Pool design / set up - is there anything I should change?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
T

T2Mum

Member
Mar 23, 2023
8
Sydney Australia
Another person has suggested I come here to check if my pool design / set up makes sense.

https://imgur.com/a/jN8aKve

Diagram of design above - essentially a 9.0m-4.5m rectangular pool then on a slightly raised platform a 2.5m square spa.

Tanning ledge on one side of the deep end
Steps on one side of the corner, plus a step all the way across at the shallow end
3 lights in the pool, one in the spa

We have two separate lots of equipment, one for the pool, one for the spa. Both spa and pool will be heated by heat pumps (19KW heat pump - one for the pool, one for the spa) We are in Sydney, Australia, have solar panels and currently do not use all the electricity we produce. We want to be able to keep the spa heated all year around.

We want to have an automatic pool cover, and also some sort of cover for the spa.

Planning to use a Zodiac robotic pool cleaner for the pool.

It's a big investment and I don't have any previous experience to draw on, so any advice / tips greatly appreciated!
 
Hello and welcome to TFP! Looks like you have a good grasp on what you want for your pool. The one thing I would change is the bench across the shallow end. if you leave it off you will have a good "swim lane" if you or someone wants to swim laps. I would also make your shallow end a bit deeper. If I did the math right 1.0 is just over 3' deep. Most people will not be able to do a full swim stroke without scrapping their knuckles. I would go for at least 3.5' or even better 4' for bigger fun!
 
  • Like
Reactions: YippeeSkippy
kimkats said:
Hello and welcome to TFP! Looks like you have a good grasp on what you want for your pool. The one thing I would change is the bench across the shallow end. if you leave it off you will have a good "swim lane" if you or someone wants to swim laps. I would also make your shallow end a bit deeper. If I did the math right 1.0 is just over 3' deep. Most people will not be able to do a full swim stroke without scrapping their knuckles. I would go for at least 3.5' or even better 4' for bigger fun!
Click to expand...
Thank you! This is very helpful and something we had not considered.
 
  • Like
Reactions: kimkats
ajw22 said:
Welcome to TFP.

What type of pool? Gunite? Liner? Fiberglass?

Where will the skimmers and returns be? How many?

What direction is your prevailing winds?

What automation will control your equipment?

Other reading...

Construction Best Practices - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Equipment Pad Best Practices - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

How to select pool equipment - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
Thank you! I will find out the answers to these questions and add to my post. Thank you for posting the articles as well - really appreciate it.
 
Firstly, thank you everyone for your excellent advice so far. I already feel so much better informed about the issues that I need to consider.

I now have more information about my design / set up:

Size/shape: Rectangle - 9.5 metres (just over 30 feet) x 4 meters (just over 13 feet)

Depth and depth gradient - is 1m (3.2 feet) at the shallow end, 1.8m at the deep end (5.9 feet) - but we will probably increase the depth slightly - excellent feedback has been given re: thinking about lap swimming and also how our four kids (aged 10-15) will use it

Pool type - it's a fully tiled pool and spa. The quote says "concrete shell to be 150mm thick with 512 steel bars at 300mm centres both on the vertical and the horizontal bars using 32mpa strength concrete".

Separate stand-alone spa - with completely separate filter, chlorinator and heat pump so that we can use this all year around (pool will only be used Oct-March)

Decking type - as yet undecided, but some sort of paving

Pool Pump / Pool filter / Pool chlorinator - Oasis sand filter, Oasis V310 pump, 3 x return lines, 1 x CX 35 mineral chlorinator with smart chemicals PH and ORP controller and smart Master unit (automation)

Pool Heating - 19KW Oasis inverter heat pump

Skimmer - 1 x Water Co Skimmer box

Spa Pump / Spa filter / Spa chlorinator - Oasis sand filter, Oasis V310 pump, 3 x return lines, 1 x CX 15 mineral chlorinator with smart chemicals PH and ORP controller and smart Master unit (automation). Spa includes 1 x 1200-watt blower, 1 x booster pump for 6 spa jets (this is a separate lot of equipment used for the spa, not the equipment that is being used for the pool)

Spa Heating - 19KW Oasis inverter heat pump (this is a second unit just for the spa, not the unit that is being used for the pool)

Controls - Oasis Smart Master Unit

Lighting - 4x Aquaquip Evo Max LED pool lights (three for the pool, one for the spa)

Water features - To be determined

Pool sub-panel - Need to talk to our electrician - any tips / advice on this issue greatly appreciated

Pool finish type - fully tiled

In-pool features - proposed tanning ledge and step across the shallow end, but thinking about this in terms of lap swimming / safety (don't want the kids jumping onto the tanning ledge)

Pool cover - thinking automated Daisy cover, but haven't fully decided yet

Spa cover - not sure, but will definitely want one seeing as we want to keep it heated all year round

Prevailing winds - I need to try and find this out - is it possible to let me know what to consider with this?

Any further tips greatly appreciated. So far I think I need to find out more information about whether the capacity of the equipment is enough for our pool. I am also interested in feedback on whether having the completely separate sets of equipment for the pool and spa is a good idea. We did not want to use gas heating for the pool (cost of gas is becoming very expensive in Australia, plus was also considering the issue of energy sustainability). With a heat pump, the best way to keep the spa hot all year round seemed to be to have a separate heat pump for the spa and keep the spa at a constant temperature all year round (rather than try and heat it up at short notice).
 
Last edited:
Drop the mineral unit. I am on my phone so will call in @Newdude to share the link to why not use it. Your best sanitation system is chlorine. Be it liquid chlorine or chlorine made by a swg (salt water generator). It turns the salt into chlorine.

I WOULD remove tha bench as we all KNOW the kids and their friends will be jumping and they will hit that bench.
 
Hey Mum and belated Welcome !!!!

You never want to add copper ('minerals') to your pool because it eventually stains the pool and swimmers. Copper and silver are used for sanitizing in other industries but at levels in the 100-200 ppb range and the accepted threshold for staining the pool is .3. So right off the bat, the concentrations aren't nearly what they should be where 'minerals' are effective. Here's a thread with the kill times of the usual suspects. You'll notice the concentrations of copper and silver are far above what's preferred in pools (less than .3) and the kill times are still in days for many of them.


converting my ecosmarte system to chlorine

I have a 20,000 G inground pool. I bought a house and the pool came with it. Right now the water is nice and clear. But after reading that even though it looks clean, it might not be. Is it easy? Can I just unplug my eco-smarte box and add the stuff I need?
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
  • Like
Reactions: kimkats

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
Newdude said:
Hey Mum and belated Welcome !!!!

You never want to add copper ('minerals') to your pool because it eventually stains the pool and swimmers. Copper and silver are used for sanitizing in other industries but at levels in the 100-200 ppb range and the accepted threshold for staining the pool is .3. So right off the bat, the concentrations aren't nearly what they should be where 'minerals' are effective. Here's a thread with the kill times of the usual suspects. You'll notice the concentrations of copper and silver are far above what's preferred in pools (less than .3) and the kill times are still in days for many of them.


converting my ecosmarte system to chlorine

I have a 20,000 G inground pool. I bought a house and the pool came with it. Right now the water is nice and clear. But after reading that even though it looks clean, it might not be. Is it easy? Can I just unplug my eco-smarte box and add the stuff I need?
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
Thank you - this is very useful to know!
 
What are the dimensions of your tanning ledge? Is it big enough for the way you plan to use it? What depth will it be at? The way it's drawn makes it look like more of a swim-out bench than what I would think of as a tanning ledge (that could fit chairs, etc.)
 
T2Mum said:
Another person has suggested I come here to check if my pool design / set up makes sense.

https://imgur.com/a/jN8aKve

Diagram of design above - essentially a 9.0m-4.5m rectangular pool then on a slightly raised platform a 2.5m square spa.

Tanning ledge on one side of the deep end
Steps on one side of the corner, plus a step all the way across at the shallow end
3 lights in the pool, one in the spa

We have two separate lots of equipment, one for the pool, one for the spa. Both spa and pool will be heated by heat pumps (19KW heat pump - one for the pool, one for the spa) We are in Sydney, Australia, have solar panels and currently do not use all the electricity we produce. We want to be able to keep the spa heated all year around.

We want to have an automatic pool cover, and also some sort of cover for the spa.

Planning to use a Zodiac robotic pool cleaner for the pool.

It's a big investment and I don't have any previous experience to draw on, so any advice / tips greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
make sure you get a light for the tanning ledge, our contractor said it was unnecessary but we regret it every time we night swim☹
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply