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New Phoenix Build
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Posted by cdn_snowbird (My Page) on Thu, Sep 10, 09 at 23:45
| I would like to thank everyone who contributes to this forum, I have learnt a ton over the last few months. We are starting with a blank page as there is nothing in the back yard. We got 3 different designs with bids and have decided on one of the bids:
Pool Details:
50x20 (widest parts)
823 Sq Ft
146 ft perimeter
3' – 8’6" Deep
Approx 10’ baja shelf – 6" deep
leaning towards Cool Blue Pebble Sheen
5 Return Lines
2 Skimmers
Automatic Water Leveler
Spa Details:
Approx 8’
54 sq ft
6 Jets
Polaris Caretaker UltraFlex In-Floor cleaning (37 cleaning heads)
3 Pentair Intellibrite LED Lights, 2 in pool 1 in spa
Baja jump Board
100’ waterfall/rock feature
Equipment: (mostly Pentair)
1200 ThermaFlo Heat/Cool Pump
400K BTU Master temp heater
Intelliflo high performance pumps (3hp & 1.5hp)
2 HP Polaris QT Blower
Quik Dek Clor
Nature 2 Professional G series mineral purifier
Ultra Pure Ozonator
520 Clean & Clear Plus
EasyTouch 8PS Digital Control Panel with wireless controller
Total Price: Approx $80,000
Deck, coping etc. being done under the landscape contract.
[IMG]http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv148/gwharvey/pool.jpg[/IMG] |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: New Phoenix Build- design
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RE: New Phoenix Build
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| Your pool will be about 37,000 gallons. Most sat cells are rated up to 40,000 gallons when running at full power under normal conditions. Phoenix is an extreme place. Double up on the salt cells. This will benefit you in two ways. First, you'll have added capacity to generate the additional chlorine you will need in the brutal sun of summer. Second, a single cell will burn out in a couple years under that demand. The dual cells will last substantially longer before they need replacement. Using the Easy Touch 8SC-IC40 and a stand alone IC40 in series and mounted vertically in a Hartford loop configuration works well. A tablet feeder in the deck is not easily fixed. When the pump is off, this feeder will continue to be filled with water, causing the tablets to continue dissolve. This will create a high concentration of chlorine to accumulate. Chlorine is corrosive. The feeder will eventually fail. Its another one of Murphy's laws that it will be at the worst time possible, right before a large function like a family reunion or when 20 friends are coming over. If you really want to use tablets, a Pentair 320 in a top fed configuration self drains when the pump is off, stopping the dissolving process so that unwanted high concentrations of chlorine can't develop. It's kept at the equipment pad so servicing it is easy. I assume the 1-1/2HP pump is to run the in floor. cleaning system. Do NOT allow any flex pipe here. These systems generate a lot of pressure that causes flex pipe to expand and contract regularly. It will fail. Probably under the deck at the deep end because of Murphy's law. I don;t think that what appears to be about a 40 foot run to the spa justifies a 2HP blower feeding 6 jets. I would expect a 1-1/2HP blower would be more than adequate. I am not a big Zodiac/Jandy fan. Nature2 mineralizers add metals to the water. While silver and copper have some values as discouraging bacteria and algae, I think the chlorine augmented with the ozone is more than sufficient and doesn't add the risk of metal staining. The replacement cartridges are not cheap either. Maybe someone knows more about ozone generator installations than I do. I personally don't like them injecting before a pump since this can make it difficult to regain prime at startup and I've found that the small check valves used often fail. The hoses dry out and can create a potential tangle foot condition easily tripped on, breaking something or someone. I seem to remember a unit that adds it using it's own pump to inject it after the pump but before the filter. The wireless controller is an indoor controller. There is also a small, four button remote available(not waterproof) and I do recommend the spa side controller. Your pool is going to be beautiful! Scott |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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| CDN, Who did you decide on? Its a big pool but 80K with no deck seems quite high. As a visual those single rocks around the pool always look cheap. You should double or triple them up. Check out some of pics here to see what I mean. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Pretty pictures
RE: New Phoenix Build
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| Thanks for the input poolguynj: Very good point about the in deck chlorine dispenser, I sure would prefer it with the rest of the equipment. I will discuss the other points with the PB. just-a-pb: We decided on Rondo Pools, we got 3 bids which included the landscaping and they were all in the same ball park. I definatly see what you mean with the boulders, thanks for the help Anyone ever install speakers? I remember swimming lots in a pool that had underwater speakers and it sure made the time pass quicker when doing laps / exercising. |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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CDN, They are a decent company, have been around for quite a while. We just signed another job this morning, and we were quite a bit less then Rondo. As far as the underwater speakers, they are awesome. They are not cheap, a good quality one with amp would probably run about $1,500.00 installed. In this size pool you may need two, but would only need one amp. |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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| Day 1 – 3 guys, 2 dump trucks and a track hoe show up. One guy runs the track hoe, one shuttles the dump truck back and forth between the dump site and the dig (17 loads). The last guy did the forms and sculpted the pool walls using a shovel in the 90 degree weather for 12 hours, incredible.
Had to bribe the dog with a cracker to go in the deep end
Day 4 – Couple of minor changes to dig, middle light in wrong place, waterfall too big. Day 5 – Gas run from front of house to the back Day 6 & 7 – Plumbing – 6 guys working for 2 days doing all the plumbing for the in floor cleaning, spa, equipment etc. Most of it is buried as they go. Once finished they have filled up the system under pressure with some gauges on it so they can make sure they don’t have any leaks or don’t get any leaks during the rest of the build Day 8 – Rebar – 4 guys show up using their backs, legs, knees bend the rebar and install it all in about 10 hours . Gas hooked up to heater, inspected and lines buried.

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RE: New Phoenix Build
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| Looking good but I noticed a couple things. The pads the equipment is sitting on are not elevated to allow for the addition of top soil, sod, whatever. Where is the chlorinator? Where is the heat pump? Where is the blower? Where are the Caretaker distribution controllers? Scott |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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Poolguy, Pads are a little low, but they are probably just putting down a couple inches of granite. The chlorinator is a deck chlor, you can see it in one of the pics, as well as the Mineral feeder at the equipment pad.(this builder hates saltwater) Heat pump is probably bad planning, where rondo buys equipment they dont stock heatpumps. In general we dont put blowers on out here till near the end, but I do see the stand pipe at the equipment. Looks like they are using an 8port infloor valve behind the waterfall. I personally would not put that much piping under a 100 sq ft waterfall, if you ever had a problem there is no getting to it. Cdn, Pool looks good, I recognize who dug it, he did a nice job. Looks like your gas heater is leaking a little. They had a few problems with the headers leaking on those. And thankyou, we love our Cdn visitors, and their $Money$. Tell your friends. |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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| I still don't see the chlorinator or it's plumbing. I did see the autofill. I still don't see where the Caretaker lines come up after they pass under the waterfall. I agree about the lines under the waterfall, bad idea. Those lines get enough pressure from the cleaning system. Add some settlement from the waterfall's weight and you could have a major issue. Scott |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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| Thank you very much for the comments, I will talk to the PB about the concerns. The chlorinator is just to the left of the left skimmer on the second last picture. The caretaker lines come up behind the waterfall, you can see a little black spot on a couple of pictures between the 2 mounds of dirt thats the 8 port valve. Will get a couple of extra pictures tomorrow Lots of us down here, from a town of 18,000, last year they had a golf tourny here in Phoenix for everyone that wintered down here, there was 48 people for golf, more for dinner. |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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| What is the translucent material they are using for forms? Looks pretty stout and easy to set up. |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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| It's that stuff they make sign boards out of. Like corrigated plastic but they had these long strips of it probably about 20 foot lenghts. They over lapped them about 3 or 4 feet with the next one. When they had to do a sharp corner, 90 degrees, the just used a razor knife to cut one side. Just-a-pb I took the pictures right after they left and the last thing they were doing was the equipment so I hope that is why the water was near the heater. Been dry since but will keep my eye on it |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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| Well it looks like a pool after monday. showed up at 6 am done by 1 pm. Rock work is going to start tomorrow might take a couple of days.

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RE: New Phoenix Build
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| Well the rocks showed up today, could not believe how many rocks were on the truck. 6 hours later they were done, can't wait to see the water cascade down.
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RE: New Phoenix Build
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| Oooh, I agree about the pad for the pool equipment; it really needs to be on a concrete pad, not just have gravel around it. I would call around and ask, I am here in Phoenix too and we were told that it was pretty much a must have on the concrete pad to hold everything level when the pump is in action. Just something to check on. Otherwise it looks great, enjoy! |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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| I want to see a picture of you jumping that dirt bike over the pool. |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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| Not me, but my kid is trying to figure out how he can do it. |
RE: New Phoenix Build
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