Hi all:

SO and I purchased a home last year that had a pool added in 1999. It is a chlorine pool and we live in Florida. The pool surface is pitted throughout, and we're resurfacing. We're also going to take it a step further and re-tile the waterline, and so we're trying to decide on what tile we like. We have not yet decided on a PB, though we've had 4 give us quotes. Not one has said anything about there being a problem with the equipment. Additionally, not one has mentioned that our glass block spillover from the spa has algae growing inside of it and would need to be replaced. We discovered this on our own while staring intently at the waterline tiles, after all 4 had been by. Some of you may be thinking we shouldn't hire any of these guys and look for another PB, but this is what we have to choose from. It's a small town and 1 of them (probably the one we're going with) is highly recommended by a lot of folks around here.

Anyways, to the plumbing question:

A couple of weeks ago the grease cup pin (I think that's what it's called) on one of the Jandy valves snapped off--head snapped off leaving the threading end inside. No big deal. We bought a new one at the local pool store, and SO was able to get the broken piece out from inside. Some of the other grease pins on the Jandy valves look like they might be deteriorating as well.

Yesterday, we got back from being out of town for a few days and the vacuum hose had snapped off. The plastic just cracked right off the suction hole (probably not what it's called, but I hope you know what I mean--the little suction thing the vacuum hose attaches to). If it had cracked further down the hose, we could just replace a segment of the hose, but it cracked right off on the suction hole, so there's a piece of the end of the hose we're going to have to pry out of the suction hole. We'll figure this out; no big deal. Not sure why it cracked. There was a lot of rain and high winds while we were away, but it is unlikely it was too severe as the screen around the pool is still intact.

Here's the question: How long should we expect PVC pool plumbing to last?

Obviously the parts I've mentioned so far that are deteriorating--the Jandy valves and the hose suction hole--are exposed to the FL sunlight and high heat, so that could be contributing to the deterioration. And while not cheap to replace or repair, it should not present too many problems. However, we do not want to spend all the money on resurfacing the pool and re-doing the tiles only to find out in a few years that we have plumbing UNDER the pool that is also deteriorating and then have to tear out everything we just put in.

Should this be a concern of ours? Or are we overly worried? Is there any sort of stress test we could ask the PB to perform? Some way to check?

Thank you.