Signing Contract soon! Central Nebraska Pool Build

[thetekgeek]

FINALLY, we have our contract and plan to sign this week. Construction should begin in the next few weeks. My contractor is a little hesitant to commit to an exact start date right now due to the odd weather we have had this spring and how far that weather has caused him to fall behind his usual schedule.

Here are the details:

17 X 33 In-Ground Vinyl (guestimating 20K - 22K gallons) with Polymer walls and braces.
Pacific Pools Omni - FreeForm, Diving depth.
6' Diving Board with flyte deck fiberglass stand
Pentair Easytouch 8 Automation system
Pentair Intelliflow XF 4x160 pump
Pentair Quad 100 DE Filter
Pentair IC40 SWG
Mastertemp 250 Natural Gas Pool Heater
2 Surface Skimmers
2 Main Drains
5 Returns
Maytronics M400 Supreme Robotic Cleaner
838 Square foot Concrete Decking

Anything I am missing? Is there anything with the equipment that looks off? I wanted the SWG to be sized roughly twice the pool volume, so I think I've got that covered. I also wanted to have a larger filter and certainly a variable speed pump. I am not convinced that I want the diving board, I have heard it can/will drive insurance prices up. I know very little about the automation, so I have placed my trust in the builder as to what he is proposing to install.

Looking for any feedback from the great people on this site.

 

[thetekgeek]

Bump.... No takers on helping me make sure my equipment list is ok?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

Is your insurance company okay with the diving board? They're scarce in my area...

A little bump for you too...

 

[thetekgeek]

My wife works in the same building that our insurance agent works out of. She asked about it and the agent didn't seem to react in a way that made us think there would be a problem. I asked my wife to have the agent find out for sure what it will do to our rates and we are waiting for the agent to get back to her. I suspect it will raise the rates at least some, the question will be how much and whether or not it is worth it. My kids are begging for a diving board, so I'm probably stuck with it either way.

 

[bmoreswim]

Sorry for the lack of responses this week. In general, I think the equipment list is pretty solid. I don't think he dun you wrong too badly! But on the automation, I'll ping @Jimrahbe for a review as he is knowledgeable regarding Pentair.

I have a diving board. I called my insurance company beforehand and they said, no problem. Then after the pool was installed, my umbrella policy carrier, said no dice, remove or we cancel in 30 days. So my options were to either separate the umbrella from the underlying policy (expensive) or shop for all new insurance that was diving board happy because it was staying. So we ended up with Nationwide for all coverages. So the moral of the story is check with both layers of coverage to be sure. And if you don't have an umbrella policy, and you will soon have a pool, get one.

A few small goodies I'd get are:
Vinyl top main drain cover
Pouralid skimmer cover

I'd recommend two full-size color changing LED Pentair lights or 3 or 4 of their nicheless style lights. You will love the color for creating an amazing atmosphere at night. Facing away from the primary seating area to keep the glare out of your eyes.

Do you have a concept drawing and/or a before picture?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Geek,

Your equipment looks pretty good to me, but I do have a couple of comments,,,

Not sure why you are getting the XF pump as you don't appear to have anything that needs the extra "flow".. You need 2.5" or 3" plumbing??? Are you sure this is not an IntelliFlo VS or VF? We never recommend getting the VF (variable flow) or any pump with the SVRS options..

The EasyTouch 8 will work well for you, but I do suggest that you look at the brand new IntelliCenter with build in SWCG power supply.. While the ET 8 will work just fine, the IntelliCenter has a lot more functions.. The ET 8 has a maximum of 12 schedules/programs.. The IC 100... the ET 8 needs ScreenLogic to work via your PC, phone or tablet, while this comes built-in with the IC.. It would be worth a look if nothing else..

I don't believe your heater is near big enough, but we really need some feedback from someone that has a heater...

Good job of getting a Robot cleaner...

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[thetekgeek]

Sorry for the lack of responses this week. In general, I think the equipment list is pretty solid. I don't think he dun you wrong too badly! But on the automation, I'll ping @Jimrahbe for a review as he is knowledgeable regarding Pentair.

I have a diving board. I called my insurance company beforehand and they said, no problem. Then after the pool was installed, my umbrella policy carrier, said no dice, remove or we cancel in 30 days. So my options were to either separate the umbrella from the underlying policy (expensive) or shop for all new insurance that was diving board happy because it was staying. So we ended up with Nationwide for all coverages. So the moral of the story is check with both layers of coverage to be sure. And if you don't have an umbrella policy, and you will soon have a pool, get one.

A few small goodies I'd get are:
Vinyl top main drain cover
Pouralid skimmer cover

I'd recommend two full-size color changing LED Pentair lights or 3 or 4 of their nicheless style lights. You will love the color for creating an amazing atmosphere at night. Facing away from the primary seating area to keep the glare out of your eyes.

Do you have a concept drawing and/or a before picture?

Thank you for the suggestions. I will look at the links provided. Our insurance is with Nationwide, they have been great. Our roof was a total loss last summer after a real fun hail storm. They not only paid for the roof replacement, but also paid the difference for high impact 50 year shingles. I was very satisfied. Hopefully, they will not have a problem with the diving board.

As for the lights, I totally missed putting them in my list. The proposed lights to install are 2 Pentair 5G LED aqua lights, I believe they are only white lights and I went that route because I have heard people complaining about the color changing ones having problems.

 

[thetekgeek]

Geek,

Your equipment looks pretty good to me, but I do have a couple of comments,,,

Not sure why you are getting the XF pump as you don't appear to have anything that needs the extra "flow".. You need 2.5" or 3" plumbing??? Are you sure this is not an IntelliFlo VS or VF? We never recommend getting the VF (variable flow) or any pump with the SVRS options..

The EasyTouch 8 will work well for you, but I do suggest that you look at the brand new IntelliCenter with build in SWCG power supply.. While the ET 8 will work just fine, the IntelliCenter has a lot more functions.. The ET 8 has a maximum of 12 schedules/programs.. The IC 100... the ET 8 needs ScreenLogic to work via your PC, phone or tablet, while this comes built-in with the IC.. It would be worth a look if nothing else..

I don't believe your heater is near big enough, but we really need some feedback from someone that has a heater...

Good job of getting a Robot cleaner...

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

Jim,

Thank you for the reply. I had lengthy discussions with my contractor about the pump beforehand. I believe this is the pump he goes with on most, if not all of his builds. The bid specifically says Intelliflow XF 4 x 160. I guess I don't understand the difference between the XF and the VS or VF. I know VS is variable speed and VF is variable flow. I thought XF was a variable speed too?

I will look at the IC versus the ET 8. Do you happen to know what it takes to add Screen Logic to the ET8 after the fact? Or, do you know if it is easy to interface with the ET 8? I might just look at adding a raspberry PI and writing my own interface.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Jim,

The XF will work fine, it is just odd.. If you look at the Pentair site is says the XF is used for "Feature Rich" pools.. Meaning with a number of water features, spas, water falls, etc...

No offense, but you are just spinning your wheels trying to control an EasyTouch with raspberry PI.. It just does not make sense when ScreenLogic is an easy add on for $400 bucks...

Pool automation is pretty close to 1960's technology... It will be pretty difficult to find anyway "in".. Not at all like today's computers with 20 different in/out ports..

Here are a couple of screenshot to wet your whistle..

Main Screen2.PNG

• Jimrahbe
• Dec 29, 2018

View media item 1963

Pump Speeds.PNG

• Jimrahbe
• Jan 13, 2018

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[thetekgeek]

Jim,

Thanks, I think at the very least you just cost me $400. I am calling my contractor now to make sure I am getting ScreenLogic at the very least. If he can switch me to the IC at this point I am gonna push him that direction.

Thanks!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Jim,

I now know how my wife must feel... She really enjoys spending my money...

Just one more thing to follow up on.. I "assume" your pool builder will be installing an ET 8 that comes with the built-in SWCG power supply.. You just need to make sure he is not installing a regular ET 8 with an external SWCG power supply..

If you go with the ET 8, you basically want this one... Pentair Easy Touch Control Control System with IC40 Chlorine Generator 520705

What do you plan to use the 8 relays for? Just to make sure.. you are getting a pool with no spa, correct??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[thetekgeek]

Jim,

Just talked to him. The ET 8 with the IC40 power supply is what he is installing. Also, confirmed that he is adding the ScreenLogic at no extra cost so you didn't spend my money. You spent his!

As to the relays, I am not sure. I figured the pump needs 1, does the SWCG need one? Heater needs 1 and each light will need 1? If the SWCG does need 1 that gets us to 5.

I'm sure glad you are here to answer all of this, I'm a technical guy, I develop software for a living but I'm terrible with this pool automation stuff.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Jim,

The IntelliFlo pump is controlled by an RS-485 serial bus so no relay is involved...

The SWCG MUST use the Pump/Filter relay (one of the four high voltage relays).. The Pump/Filter relay is only closed when the pump is being told to run... this prevents the SWCG from getting any power if the pump is off.

The heater is controlled by a low voltage relay on the main board, so does not use one of the four high voltage relays.. The low voltage relay does not control the 240 AC power to the heater, it just interrupts the low voltage (24 VAC) control voltage.. Similar to how your thermostat works on your house Air Conditioner or heater..

Normally you would use the relays as follows..

Pump/Filter for SWCG
Aux 1 for pool light(s)
Aux 2 for pad light
Aux 3 for ??? Landscape lighting, or ?????

An ET 4 would be less money, but as time goes by you will find something to use the extra relays for.. I initially bought an ET 4 and it was a mistake.. I have since upgraded to an ET 8..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[bmoreswim]

I have a few different landscape lights on separate relays so I can easily see why the 8 makes sense even for a simple pools.

Thanks Jim!

 

[thetekgeek]

Well, here we go. First order of business is to relocate my electricity service cable because with my luck it runs directly through the middle of our proposed pool location. This was not part of my contract, so I have spent the last few days digging holes to locate my current cable on both sides of the dig location. It is amazing how deep 36" is when you are digging it with a shovel. Just completed the site plan with the utility company and my buddy with a giant trencher will be here within the hour to dig that trench. Once I get the trench in and the new PVC put in the power company will come by and pull my old cable out of the conduit, splice the new conduit into the existing and push the wire back through. Once that is done, we have ZERO obstacles standing in the way of excavation!!

 

[jimbethesda]

I would ask him to go with Pentair’s new IntelliCenter. I just got it installed, and it’s great. My PB initially had ET with ScreenLogic in the proposal. I asked him for IntelliCenter, and he didn’t even charge me extra (he did with several other items). IntelliCenter is their newest offering. I don’t think they will spend resources coming out with updates for ET, but many are in the works for IntelliCenter.

My biggest crowd pleaser? Turning on my water feature from my Apple Watch!

Seriously though, I think this is a must have and shouldn’t cost you anything. He’ll likely push back because he doesn’t have any experience with it, but just insist on it.

I would also go for the IC60 instead of IC40. That will cost you about $150, but well worth the extra flexibility when it comes to pump run times.

 

[MyAZPool]

I would ask him to go with Pentair’s new IntelliCenter. I just got it installed, and it’s great. My PB initially had ET with ScreenLogic in the proposal. I asked him for IntelliCenter, and he didn’t even charge me extra (he did with several other items). IntelliCenter is their newest offering. I don’t think they will spend resources coming out with updates for ET, but many are in the works for IntelliCenter.

My biggest crowd pleaser? Turning on my water feature from my Apple Watch!

Seriously though, I think this is a must have and shouldn’t cost you anything. He’ll likely push back because he doesn’t have any experience with it, but just insist on it.

I would also go for the IC60 instead of IC40. That will cost you about $150, but well worth the extra flexibility when it comes to pump run times.

Jim,
Very well put. Couldn't agree more with your sound advice on all points.

r.

 

[jimim]

For what it's worth to you I have a 300k master temp and my pool is 20k gallons. I also have a ic40. I run my pump 24/7 and never have had to run my ic40 higher that 33 percent to keep my fc level on the higher side for my cya.

 

[jimbethesda]

For what it's worth to you I have a 300k master temp and my pool is 20k gallons. I also have a ic40. I run my pump 24/7 and never have had to run my ic40 higher that 33 percent to keep my fc level on the higher side for my cya.

The key here is 24 hrs a day. Most of the experts here will say that’s not necessary. That’s a lot of electricity. You’d be at 100% if you ran it for 8 hours a day. It would still work, but no wiggle room. I’m not sure how much the OP is spending, but another $150 for more flexibility seems worth it to me. To each their own.

 

[jimim]

The key here is 24 hrs a day. Most of the experts here will say that’s not necessary. That’s a lot of electricity. You’d be at 100% if you ran it for 8 hours a day. It would still work, but no wiggle room. I’m not sure how much the OP is spending, but another $150 for more flexibility seems worth it to me. To each their own.

I run my vsp as low as it can to make the cell run. Costs very very little each month. I got this idea from another member and it's worked well for me..