or manually from what I understand.
When this thing came, my wife saw it and was surprise by the size of it, I think she was expecting a 2' square box like a heater or small outside AC unit. Later the same day, a storm was coming. Heavy wind, dark clouds and the rain was imminent. She walked inside and said to me "Hey, there is a storm coming. Let's load Dorothy in the back of your truck and head out" (Twister - 1996). I could not stop laughing, she nailed it. So when I was adding this to my automation last night, there was only one option when it came time to name it in the system. Meet Dorothy
They recommend locating it in the shade, but at the same time in a location where there is nothing within 5' above the top of the unit. This rules out my covered pump pad area because the roof would be closer than 5'. I really did not want it there anyway due to sound. The only sound it makes is the fan and while it's not loud...it makes enough sound that you could hear it from the pool area if it was by the pump and I did not want that. I ended up putting it about 10' from the pump pad behind my pool house. This wall faces due North and it will be in the shade 100% of the day. Also in this location you can not hear it from the pool area.
I added it to my Omnilogic system. I configured it as a water feature with a high voltage relay and a valve. Once you turn it on it will open the water supply valve and turn the unit on both. I can configure it as an interlock and have it trigger at a set water temperature...but if I do that I will loose the ability to turn it on/off on a schedule or manually from what I understand.
When this thing came, my wife saw it and was surprise by the size of it, I think she was expecting a 2' square box like a heater or small outside AC unit. Later the same day, a storm was coming. Heavy wind, dark clouds and the rain was imminent. She walked inside and said to me "Hey, there is a storm coming. Let's load Dorothy in the back of your truck and head out" (Twister - 1996). I could not stop laughing, she nailed it. So when I was adding this to my automation last night, there was only one option when it came time to name it in the system. Meet Dorothy
there was only one option when it came time to name it in the system. Meet Dorothy
And as a TFP enthusiast you are now a wacky fringe scientist. It works on BOTH levels !!!
- May 7, 2014
- 429
- Pool Size
- 29980
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
A badge I will wear with pride. Come to think of it, I may already have that badge or one similiar.
- May 7, 2014
- 429
- Pool Size
- 29980
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
Ok...well I managed to get the pool chiller hooked up late Friday night. The pool reached a all time high Friday with a max temp of 96 degrees. That's just 6 degrees shy of my hot tub!!!
It was late so I did not do any fine tuning on the spray bar rotational speed. I checked to make sure it was turning in the recommended range of (7-12), and it was at 7 RPM. When I turned it on at Midnight the water temp in the pool was 94 degrees. The next morning at 7AM it was 89 degrees. It definitely works. Saturday was full sun with a high of 96 and a heat index of 105. I let it run all day and the pool only climbed to 91, so it did a great job of holding the temp down, only a 2 degrees increase from the start of the day temp during stupid hot weather. If left unchecked it would have most definitely hit 95 or 96 again.
During the day Saturday I played with pump speed and spray bar rotation speed. The instructions say if you have a variable speed pump you must run it on high, I did not find this to be true. I do have a big pump and a great flow rate, but I don't even have to run my pump at even 3/4 speed to get max spray bar rotation of 12 RPM's.
Here is a breakdown on the output it creates:
So Saturday night after getting the spray bar optimized it dropped the water temp overnight to 86 degrees at 5AM Sunday morning. YAY!!!! That was with a shorter runtime than Friday night. I personally don't want it any cooler than that and the wife had rather have it at 90. The weather Sunday was clouds with sun and a high of 89, so I did not run it at all Sunday or Sunday night. It's cloudy and raining today.
If you look at the above picture, you will see that I used one of my returns for the chiller. I added an actuator to the supply valve so I could run this completely with my automation. Since my pad is below the water line I had to put a shutoff on the line back to the pool for maintenance reasons. If you look at the top supply line to the chiller (red) and the bottom return line from the chiller (black) you will notice grey schedule 80 unions. I put these here so in the winter I can remove these sections of the lines to blow out the lines to the chiller. I will also hook up this short connector (pictured below) that I built so that line once again becomes a normal return to the pool and water will flow through it so I don't have to worry about freezing. I don't "close" my pool in the winter, so the pump needs to run in below freezing conditions to keep things from freezing.
I also learned the Jandy check valve does not function like I expected. I put it in so that water from the pool would not flow into the chiller's basin when the chiller was not running (pool higher than pad). This works as expected if and only if the water level in the basin is low at the time of the shutdown. If the chiller basin is nearly full, ready to be pumped back into pool, when the chiller turns off, the weight of the water in the basin is enough to hold the valve slightly open..but since the water in the pool is higher than the water in the basin, the pool water flows past the open check valve and causes the water in the chillers basin to raise and overflow. To fix this I added and inverted U in the return line at the pad. The top of the U is above the water line for the pool and the chiller...so this stops the flow of water from the pool to the basin regardless of the depth of the water in the chillers basin.
All and all, I am pleased with it. But go figure as soon as I get it installed, the weather this week shows highs in the 88-92 range with lows in the 68-72 range...so I don't know if I will even need it this week.
It was late so I did not do any fine tuning on the spray bar rotational speed. I checked to make sure it was turning in the recommended range of (7-12), and it was at 7 RPM. When I turned it on at Midnight the water temp in the pool was 94 degrees. The next morning at 7AM it was 89 degrees. It definitely works. Saturday was full sun with a high of 96 and a heat index of 105. I let it run all day and the pool only climbed to 91, so it did a great job of holding the temp down, only a 2 degrees increase from the start of the day temp during stupid hot weather. If left unchecked it would have most definitely hit 95 or 96 again.
During the day Saturday I played with pump speed and spray bar rotation speed. The instructions say if you have a variable speed pump you must run it on high, I did not find this to be true. I do have a big pump and a great flow rate, but I don't even have to run my pump at even 3/4 speed to get max spray bar rotation of 12 RPM's.
Here is a breakdown on the output it creates:
- - The water coming out of the return in the pool was 81 degrees with 94 degree pool water (tested Friday night, air temp 89 or so with high humidity, 7 RPM spray bar speed).
- - With the spray bar rotating at 7 RPM's the water from the chiller to the pool runs for 1 minute and 20 seconds with 40 seconds of downtime.
- - With the spray bar rotating at 12 RPM's, the water from the chiller to the pool runs for 2 minutes and 43 seconds with 32 seconds of downtime.
So Saturday night after getting the spray bar optimized it dropped the water temp overnight to 86 degrees at 5AM Sunday morning. YAY!!!! That was with a shorter runtime than Friday night. I personally don't want it any cooler than that and the wife had rather have it at 90. The weather Sunday was clouds with sun and a high of 89, so I did not run it at all Sunday or Sunday night. It's cloudy and raining today.
If you look at the above picture, you will see that I used one of my returns for the chiller. I added an actuator to the supply valve so I could run this completely with my automation. Since my pad is below the water line I had to put a shutoff on the line back to the pool for maintenance reasons. If you look at the top supply line to the chiller (red) and the bottom return line from the chiller (black) you will notice grey schedule 80 unions. I put these here so in the winter I can remove these sections of the lines to blow out the lines to the chiller. I will also hook up this short connector (pictured below) that I built so that line once again becomes a normal return to the pool and water will flow through it so I don't have to worry about freezing. I don't "close" my pool in the winter, so the pump needs to run in below freezing conditions to keep things from freezing.
I also learned the Jandy check valve does not function like I expected. I put it in so that water from the pool would not flow into the chiller's basin when the chiller was not running (pool higher than pad). This works as expected if and only if the water level in the basin is low at the time of the shutdown. If the chiller basin is nearly full, ready to be pumped back into pool, when the chiller turns off, the weight of the water in the basin is enough to hold the valve slightly open..but since the water in the pool is higher than the water in the basin, the pool water flows past the open check valve and causes the water in the chillers basin to raise and overflow. To fix this I added and inverted U in the return line at the pad. The top of the U is above the water line for the pool and the chiller...so this stops the flow of water from the pool to the basin regardless of the depth of the water in the chillers basin.
All and all, I am pleased with it. But go figure as soon as I get it installed, the weather this week shows highs in the 88-92 range with lows in the 68-72 range...so I don't know if I will even need it this week.
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Thanks for the write up on the Glacier install. I am installing mine right now and also have an Omnilogic I am tying it into. Good to hear the pump doesn't have to run at 100% to function correctly. I do not recall seeing the 7-12 RPM in the instructions so thank you for pointing that out. You configured your chiller as a water feature?
Very cool you were able to use a pool return as you did. I have a in-floor cleaning system so I am having to route all the water back into the suction side of the pump, thus requiring 2 actuators.
Very cool you were able to use a pool return as you did. I have a in-floor cleaning system so I am having to route all the water back into the suction side of the pump, thus requiring 2 actuators.
- May 7, 2014
- 429
- Pool Size
- 29980
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
@Jeff McGuire The 7-12 was not in the manual. My chiller had a sticker right under the inspection port with the info on it. I colored the end of one of the spray arms with a black sharpie so I could count the revolutions.
I did set it up as a feature in omnilogic. As for their recommendation of setting the valves...I set my "control valves", aka - the regular plumbing store PVC ones, wide open and use the pump speed to control my spray head rotation speed. I saved my running settings as a Theme in Omnilogic app. So I can choose that theme and it will ramp up the pump and turn on the chiller...makes it pretty easy. You can schedule themes on a schedule as well which is nice!
Also, the manual also does not mention bonding. I called them and the tech that I spoke with said all you have to bond is the metal shroud/fan motor at the top as that was all the metal in it. I asked about the sump pump and he said all the internals that pump water as well as the top and bottom of the pump are polymer and nothing to bond. I pressed the issue and he said that you could bond the aluminum switch box that runs to the pump and that is all that has ever been required...so that is what I did. I had to add bonding lugs to the motor and the switch box. You can see good in the first picture of the chiller that I posted above, post #30.
I had noticed that you had the regulating valves wide open. Now i understand why.
I had also noticed your bonding wire in your pictures. I think i will go ahead and add one to mine too.
Your unit is a bit different than mine but it looks like I need to be between the 7-12RPM also. Mine is a GPC25, as my pool is only 16k gal but they didn't put that sticker on it. I'll color one wand to help me too. Thanks again for the pointers.
I had also noticed your bonding wire in your pictures. I think i will go ahead and add one to mine too.
Your unit is a bit different than mine but it looks like I need to be between the 7-12RPM also. Mine is a GPC25, as my pool is only 16k gal but they didn't put that sticker on it. I'll color one wand to help me too. Thanks again for the pointers.
Cobrarat
Member
Have you tried to program your pool system to turn off and on your chiller with temp instead of time? I am thinking of getting a chiller with my Intellicenter system and would like to use the temp to control the actuator and fan like my spa heater....
- May 7, 2014
- 429
- Pool Size
- 29980
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
@Cobrarat I have Omnilogic...so I can't help you with Intellicenter. In my system I can program an interlock and it will then kick on/off at a set temperature. The downside to that is that you loose the ability to control it manually.
Thus far it's not hard to figure out. I have setup a schedule for it to run overnight and if the daytime/nighttime temps are in the 90's/80's...I let it run at night and it works perfectly. It takes longer to cool off a pool than say a house...so there is not much fear of overshooting your desired "cool to" temp by so many degrees that you wont want to get in it.
- May 7, 2014
- 429
- Pool Size
- 29980
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
It has been a bit since I posted an update. After the massive undertaking of building the pool and pool house in 2020...I found myself doing a lot of floating with a drink in my hand last summer. I felt like I had earned that right. So this year I picked back up and I am finishing the last few details that I had left undone.
I started by wrapping my columns in stacked stone. First time doing this type of masonry work and while I did not absolutely love it...I did not hate it either.
Ran the conduit and pulled the wire 2 years ago....glad it worked.
This was the last thing I needed to finish before staring on the outdoor kitchen....which is already in progress.
I started by wrapping my columns in stacked stone. First time doing this type of masonry work and while I did not absolutely love it...I did not hate it either.
Ran the conduit and pulled the wire 2 years ago....glad it worked.
This was the last thing I needed to finish before staring on the outdoor kitchen....which is already in progress.