- Jul 1, 2011
- 44
Several week reader, first time poster.
We live in MN
We are planning a 33' Radiant AGP with a deck surrounding about 1/2 of it. The pool is (52" deep) and we are burying it about 15" to 17" in the ground so it will be level with the house and deck. We are buying it from an online dealer and hiring the excavation/ ground prep and installing the pool and deck ourselves. I plan to put an equipment pad about 30- 35 feet from the pool by the air conditioner and other utility mess.
According to the retailer and what I have read, a sand filter/ pump is the low maintenance way to go. They sell sta rite which appears to be reputable brand. He told me that if we are pumping 30 to 35 feet we may want to upgrade from a 1.5hp pump to a 2hp (apparently not that much more expensive but I have heard you don't want too big of a pump).
We are planning and running the pool basically late May through mid Sept and the pool is situated in almost pure sunlight for 6-8 hours a day. Nevertheless, we are looking at installing a heat pump because we simply want the pool to be ready when we want to use it. We considered solar but aesthetics are worth $100/ mo for us. We will also religiously use the solar cover.
Equipment
-Radiant Metric 33' 52" deep
-sta rite filter/ pump
-Jandy Aquapure EI SWG
Questions:
Should I get an ionizer?
Does the 2 hp pump seem necessary?
What heat pump should we consider? Apparently it must be able to handle off season frost. We will install ourselves (Brother in Law is a master electrician and Brother is an amateur plumber).
I calculated the necessary BTU's to heat a pool this size in this area and, based on averages I will need
113000 in June
66000 in July and Aug
and about 150,000-170,000 in May and September
The averages are clearly skewed because I will shut the pool down at the extreme ends of the season so I would like to hear what real pool owners have to say about averaging this. I'd rather not spend $5000 on a heat pump, but will if I have to.
The other thing I considered was downsizing to a 30' pool so save a little money all around, but that seems like the least appealing option with the size of our family.
Is there anything else I have failed to consider? I have skimmed pool school but plan to get more into that when I actually have an application (I am a better hands on learner with that kind of stuff). I also plan to get one of the good testing kits in the next week or so.
Any comments/ advice on any part of this are greatly appreciated.
We live in MN
We are planning a 33' Radiant AGP with a deck surrounding about 1/2 of it. The pool is (52" deep) and we are burying it about 15" to 17" in the ground so it will be level with the house and deck. We are buying it from an online dealer and hiring the excavation/ ground prep and installing the pool and deck ourselves. I plan to put an equipment pad about 30- 35 feet from the pool by the air conditioner and other utility mess.
According to the retailer and what I have read, a sand filter/ pump is the low maintenance way to go. They sell sta rite which appears to be reputable brand. He told me that if we are pumping 30 to 35 feet we may want to upgrade from a 1.5hp pump to a 2hp (apparently not that much more expensive but I have heard you don't want too big of a pump).
We are planning and running the pool basically late May through mid Sept and the pool is situated in almost pure sunlight for 6-8 hours a day. Nevertheless, we are looking at installing a heat pump because we simply want the pool to be ready when we want to use it. We considered solar but aesthetics are worth $100/ mo for us. We will also religiously use the solar cover.
Equipment
-Radiant Metric 33' 52" deep
-sta rite filter/ pump
-Jandy Aquapure EI SWG
Questions:
Should I get an ionizer?
Does the 2 hp pump seem necessary?
What heat pump should we consider? Apparently it must be able to handle off season frost. We will install ourselves (Brother in Law is a master electrician and Brother is an amateur plumber).
I calculated the necessary BTU's to heat a pool this size in this area and, based on averages I will need
113000 in June
66000 in July and Aug
and about 150,000-170,000 in May and September
The averages are clearly skewed because I will shut the pool down at the extreme ends of the season so I would like to hear what real pool owners have to say about averaging this. I'd rather not spend $5000 on a heat pump, but will if I have to.
The other thing I considered was downsizing to a 30' pool so save a little money all around, but that seems like the least appealing option with the size of our family.
Is there anything else I have failed to consider? I have skimmed pool school but plan to get more into that when I actually have an application (I am a better hands on learner with that kind of stuff). I also plan to get one of the good testing kits in the next week or so.
Any comments/ advice on any part of this are greatly appreciated.