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txtrailerdaddy

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Everything posted by txtrailerdaddy

  1. yeah, but of those 5 years in south texas, leisure pools has not been able to find a dealer that can handle there product without going out of business or dropping the line. looking through the bbb records i have foubd 4 or 5 dirrerent companies that have handled the line in 5 years! I have been the electrical contractor for a couple of different leisure contractors. 1 is gone, the other has been doing it for 2 years for them, and prior to that, the manufacturer was doing their own installs. It isn't fair to blame leisure pools for the problems that these contractors have had. If you check the BBB (south Texas) for pool contractors in general, you will see a number of pool contractors who cratered this last year. The incredible amount of rain created all sorts of problems and put many pool contractors (gunite included) out of business. Leisure pools builds an awesome pool. I have seen the manufacturer take care of issues that should have been handled by the contractor. I can't speak for GBR pools as I don't know a GBR dealer here in San Antonio. As the pool electrical work is somewhat specialized, I do work on other pool manufactures and gunite as well. I would recommend Leisure over all the rest, unless you were looking for a custom shape or a deeper pool for diving. TXT
  2. I am an electrician in San Antonio. I have installed both systems. I have seen almost no warranty issues on the Hayward heaters, but have had a couple Pentairs go out. Personally, I really like the Hayward Tri-star pumps. The pool company I do most of my work for installs the 2 speed pumps. We have had a lot of warranty claims on them lately. I will admit, that Hayward has been all over taking care of their claims on the pumps. The bearings have been squealing when the pump is on high. We don't put a ton of automated systems in, but I have put the intelli-touch and the Goldline in as well. I have had numerous warranty calls on one intellitouch system that constantly needs to be reprogrammed. Pentair did a good job on warranty as well. Overall, if I were going to pick what to put on a pool for me, I would go with Hayward. Of the products I have worked with, I like theirs the most. I'm sure others will have different opinions, but that is mine. If you have more specific questions, feel free to email me through the forum. Just be sure to put something like "pool question" so I don't think it is spam.
  3. The easiest way to tell is by looking at the breaker that supplies the pump. If it is a double breaker, then it is 240. If you have a timer, look at the timer itself, most timers used are not dual voltage. The diagram will tell you if you how to hook it up. If you have a wire connected to terminal 1 another to terminal 3 (line side) it is 240. If you see one hooked up to terminal 1 and another hooked up to "neutral" then you have 120. Hope this helps. If you wired it for 120 and it is actually 240 and you turned it on, then you may need another pump. They don't last long when miswired. Hope this helps. If you need more help email me, and I'll walk you through it.
  4. JSH, I am a sub for a couple of pool companies. I have encountered a few pool companies that are not as good as others. Appearantly, you have had a bad experience. You seem almost hostile. Most subs work for several pool builders because there are few pool companies that can keep a concrete guy, electrician, plumbers, etc. busy 5 days a week. My experiences when customers have tried to do it themselves, is that, they don't know if something is being done right or not. Heck, there are a lot of pool companies that don't know when something is done wrong until the pool is in. Every sub out there is going to tell you they know what they are doing and have been doing it for 20 + years. I am an electrician, and I was out on a service call today. The customer had an intelli-touch system that I had to reprogram and add some sensors. He also told me his heater temp would rapidly climb and then shut off. I noticed that the arrow pointing in (inlet) was hooked up as the outlet. This was plumbed by a company that has been around for a while. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it happens alot. Most of the subs are going to charge you a premium price over what they would charge the pool company since it is a one time job versus repeat business. But overall you should still save quite a bit. Unfotunately all the reasons why you shouldn't do it yourself would sound like a scare tactic. Personally, I would be more inclined to do a fiberglass pool myself over a gunite. Again, I am a sub, not a GC. I wouldn't be afraid to put my own pool in, but I see these everyday in various stages of construction and would stand a pretty good chance of catching something that didn't look right. Usually, the things that go wrong, are not things you can see. I have seen plumbers use regular glue on flex pipe, which holds for a while, but eventually turns loose. These events are what would eat up any savings of doing it yourself. Also, around here, most banks wouldn't loan money to you to do your own pool. Home equity or cash become your only options. As with most things construction, reading a book only takes you so far, it really is a baptism by fire. I'm not trying to scare you, obviously you've already done your own. If you had gotten a sub that messed something up, what is your leverage to get him back out there? With a pool company, he knows he has to make it right or they quit using him. With you, he can blow you off. It can turn it to a much bigger nightmare than dealing with a licensed and bonded pool company. The other thing is, no one is going to come on here and admit that they tried to do it themselves and screwed it all up. I see many jobs where the customer thought they would save money by putting in their own sub-panels only to have me tell them that they won't pass inspection and I am liable for their work if I tie into it. Usually, instead of getting a decent panel like a GE 125 Amp panel ($37 at home depot) they opt for the $27 panel that doesn't have enough space to make up connections and doesn't have room for a real ground bar. They undersize the wire and oversize the breakers and they all have brothers/cousins/friends who are master electricians who put this in for them. So, to sum it all up, sure you can save money doing it yourself. If you can get references for the trades and check them out to know they do good work, do it. If you do that, you should be ok. Don't max out your pool and keep a fair amount "in reserve" for the just in case and you will have a high percentage of success. Once again, I'm not trying to flame you or be argumentative, just trying to shed some insight from a sub contractor. TXT
  5. Pricing is going to vary by region, soil conditions, equipment, concrete options etc. I would say a good rule of thumb would be $1000 per foot. So, a 31 footer should be around $31000. At least that is what I have seen around here. Hope this helps.
  6. I think you will be happiest with the Leisure pool. They have been putting them in the ground in Australia for 20 years, which has really intense sun like we do here in South Texas. I can't say much about the other brands. I do the electrical work for the company that installs Leisure pools in San Antonio. I also do electrical work for a couple of custom gunite pool builders and one that does San Juan pools. I'm not a sales guy for any of them, but, I am most impressed with Leisure's product and warranty. If you have any other specific questions, PM me and I'll see what I can find out for you. TXT
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