Wind Sensor?

[Dirk]

Hmm, would anyone consider this builder error, and subject to some sort of warranty repair? Shouldn't he have known better? Or is the wind just an "act of nature" situation that no one could foresee, and so just tough nooggies for the owner? I honestly couldn't take a stance on that, but might be worth a try. The stone underneath was not a particularly good choice either, as the image shows. It's already discolored and as the inevitable calcium build up occurs that will be very difficult to clean, and I would guess near impossible to restore to like new. Tile, on the other hand, can be bead blasted back to like-new appearance, and as Allen points out, is a much tougher surface. Seems like an experienced builder should have known these types of things, and done a full disclosure about it to the consumer before the build. Split milk, maybe. And is there a tile that's going to fit in with the very nice organic aesthetic going on in the design (which looks awesome otherwise, by the way).

 

[drw4013]

Yes, I was completely overthinking this. The pool installer initially set up the waterfall to run any time the filter was on. Having recently moved from the midwest and never before owning a pool, I thought that was the way it had to work. It was like that for 1 year, hence the damage.

I have since had it programmed to just cycle the spa waterfall for 1-2 hours in the AM when the wind is always low. I just wish I had known this previously. I will need to see if the pool filter inputs are sufficient to adequately heat the pool with the solar heating, or if I'll need to increase the pump speed to compensate for no longer pouring solar-heated water out of the spa all day long.

Now I need to address the damage. I am debating between cutting those 2 coping sections at the midpoint and putting in stone, or replacing the entire coping with something that I can enjoy worry-free for the next 20 years.

Thanks for all of the replies, I appreciate it.

 

[ajw22]

.I have since had it programmed to just cycle the spa waterfall for 1-2 hours in the AM when the wind is always low.

You don't need to run the waterfall more than 15 minutes twice a day to turnover the water in the spa and keep it chlorinated.

 

[Dirk]

I think some interesting stones could look good. Before you go ripping out all your coping, wait for others here to advise about your type’s typical lifespan under normal conditions. It may last a good long time now that you know what caused the problem and have a fix. Other types of coping are not necessarily trouble/maintenance free.

I’m not exactly sure what you were describing regarding the solar heating, but this might be helpful if you’re talking about solar panels. Your system will have a narrow range of flow rate that produces the most heat in your pool. You can’t increase or decrease flow rate (pump speed) outside of that narrow range to get more heat. Solar panels don’t work that way (it’s physics). The only way you can get more solar heat is to increase the runtime (provided the sun is cooperating) or to add more panels. And if you haven’t optimized the flow rate for your particular set of panels, then you need to do that first before you modify anything else.

 

[mas985]

but my pool guy is telling me that now I'm not running the pump enough to create chlorine.

What are you using to chlorinate and what is the size of your pool? ( a signature would help) Read This BEFORE You Post - Trouble Free Pool

Also, I run my spillover only 15 minutes per day. Enough to just chlorinate it. The volume in a spa is much smaller than a pool so does not require as much run time.

 

[Dirk]

You can run your pump in and out of the main pool for as long as you need, to heat it and to generate enough chlorine, without running the spillover. Then just run it through the spa for 15 minutes a couple times a day to pump chlorinated pool water through the spa. You should also be able to circulate solar heated water only into/out of the spa without the spillover, to heat it up. In fact, you'll be able to heat the spa faster and warmer doing so without the spillover. Of course without the spillover, you can only heat the pool OR the spa separately, but this is just a matter of setting up timers to heat each when you need. If your pool is plumbed correctly, valves can be set to circulate the main pool OR the spa OR both, and then timers can run the chlorinator and the heater appropriately.

If you want to use a pool guy to set all this up, that's OK, but you'll be better off (whether he's doing it or not) by familiarizing yourself thoroughly with how everything works. What each valve does, how to heat the pool, the spa, how the chlorinator works and when, how to adjust pump speeds and times, etc. I spent a lot of time myself doing that, dialing in my pool vac and my solar panels and my SWG and fooling with the return eyeballs and adjusting RPMs and flow rates, etc, etc, until I could maximize my pool's performance. That freed me from "pool guys" and now I run my pool myself, with much better results than I ever got from them (not to mention saving about $2K a year by firing them)...

If you fill out your signature properly, as Mark suggested, and post some good pics of your equipment pad, we can help you sort out what does what and how to set up all these scenarios.