Back yard is a mess but will be outstanding when we are done.
Here are some pics:

looking good! We are just a few days ahead of you (gunite on Wednesday of this week). keep the pictures coming - it is fun to watch everyones projects come to reality.

More pics of the project. Ready for gunite.

Equip and pipes:

Spa:

Returns and water sheer intake:

Looks like they double looped the water feed to try to help ensure an even flow with the spa jets.

Why is the pool drain 2.5" pipe but the spa drains aren't?

Three light fixtures in the pool?

Where are the suction outlets for the sheer pump? I only saw the main set for the pool pump.

Scott

poolguynj,

"Looks like they double looped the water feed to try to help ensure an even flow with the spa jets. "

I think what you are seeing as "double loop" is the air line on top of the water line in the spa.

"Three light fixtures in the pool? "
Two lights in the pool, one in the spa

"Where are the suction outlets for the sheer pump? I only saw the main set for the pool pump."
Suction for the sheer are at the shallow end of the pool near the tanning shelf. You can see in the pics, they are on a tee for safety I assume.

Correct me if I am wrong, I am new to pool construction and how they work, but aren't the main pool pump suction lines actually the drains and skimmers?

poolguynj,

"Why is the pool drain 2.5" pipe but the spa drains aren't? "

Specs are for spa returns to be 3" and pool 2.5" I am going to assume that is to move more water through the jets when in Spa mode.

The lower loop in the spa is fed in two places, The loop the jets are hooked onto is one and the two feed are a second.

Returns are actually called return inlets and the drains are suction outlets. All referenced to the direction the water flows to/from the pool. The drains suck out and the return send it in.

I didn't see the side suctions, I am surprised there aren't any drain pots on the sides. I am not a big fan of field formed drain pots except for much larger grated designs.

Suction lines should be larger than return lines.

I only saw one fat pipe at the pad. I expected at least 2, possibly 3 for the circulation system.

Are the skimmers tied together?

Scott

I will have to go out an give it a good look to comment. I think the returns are 2" Do not know on the suction but it would either be 2" or 2.5". The only 3" is the return for the spa.

Skimmers are plumbed separate.

I will take some pics of the equip plumbing today. You have piqued my interest.

Well, it passed inspection today and we are scheduled for gunite tomorrow. Nothing to do but worry it will all work right now :)

Here is the equipment plumbing:

Looks like all the suction outlets are all 2" and the return inlets are 2.5 and plumbed together.

As far as I can tell, the return outlets are shown here where the pipe comes into the pool and tees:

Here is the other side of the tee. The sheer intake is shown here as well:

The last inlet and the cleaner line (above where the bench will be)
I also see what you mean on the spa. The inlet is split and comes into the ring in two places.

Suction should be larger pipes than the return side.

Was there a pressure test done on the lines? It would really be a bummer if there was a leak.

Are they field forming the drain pots for the bottom and side suction?

Scott

The pipes have been under pressure for 3 days and holding steady. Not sure on the drain pots.

Do you have a pic of what you mean by drain pots on bottom and sides?

The pipes have been under pressure for 3 days and holding steady. Not sure on the drain pots.

Do you have a pic of what you mean by drain pots on bottom and sides?

So on the pool side, I have three independent 2" intake lines. Does that not mean that the maximum flow would be 219 gpm?

For the spa the intake is 3" so that would be 160 GPM max capacity.

Is this correct, and if that is the case, would not the total intake capacity be much greater than the return capacity like you say it should be?

I don't think there are any intake lines in the sides of the pool. Just the drain and skimmers.

I found a pic of a drain pot to which the drain cover would attach. That's at the bottom. The main benefit of having the drain pot is it expands the suction surface, slowing the intake. The main benefits of the plastic drain pot is the mounting of the cover and you don't have to seal it like you would a field formed pot made by the gunite crew. Gunite is not water tight. The plaster finish makes it water tight. You also know how it's cover's performance will be. Field made pots can and do vary.

Too often I see a shallow bowl sculpted with the suction line facing vertically as opposed to horizontally. While some drain covers are rated for flush mounting, I am not a big fan and if I were a builder, would never do it.

WRT to the biggest reason for having a larger suction side is to slow the velocity of the water. Suction is much more dangerous. Also, slow water = less resistance and head loss = less energy needed. The resistance goes up real fast after 7 feet per second with any pipe and water.

If the three 2" lines were feeding a 4 inch line, you could get add them. But it isn't, they are feeding the pump via the 2" opening of the valve in front of the pump. The pump's ports will experience some very fast water but it's not that big a deal at that point. If the valve is a 2.5/3" ported unit, you could feed approximately two 2" lines @ 7 FPS.

You also have a multiport with will add a significant bottleneck since it has lots of turns and is only 2". The filter is rated to 120 GPM.

Another bottleneck is the heater. It can't take the full load of the pump. It needs an external bypass to take some of the water flow. The internal bypass is only rated to, if memory serves me, 125 gpm. It only heats about 25 to 40 GPM and the rest of the incoming flow is bypassed. Opening an external bypass to let 60 GPM skip the heater takes a lot of pressure off it's internals and reduces internal friction.

The system will work as is, don't get me wrong. But don't expect to get optimal performance at high speed, as might be used in the spa. If there were more room, I would suggest that the heater bypass be added to relieve stress.

Scott

Here is a link that might be useful: Drain pot with cover

I appreciate all the info you have brought to my attention. Seems like there is a bit of science to this. I do not see anything like the drain pot. Just a hole with a pipe. Not sure how they will for it.

We got our gunite in today. It's starting to look like a pool. Three more weeks I think and we will be putting water in it.

As expected, they made shallow bowls, sigh. The sculpting is very good though. Don't forget to water it so it cures evenly.

Scott

Yeah, I see what you are saying. I suppose I should have questioned it.

I started watering it tonight.

Curt;

The rule here is No Soliciting. That last post is a general solicitation aka SPAM and violates the Terms Of Use you agreed to when you signed on.

Buying over the net is great for the DIYer. Do you bring your own steak to Outback and ask them to cook and serve it to you? Don't expect someone like me (I'm a tech, not a PB) to install or support something I didn't sell but the same holds true for PBs.

Most of the homeowners that come here for advice have a PB involved or are searching for one or are having a technical issue they are trying to understand and want get educated so they don't get taken advantage of by those without ethics.

Contributing is one thing. Changing your profile so people can send you an email via Gardenweb to avoid spam is acceptable. Then they can solicit you.

This is not a free advertising forum. If you want to advertise here, pay for it. GW will gladly put your banner ad up top. If you want free advertising, use Craigs List.

This is your 2nd post here. This is about my 2500th over four years or so. Any further repeats will result in me firing off a not to the Admins which I am certain will be backed by the other long time posters that visitors have come to depend on.

It's our posts that generate this forum's traffic, traffic the Admins want seeing their clients advertisements which is how Gardenweb pays the expenses and earns a profit in hosting this forum.

The contributors to this forum contribute on their own time and expense, we aren't paid. If we leave, who is going to come here and see the paid advertisements? The Admins will listen.

Scott

Man, no progress in a week. Bad weather here. Bitter cold and snow. Looks like a quick warm up for the weekend and next week though. Maybe there will be a crew out tomorrow. We just have decks, landscaping (beds and planting), a little more stone work, sprinkler re-do, and the pebbletec left. I guess about three weeks or so to go depending on the weather.

I am adding a landscape light circuit to the Easytouch controller. The pool lights are wired on a dedicated circuit in the box. There is a 20A breaker that goes to a GFCI outlet mounted to the side of the box, then to the relays then to the lights. I am going to assume that 20A would be more than enough to power 6 - 8 low watt lights in the beds plus the intellibrights in the pool but I can't find the specs on the light amp draw. Anyone know?

The other option is to add a GFCI breaker and run the landscape lights on that.

One more thought. I ran 14/2 romex for the landscape lights. It is already underground so I can't change that. I would need to swap the 20A breaker for a 15A if I use the same circuit as the intellibrights.

5G Intellibrites, IIRC, are 75 watts each.

Add up the total watts and divide by the voltage to get the current draw expected.

Most landscape lights I am familiar with are low voltage and are powered by a transformer and use special wire and connections. 14/2 wire doesn't meet the lights requirements For the connections and can't be directly buried.

Scott

I am going to go with line voltage for the landscape lights. That is the reason for the GFCI. They will also be out of the way of the pool in a bed 8' behind the pool.

So 75 watts at 110V is ~ .7 amps. That means there room for ~ 10A more using up 80% of a 15A circuit. Plenty of power for what I need.

Thanks.

Are you sick of the cold weather yet?? We got our fence installed this week but now with the next storm arriving tonight we will have to wait a few more days for the deck crew to get to work. The forecast is looking great for next week so hopefully all the texas builds will get lots of work done and we can see lots of new pics.

So sick of the weather. Today we have more ice. Hope it's the last arctic front of the year. We usually are out of the woods by mid Feb and no freezes past March 1.

Got the decks formed yesterday.
Tomorrow the landscape designer is coming to help with placement.
Deck pour on Friday
Installation of trees on Saturday
Remaining stone work next week
Then I think it is sundeck, plaster and done.

Here are the trees we are putting in on Saturday

3 Mexican Palms:

A large Mediterranean Palm:

A Canary Island Palm:

Got the palms in today. Decks get poured on Monday then the remainder of the stone work next week.

Here are some pics of the trees:

Nice trees! I'm looking forward to the landscaping part of our build hopefully soon!

Glad to see your skimmer ring is ready for the deck guys. Make sure it is in place before they pour. Ours was not in place and now we are in the middle of replacing the whole skimmer.

Also, they might have added the foam against the coping/existing patio for expansion after your pictures?

They made quick work of it. When I left the house at 9:15 they had it all poured and were floating.

I am really looking forward to getting all the clutter cleaned up and putting the yard back together. The patio needs a good pressure washing and there is dust everywhere including in the house from stone cutting.

More stone work this week then we will get it all cleaned up and ready for sundeck and plaster.

I will get some deck pics tonight.

Have you decided what color sundek you are using?? they are pouring our deck tomorrow and then we will need to makea choice. Are you goign with the regular colors or an aggregate finish? I look forward to seeing your deck pics!

We went with Franciscan Tan. Goes well with the Oklahoma stone. I did not get pics before dark, but it looks good. I am glad to have that done and reduce the mud in the back yard. Stone work commences tomorrow which means more dust.

I will get some pics in the morning.

Please tell me there is a foam spacer between the coping, existing deck and the new pour!

Scott

Yes sir. I was actually worried about that, but when I got home yesterday evening, there was foam between the deck and the pool coping and existing patio.

Thanks for pointing this out.

what is the purpose of the foam spacing?

To act as an expansion joint between the decking and coping and the old deck and new deck. They will expand and contract at different rates for given temperature rises and drops. Without it, there will be cracking.

It gets sealed with a self leveling and flexible caulk material after curing to seal out water.

Scott

I am starting to worry about the slope of the deck near the house. It slopes toward the house, but we did not install drains there. We put a drain in a low spot in front of the existing patio. Builder said that would be the proper thing to do.
I am looking at the deck that slopes toward the flower bed along side the back of the house. The lot slopes gently toward the deep end of the pool.

Thoughts?

Sundeck starts tomorrow.

Actually, I would worry about that deck slope, too, because of the downpours we get here during the severe thunderstorms. That side of the house would be awash in no time.

Talked to the PB. He said he would put in a drain if it is an issue. We got a .25 inch of rain yesterday and it drained well.

We got plaster today. We went with Blue Granite pebble sheen. Supposed to get acid wash and fill tomorrow. I did not get any pics of the plaster tonight, but did get one of my landscape lighting. Gotta move that playscape.

We are done except for a few misc things. Here are the pics with water: