advanced pool design

biggz, no disrespect meant towards you, but I have to agree with Doug. I have installed both, and although there are a few obvious benefits from installing a fiberglas pool, they are very few. I ask you to provide a list of benefits so I can, one by one, respond to the "so called", benefits. I happen to know how the "hype", of the advertising on a fiberglass pool is marketed, but if you read between the lines, there is an answere for all the "pluses" in getting fiberglass over gunite. The strength.....yes, if the pool were only a half an inch thick, then fiberglass would be stronger at that thickness, but gunite is at least six inches thick and at that thickness, is MUCH stronger. A lifetime of no refinishing....ever hear of cobalt, or craze cracking, or chips coming off, or ultraviolet damage, or...well, if you ever owned a boat, you can pretty much get the idea. The modern day gunite pool finishes, (final cote), are going to last from 20 years on up. I have some pools that were gem coated with our own mix, (before you could buy a prebagged gem finish), that are over 20 years old and still look fantastic and nowhere near needing redone. In fact, southern grouts and mortor bagged our mix for us,(Advanacrete) before they even had a retail product of their own. We brought the crew in from austraila and I paid them to train our plaster crew, so I do know a lot about this material. Chemical usage, show me the data that proves that fiberglass uses less chlorine, and not from a fiberglass pool brochure. The newer finishes for gunite pools that are fortified with acrylic are far superior to the older "marcite" finishes and are far less porous resulting in less chlorine usage, and if you go as far as installing a pebbletec or stonescapes finish they are even less porous which results in way less chemical usage. The hype about the chemical usage is bogus as far as I can tell and I really would like to see the data for this myth. Drain the pool...Well, If you ever have to drain either one, the gunite would be more secure and be a WHOLE BUNCH less likely to POP out of the ground, (you brought this up not me). Fiberglass WILL float with a foot of water under it, (or less). Gunite will float too, but it will take far more hydrostatic uplift force to float. I have seen gunite float and "it aint pretty", but you have to be pretty careless to have that happen. With fiberglass you can be careful and it still might happen. BTW, if any homeowner is thinking about draining your pool, get a professional to advise you because this can destroy your pool, deck, screen room in a matter of seconds, but this can be a whole other discussion... Earthquakes.... OK, you got me on this one. If it is a BIG earthquake, it might be a problem for both. If you have house slabs cracking, pool decks cracking, roofs splitting open, your gunite pool might crack. However, in earthquake prone areas, the shell is beefed up in steel placement and the thickness is also increased. If a gunite pool were to crack, chances are the damage to the fiberglass would be substantial too, as well as the deck, screen room and plumbing and equipment too. No guarantees with mother nature.... Price wise, agreed,.... fiberglass is really not much less, and in some cases more. The fiberglass pools I installed were about the same price, and I found it harder to install brick coping and steps in the raised deck areas because there was considerably more prep work because the pool was not designed for customization in these areas. There was a lot of drilling into the beam to install rebar and pouring of concrete to support the coping and future deck and these were the areas that ate up a bunch of money. If you want to continue the discussion then post some specific comparisons and I will try to respond as I have time. Again, I am not trying to bash or in any way disrespect you, and if I come off that way, I apologize to you, and I really would like to get to the bottom of this, as I sincerely did try the fiberglass route. biggz, I have seen your posts and believe you are an asset to this forum, but I believe you are wrong in your assessment of the fiberglass pool value. As Doug has said, and in my own words, I think the comparison would be, "A fiberglass pool compared to a gunite pool would be like comparing a cbs home to an aluminum mobile home. The cbs, (or framed), home will increase in value, and the mobile home will decrease in value. Pools that I built 35 years ago for 8 thousand dollars are now worth 25 thousand dollars, (if properly maintained). and the fiberglass pools are now dull and in need of a new gel coat. Folks, we are all entitled to our own opinion, and this is mine. I'm sure I will get negative feedback, and maybe get kicked off this site, but I have to be honest with myself and I think I have been. All this said, there is a place for both gunite and fiberglass, just not with me. I have done both and highly prefer the gunite.. biggz, you don't live that far away from me, maybe we can meet one day for a beer, (if you're not hating on me too much for MHO)...... For those that have a fiberglass pool, sorry but this is how I see it...might be right for some but not for me.......Enjoy what you have and thank God that you are able to have it..

A quick check might prove worthy of the time.... You say it only leaks when the pool is running? Carefully check all the joints around the spa spillover area, IE tile or marble grout joints. Look for missing grout and or cracks in the grout, or the tiles themselves. You might just get lucky and find the leak right off,(only leaks when water is spilling over), and believe me, I have found leaks in that area that have driven others crazy! Reason I say this is because if the pool only leaks when its running, then it would stand to reason that it would still leak a little when its off because the pipes that are underground are still under a little pressure just from the pool water itself. And, if it was leaking above the ground, (above the level of the pool, you would see it. Whenever I hear of a pool leaking like yours that is the first place I look, it can't hurt.....If you don't find it there, call a leak detection company as was already mentioned above....good luck.

Simple solution, (maybe?), dig out a trench big enough to see the water trail. Drip some Phenol red from your test kit in the water and see which way its flowing. If the dye is going your direction, call the county code enforcement and do the same test for them. If the neighbor won't comply then you will need to find an attorney and have them write a letter, or worse..good luck!

Las vegas has a warm daytime climate, but very cool at night. From here in florida, I can relate the following price comparison... A typical pool here in my area of a 14x28 freeform pool of about 360 square feet will run around 4200 dollars. That includes the electronic valves, solar controller, and the plumbing to and from the roof, as well as the collectors. If you add double the solar panels you would expect the total price to be a fair amount less than double my areas typical installation,(because the electronic valves, controller and to and from plumbing do not double when adding more collectors), thus the 6000 dollar range. So, I would say that the price you were quoted is in the general ballpark of a 20x40 installation. Granted, as already mentioned, we do not have the specs of your quote, so this is merely a guess, but i'm inclined to think that provided it is a quality install, that it is in the range I would expect. It should however, include a solor blanket as that is part of the energy code and part of a complete package for heaters these days. If what you say is true, IE 800 Sq. Ft., I would be surprised if that were enough to satisfy the heating requirements you would desire. A truley high performance solar heater would need to be at a min. of 1.25% of your surface area of the pool, and a 1.50% would be best. All that said, the solar will not be a reliable source of heat if you are wanting/needing heat on a regular basis, (IE do you need it for company at a certain time). A heat pump @ 6 ton min will run you around 4800 to 6000 dollars, (for a good one), and will be a reliable source of heat for most of the year, although it does cost more to operate, it will satisfy your needs. If you use the included blanket, your operating cost will be cut considerably.... Hope that helps in your decision...

If you ever get your water out of balance the copper will cause severe staining. A good salt system, (goldline aquarite), will run circles around anything else and is very economical to run and maintain. Also, 2 return lines is from the dark ages, you need 4 min for that size pool, IMHO... The pool sounds nice and I wish you luck..

A relay is used for each function, so Its unlikely that its a relay. From what you have said, I would tend to agree that the main board is gone. There might be a 20 cent part on that board that is heating up, (you said unplugging it for a while and it starts working for a bit), but you wont find it yourself. You didn't say how old it was but anyway that price sounds a bit high. I would guess it would be guaranteed by the pool company and if it didnt fix the problem you would not pay, right? Good luck..

Take a look at the pentair clean and clear filter, it is so simple to clean and requires no backwashing. A sand filter is the poorest type of filtering there is and you loose a lot of water backwashing. I think with the water shortages they will probably outlaw the use of sand and de filters some day. This is just my opinion but I have installed thousands of filter systems and I like the ease of the pentair clean and clear, easy to install and clean...good luck

You are correct, that is not enough weigt for the amount of leverage the board will apply to the pad. Someone will likely get hurt if they dont fix it and if its not a family member well, could mean a lawsuite on top of the injury. The rods in the ground will do nothing to help support the leverage, and will eventually rust away. Make them pour it bigger and thicker, concrete for that size slab is cheap!! BTW, the pavers on top will do little to help in holding the slab in place. I hope you talked to your insurance company, (homeowners), as a lot of insurance company's have stopped insuring homes with pools that have diving boards and or slides, too many accidents....Good Luck and hope you get it done your way, you're the one paying the bill...

There should be a check valve, (one way valve),installed in the spa return line to keep the water in the spa from escaping back into the pool when the filter pump shuts off. There might possibly be some debris in it, or If you never noticed it before it's possible that one was never put in in the first place. It really wont hurt anything unless you are in an area where the finish could freeze, and since I am in florida and not sure how they deal with the winterizing up north. Why else would it happen suddenly is anyone's guess but they do sometimes go bad after time. Sounds like everything is working normally aside from the check valve though, good luck..

What brand name is the cover? Most cover mfg's have schematics for how the cover box needs to be built, and all the ones I have installed have shown drains on the schematics sheet. Common sense alone should have been enough, but If you are having a hard time with your pool company then you could easily show that the cover was not built to spec's, (with the schematic). A letter to the state building authority, along with a letter to your local building department might help, and make sure the contractor gets a certified copy too. If you have a motor in there that is getting submerged then there is not only an expense for you each time it gets wet, but if not properly bonded/grounded, it can also be dangerous. I have gone to using only hydraulic motors but I have never built a box that didn't have 2 drains in the bottom. I also usually use a cover from Cover Pools and I can tell you for a fact that the schematics do show a drain in the bottom. The building department should have inspected that but good luck in trying to get them to accept any blame. I would point that out to them though as it might get them involved in trying to get the builder to do his job. Good Luck....