brettnolan

I would say that he is probably right. Intelliflo is the high end pump and you would never need the 3hp that it's capable of. Go superflo, save cash up front and down the road

The salt cell and the power center have to match. Can't cross brands.

maybe something wrong with the wire(chewed by mice, pinched, etc)...between the ET and the acuator?

You need a GFCI on the light, wherever it goes back to the equipment pad...somewhere in the circuit for the light. If water got into the junction box, it could be causing the breaker to trip, but not necessarily damaging the light itself, although it could also damage the light.

i'll tell you what that is...a nightmare repair

That stupid little side pop-up won't let me respond.. I'm not totally familiar with either of these but...the Hayward Phantom is a PRESSURE side cleaner, so it requires the booster pump to add water pressure to the dedicated return line. The Zodiac G3 is a SUCTION side cleaner, so you would either have to replumb your equipment pad to turn the dedicated pressure line into a dedicated suction line or connect your Zodiac into the skimmer. Again, not being totally familiar, but reasonably so...I would take the Zodiac back (or feed it to the dog) and have the Phantom serviced. If it is anything like a Polaris 360/380, it is fairly simple to replace parts or adjust it so that it travels up and down wall and doesn't get stuck on the steps or in a corner or whatever. I dislike suction cleaners, I don't think they work very well.

I don't understand why some people can post pics and others can't, but I can't, so....here is a link to a picture. I need as much info about this type of coping as I can get. This pic doesn't show it real well I don't think, but I believe it is silver (aluminum obviously) and ridged. If anyone knows the manufacturer or what it's technical name is, or where I could get parts/pieces for it, that would be awesome. Thanks! http://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/55144-Aluminum-Pool-Coping-Question

Yep, $2500 at best probably. Good luck.

I personally think that's plenty big enough. But...you could have a party and invite as many people as you think you might want to invite to a pool party and see how much room they take up in your backyard. ;-)

I would agree...master spas seem to work fine, but they seem cheaply made.

I can't answer your question directly, but I can offer an opinion. First, before you think I'm a company shill...in about a month, I am leaving my current job to start my own company. There are many reasons why, however, I firmly believe that the company that I work for builds, by far, the best pools in my metro area. And customers pay the premium, we are definitely not the most affordable. I have a friend that is bound and determined to save a few bucks by building her own pool, via the kit. Now it's hard to tell for certain because she seems to change her mind on various things every five minutes, but I'm not sure she is really going to save all that much money. By the time she pays for the excavation, the backfill, the concrete work, and various other things not included in the kit, in my opinion, she is going to be tantalizingly close to the price she could have paid my company to do it. Furthermore, she is having a hell of a time (almost a year now) getting the permit and getting other ancillary tasks done that a builder would do for her. And still, she won't listen my educated opinion on really anything. For instance, she has two boys. One will be a junior in HS next year, the other will be a freshman. They aren't going to be around all that much longer, and the novelty of a new pool doesn't last forever. Yet she wants to have a larger pool than she needs, but she wants to pay pennies for it. Now, I'm sure you have the skill to do it. It's not real hard to build a vinyl liner pool. This is just my two cents on the headache of doing it yourself...REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sit down and do a THOROUGH cost/benefit. I would say that if you are only going to save a couple thousand dollars, let a GOOD pool builder do it. So I guess my bottom line advice is, take your time and do plenty of research.

maybe sell or trade the 2.5hp for a smaller one...that IS pretty big for a normal sized pool with 1.5" plumbing

Yes, the union comes apart. It screws back together and you should use Magic Lube on the o'ring inside, no need for teflon or anything. If it leaks (from the inside), replace the o'ring.

You only need to replace the heater gasket most likely. Possibility that the split nut is broken but not super likely. There is no way you need to replace the entire heater for a leak, unless you drilled a hole through the stainless steel.

Btw, there is also a white version that is not a high temp union that is cheaper...this is just the first place I found a picture