Plumbing: Inside the walls or out?

[learnmore]

I have received a few bids for a new inground gunite pool to be located in the southwest and left open all year. The company I am considering constructs the pool with the plumbing outside of the pool walls with PVC while all the others have the plumbing lines inside the walls using flex PVC. Which plumbing construction is better?

[micahharwell]

If you have room outside the pool to run the pipe, do it.

1. Standard PVC has less friction loss than flex PVC.
2. Outside plumbing is much easier to fix if there is a problem.
3. Any voids inside the gunite (pipe or otherwise) weaken the pool shell.

The only time we ever use flex inside the gunite is on elevated spas.

[learnmore]

The only pool company in our area that does the plumbing outside the walls here is Blue Haven Pools. Do you know if they build pools like that all over the country or just in certain areas?

Thank you for your response.