STILL -More than Halfway there

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Taz

Great site - wish I'd surfed here MUCH earlier in the process.

Our pool was "shot" on Friday and plumbed today so much of the pre-handwringing is over. Nevertheless, I'd thought I'd offer a photo of the newly shot pool with our specs. We decided to build a basic pool with no bells & whistles. Chosing the builder has tough - especially in NE FL as there are many. It came down to experience and confidence that I would get a solid pool. The company has been for more than 32 yrs. I also leaned towards the wet-mix shotcrete rather than gunite.

- 30' x 15' kidney wet-mix shotcrete inground
- 3.5 to 5.5' deep
- 36" main drain
- 1 skimmer; 4 returns
- normal light
- 2 seating shelves
- step-up for elevation/drainage
- Dyna-Pro single speed 1 HP pump
- Sta-Rite 2 filter - PLM100
- AutoPilot Digital SWG - RC35/22 cell
- Polaris 360 cleaner (vacuum return not needed)
- Concrete pavers (slightly slate textured)
- Marbletite (Marquis series - Bluestone finish)
- screen enclosure

Next step - the electrican. Wish I'd thought to include an additional outlet inside the enclosure area now that I think about it!

Cheers - Taz
edit: to change the title
 

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Re: Halfway there

Looks great :goodjob:

See if they will upgrade you to the PLM150 filter, and ask them about a 2 speed pump as well. If they won't budge on the pump, I would suggest going down to a 3/4 HP pump. Your pool does not have enough water to warrant a 1 HP pump, and you will save money and sacrifice nothing as far as function by using the 3/4 HP pump.

Keep the pics coming!
 
Re: Halfway there

simicrintz said:
Looks great :goodjob:

See if they will upgrade you to the PLM150 filter, and ask them about a 2 speed pump as well. If they won't budge on the pump, I would suggest going down to a 3/4 HP pump. Your pool does not have enough water to warrant a 1 HP pump, and you will save money and sacrifice nothing as far as function by using the 3/4 HP pump.

Keep the pics coming!
Click to expand...

Didn't think of the 2 speed pump (& my wife is an environmental engineer). I'm leaning towards keeping the 1 HP pump as we will likely add solar w/in a year & need the additional capacity. A 3/4 HP pump wouldn't handle the additional head needed. Everything is wired in - the tiles should be done Monday or Tuesday. Regretfully, my irrigation revamp & resod will more than eat my budget.
 
Re: Halfway there

Check your head curve on the pump before you make the final decision. I've plumbed in many pools with solar on 3/4 HP pumps (StaRite, by the way, which it appears you are using/getting) with no problem.

More horsepower is great for race cars and lawn mowers, but not so much for swimming pool pumps. Slower water moving through filtration, combined with bigger pipes make for efficient pools. Using the assumption that you will have approx. 15,000 gallons of water in your pool (based on your dimensions), you will need a pump that pushes about 42 gpm. That is about half of what the 1 HP will do, so you will (in essence) be trying to move twice as much water through your system with the 1 HP pump. Unless you have a very high house, and a very long run (with very small pipe and lots of 90's), I think you will find that the head on the 3/4 HP pump will work just fine.
 
Re: Halfway there

Bruce - Really appreciate your input. I'll talk to the builder on Monday. I looked at the calculations in the permit pack & want to double check his flow rate and filter choice (the PLM-150 seems better suited). The max dynamic head calculated is ~40 ft; he is using 3" branch, 2.5" trunk, and 2" return piping.

If I add solar (positioned on the other side of the house from the pump and about 12 ft above the pump) then my rough numbers using Univ. of Florida reference would add about ~20 ft of head to that (panels +4, 80 ft of 2" PVC +6, static head +12). Obviously I'll defer to the experts. I got a "D" in fluid mechanics but a "B" in water chemistry.
 
Halfway there - Day 25

Tile guys came today. Photos below.

Hope the footer can be dug & reinforced tomorrow :|
 

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Re: Halfway there & Holding

Progress! Footers poured, pavers are done. Waiting for the enclosure sub-contractor (there's one job now ahead of me). Here are a few photos of the pavers.
 

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Re: More than Halfway there

Love the pavers and the pool shape :goodjob: . You might want to run electrical conduit to the four corners of your screen and also water at all corners. Also you might want to run water and electrical to future summer kitchen. If you have a large sub panel you can tap off power from there. You can never have too many electical outlets. :party: DW always finds things that light up to plug into them especially around christmas time :-D :cheers:
 
Re: More than Halfway there - DONE

We've been shivering with antici ...... ....... pation waiting for our pool to be finished. And it is - more or less. Timing is everything and waiting 3 weeks for the enclosure sub to start was painful. A quality job - the inspector was pleased. But that's water under the bridge/in the pool.

The installers did a light acid wash as the fill began. Turned off the hoses at 0600 this morning (kept waking up to check the level). The water is cloudy with plaster dust so hopefully they'll be by in a few hours to start the pump & continue the startup.
Here are a couple of photos. More once they cleanup the area & we jump in. :party:

Cheers - Taz
 

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R_Willis said:
I love the pavers and coping.

Where are the pavers from?
Is the coping pre-formed or poured?
Click to expand...

Thanks - my wife has the eye for matching stuff.

Concrete pavers (Stonehurst design/Riverwood color) and coping (Sandstone color) are Tremron products
http://tremron.com/preview/products/ourproducts2-38pavers.html made in FL. Pavers have a "slate look" texture - would look great in grey. The coping bricks ( http://tremron.com/preview/products/ourproductsbullnose_regularbullnose.html )are mortared into place on the edge of the concrete wall.
 

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