Though largely OT to Airborne�s query at

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pools/msg1012560913151.html?2

Geek above has provided sound advice, especially regarding structure though participants contemplating a new pool might conceivably find the following helpful. With your continued use of enhancement such as granulated or tab tricolor-- although the concept is still very controversial--an increasing CYA might require increasingly high FC, eventually requiring replacement of your water. But if you choose to drain instead of back flush to this end your insubstantial structure could collapse and anyhow years might elapse before you attain these straits

However there is one point I might emphasize though at risk of denunciation by the purists among us: Typically the skimmer port is located opposite the inflow so that in the absence of a cover flotsam is carried toward it. Therefore in order to minimize your power requirement if you choose a VF over the historically conventional 1+ hp pump this flow may be drastically slowed, especially given an opposing wind

For the experts among us who by now may be tearing their hair in frustration, "flotsam" means floating objects

The jury however is out on the relationship between pumping rate and flotsam capture. I've elicited a couple of opinions from actual users to the effect that the surface flow is adequate even at low flow but before each plunge they may have been skimming for many more hours than you plan. In my own case (1 hp) this flow is barely adequate in midsummer when I'm able to pull my solar cover a couple of hours just before swimming. A couple of other participants have stated that the VF set to slow might not clear the flotsam equally well. Of course you could set your VF to high flow over such a period but you might thus lose any saving in electricity

I have repeatedly at several pool forums been raked over the coals, torn limb from limb, and outright insulted by the "experts" whom one might conclude are sub-rosa representatives of the pool-equipment industry hoping to peddle their VF's. But for the life of me I can't understand what other reason might account for their resistance. Actually a switch to VF has been demonstrated to significantly reduce your electric bill and in fact I am considering it myself though not looking forward to the possible requirement for manually skimming

Just an incidental note which I hope doesn't somehow stir up a lot more resentment among the Regulars: If it's not too late you might consider orienting the new pool in such a way that encourages prevailing wind to help move flotsam toward skimmer port

Forgive me guys but can�t we make all these decisions simpler for the new guys instead of radically more complicated

In this connection I've also been roundly chastised though not specifically countered for suggesting that if you�re willing to skim by hand every day the simplest and by far cheapest move suggested by the testimony of one apparently unbiased GW�er might be simply to replace your 2000-w pump with a common basic LF (say 200-w) without other speed settings, microelectronic timers, etc. Even leave your old HF in place only energizing it for occasionally skimming, connecting your new LF around it for everyday application though this move might entail one-way valves and the like as I hold complications in disfavor

And by the way, again at danger of antagonizing the convention-worshiping fusspots and quibblers amongst us: While as I've mentioned the switch to VF is surely worth sober consideration there are perfectly serious authorities outside the box, and buttressed by my own experience, maintaining that the classical conventional pump in many installations need be run only two to three hours a day with perfectly satisfactory results, a factor that ought to be seriously considered before any extensive revamp

All right Scott and you other Admin guys, I agree I must be a really terrible person, an outright troll, intent on upsetting the Status Quo with unsubstantiated claims and wild speculation and so I will understand if you wish to ban me but nevertheless thank you most kindly for the many past opportunities to express my outrageous takes often inadvertently testing the religious zeal of the Pool Establishment