Choosing Pool Equipment

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lrcharest1

Choosing Pool Equipment

Postby lrcharest1 » Mon 11 May, 2009 17:44

Hello! I'm researching equipment for my new yet-to-be-built inground gunite pool. It's going to be 550 sf, 18x34 free form, slope 3.6-6 ft, 22K gallon.

I've heard Pentair had the most reliable products, so thought I should go with a 1.5 HP pump, a DE 60 filter, a 400,000btu heater, and a 3900 Polaris Sport, with pump for a cleaner.

One builder said I would be wasting electricity because my equipment was too big for the pool, but the size was about what 4 other builders said would be good, only one sold Hayward products, the other Jandy, the other Pentair. DOes one brand have better reliability than the other? This builder also suggested I use the Polaris 380 because black rollers on white plaster wouldn't be good. and I didin't need a pump with the Polaris, either.

Any recommendations out there?


Me...
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Choosing Pool Equipment

Postby Me... » Tue 12 May, 2009 08:44

22k pool = about 91gpm with a 4 hour turnover. Fantastic! Use at least 4 floor properly spaced floor inlets. You are over 400 sq.ft. so use 2 skimmers unless going overflow pool which is a different story altogether. You will need dual main drains each capable of handling at least the 91 gpm each, this is now law I believe, or should be.

Toss the DE filter and get a Pentair TR-140 Sand filter. This is capable of 140gpm but you really only want a max of about 105 for excellent filtration. This is also the perfect backwash flowrate. A 1.5hp Pentair Whisperflow pump but make sure it is 2-speed. 2-speed is important. I'll say it again, 2-speed is important. Forget any cleaner that requires an extra pump. That IS a waste of money, get a Hayward Navigator or similar that works from your skimmer line. These are cheap, economical and do a great os vacuuming, which what you need. You do not need something that kind of climbs walls and kind of acts like it might be scrubbing your walls, because it won't, you need to brush them periodically. I would get a Raypak heater, electronic ignition if they offer you a choice. I love Pentair products but they made a mistake buying up the Starite heaters, I might like them even less than I do Laars heaters.

Next trick would be making sure it is plumbed properly, all in 2". 1.5" pipe will only handle up to about 45gpm but 2" goes up to about 90. 2.5" might be better but not really required in this instance.

Why? Because you will operate the pool on low speed. Your cost to operate the pump will be far less than operating even a single speed 1/2hp pump. Your pool will turnover in about 8 hours which is about the same as a 1/2hp pump will do. It wont make any noise. Your filtration qualities will be second to none due to low flow through the media.

Next. High speed is used to backwash the filter. This will be very infrequent due to the sheer size of the filter. Guess what, this saves a ton on money on wasted water, heat and chemicals. Use high to Vacuum, add chemicals and whenever you have parties with lots of people in the pool.

So this upgrade will cost an extra thousand or so over what you might normally get sold. Peanuts in the overall cost and you will have an excellent system. Add an automatic liquid feed chlorine and acid system next if you want. Then Ozone if your wallet isnt empty yet.

And go buy a good test kit and test your fill water and see what thats like. Post here and people will make suggestions based on that too.

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