Pool Contractors - Who's saying the truth?

Construction or upgrading of new or existing
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Mister B

Pool Contractors - Who's saying the truth?

Postby Mister B » Wed 15 Aug, 2007 20:13

I'm shopping for a new inground pool. I'm looking at a 12' x 24' kidney pool (with vinyl liner).

I've met with 2 pool contractors with good reputations in my area. Eventhough they both claim to have the best product and installation techniques, on some elements they are completely contradicting each other. Who's saying the truth ?

1- The vinyl liner.

Contractor "A" includes a 40 mil (wall) / 30 mil (bottom) vinyl liner. He says it's the best you can have.

Contractor "B" includes a 30 mil only vinyl liner. He says to stay away like the plague from the 40mil/30mil liner as the seam between the 40mil and 30 mil section is likely to fail and tear the liner appart.

2- Liner "Coping"

Contractor "A" uses a fairly large aluminum coping to hook up the vinyl liner. Says it is superior/stronger than the PVC coping.

Contractor "B" uses PVC coping and says it is superior/stronger than the aluminum coping.

3- "Aqua Genie"

Contractor "A" uses the Aqua-Genie instead of the traditional skimmer + bottom drain and round returns. Claims it is superior.

Contractor "B" uses traditional skimmer + round returns and doesn't want anything to do with the Aqua-Genie.

4- Lighting

Contractor "A" includes 2 spots in the pool (Aqua-Lamp).

Contractor "B" says to steer clear from those as the housing is likely to crack during the winter (I'm in Canada) and cause water infiltration under the liner / damage to the pool.

5- Pool Pump

On this one, both contractors agree and they include a 1 1/2hp pump. This seems overkill to me as the pool only contains 7500 gallons and could be easily handled by a simple 1/2hp pump. Furthermore, the pump will be hooked to 1 1/2" pipes only which are limited anyways in the volume of water they can deliver (still plenty for such a small pool). Won't this create useless high pressures in the pipes? Is this really a case of "bigger is better"

Thanks!


Backglass
Swimming Pool Superstar
Swimming Pool Superstar
Posts: 727
Joined: Tue 29 May, 2007 09:02

Pool Contractors - Who's saying the truth?

Postby Backglass » Wed 15 Aug, 2007 20:46

The pump should be sized to the filter, but regardless I guarantee a 1.5hp is overkill for a 7500 gallon pool. In the pump world bigger is NOT better...in fact smaller is. The whole idea is to circulate and "turn over" your pool water in about 8 hours. If you go to the pump manufactures web sites, everyone will post a "pump curve" that will show the gallons per minute for a given "feet of head". Unless you have a spa, water features, solar panels, etc, all a 1.5 hp pump would do is waste electricity. Remember you don't want or need high pressure, you want high flow and you don't need a big pump to do that. Not to mention that a large pump can actually reduce your filters efficiency by blowing water through to fast & hard. It's common (unfortunately) in the pool world to drastically overspec pumps.

As for the contractors....I would say "B" is making a lot of sense (except for the pump part).
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pool guy #1

The truth!

Postby pool guy #1 » Sat 18 Aug, 2007 08:07

the 60 mil liner avaliableon the market is the best in the industry dont waste youre money on that junk give me a call 8)
luckeypools

Pool Contractors - the truth?

Postby luckeypools » Tue 08 Jan, 2008 18:11

I was at the National Pool and Spa Expo show in Orlando in November. All the new pumps that are coming out are at least 2" intake. Some have 3" intake for residental pools. I would go with a Pentair InteliFlo pump with a TR-60 sand filter. Ask for these by name. You'll save 90% on your electric bill. Questions?

Luke Norris
President
Poolownerwithquestions

Pool Contractors - Who's saying the truth?

Postby Poolownerwithquestions » Tue 10 Mar, 2009 10:18

Our liner pool was installed but they forgot the c brackets over the gaps in the aluminum coping. They came back after the concrete had cured and put them on by either grinding a small channel and hooking the bracket in or by cutting the lip off the bracket and glueing it onto the coping.

Can't say I'm happy with the process but didn't have much choice.

My question, is there any loss of structural integrity in the process I've described?

Thanks

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